He detested concertizing because of excessive stage fright, and had all sorts of superstitious rituals he observed before each performance. Some have said that, had Levant only devoted himself to the keyboard, expanding both his repertoire and technique, he might have rivaled Vladimir Horowitz or Arthur Rubinstein, but he hated practicing for eight or more hours a day. On film and in real life, he was never very far from a piano. READ MORE: George Gershwin’s too-short life ended on a blue note The multi-talented man eventually found success as a concert pianist serious composer popular songsmith best-selling author friend, self-designated mourner and chief interpreter of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” the “Second Rhapsody,” and the “Piano Concerto in E ” panelist on radio and television shows like “Information Please” and a grumpy curmudgeon in 13 major motion pictures, always playing the same second-banana role of…Oscar Levant. ![]() Born in Pittsburgh in 1906, Oscar Levant was the child of Russian Jewish immigrants, a piano prodigy, and a difficult boy to discipline. On this day, the 49th anniversary of his death, it is a fitting time to answer that question. Over the years, however, I never had a good response for a question that first came up while watching the MGM masterpiece, “An American in Paris” (and again while sitting through “The Band Wagon” and “The Barkleys of Broadway”): ![]() As time went on, we watched many more films that were not so great but, nonetheless, worth screening for the sake of thoroughness. When my eldest daughter was just a little girl-4 years old to be exact-we embarked on a project we called “Musical School.” Every Sunday afternoon, I introduced her to some of the greatest movie musicals ever made.
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