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Of Many Things: From December 12, 1987

One shaft of sunlight that has illuminated a rather gloomy year for most Americans has been the year-long celebration in honor of George Gershwin. When Gershwin died suddenly at age 38 in 1937, the novelist John O’Hara wrote in his typically hard-boiled-sentimental style: “They tell me George Gershwin is dead, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.” Corny or not, O’Hara’s sentiments seemed to have been shared by many this year, as the many television specials, new recordings and stagings of Gershwin’s work attest. In fact, the 50th anniversary appears to be closing with a rush this December as one Gershwin gala crowds another throughout the country.

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Ben Cramb, the Con Man

Allow me to presume that you are one of those mildly perverse people who finds delight in stories that run counter to your usual fuddy-duddy moral judgments offered in public If so then we know that there are several sure-fire kinds of narrative that never lose the naughty appeal of slumming with

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