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Mechanical Music in the Movies
By Lee Rothrock

MMD readers may find it amusing to peek at "Roman Tugboat":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD6oUZgcTBU 

The mechanical music connection comes in at 29:35 with a music box
scene which, I must admit, seems a little hokey, for it is unlikely
that the music on the film came out of the small music box seen.  Maybe
someone can speculate what kind of machine actually provided the audio.

I can identify the tune -- it's "Ben Bolt", an old favorite of mine
which I have used as an audition piece.  I recognized it, while pawing
through my music book collection, as the song featured by the hypnotized
girl mouse at 2:10 in the Mighty Mouse adventure "Svengali's Cat":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OMBnEHA2zI 

If you look up the whole song, it's the kind touching piece they don't
write much of these days.  And, while this is a little off the subject,
at 59:54 in the same film there is a convincing steam calliope sequence,
only a few seconds long.  It 'rilly rilly' looks like a live steam
calliope to me, although I've never seen one!  Any opinions?

Lee Rothrock
Springfield, Oregon


(Message sent Mon 23 Jan 2017, 06:58:46 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.)

Key Words in Subject:  Mechanical, Movies, Music

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