Prof. Franck Quotes in Rhapsody in Blue (1945)

Prof. Franck: Is your work the best? As good as you can do?

George Gershwin: Well of course, not yet.

Prof. Franck: Or are you just making a fortune?

George Gershwin: What's wrong with a fortune, if it helps me get on?

Prof. Franck: Come here, my boy. Look:

Prof. Franck: [Indicating a portrait on the fireplace mantle] This is Franz Schubert. He was a songwriter too. He died young. At 32. For years he wore the same old faded necktie. But in the land that nurtured him, he was a voice that will never be silenced.

Prof. Franck: [now indicating a carved bust] Here, Richard Wagner. At rehearsals of his great opera "Rienzi," Richard Wagner hid in the wings, while the singers ate their luncheon. He didn't have a lunch - just dreams of the music of the future.

Prof. Franck: [now indicating another carved bust] Beethoven. He never asked himself, "Is this a hit?" He said, "This is the way it must be done."

Prof. Franck: [Indicating an autographed manuscript] Eh? You see that? It wasn't a hit at first. It was a manuscript of Johannes Brahms.

George Gershwin: You knew him?

Prof. Franck: Yes, he gave it to me in Vienna. Once I hoped to reach his greatness. But one pupil like you makes up for a lifetime of disappointments.

George Gershwin: [shaking his head] Professor Franck... you overestimate my future.

Prof. Franck: Oh, I have such hopes for you, my boy. America is a growing country. A mixture of things very old, with more that is new. Your nature has the same contradictions: the lamb, and the wolf. Ideals, and material ambitions. If you can make them both serve, George, you can give America her voice.