Selections from the famous opera by George and Ira Gershwin from the novel 'Porgy' by DuBose Heyward. George and Ira Gershwin joined DuBose Heyward in Charleston to write the opera which had been germinating in George's imagination for several years. Porgy and Bess was George Gershwin's longest and most ambitious creation but it was not truly successful during his lifetime. Some of the songs had achieved popularity before Gershwin's death in 1937 but the work earned real approval and favor only after the 1940 Theater Guild presentation of a slightly revised version. For years it was performed more frequently in Europe where it was considered a true American opera than in America.