Gershwins' young life

George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn in 1898 in the post-romantic period. When George Gershwin was born, he was born into a Russian-German family and was also born with the name Jacob Gershowitz. When George Gershwin was ten, his family bought a piano for his brother, Ira Gershwin, but George was the one who played it. At a young age (age 15) Gershwin dropped out of school and became a song-plugger. A song plugger demonstrated tunes to publishers in the early 20th century.