He was born Irving Shelasky in Springfield, Massachusetts to Rebecca (née Sack) and Abraham Shelasky, Russian Jewish immigrants.
When Irving was 13 or 14, he sang in synagogues and churches as a boy soprano. By his final high school year in 1940, he heard about a dramatic school in Boston for those who were not quite draft age and who were tall and had deep voices, so he immediately received a scholarship. In 1942, he worked in the chorus of the St. Louis Muny Opera.
Irving made his debut in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma!, only to be drafted days later to serve in the United States Army in World War II. He received this role when one of the original actors lost his voice and Irving went on as his replacement. He explains the following: "I wrote to The Theatre Guild when they were casting Oklahoma! and asked them to remind Oscar Hammerstein that he knew me a little, and I got an audition and was cast in the chorus". Irving is best known to Broadway audiences for his role as opposite Debbie Reynolds and Jane Powell (successively) in Irene (1974), and his Tony nominated performance as Sir John in Me and My Girl (1987).
In 2008, Irving recreated the three roles he originally played in the ill-fated 1976 Joseph Stein musical So Long, 174th Street, now reworked, revised, and with its original title Enter Laughing at Off-Broadway's York Theatre Company, and received rave reviews for his rendition of "The Butler's Song". Irving performed his one-man cabaret show to great acclaim at Feinstein's in New York City in November 2008. On December 8, 2008, aged 86, Irving received the 17th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
Productions
Oklahoma! (1943)
Call Me Mister (1946)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949)
Two's Company (1952)
Can-Can (1953)
Me and Juliet (1953)
Bells Are Ringing (1956)
Shinbone Alley (1957)
Irma La Douce (1960)
Bravo Giovanni (1962)
Romulus (1962)
Tovarich (1963)
Anya (1965)
The Happy Time (1968)
An Evening With Richard Nixon and... (1972)
Irene (1973 revival)
So Long, 174th Street (1976)
Once in a Lifetime (1978 revival)
I Remember Mama (1979)
The Pirates of Penzance (1981 revival)
Copperfield (1981)
On Your Toes (1983 revival)
Me and My Girl (1986)
Busker Alley (2005)
A Wonderful Life (2005)
Promenade Off Broadway 1969
One of his most prominent non-Broadway roles was a voice-over for The Year Without a Santa Claus, in which he played the embittered Heat Miser opposite Dick Shawn's Snow Miser. He did another voice-over for Rankin-Bass as Mister Geppetto in Pinocchio's Christmas and was the narrator of the animated cartoon series Underdog, as well as the voice of Running Board on Go Go Gophers. He also voiced Captain Contagious in Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure. Irving has also narrated the popular Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Audio Books.
Irving returned to television in 2008 after an absence of more than a decade to reprise his role as Heat Miser in a new sequel to The Year Without a Santa Claus, A Miser Brothers' Christmas, which premiered on December 13, 2008, on cable's ABC Family. The show served as the network's first-ever original animated special. The production was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children by the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Animated Film Society.
Irving was familiar to television audiences of the 1970s as a result of his memorable guest-starring appearances on All in the Family as Russ DeKuyper, the loudmouthed husband of Edith Bunker's cousin Amelia. He was also a regular in the cast of the short-lived 1976 sitcom The Dumplings. Irving also did some work in commercials for White Owl Cigars in the early 1970s.
Irving was married to Maria Karnilova from 1948 until her death in 2001. They had a son, Alexander of Oceanside, California, a daughter, Katherine Irving of South Salem, New York, and three grandchildren.
Irving died in Manhattan of heart failure on December 26, 2016 at the age of 94.
The Dream
George S. Irving Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
崩折(くずお)れた
夢の欠片(かけら)に
埋もれたままで
今日も夜が訪れる
Try me 誰か俺を
Try me 試している
Say you love me
告げるお前のことを
信じていいなら
Stay with me 何も言わず
Stay with me 俺のそばに...
Stay with me 抱いてくれ
Stay with me,my heart
I need your love tonight
なにもかもがMazy blues
都会(ここ)ではHazy truth
I love, I love you ... so
believe in you
すべてと引き換えに
手にしたぬくもりを
I'll never let you go
I need your love
I'm a loser
今はただ傷をかかえて
お前の胸で
そっと 眠り続けたい
Stay with me 何も言わず
Stay with me 俺のそばに...
Stay with me 抱いてくれ
Stay with me, my heart
I need your love tonight
The Dream by George S. Irving is a song about the resilience of an aging musician, who is being talked about for having lost control due to excessive drinking and a failed love affair. The singer acknowledges that there might be some truth to the rumors, but he is not bothered by them. He continues to sing his songs and still has some soul left in him. In the chorus, he admonishes anyone who thinks he has lost his passion to keep dreaming because he still carries the flame and feels the same way about his music.
The second verse explores the singer's life choices and the loneliness of his journey. He has always followed his own path, away from prying eyes, but sometimes he wonders if he has done it all wrong, and the songs he writes are the only way he can reflect on his life. The Dream is a powerful and introspective song that embodies the spirit of a musician who keeps going despite all the adversities.
Line by Line Meaning
I've heard there's talk around sayin' I'm out of control.
People are saying that I have lost control of my life.
Something about too many bottles and a love that's grown cold.
They are talking about me drinking too much and no longer being in love.
But you know talk is cheap and sometime these stories get old.
But I know that people like to talk, and sometimes they repeat the same old stories.
But I keep on singing my songs and I still got some soul.
But despite what people say, I keep on singing my songs and I still have passion for what I do.
So Dream On if you think I still carry the flame.
So keep dreaming if you think that I still have feelings for you.
Dream On if you think that I still feel the same.
Keep dreaming if you think that I still have the same love for you.
Your love is just an old memory.
I no longer have feelings for you, and your love is just a memory from the past.
And I'm alright you don't have to worry 'bout me.
But don't worry about me, I'm doing fine on my own.
I've spent my whole life going the way that I choose.
I have always lived my life the way I wanted to.
And I've tried to find a way where no one could see.
And sometimes I have tried to hide my true self from the world.
And it seems unkind to know that maybe I've done it all wrong.
And it can be hard to accept that maybe I have made mistakes in my life.
When I see my life flashing before me sometimes in these songs.
Sometimes when I am singing my songs, I see my life reflecting back at me.
Your love is just an old memory.
I no longer have feelings for you, and your love is just a memory from the past.
And I'm alright you don't have to worry 'bout me.
But don't worry about me, I'm doing fine on my own.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: 健 加藤
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind