The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
Works
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac
Oscar Levant
Oscar Levant:
42
quotes
3
likes
Famous Oscar Levant Quotes
“It certainly will be if you are still around.”
In response to Gershwin's query, "I wonder if my music will be played a hundred years from now"; as quoted in "George the Ingenuous" by Alexander Woolcott, in Cosmopolitan (November 1933); reprinted in Ch. IV: "'...A Young Colossus...'" https://books.google.com/books?id=ATcjgQTx0uIC&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q&f=false from Gershwin Remembered (1992) by Edward Jablonski, pp. 44-45
If George is around, it will. (This version was recounted by Howard Dietz in Dancing in the Dark (1974), p. 61, in response to a virtually identical query—i.e. as to whether Gershwin's music would still be played in 100 years—posed by Newman Levy.)
“I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself.”
As quoted in Memorable Quotations: Jewish Writers of the Past (2005) edited by Carol A. Dingle.
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965) http://books.google.com/books?&id=yWcIAQAAMAAJ&q=%22My+last+picture+for+Warners+was+Romance+on+the+High+Seas+It+was+Doris+Day%27s+first+picture+that+was+before+she+became+a+virgin%22&pg=PA192#v=onepage
A later paraphrase of this appeared in The Wit and Wisdom of Hollywood (1972) by Max Wilk: "I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin."
“I once said cynically of a politician, "He'll double-cross that bridge when he comes to it."”
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965), p. 13; also quoted in The Quotable Politician (2003) by William B. Whitman, p. 31.
“Now that Marilyn Monroe is kosher, Arthur Miller can eat her.”
Quip about Monroe's conversion to Judaism, on The Oscar Levant Show, as quoted in They Knew Marilyn Monroe: Famous Persons in the Life of the Hollywood Icon (2012) by Les Harding
Oscar Levant Quotes about music
On conductor George Enescu, in "Music in Aspic," Harper's Magazine (October 1939) and A Smattering of Ignorance (1940); as quoted in "Lightning Wit Plays On American Musical Scene; Oscar Levant Answers Unspoken Request for 'Information, Please' With Uncensored Comments on Exalted Persons" by Ray C. B. Brown, in The Washington Post (January 14, 1940), p. E4
In "Music in Aspic," Harper's Magazine (October 1939) and A Smattering of Ignorance (1940); as quoted in "Lightning Wit Plays On American Musical Scene; Oscar Levant Answers Unspoken Request for 'Information, Please' With Uncensored Comments on Exalted Persons" by Ray C. B. Brown, in The Washington Post (January 14, 1940), p. E4
“He writes the kind of music you whistle on the way into the theater.”
On Sigmund Romberg, as quoted in Dancing in the Dark (1974) by Howard Dietz, p. 61
Oscar Levant Quotes
“A psychiatrist once diagnosed my troubles as “an abdication of will.””
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
“I was once thrown out of a mental hospital for depressing the other patients.”
As quoted in Memorable Quotations: Jewish Writers of the Past (2005) edited by Carol A. Dingle.
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
“Incompatibility. And besides, I think she hated me.”
On why his first marriage ended in divorce, in A Smattering of Ignorance (1940); as quoted in "Oscar Levant, A Musical Know-It-All, Writes Book About Music And Himself," https://books.google.com/books?id=rD8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=incompatibility+%22i+think+she+hated+me%22&source=bl&ots=jaka7saxHY&sig=u4HIXFS2YCrP6tV1FRwspSLWO18&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMzIPMzdjRAhVCOyYKHQ_ECrYQ6AEIHzAD#v=onepage&q=incompatibility%20%22i%20think%20she%20hated%20me%22&f=false Life (February 5, 1940), p. 55
“Once he makes up his mind, he's full of indecision.”
On President Dwight D. Eisenhower, as quoted in The Nastiest Things Ever Said about Republicans (2006) by Martin Higgins, p. 83.
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
As quoted in On the 8th Day — God Laughed (1995) by Gene Perret, p. 95.
“Tell me, George, if you had it to do all over, would you fall in love with yourself again?”
Oscar Levant, as recounted by Levant in A Smattering of Ignorance (1940); quoted in "Books and Things" by Lewis Gannett, in The New York Herald Tribune (January 13, 1940), p. 11
“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.”
As quoted in The New Speaker's Treasury of Wit and Wisdom (1958) by Herbert Victor Prochnow, p. 322.
“I am no more humble than my talents require.”
As quoted in Memorable Quotations: Jewish Writers of the Past (2005) edited by Carol A. Dingle.
Describing himself, in lines he contributed to An American In Paris (1951), although officially credited to Alan Jay Lerner, as told in The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965); also quoted in The Dictionary of Biographical Quotation of British and American Subjects (1978) by Richard Kenin and Justin Wintle, p. 485.
Source: In "Music in Aspic," Harper's Magazine (October 1939), an abbreviated chapter from Levant's soon-to-be-published A Smattering of Ignorance (1940); reproduced in Gentlemen, Scholars, and Scoundrels: A Treasury of the Best of Harper's Magazine from 1850 to the Present https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22Oscar+Levant%22+intitle:Gentlemen+intitle:scholars+intitle:and+intitle:scoundrels&num=10 (1959), edited by Harry Knowles, p. 246
“An epigram is only a wisecrack that's played at Carnegie Hall.”
As quoted in Coronet Magazine (September 1968).
Oscar Levant, as quoted in "Oscar the Magnificent" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161384355/
“It would have been better if you had died and Gershwin had written the elegy.”
Critiquing a musical tribute composed shortly after Gershwin's death (July 11, 1937) by an unnamed mutual friend; as recounted by Levant in The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965); and quoted in "On San Diego: You Can Bet On It" https://books.google.com/books?id=DAMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA2-PA272&dq=%22Oscar+Levant%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwinnrf4gNnRAhVHwiYKHWsVBrI4FBDoAQg3MAg#v=onepage&q=%22Oscar%20Levant%22&f=false by Tom Blair, in San Diego Magazine (September 2007), p. 272
“When I used to speak of the lunatic fringe, I didn’t know I was going to be head of it.”
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
“Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.”
As quoted in Time (28 August 1972).
“Ballet is the fairies' baseball.”
Oscar Levant, as quoted in "Oscar the Magnificent" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161384355/ by Burt Prelutsky, in The Los Angeles Times (January 26, 1969), p. 468
“I don't drink liquor. I don't like it. It makes me feel good.”
As quoted in Time magazine (5 May 1958).
“If George is around, it will.”
In response to a question posed by Newman Levy, as to whether Gershwin's music would still be played a hundred years hence; as quoted in Dancing in the Dark (1974), p. 61
“Instant unconsciousness had been my greatest passion for ten years.”
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
“I envy people who drink — at least they know what to blame everything on.”
As quoted in The Portable Curmudgeon (1992) by Jon Winokur, p. 88.
As quoted in The Quotable Politician (2003) by William B. Whitman, p. 30.
Oscar Levant, as quoted in "Oscar the Magnificent" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/161384355/
“There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.”
As quoted in Celebrity Register: An Irreverent Compendium of American Quotable Notables (1959) by Cleveland Amory.
“I'm a study of a man in chaos in search of frenzy.”
As quoted in Time (5 May 1958).
As quoted in Dancing in the Dark (1974), p. 61
The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965)
“Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you will find the real tinsel underneath.”
As quoted in Jewish Wit (1962) by Theodor Reik, p. 104, also in Inquisition in Eden (1965) and Whatever It Is, I’m Against It (1984) by Nat Shapiro.
