[ In 030307 MMDigest Frank Hassler asked: ]
> Could you tell me the name of the song the Wurlitzer LX orchestrion
> plays in the movie "The Naked Gun", and perhaps where to find the
> sheet music?
Hello Frank and MMD! I believe you will find that the music you hear
in that movie is not in fact a roll at all! I am under the impression
that a strong musician's union, to protect it's work of providing music
for movies, requires that music heard on film be performed by their
members. On many occasions, you will see a scene of a merry-go-round
and see the organ playing, but the music you hear is being performed
by a live musician on an electronic instrument of some sort.
To duplicate the sound of an orchestrion, I would imagine that they
had to use a small "band" to reproduce the sound of the percussion
instruments. And I expect that the actual tune itself was the work
of the music director of the film. The only film where I believe you
actually hear the mechanical instruments music, was a Jack Webb film
where he played a trumpet player. (My brain is gone and I can't recall
the name of the movie!)
Keith Taylor
Jefferson, Maine
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