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MMD > Archives > April 1998 > 1998.04.22 > 04Prev  Next


'Puppet On A Chain' and Pierement "de Klok 1"
By Hans van Oost

Philip Jamison wrote in yesterday's MMD:

> I just saw the 1972 film "Puppet On A Chain" (rented via the www).
> It includes "De Klok", the famous Dutch street organ now, I believe,
> in Australia.  There are a couple close-ups, but it plays the same
> tune each time it's shown.  It's turned by hand.  I'm not sure if
> they used the actual organ shown, but it's definitely a pierement.
>

The organ in the film is definitely "de Klok", and to be more precise,
the "Klok 1".  Carl Frei of Breda had two identical organs made in
1928 by the Mortier factory in Antwerp; they were built with the
numbers 990 and 992 respectively.  By voicing the pipes himself he made
two fine Dutch street organs.

The first one (Nr. 990) was delivered to Mr. Moehlman in Amsterdam.
This one is known as the "Klok 1", and it was exported to an Australian
collector in 1976.  This is the organ in the film.  The other one
(992), with almost the same front, is still in the Netherlands and was
owned by Mr. Neleman.

> There are also some nice vintage scenes of Amsterdam with the
> police driving VW Beetles.

At the time VW beetles were the standard car for the Amsterdam police;
they also used VW minibuses for transporting knaves.

> The plot (a heroin smuggling scheme devised by Alistair MacKlean)
> is poor, however.

We Dutch cannot hold ourselves responsible for poor acting by strangers.
...  (-:

Hans van Oost, KDV, Netherlands


(Message sent Wed 22 Apr 1998, 20:38:41 GMT, from time zone GMT.)

Key Words in Subject:  1, Chain, de, Klok, Pierement, Puppet

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