MovieChat Forums > Porgy and Bess (1959) Discussion > Scary Statement From Gershwin Estate

Scary Statement From Gershwin Estate

posted 14 years ago by ecarle
11 replies | jump to latest

The 2008 book, "The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger" has this paragraph on pp 230-231:

"Porgy and Bess is unavailable for public distribution. In his deal with the Gershwins, Goldwyn had not bought the film rights outright but leased them for a fifteen-year period beginning with the signing of the contract in 1957. After the end of this period, exhibition of the film required permission from the authors or their estates. Michael Strunsky, the nephew of Leonare Gershwin and the executor of the Gershwin estate, said in 1993, 'That film was unfortunate, but typical of the attitudes of the time. My aunt didn't want it distributed. She and my uncle(Ira) felt it was a Hollywoodization of the piece. We(the estate)now acquire any prints we find and destroy them." (END)

Practically everything in that paragraph is understandable until we reach "We...now acquire any prints we find and destroy them."

Sounds like a scary horror movie. Whoever is guarding the last print of "Porgy and Bess"...run, run for your lives with that print!

Hey, maybe it was the Gershwin's work, but it is the Preminger movie with Poitier and Dandridge and Sammy. Can't we keep at least ONE copy for posterity?

---

If all of this is now a moot point and has been "solved" since 1993..excuse me.

[–] Mirage4 14 years ago

It's still unavailable except for archives, thankfully the Library of Congress and probably the AFI has copies in their archives. I just watched a documentary on Dorothy Dandridge and they showed several clips which I did not know existed. I stopped lamenting over it, "Carmen Jones" has most of the same cast who actually sing their own parts; from most accounts, it is a far superior film. When the writer/composers, director, actors, and studio all agree that they did not care for the film, there must be a reason.

[–] ecarle 14 years ago

I take that point...but for an estate to elect to find all copies of a film and DESTROY it? Sometimes even bad movies leave a legacy.

I mean, Dorothy Dandridge didn't make all that many movies before she died. It would be nice to have more of a record that she existed at all...

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

Extremely scary statement. Is that guy still in charge of the estate? Haven't attitudes changed in the last 28 years? It's as bad as the cavalier attitude TV networks had when they routinely disposed of kinescopes and videotapes despite what was on them.

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] mountainguy 12 years ago

There is one remaining complete 35mm print in existence - it's privately owned. It's in very good condition and has been exhibited several times in the NY area in the last decade. Today's announcement that the movie has been added to the National Film Registry is encouraging.

[–] marktayloruk 10 years ago

Shown at NFT few years ago.Please start making copies and distributing them on DVD to stop these vandals!

[–] funkyfry 10 years ago

"Carmen Jones" has most of the same cast who actually sing their own parts;

Um, no. Harry Belafonte is not Sidney Poitier. And neither Belafonte nor Dandridge sung their own parts for "Carmen."

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'

[–] lubin-freddy 12 years ago

Very Hearstian.

I want to shake every limb in the Garden of Eden
and make every lover the love of my life

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] overseer-3 11 years ago

The whole thing reminds me of Ted Turner refusing to show Our Gang - Little Rascals short film classics on TCM for years because he considered them "racist." How totally bizarre. They showed white kids and black kids playing together as friends, that to me was groundbreaking. You have to start with baby steps before you can take big strides. Sometimes these copyright holders are just obtuse. Wonder what Sidney Portier thinks of the suppression of this film?

[–] KayDrama 10 years ago

It is well known that Sidney Portier did not want to star in this film and hated the finished version. I am not sure if I read that in his autobiography or heard it somewhere else (it's been many, many years ago that I read his book). It is also noted in imdb's trivia section on this film but they don't list a source either.

It's a shame too because Sammy Davis, Jr. Would have given anything to play Porgy instead of Sportin' Life. He said so on a tv special featuring him and Dianne Carroll and he then proceeded to sing all of Porgy's songs instead of Sportin' Life's.

[–] rpniew 9 years ago

I wonder how Poitier feels about it now, over 50 years later. Sometimes distance is all you need.