Rhapsody in Blue

---

Jack, can I trade this in for a nickel?

Sorry, Georgie,

but I can't use it.

Must I hear that number

every day?

George!

Ira, do you got

a nickel?

Nope.

What's that

- Another Deadwood Dick?

It ain't much good. Say, we better

get back and do our homework.

Race you home.

Hey, wait a minute!

A little more

to the left.

Steady now, boys.

How's it coming

up there, Jerry?

Mom!

Who's getting

a piano?

It's the Gershwins.

We don't have one.

Who wants a secondhanded piano?

Come on inside.

What's going on?

Search me.

Gee, a piano.

Some lucky guy.

Hey, that's

our window!

No. There must be

some mistake.

Let's go see.

Now, George, if it's not for

us, don't be disappointed.

One piano comes

in the house,

And right away the whole place

is turned upside down on its head.

The house needs music.

I've made up my mind.

Do you play the piano?

Do I?

If your married sister

can have one, why can't we?

So if she has a headache,

I must have one, too.

Anyhow, a piano

in the house

Is a sign

of culture.

George,

Ira, look out!

Wow!

How many times

- Look out! Look out!

Ira!

Oh, always coming in

With skates

on the carpet. Look.

Hey, Mom, does the piano

belong to us?

Mm-hmm, so long as we can pay

the installments.

Positively we will pay

the installments,

And Ira will take

lessons.

Ira?!

Oh, Momma,

have a heart.

You heard

what I said.

Gee, do I have to

take them?

You're the oldest.

There, now.

Without

even a lesson.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1, 2, 3, 4.

1...

Don't try to improve upon

the classics, Mr. Gershwin.

Morris, I never saw

such children.

Always wearing out

the cuffs.

And George

- He tears off the buttons.

Look at it.

At their age, they've got

their own worries.

What are you

fixing now?

I'm not fixing.

I'm ruining.

Morris, tell George

to go downstairs

And help out

with the bakery.

Always

playing music.

I'll go, Mom,

as soon as I'm through.

If he wants to play, Momma, let him.

You, Ira

- Always with a book under your nose.

Rose, when they're outside,

you want them inside,

So when they're inside,

leave them alone.

Who's

bothering them?

Ah, such a mechanism.

It's too involved.

Can I come in?

You're in already. What is it

- A telephone call?

No. Georgie.

Yeah?

Chico Marx tells me you

should give me a nickel.

What for?

I got a message.

What kind

of a message?

Poppa.

A message always costs.

Thanks,

Mr. Gershwin.

Such a popular

family.

Every day

a telephone call.

Well, what do you know?

At last I got the job-

Relief pianist

in a theater.

Who do you

relieve?

Chico Marx.

In the whole

neighborhood.

Sonny, I don't

want you to work

In no cheap

vaudeville show.

It's a good job, Mom.

A fella has to start

somewhere, Momma.

What a break,

Georgie.

They've got some pretty good acts

over there. Here's one of the songs.

Don't pay any attention to

me, son. I just work here.

Excuse me.

You're not a piano

player. You're a juggler.

Come on, give me that tempo, will you?

I don't know what I'd do without

him down there, but I'd rather!

Mm-hmm.

Stop it. Stop it!

Is that what you learn

in the vaudeville job?

No. I quit that job, but

I'll get another one soon,

And it will pay me more

than 15 bucks a week.

15 or 50 or 500-

Does that make up

For ruining your technique

when you have it in you

To become a concert pianist? Does it?

No, but,

professor Franck,

I:

- I don't want to be just a concert pianist.

Just

a concert pianist.

Oh, I didn't mean it

that way, only...

Well, I want to make the

piano a steppingstone.

A steppingstone

- And where will you step to, Mr. Gershwin?

To-to composition.

So for whom

will you compose-

For ragtime dancers

or for musicians?

I don't know.

Maybe for both.

Seems like everything I

hear sticks in my head.

I want to make

those sounds

Come down through my

fingers and into the keys.

Go on, go on.

You don't have to

say anything.

I- I know

it isn't any good.

Did I say it wasn't

any good?

Professor Franck, you

mean that you really-

Ah, ah, ah. One swallow

does not a summer make...

But it is different,

shall I say?

Perhaps it was

music half-formed.

Now, then,

play that Chopin,

But without ragging it!

That the eyes

of love alone will see

But the smiles that fill

my life with sunshine

Are the smiles

That you gave to me

They don't like

this stuff.

Oh, what's the diff?

We got to make them like

it, the chowderheads.

Anyway, it's time

to go home.

Ah, they need something

different. So do we.

Oh, a reformer!

Let's go.

You can address it to Remick

and company. Thank you.

From Honolulu

to...

Come and let me rock you

in my cradle of love

And we'll cuddle

all the while

Oh, I want

to love...

No, pick it up,

pick it up.

No, no. It's no-no pep. That's no good.

Did I say

it was good?

I've played about everything we've got.

Well, sorry. I've got to

have something with snap.

Say, wait a minute.

How's this?

Hey, that's pretty good! Who wrote it?

I did.

You did? Well!

Whew!

Congratulations!

I'll take a copy.

Wait a minute.

It isn't published yet.

Say, that's an idea.

Mr. Kast, please.

Yes, Gershwin.

Oh, so he don't like

any of our numbers.

No, but I played him a song,

and he likes it. It's my own.

Oh, so he likes

something you wrote?

Listen, Pinkers,

you're being paid

To play Remick numbers,

not your own. Do you mind?

No, we don't want

to publish it!

He doesn't want

to publish it.

Well, that's

his hard luck.

Tell him he hasn't got

anything else I want,

But if your song ever gets

published, you let me know.

Thanks very much.

George.

Listen, George, don't

let Kast get you down.

He doesn't know the

first thing about music.

You're telling me.

I heard that number you

were playing. It's all right.

Did you really

like it, Bill?

It has the smell

of originality.

Heaven knows that's

rare on these premises.

But what am I

going to do?

I've written 5 songs, and

not one of them published.

How old

are you, George?

Old enough.

Don't be

in too great a hurry

To set the world

afire.

You'll

fizz yourself out

Like acetylase

powder.

Well, I guess I'm just

wasting the firm's time.

Bill,

I haven't even-

Pardon me. Is this the place

where you get free music?

Well, it's free,

but is it music?

What? Oh, I guess

I'm in the wrong place.

No, wait a minute.

I'm sorry.

I was just being

funny. Come in.

Do you give away

music here?

Why, any amount of it to professionals.

You're a professional, of course.

Well, I-I'm

going to be.

I have an audition

this afternoon.

You don't say.

But I'm so nervous

I don't know what to do.

Well, I know

just how you feel.

I was that way

before my first concert.

Are you

a concert musician?

How long did it take you

to get over being nervous?

When was your

first concert?

About two years

from now, I hope.

No, I'm just a song-plugger

here at Remick's.

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