Ref.: 091218 MMDigest, "Player Pianos and the Younger Generation".
I am a big fan of Laurel and Hardy and would not wish them to be bashed
for something they did not do!

The short film, which won an Academy Award, was called "The Music Box".
The boys spend hours lugging the little Ampico(?) upright up a long
and steep flight of stairs.  Once they get it into the house that
ordered it they wreck the living room.  An enraged Billy Gilbert (the
house owner) hates pianos and is so angry at them that _he_ smashes up
the piano with an axe!

I too hate to see pianos destroyed.  But, what to do with an old
beat upright that is not worth rebuilding?  Nothing lasts forever.

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all.

Marc Goodman
Cleveland, Ohio

P.S.: I remember an old friend of mine (one Johnny Green who was
rebuilding players from the 1950s to l980s) telling me that, in the
l950s, old upright pianos were taken down to the shore of Lake Erie
and set on fire!