Alan Gershwin, Who Claimed a Famous Father, Is Dead at 91

"It wouldn't be make believe, if you believed in me," - too bad that song wasn't written by the Gershwins. It would be apt here. As much as I would love to believe that one of the Gershwin brothers had bequeathed their DNA to the next generation, I don't think this fellow looked all that much like George Gershwin.

Sounds like pure soap opera, I may cry - Cole Porter.

On this day when the NYT has acknowledged writing on obituary for the inventor of the Slinky while ignoring the deaths of women like Diane Arbus and Ida B. Wells, it's hard not to wonder what contemporary death may have gone unrecognized in favor of an obit for someone whose primary life accomplishment was claiming to be a famous person's son. (It's an interesting story, but why not cover it as a feature, in the arts section?)

I am a pianist who was very active in concert programs of Gershwin’s works during the 1998 centennial year. In August of that year our cast performed a variety of Gershwin concert programs at a festival on the N. German coast and to our surprise Alan Gershwin was in the program. We even performed one of his songs (unremarkable) on the final concert. Later in the concert as the soprano started to sing the first words of Summertime, the heavens opened and the wind almost blew our outdoor stage canopy away. Perhaps just punishment on the organizers for helping perpetuate the myth? All that said Alan was an affable guy and indeed he looked the part and was a pleasure to work with. Who knows the truth? The fact that Ira G and his wife housed him and their subsequent treatment of him presumably to avoid losing any share of the estate seems to point to him being the son. There is also no mention in this article of a $50,000 settlement in the 50s that Alan often mentioned in interviews. Again, who knows.

Further proof: Mr. Alan So-Called Gershwin also looks astoundingly like my late Uncle Morty, who could play the first few bars of the right-hand part of an easy piano arrangement of "Rhapsody in Blue".

He could of cashed in by being an actor who resembles Gershwin in films that needed someone to play the famous Gershwin.

There is no way a biological male child of George Gershwin could be genetically related to George's sister (unless the child's mother was genetically related to the sister). George would have passed on to his son his Y chromosome which he in turn would have inherited from his father. George's sister would have inherited X chromosomes from both her father and her mother. George's alleged son's X chromosome would have come from his mother, someone completely unrelated to George's sister. So there could never be a match with either of George's sister's X chromosomes.

Still, it all turned out better than for a certain German con man who, for years, had passed himself off even more improbably as “Clark Rockefeller.” Had Mr Schneider/“Gershwin” been as greedy as Mr “Rockefeller,” his most enduring composition might have been titled A Rap Sheet in Blue.

Right out of the box Albert Schneider made absurd, easily disprovable claims that made it clear he was not related to George Gershwin. Ira rejected him because he knew he was an "imposter" (Ira's words) and there was no reason to engage with him. In his 1959 Confidential article he claimed Ira clanged his phone number after he saw him. Ira never changed his phone number. Todd Duncan (the original Porgy) said that he would have remembered if George Gershwin brought a young boy to a rehearsal of their show. And he wasn't the only one to claim he was related to George, only the most vocal. The author Ed Jablonksi met him in the fifties and Schneider cut the meeting short saying that he was late for a meeting of the "Flying Saucer Society". Joan Peyser was almost as nuts as Schneider and her book is a fantasia of crazy. But he got ink for his claims and is still doing so. I hope his family has peace with his passing.

Nothing indicates that he was Gershwin's son. But damn it, the resemblance is striking. As mentioned, it is surprising that on one else made the claim. Gershwin was very successful dating women and he did have plenty of company with the Ziegfeld and George White's Scandals women. And there was no shortage of them in the 1920s. As Gershwin's friend and rival Thomas "Fats" Waller said, one never knows, does one?

I'm always saddened by the bizarre games that people play/played on hiding a child: They'd pretend it is their sister's child.... or that it is their mother's and the child is their sister or brother...movie stars back in the 50's used to travel to Europe and swear they found the child in an orphanage. It was common to "adopt" one's own child. And, why? For money, so they wouldn't have to pay $5 or $10 a month. Because they were already married. Because they were in politics. Before a camera. Did I mention money? Would I have believed him? Yes. Sad, that no Gershwin had the honor to step up and offer DNA. And, how incredibly 1950's of this country to slut-shame his mother. You remember this the next time some Republican sneers at those "welfare queens popping out more babies to get more money". THIS is the 1950's they want us all to return to with no birth control or legal abortion, with "sensational details" and just SO many twists and turns to the plot! Oh, my! But, they'll say, they're all just a bunch of round-heels! I'd say this country got it's buck's worth of drama out of the lives of this man and his mother. Not your finest hour, NYTimes. In fact, this tale reminds me of the Sally Hemming's story....

The man was an imposter and a grifter, but he did have some musical talent in his own right. Born in 1926 in Brooklyn as Albert Schneider, I wonder when he changed his name to Alan Gershwin and if court records showed it was done legally. I also wonder if the writer, David Margolick, was able to access Mr. Gershwin's military records from World War II. The man made a career out of his striking appearance, but as Gershwin expert and family trust adviser Robert Kimball said: “There are a lot of Jewish guys in Brooklyn today who look like that.”

If you're a dancer, and your real name is Mollie Charleston, why would you need a stage name?

No school records? Military records?? Also, doesn't the DNA tell it all, albeit coming rather late in this saga. Wasn't the Gershwin sister adopted though? Just kidding. LOL.

How sad, and delusional.

"born ... to a sultry dancer named Mollie Charleston"? When will the Times in the post MeToo era ditch vaguely suggestive adjectives like sultry?

Did anyone consult with Michael Feinstein? He worked with Ira Gershwin for many years: perhaps he has some inside knowledge...

This reminds me of the Anastasia fraud which went on and on and "inspired" movies etc. It wasn't until Prince Philip donated some DNA that it was finally laid to rest that the woman was mentally ill and hustled around by her husband. There are always people who submit their own fraudulent memories to bolster the claims of people like this.

If he was a fraud, then he certainly was dedicated to his scam. But maybe he was just a guy who desperately wanted to be "special" and he made himself "special" by claiming to be the son of a musical genius. He didn't make millions from his claim and it doesn't appear that he hurt anyone along the way and just enjoyed the pleasure of thinking he was the son of a famous man. People have done worse.

I'm about to sell some valuable artworks by Melvin Renoir and Chuck da Vinci. My name is Alan Gershwin Jr., or maybe George Gershwin III, or possibly Marie of Roumania.

So an impostor and grafter born Albert Schneider in 1926 in Brooklyn was known as Alan Gershwin. I wonder if he ever legally changed his name or entered military service as Alan Gershwin; the article doesn't mention that.

Con artists such as Mr....? Charleston? have a long and somewhat entertaining history in America. I'm always reminded of the Duke and the King in Huck Finn.

A veteran of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and a composer whose work was performed at the Kennedy Center. Notable in his own right, Gershwin or not.

DNA evidence sounds undeniably clear: Alan G is not related to George's sister and so not related to George Gershwin. Bottom line: Alan G is not related to George.

Fascinating story. I wonder why the Gershwin family has been reluctant to offer up any DNA. Perhaps they secretly feared that Alan really was the son.