Oh, I wasn't doubting you. I had never heard of Jolson's proposing the show and found it interesting. I've never been able to get a picture in my head of Jolson as Porgy, other than of him trying to interpolate "Swanee" or other tunes from his catalogue into it. I like Jolson in his own way, but as Porgy? No.
Randy
------------------------------
On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 4:53 PM CDT Cary Ginell wrote:
>What this means is that Jolson proposed it. Gershwin did not want a mockery made of his characters. I annotated a songbook on the history of the show and worked with the Ira Gershwin Trust in confirming the facts.
>
>Cary
>
>On Mar 25, 2013, at 2:33 PM, "Randy Watts" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I didn't know it was proposed as a Jolson vehicle. A Jolson biography I read said he wanted to play Porgy but that George Gershwin had no intention of letting that happen.
>>
>> Randy
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 3:29 PM CDT Cary Ginell wrote:
>>
>> Porgy was originally proposed to be a vehicle for Al Jolson. Thank goodness wiser minds prevailed.
>>
>> Cary Ginell
>>
>> On Mar 25, 2013, at 12:45 PM, "John Haley" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with David's comment about the effectiveness of the mind's eye
>>> supplying the visual for recordings, which can be especially true for
>>> operatic recordings, and even moreso in the case of Jepson, who was a
>>> bottle-blond seemingly modeled on Jean Harlow. Gershwin died in July
>>> 1937, so suggestions of his approval of the substitution of white artists
>>> after that date could be suspect. Gershwin himself no doubt correctly
>>> feared the spectacle of white Metropolitan singers portraying his
>>> characters in blackface, when he was striving for an assimilation of
>>> authenticity in speech and musical idiom into his version of a full fledged
>>> opera. Would that his genius were accorded due respect today, when far
>>> lesser minds than his feel free to rewrite his masterpiece in a shabby
>>> pastische as presented on Broadway. But even that travesty has respected
>>> the composer's expressed intention that the opera be cast with black
>>> singers. I know of no stage production that has done otherwise, although I
>>> guess it must exist.
>>> John Haley
>>> On Mar 25, 2013 3:26 PM, "David Lewis" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> From: John Haley <[log in to unmask]>
>>> "Summertime," the most popular number from Porgy & Bess, is
>>> actually sung by a minor character, Clara.
>>>
>>> Nevetheless, we do have Abbie Mitchell singing "Summertime" from the
>>> demonstration recordings that Gershwin himself made.
>>> She also made a couple of Lee DeForest Phonofilms in the 1920s, and at
>>> least one of those still exists.
>>>
>>> As Mike points out, we have no similar alternatives for the Bayes-Norworth
>>> "Shine on Harvest Moon" that Victor rejected. And
>>> when it comes to show material from before 1950 there are countless issues
>>> like that.
>>>
>>> UD
>>> Lebanon, OH
>>>
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