GERSHWIN (GEORGE & IRA) Group of items sent by Ira Gershwin to a British fan, comprising: i) Signature ('George Gershwin') clipped from a cancelled cheque, affixed lower left to a black and white portrait publicity photograph of George Gershwin in a pin-stripe suit playing the piano, 165 x 229mm., slight vertical crease towards right, mounted in 'Diamond-Color' card folder, [1934]; with accompanying typed letter signed ('Ira Gershwin') to Mrs Peggy Dunne, explaining '...His actual signature, clipped from a canceled check, is pasted on the photograph...', continuing '...As for Cleo Laine, I have of course heard of her and like her voice and her interpretations... she and Ray Charles have just completed a Porgy & Bess album...', one page on 'Ira Gershwin' headed notepaper, creased with some marks, 4to, 1021 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills, 29 July 1976 ii) GERSHWIN (IRA) Lyrics on Several Occasions, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on half title ('Best wishes/ Ira Gershwin/ Beverly Hills, 12/24/'77/'), The Viking Press, 1973; with accompanying typed letter signed on behalf of Ira Gershwin ('Walter Reilly'), to Mrs Peggy Dunne, apologising for not replying to her sooner and sending a signed book in recompense, one page on 'Ira Gershwin' headed notepaper, creased, small tear along centre fold, remains of old tape, 4to, 1021 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills, 10 May 1978 (4) Footnotes: 'THE LEFT HAND PLAYS THE MELODY UPSIDE DOWN, WHILE THE RIGHT PLAYS IT STRAIGHT, ON THE THEORY THAT YOU SHOULDN'T LET ONE HAND KNOW WHAT THE OTHER IS DOING' (George Gershwin, Music by Gershwin radio broadcast, 19 February 1934). This publicity photograph of legendary composer George Gershwin was taken for his little-known 1934 radio programme, Music by Gershwin which, according to Sarah Sisk, was '...crucial to the existence of one of Gershwin's greatest works, Porgy and Bess... It highlights an important aspect of Gershwin's popularity in his own lifetime – his penchant for being at the forefront of music technology... public broadcast radio...'. Conceived as a way to raise funds for Porgy and Bess, his first full-length opera, the programme aired for the first time on the NBC Blue Network on 19 February 1934, running twice a week until the following May and revived again in September to December. It was sponsored by Feen-a-mint, a chewing gum laxative, and Gershwin selected and introduced the numbers for each programme, his informal dialogue peppered with jokes and anecdotes. The New York Times wrote after his death in July 1937: '...his genius freshened the life blood of radio... his growth and triumphs paralleled the magic advances of broadcasting which in a flash introduced his popular melodies to the entire nation...' (Sarah Sisk, 'Music by Gershwin' University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance online blog, 2017). The photograph, book and accompanying letters were sent to Mrs Margaret ('Peggy') Dunne, an avid fan of the Gershwins, and have remained in the family since then. Provenance: Peggy Dunne (d.1992); thence by descent to the present owner. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com