How did Ira Gershwin earn the nickname “The Jeweller”?

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George Gershwin American composer George Gershwin working on the score for *Porgy and Bess*, 1935.

Ira Gershwin earned the nickname "The Jeweller" from fellow songwriters because of his meticulous approach to lyric writing. After his brother, George Gershwin, composed a melody, Ira would spend a week or more carefully fitting words to the tune and polishing each line until he was completely satisfied with the result.1

This process was considered a "truly phenomenal feat" by other songwriters, such as Arthur Schwartz, who noted the difficulty of maintaining brilliance while working within the most confining rhythms and accents.1