PORGY AND BESS

Porgy and Bess.

Original Soundtrack Recording. Samuel Goldwyn. 1959.

Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, plagued by production problems (including a fire that destroyed its expensive sets), was a failure despite winning three Oscars. To add insult to injury in the movie's star-crossed history, the George Gershwin estate disliked Porgy and Bess sufficiently to withdraw it from circulation as soon as the term of Goldwyn's license on the original operatic work had expired and hasn't permitted it to be shown since the 1970's, apart from allowing clips of co-star Sammy Davis Jr. to be used in broadcast obituaries on the occasion of the actor's death.