Today is the birthday of George Gershwin (1898-1937)

Here are a couple of fascinating documents, set down in 1926, of Fred and Adele Astaire singing with Gershwin at the piano.

The Astaires headlined two of Gershwin’s Broadway musicals, “Lady Be Good!” (1924) and “Funny Face” (1927). Adele married in 1932 and retired from show business. Fred later starred in the film musicals, “Shall We Dance”(1937) and “A Damsel in Distress” (1937), both at least partially scored by Gershwin.

Gershwin received his only Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1937, for “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” from “Shall We Dance.” The nomination was posthumous, as Gershwin had died of a brain tumor two months after the film’s release.

It’s a testament to the two men’s friendship, or at any rate their close working relationship, that reportedly Gershwin’s last words were… “Fred Astaire.”

PHOTO: Astaire (left) with George and Ira Gerswhin