A Talent for Genius: The Life and Times of Oscar LevantOscar Levant was the Amadeus of Hollywood, the Oscar Wilde of Broadway - and the most wildly self-destructive personality ever to become a household name. An astonishingly gifted concert pianist, composer, film and stage presence, radio and television raconteur, insult wit, and bestselling author, Levant steered a maniacally masochistic course through seven glorious decades. His death in 1972, at the age of sixty-five, left the entertainment community shocked - largely with amazement that a four-pack-a-day smoker with a history of drug abuse and mental illness had lasted as long as Levant did. He made a national reputation for himself in the late 1930s as a brash, brilliant "expert" on radio's famed quiz show Information, Please!, and as a fine concert pianist and the premier interpreter of George Gershwin's concert works. He appeared in thirteen films, usually as a best friend/"Oscar Levant" type. He played Gene Kelly's sidekick in An American in Paris and a lovable hypochondriac in The Band Wagon, and in the film biography Rhapsody in Blue he literally played himself: Oscar Levant, best friend to George Gershwin, a role he knew all too well. His hero worship of Gershwin stunted his confidence as a songwriter and a serious composer, though one of his pop songs, "Blame It on My Youth", has become a standard, and Arnold Schoenberg, Aaron Copeland, and Virgil Thomson all thought Levant an immensely gifted composer. Levant's addiction to Demerol following a heart attack in the early 1950s led to nearly a decade of drug dependency. Already hobbled by complex superstitions meant to ward off the terrors of performing, Levant was almost destroyed by his addictions. But his intense neurosisdidn't keep him from appearing on television to talk about it. His uncensored comments on The Jack Paar Show and on his own local Los Angeles talk show made national news. A Talent for Genius, the result of exhausting research and hundreds of hours of interviews, is a profoundly revealing portrait of the enfant terrible who almost single-handedly added the word "neurotic" to American vocabulary. It is also a vividly evoked, star-studded panorama of an era: Levant's intimates George and Ira Gershwin, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Becall, Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Parker, Arturo Toscanini, Candice Bergen, Joan Collins, Vincente Minnelli, Harpo Marx, Gene Kelly - all tolerant victims of Levant's rapier wit - make appearances in these pages. |
Contents
The Unmentionable City | 3 |
The Making of a Chuchum | 9 |
The Paderooski of Colwell Street | 17 |
Copyright | |
37 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actress Adolph Green American Angeles Annie appearance asked Astaire audience Barbara became began Behrman Bergen broadcast Broadway called Candice Bergen Clifford Odets composer Concerto in F conductor Copland Demerol Dorothy Fadiman felt film Fred Fred Astaire George Gershwin girls Golenpaul Greenson guest Harpo Hollywood Horowitz Hotel Ibid Irving Jack Jolson Judy Garland July June Gale June Levant clippings June Levant interview June remembered Kaufman knew Kolodin Levant clippings file Levant later Levant plays Lieberson Lindy's looked married Marx Minnelli movie musicians never night Odets orchestra Oscar Levant Oscar Levant Show paraldehyde performance Petrillo pianist Piano Concerto pills Pittsburgh popular radio recording Rhapsody in Blue Schoenberg score Selznick Sidney Clare Smattering of Ignorance songs star studio Swope Symphony television theatre Toscanini vant Warner Bros weeks wife write wrote York young