Oscar Levant

American composer, author, entertainer, pianist, film actor and radio and TV personality. A renaissance man with caustic wit and neurotic behavior. Gifted in many media outlets, he composed two string quartets, a piano concerto, a nocturne and a number of contemporary popular songs. Levant suffered under the shadows of his more successful friends and contemporaries George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Vladimir Horowitz. He achieved fame in the 1940s appearing in Hollywood films and recording classical albums for Columbia Records.

Levant was one of three sons raised in Pittsburgh by his strict orthodox Russian Jewish parents. Music filled his home when he was a kid and Oscar was able to showcase his piano talents at an early age. As a boy, he provided music for Al Jolson when he was visiting Pittsburgh, PA. At 12, Oscar smoked five-cent cigars and could sight-read music. At 15, he left for New York City to finish his piano studies.

In New York, he hit the ragtime and vaudeville stage while hearing Paderewski's judgment that his piano playing lacked soul and artistry. Levant played "flash" piano with dance bands and fell into the Tin Pan Alley set of brilliant composers. In the 1920s, Levant met his idol, George Gershwin. Gershwin used Levant as his rehearsal pianist and treated him as his all-licensed Jester with his witty repartee. Levant's cockiness and word play made him a favorite with New York newspaper columnists such as Walter Winchell who would call Levant and beg him for wonderful one-liners to use in his column. Levant's comedic abilities opened doors to Broadway's rich and powerful. Once he found his appreciative audience, Levant became the master in making people laugh.

Levant appeared regularly on the popular radio quiz show, "Information, Please." He soon became a household name in the 1930s with his one-liners. Upon Gershwin's death in 1937, Levant established his talents as the best interpreter of George Gershwin's music.