Who was Oscar Levant?
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Oscar Levant was a renowned pianist, composer, conductor and actor. Due to his love for the piano, it should come at no surprise that Levant was a huge fan of George Gershwin (starting at age 12), so much so that when they met in 1925, they became great friends and after his death, Levant vowed to keep his music alive. The most notable examples of this are Levant’s recording of “Rhapsody in Blue” with Eugene Ormandy in 1945 and his work on Gershwin’s biographical film by the same name. Levant became second only to Gershwin in playing his music and he was such an entertaining pianist, that in the 1940s, he was America’s highest paid classical concert star.
He wasn’t only popular for his abilities on the keys though, he was also known for his work on films Rhapsody in Blue (1945), The Band Wagon (1953), The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), and An American in Paris (1951), his Broadway performance in Burlesque (1927), his composer/conductor work on The American Way (1939), and of course, his witty, entertaining personality.
The Exploitation of Mental Health in the Media: Oscar’s Story
As a popular figure, Levant was featured on various TV programs, including “Tonight Starring Jack Paar” (a total of 6 times between 1958 and 1960). Levant was one of Paar’s favorite guests because you never knew what he was going to say live. “Good Night, Oscar” is a fictionalized retelling of when Oscar Levant checked out of Mount Sinai Hospital for 4 hours to make a live television guest appearance. In actuality, this guest appearance took place on a game show, but in this play, he appears on “The Tonight Show”.
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A main reason that Oscar was such a wild card was because of his openness about his mental health. This topic was taboo back in the 1950s, so much so that the NBC president, Robert Sarnoff, was concerned about Levant’s appearance on Jack Paar’s show. In “Good Night, Oscar”, he tells Levant that he has to keep his jokes wholesome and Levant fires back, “The best jokes? The ones worth tellin’? They’re dangerous on account’a they tell the truth.”
In 1950, Oscar had a heart attack which caused an addiction to Demerol. This, in addition to the mental health issues (bipolar disorder, OCD, and depression) he was already struggling with didn’t help his disposition. He was committed to mental hospitals on various occasions and even endured shock therapy treatments. And yet, in his interviews, he would get to the punch of the joke before anyone else could, openly discussing his amnesia due to the treatments, his rocky relationship with his wife, and deep apathy, just to name a few examples.
This NPR article features a snippet of one of his interviews where this is prevalent.
Are all of the characters real people?
Oscar Levant, June Levant, Jack Paar, George Gershwin, and Bob Sarnoff are all real people, but the characters of Alvin and Max are not, despite being highly important to the plot of the show. This is why it is important to stress that even though some aspects of the show are true, this is a fictional story.
Now, I don’t want to give everything about Oscar away, so make sure you catch the story of one of the craziest nights in Hollywood, running April 16th-May 2nd.
Looking for more information? Check out some of these sources!
https://www.classical-music.com/features/artists/oscar-levant