Tuneful Tuesday ~ Gershwin and Levant - Their Friendship

We watched a 1945 movie, Rhapsody in Blue on TCM the other night. It's the story of George Gershwin's rise to fame. Oscar Levant, as himself, played a prominent part in the film, being one of Gershwin's oldest and closest friends. I've written about Oscar Levant already, in this post from 2011. He was, as the post title indicated "an unusual Capricorn type".
SNIP:

Oscar Levant was something of a renaissance man: pianist, composer, author, comedian, wit, and actor. His "shadow side": hypochondriac, neurotic, addicted to prescription drugs, spent time in mental hospitals. He was considered to be near-genius. His own comment on this: "There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."

Levant was a brilliant pianist, his renditions of his long-time friend George Gershwin's compositions are considered second only to Gershwin's own.

I haven't looked at George Gershwin's chart before. A potted bio can be read at Astrodatabank.

It could be an interesting exercise to try to identify why the two became such close friends. The full interpretation of Levant's chart is at my 2011 post linked above, this time I'm looking only for links to the chart of Gershwin.

Oscar Levant, born 27 December 1906 in Pittsburgh, PA at 11:45 PM (Astrodatabank).

George Gershwin, born 26 September 1898, Brooklyn, New York at 11:09 AM (Astrodatabank)

 Oscar Levant

 George Gershwin

The close friendship between the two men doesn't immediately leap out from their charts. Natal Moons are in highly compatible signs, Gemini and Aquarius - that's a start. Levant's Virgo ascendant would understand Gershwin's Mercury in Virgo - both men were perfectionists - when it came to their music and performance. Levant's Venus at 00 Sagittarius is conjunct Gershwin's Uranus at 00 Sagittarius, and Gershwin's Uranus is conjunct Saturn, giving it a Saturnian blend which matches Levant's Capricorn Sun conjunct Uranus - I see this as the most likely key element of their friendship, along with their compatible Moons.

These men are two more examples of genius brought forth from the Pluto in Gemini generation.

Quality of sound in some YouTube offerings of Gershwin/Levant isn't very good. So as to feature Gershwin's longish and wonderful Rhapsody in Blue with something to watch at the same time - do go see and listen to

the Vimeo video HERE,

..it comes from Fantasia 2000, on which artist/cartoonist Al Hirschfeld served as a consultant with his drawings used for the basis of this segment, accompanying Rhapsody in Blue - it captures the highs and lows of depression-era New York.