Tweet Actors playing instruments onscreen

Mary Astor at the piano.

This was in `The Great Lie' (1941). From memory, Astor described the filming of the sequence in her biography as sort-of miming (the book's on loan to someone so I can't double check) - she had to know the piece well enough to be a convincing concert pianist but not actually play it.

However, I've also read other eyewitnesses accounts saying it was virtually all her own work. It would not surprise me at all, as Astor was a highly trained pianist, and also tended to minimise her own role in anything she did.

Going back to the Betty Compson example from `Street Girl' - perhaps it was a similar situation. I was certainly convinced by her performance, and was surprised when I read she'd been dubbed.

Then there's Richard Barthelmess in `Weary River' (1929). Both his voice and piano playing were done `Singin' In The Rain' style by people offscreen, and it caused the first-ever `lip-synching' scandal.

Moving far away from actors there was an odd situation in Paderewski's only film MOONLIGHT SONATA. He wanted to play the piece live for the camera but because of his age the producer required him to mime his playing (on a silenced piano) to one of his own recordings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idmYXaIhh2A

Buddy Rogers did play multiple instruments in a variety of films because he was a band leader and did play multiple instruments.

Buddy Rogers did play multiple instruments in a variety of films because he was a band leader and did play multiple instruments.

Likewise Fred MacMurray who was a bandleader and vocalist, though he ditched that almost completely once he went into acting.

Richard Hayden plays the reed organ a bit in CLUNY BROWN

Clifton Webb sang (a rather wavering tenor) but I've never seen him do it onscreen

Can we get some applause for Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards? I think we all know what he played onscreen. However, he became even more famous offscreen as the voice of Jiminy Crickett singing "When You Wish Upon A Star."

I read somewhere that the gimmick with Buddy Rogers was that he could only play a few prepared stanzas on each instrument!

I read somewhere that the gimmick with Buddy Rogers was that he could only play a few prepared stanzas on each instrument!

Gene Krupa, who was once a member of Rogers' band, said in an interview that he would cringe when Rogers went into his "play all the instruments" act, because he did it badly. The instrument that Rogers played best, and which he used most often to solo with the band, was the trombone.

Harpo Marx playing:

- clarinet in The Cocoanuts
- piano in The Big Store

Clifton Webb sang (a rather wavering tenor) but I've never seen him do it onscreen

He danced professionally, though. I know, not the same thing.

Clifton Webb sang (a rather wavering tenor) but I've never seen him do it onscreen

He danced professionally, though. I know, not the same thing.

yes, and was considered originally for the part Jack Buchanan played in The Band Wagon.

Richard Gere actually plays the trumpet
in The Cotton Club.

Richard Gere actually plays the trumpet
in The Cotton Club.

As does Peter Weller in Buckaroo Banzai.

A curious item circulated on the entertainment pages in the early '30s about Harry Langdon, claiming he could play nine instruments. He's definitely playing banjo in THE FIGHTING PARSON and he could be playing his own piano while performing the "Oui Oui" number in A SOLDIER`S PLAYTHING.

I believe that Jean Arthur actually played the piano on screen. She plays in several films. The most memorable is Only Angels Have Wings when she continually points out Grant's bad playing.

Groucho's guitar serenade of Thelma Todd in "Horsefeathers" shows his musical side, less known than that of Chico or Harpo. An interesting article on the Gibson.com website explains that Groucho is playing a 1928 Gibson L-5 Archtop. According to the article, Groucho was an excellent player, and intentionally plays his guitar "de-tuned" and a bit amateurishly. He then appears to toss it into the lake after a duck quacks at his performance. Fortunately, the instrument he pitches is a prop guitar -- recent auctions have brought in the neighborhood of $10,000 for late '20s - early '30s Gibson L-5 models in good condition.








Groucho is ready to toss the prop guitar (note the round sound hole of the flat top prop guitar, Groucho's L-5 is an archtop with traditional "f" sound holes).







This is a slightly fancier Gibson L-5 model from 1929 that recently sold at auction for just under $10,000 -- a fraction of the price some 1950s and 60s models of Gibson and Fender electrics have sold for in the last five years.
Gibson website:http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/The%20Surprisingly%20Serious%20Tale/

Groucho's guitar serenade of Thelma Todd in "Horsefeathers" shows his musical side, less known than that of Chico or Harpo. An interesting article on the Gibson.com website explains that Groucho is playing a 1928 Gibson L-5 Archtop. According to the article, Groucho was an excellent player, and intentionally plays his guitar "de-tuned" and a bit amateurishly. He then appears to toss it into the lake after a duck quacks at his performance. Fortunately, the instrument he pitches is a prop guitar -- recent auctions have brought in the neighborhood of $10,000 for late '20s - early '30s Gibson L-5 models in good condition.

Mother Maybelle Carter's famous guitar was a 1928 Gibson L-5 as well.

Ernest Torrence was quite the singer (baritone) until he injured his voice. He switched to acting and did actually play the piano for Ramon Novarro in "Call of the Flesh" in 1930.

Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer in THIS IS SPINAL TAP and A MIGHTY WIND.

John Boles played the most wonderful instrument God could have given him, his voice in KING OF JAZZ 1930.

Dick Powell supposedly could play every instrument in his band

He must have learned the piano after Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dames, then. His "playing" in those is just that, not convincing in the least.

Also, too, Colleen.

We actually just saw the Buddy Rogers stunt of playing multiple instruments in CLOSE HARMONY, which we ran a week or so ago at Capitolfest.

Art Pierce
Capitol Theatre
Rome, NY
www.romecapitol.com

Did anyone mention Dudley Moore at the piano?

Did anyone mention Dudley Moore at the piano?

I think he's more of an entertainer who developed an acting career

Watching Dudley Moore in The Hound of the Baskervilles. He wrote a "silent movie" score for this film and it's excellent. The film ain't bad either.

Did anyone mention Dudley Moore at the piano?

I think he's more of an entertainer who developed an acting career

Gee, sounds like Jolson. Or Cantor. Or any number of vaudevillians who became film actors.

Just saying.

I think Moore was a fine comic actor....

Richard Gere actually plays the trumpet
in The Cotton Club.

Gere plays cornet, not trumpet, in THE COTTON CLUB -- there's a difference. One of the opening credits reads, "Cornet Solos by Richard Gere."

According to my old pal Frank Powers, who got it from the source, Gere's cornet solo on "Singin' The Blues" was actually played by Warren Vache. But Gere played everything else.

Dick Powell supposedly could play every instrument in his band

He must have learned the piano after Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dames, then. His "playing" in those is just that, not convincing in the least.

Also, too, Colleen.

My grandmother told me that when Dick Powell was master of ceremonies of the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh in the late '20s and early '30s, he regularly sang through a megaphone (like Rudy Vallee) and played trumpet from the stage, accompanied by the pit orchestra.

Dick Powell supposedly could play every instrument in his band

He must have learned the piano after Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dames, then. His "playing" in those is just that, not convincing in the least.

Also, too, Colleen.

My grandmother told me that when Dick Powell was master of ceremonies of the Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh in the late '20s and early '30s, he regularly sang through a megaphone (like Rudy Vallee) and played trumpet from the stage, accompanied by the pit orchestra.

Very odd, he did "play" a trumpet in Colleen, but it really didn't look as if he was playing it in the normal sense.

We actually just saw the Buddy Rogers stunt of playing multiple instruments in CLOSE HARMONY, which we ran a week or so ago at Capitolfest.

Art Pierce
Capitol Theatre
Rome, NY
http://www.romecapitol.com" target="_blank

At least two of the other films in which he does that routine (always playing "Twelfth Street Rag") are the 1935 MGM/Louis Lewin short PIRATE PARTY ON CATALINA ISLE and the 1942 Soundie TWELFTH STREET RAG.