George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershowitz on September 26, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. George began his professional career at “Tin Pan Alley,” a place in New York where aspiring composers and songwriters would take their scores to a publisher trying to sell the tunes for money. Two years after he began working for Jerome Remick, George had his first song published. "When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get 'Em" didn't immediately become famous, but it began to attract the attention of some of the era's Broadway composers. During this period of professional growth, George maintained his job as a pianist-repétiteur and studied piano, theory and orchestration with the best of the best. George's first big hit was a song performed by Al Jolson in the Broadway musical Sinbad. “Swanee” became an instant hit and steadily propelled George’s music to Broadway audiences. In 1919, George composed the music for La, La Lucille, his first full musical score. From 1920 to 1924, he provided producer George White with several songs for use in the immensely popular George White Scandals series. Behind Rhapsody in Blue, George is best known for many songs, which have become part of the American songbook. George and Ira Gershwin's large-scale collaboration as composer/lyricist began in 1924 with the musical Lady Be Good!. The musical featured songs such as "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Oh, Lady, be Good", among others. A song, which was...