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He was also a very close friend of Harpo Marx.. Harpo tells a story about Oscar, who would come for drinks and stay for a month. George Gershwin would sometimes pretend he wasn't home because Oscar did not sleep ( if he did it was rare and for only a few minutes) and so when he was a guest at his house he really didn't have too much of a choice but to stay up with him, although Harpo insists that he could leave the room and Oscar would keep acting as if you were still there . He smoked incessantly and drank until the booze was gone and then, if you had a piano, he would play it literally from dawn til dusk and back again.
Oscar Levant was ab exceptional wit and it was believed he was a true savant on the piano. He could hear something once and then play it perfectly. Gershwin thought Levant was the only one who could do justice to his music, especially "Rhapsody in Blue" He was Gershwin's 'designated player' He was manic and he was driven and he remains one of my absolute favorites to this day. I just watched a Doris Day film just because Oscar Levant was in it. He played the best second banana ever.
