Biographical Sketch
Edward Jablonski, 1922-
Edward Jablonski was born in 1922 in Bay City, Michigan. His love for
the music and lyrics of the Gershwin brothers began as a teenager. Jablonski
initiated his correspondence with Ira Gershwin with a fan letter which began a
life long friendship. From 1942 to 1946 Jablonski served in World War II as a
member of the U.S. Army Field Artillery Corp. After the war he moved to New
York City to launch his writing and music career. In 1949 he helped found
Walden Records which specialized in American music and in 1950 he completed his
B.A. at the New School for Social Research. In 1951 he also did graduate work
in anthropology at Columbia University.
His first article, on the exiled Hungarian composer Bela Bartok,
appeared in
Twelfth Street, a small literary magazine.
Throughout his career he contributed to such periodicals as
Saturday Review,
American Record Guide, and
Stereo Review. In 1958 he co-authored,
with Lawrence D. Stewart,
The Gershwin Years, which brought together
many previously unavailable materials from the personal archives of Ira
Gershwin and many of the Gershwins' friends and associates. The authors also
compiled a comprehensive bibliography of songs and lyrics, with their first
performance dates. This book contributes to research in American popular music
of the Jazz Age and the Gershwin brothers.
The Gershwin Years was followed by other
musical biographies and histories. In 1961, Jablonski published
Harold Arlen: Happy with the Blues, a
musical biography about the composer and his contributions to such Hollywood
and Broadway classics as
The Wizard of Oz,
A Star Is Born and
House of Flowers. In 1961 Jablonski
contributed to the new edition of Isaac Goldberg's
Tin Pan Alley: A Chronicle of American Popular
Music, originally published in 1930 with a forward by George Gershwin.
For this new edition Jablonski wrote a supplement section entitled
From Sweet and Swing to Rock n' Roll.
During the early 1970s, Jablonski concentrated his writing on critical
analysis of aerial warfare, which he derived from his personal war experiences.
In 1973 a second edition of
The Gershwin Years was published that
included corrections to the first edition as well as further material on Ira
Gershwin's career in Hollywood following George's death in 1937. This edition
also included an expanded discography and a supplement on existing Gershwin
archives, including the Gershwins' non-musical works (i.e., sketches and
paintings).
The Gershwin Years was adapted for and
produced on television, with narration by the celebrated songwriter Richard
Rogers. In 1973 Jablonski and Stewart also published in collaboration with The
New York Times
The Gershwin Years in Song, a song book
interspersed with illustrations and text. In 1981 Jablonski edited the
Encyclopedia of American Music and in 1992
he published
Gershwin Remembered.
Lawrence Delbert Stewart, 1926-
Lawrence D. Stewart was born in Champaign, Illinois, in 1926. After
attending several colleges he obtained his B.A. in 1948, his M.A. in 1949 and
the PhD. degree in 1952, all from Northwestern University. He taught English at
the University of California at Los Angeles from 1952 to 1954 and at California
State University at Northridge from 1969 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979 he was a
Fulbright scholar in Iran and India.
Between teaching positions during the years 1955 to 1968, Stewart
served as archivist for Ira Gershwin's private letters, papers, and memorabilia
collected from the joint careers of George and Ira Gershwin. It was while
serving in this capacity that Stewart met Jablonski and they began their joint
book project. The free access and intimate relationship that Stewart enjoyed
with Ira Gershwin and his family helped provide unique information and research
materials for
The Gershwin Years. In 1959 Stewart wrote
the booklet entitled
The Gershwins: Words upon Music for the
Verve Records release
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin
Song Books. Much of this material was incorporated into the second
edition of
The Gershwin Years.
Stewart is interested in the creative method of artists, musicians,
and writers with whom he was personally associated. Stewart believed that this
interest helped formulate his attitudes toward the relationship between
life-as-lived and life-as-literature. Consistent with this philosophy, Stewart
has written a critical analysis of the writing of Paul Bowles. This work,
Paul Bowles: The Illumination of North Africa
(1974), includes reflection on both Bowles's personal and professional
relationships, as well as his parallel career as a musician and composer. He is
also the author of
John Scott of Amwell (1956), concerning
the 18th century Scottish Quaker poet. In 1984 Stewart published
Artichokes, Lilacs and the Houses of
Monterrey.
For more information on Edward Jablonski and Lawrence D. Stewart see
Contemporary Authors.
Scope and Contents
The Jablonski and Stewart Collection, 1931-1973 (bulk 1957-1973), was
generated by the collaborative literary efforts of Edward Jablonski and
Lawrence D. Stewart during the writing of
The Gershwin Years (1958, and 2nd edition
1973) and
The Gershwin Years in Song (1973), a music
song book with illustrations and text. Among the papers are the authors'
research materials, correspondence, transcripts of interviews, outlines,
holograph and typed manuscripts, galley proofs, page proofs, layout dummies,
illustrations and captions, bibliographical notes, and press clippings. Much of
the authors' research material was derived from Ira Gershwin's private archives
and from personal interviews of the Gershwin brothers' friends and colleagues.
The manuscripts have been profusely revised and constitute a record of the
work in progress. Also included are a few original
manuscripts of both George and Ira Gershwin, which were a gift from Ira
Gershwin to Jablonski and Stewart.
The materials are arranged in two series: Works, 1932-1973 (bulk
1957-1973), and Gershwin Manuscripts, 1931-1955. The Works are arranged in
three subseries:
The Gershwin Years (1st ed., 1958),
The Gershwin Years (2nd ed., 1973), and
The Gershwin Years in Song (1st ed., 1973).
Materials in each of these subseries follows a chronological order that
reflects the process of research, writing, revision, and publication. Often the
material reflects the individual contributions of the co-authors.
Among the earliest items is a scrapbook which serves as an early model
of
The Gershwin Years. The scrapbook contains
clippings of articles and photographs from newspapers, magazines and other
publications, catalogs, interviews, programs, holograph and typed notes,
outlines, and early typed drafts of the text. Of special interest in the
scrapbook is the reproduced correspondence of George Gershwin and Dubose
Heyward, 1932-1937, that documents the planning and development of their
collaborative efforts on the opera
Porgy and Bess.
Although the bulk of the correspondence concerns research,
illustrations, permissions, and other publication matters, several significant
correspondents are included: Carl Van Vechten, Paul Whiteman, Dubose Heyward,
Eva Jessye, Vinton Freedley, Vernon Duke, Harry Ruby, Eva Ganthier, Francis
Robinson, Paul and Kathie Mueller, and Francis Frankie Godowsky. Also among the correspondence is the
sixteen page manuscript
Gershwiniana by Edward Kilenyi, which
discusses the formal music training George Gershwin received under Kilenyi's
guidance. The correspondence for the 2nd edition also includes a series of
letters between Jablonski and Stewart (1972-1973), concerning personal matters
as well as the revision. A list of all correspondents in the Jablonski/Stewart
Collection is located at the end of this inventory.
The Gershwin Manuscripts, 1931-1955, include original manuscripts by
both George and Ira Gershwin. George is represented by a single holograph
piano/voice score of
Gone, Gone, Gone, from
Porgy and Bess. The Ira Gershwin items
include holograph and typescript drafts of lyrics written for the film
A Star Is Born. The several versions of
these lyrics show Ira Gershwin's creative process in construction of song
lyrics. There is also one holograph manuscript of the lyric for the song
Of Thee I Sing.
For other George Gershwin materials located in the HRHRC, see the
following manuscript collections:
- Gershwin - Works (Holograph manuscript of the layout of songs and
themes for
Porgy and Bess in pencil on recto and
verso of a single sheet, ca. 1933-34.)
- Contempo - Recip.
- Ernst, Morris - Index
- Knopf, (Alfred A.) Inc. New York - Recip.
- Lewis, Sinclair - Misc.
- Swanson, Gloria - Inventory
For other Ira Gershwin materials located in the HRHRC, see the
following manuscript collections:
- Armitage, Merle - Recip., Misc.
- Ernst, Morris - Index
- Harpers - Recip.
An original watercolor by George Gershwin, entitled
April, a portrait of a young girl, dated
July 19, 1929, is located in the HRHRC Art Collection.