Oscar Levant-Any Fans?

[Nathan Dodge]

I was watching the Astaire-Rogers opus The Barkleys of Broadway the other night and was once again struck by the wit and musical ability of Oscar Levant (1906-1972). I've known him by his role in Barkleys as well as his most famous film, An American In Paris and the one liner attributed to him about Richard Nixon ("He'll doublecross that bridge when he gets to it.")

Now I'm finding myself needing to read the man's memoirs and I understand he had a TV show in the late 1950s. Whenever I see him on film, I am immediately taken with his scene-stealing, caustic, self-deprecating wit, which, apparently was all too real in his personal life, making himself the butt of his own jokes. He's about as original of a performer/personality as I've ever seen or read about. He's fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfWLQjkLWW4

Levant performing "Saber Dance" from The Barkleys of Broadway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnXfNHQhgio&feature=related

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'll want to read "A Talent For Genius," by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenenberger, the definitive Levant biography. Really gets into the psychological oddities that plagued him his whole life, but also emphasizes just how brilliant a talent he was.

He was a regular on the "Information Please" radio program for seven years, and his work there makes for fascinating listening -- a very dry, deadly wit.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

You'll want to read "A Talent For Genius," by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenenberger, the definitive Levant biography. Really gets into the psychological oddities that plagued him his whole life, but also emphasizes just how brilliant a talent he was.

He was a regular on the "Information Please" radio program for seven years, and his work there makes for fascinating listening -- a very dry, deadly wit.

I was *just* reading a review on that very book when I decided to check this thread! In addition to "A Talent For Genius", I'm interested in Levant's self-penned works: "A Smattering of Ignorance" and "The Unimportance of Being Oscar", for starters.

 

[HadleyH]

I Whenever I see him on film, I am immediately taken with his scene-stealing, caustic, self-deprecating wit, which, apparently was all too real in his personal life, making himself the butt of his own jokes. He's about as original of a performer/personality as I've ever seen or read about. He's fascinating.

I agree. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Levant, but he certainly was a witty man. I own a 1940s Doubleday edition of his autobiograhy " A Smattering of Ignorance" which I read. I also liked his acting in "An American in Paris".
What I really like about him are his quotes, here are two:

"There is a fine line between genious and insanity. I have erased this line".

and

"Roses are red, violets are blue, I am schizophrenic and so am I"


He was a tortured soul but he was fun.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

He was a tortured soul but he was fun.

Some of the best ones are. Case in point - Dorothy Parker. So fast, so witty with hilarious remarks. And some of the best are unmentionable in polite society.

 

[Bugsy]

I was watching the Astaire-Rogers opus The Barkleys of Broadway the other night and was once again struck by the wit and musical ability of Oscar Levant (1906-1972). I've known him by his role in Barkleys as well as his most famous film, An American In Paris and the one liner attributed to him about Richard Nixon ("He'll doublecross that bridge when he gets to it.")

Now I'm finding myself needing to read the man's memoirs and I understand he had a TV show in the late 1950s. Whenever I see him on film, I am immediately taken with his scene-stealing, caustic, self-deprecating wit, which, apparently was all too real in his personal life, making himself the butt of his own jokes. He's about as original of a performer/personality as I've ever seen or read about. He's fascinating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfWLQjkLWW4

Levant performing "Saber Dance" from The Barkleys of Broadway:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnXfNHQhgio&feature=related

There is actually a one man show about Oscar Levant. I saw in SF and it was very good. I wish I could remember the title.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Some notable (and hilarious) Oscar Levant quotes:

1. Every time I look at you I get a fierce desire to be lonesome.

2. I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.

3. I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself. Love this one...ND

4. I was once thrown out of a mental hospital for depressing the other patients.

5. It's not a pretty face, I grant you, but underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.

6. There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line.

7. [Jack Paar: What did you want to be when you were a kid, Oscar?] An orphan.

8. The Jerry Lewis Show has all the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller -- the suspense of wondering when the first laugh will come.

9. [Leonard] Bernstein uses music as an accompaniment to his conducting.

10. I'm controversial. My friends either dislike me or hate me.

 

[HadleyH]

8. The Jerry Lewis Show has all the suspense of a Hitchcock thriller -- the suspense of wondering when the first laugh will come.

Love that one!

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Love that one!

By all accounts, that Jerry Lewis program was one of the biggest bombs in TV history. Still, his comment stings since I am a Lewis fan..."Alaskan Polar Bear Heater", anyone?

 

[Patrick Murtha]

I'm a Levant fan, on many grounds. He was an inspired interpreter of Gershwin at the piano; his performance of Gershwin's Piano Concerto is so gorgeously atmospheric it gives me the shivers. And he is frequently hilarious as a supporting performer in movies; take the marvelous Humoresque, for instance, in which he provides substantial comic relief to the doomed John Garfield/Joan Crawford romance, but somehow without disrupting the movie's melancholy tone. Levant to Crawford: "Does your husband interfere with your marriage?"

 

[dhermann1]

Jack Paar used to have him frequently as a guest, both on the Tonight Show, and on his later Friday evening show. Levant was always fascinating and fun.