Oscar Levant Collection

Oscar Levant
(1906 – 1972)

"Oscar Levant is a character who, if he did not exist, could not be imagined."
-Sam Behrman (biographer)

Oscar Levant's mother took him to New York City after his father passed away in order to further his musical apprenticeship. His early repertoire included Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann, but he soon became caught up in the glamor of Broadway. At the age of 18 in the film Ben Bernie and All The Lads, an early Sound-On-Film picture.

In 1928, Levant traveled to Hollywood to try his hand at composing for the movies. During this period, he was befriended by George Gershwin, a long lasting and influential friendship for both. Levant went on to compose for and appear in numerous films, including Romance On The High Seas (1948), Doris Day's film debut, and as Gene Kelly's piano playing buddy in An American In Paris (1951), a film inspired by the Gershwin's 1928 symphony.

Americans got to know Oscar Levant best as a panelist on the popular Information, Please radio program. Levant was an early guest panelist, but his quick wit and sometimes caustic answers made him popular enough with audiences to gain him a permanent spot on the panel. Host Clifton Fadiman pointedly called on "Mr. Levant" for music related questions, but his wide ranging knowledge on numerous topics made him nearly as popular as his ability to quickly turn a joke. Fellow panelist John Kieran said that Levant had "a positive genius fir making offhand cutting remarks that couldn't have been sharper if he'd honed them for a week in his mind."

From 1947 to 1949, Levant teamed with Al Jolson on The Kraft Music Hall. The entertainers each had ties to George Gershwin. Both appeared in the 1945 biopic, Rhapsody In Blue, playing themselves.

Although Jolson was the host of Music Hall and top banana, Levant's caustic humor was a terrific balance for the vaudevillains cloying sweetness. For his part, Jolson was able to keep Levant, who was beginning a personal descent into mental illness, somewhat in check.

In 1950 Levant hosted talk show on KCOP TV from LA which went into national syndication. Fred Astaire made his TV debut on the program, and paid to have a kinescope made so he could evaluate his performance. It is one of few times we get to see Astaire turn in a less than perfect performance because it was live. Levant changing the tempo of his playing during Astaire's songs probably didn't help.

Levant became well known for his neuroses and hypochondria. After a heart attack in 1953, he became addicted to prescription drugs, but he was able to continue appearing as a guest in many venues. He told Jack Parr on the Tonight Show "There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line."

In August, 1972, Levant was scheduled for a sit down interview with Candice Bergen (Charlie McCarthy's little sister) then working as a photo-journalist. When his wife went in to wake him for the interview, she discovered that a heart attack had taken him in his sleep. Levant's well known hypochondria led comics to claim that his epitaph would read "I Told them I was ill!"

This collection contains Oscar Levant's many appearances in episodes from the old time radio series:

• Bell Telephone Hour
• It's Time To Smile
• Guest Star
• Information Please
• Jack Benny
• Kraft Music Hall
• Philco Radio Time
• Radio Hall of Fame
• Fred Allen's Texaco Time
• Texaco Star Theater and more!