Credenza spotted in 1937 movie!

[marcapra]

I am right now watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "Shall We Dance" on TCM, a 1937 movie with music and songs by the Gershwin brothers. Astaire plays a ballet dancer with the fake name of Petrov, but practices jazz dancing in his room where he has a Credenza. The Credenza is a bit modified for the movie as it is painted white and the bun feet have been removed for casters, which makes sense on a movie set. He is dancing to a very fast version of "I've got beginner's luck" when the record starts to repeat as Fred repeats his dance moves. After he adjusts the tone arm, he starts dancing again only to have the motor wind down. So Fred slows down finally collapsing on the floor. Very funny scene! Has anyone else seen old phonos in the movies?

[Edisone]

Lots of phonos in movies, if you keep your eye out for them. In 1931's THE PUBLIC ENEMY, the very last scene has Jimmy Cagney's Mom playing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" on a Credenza - it's the last sound of the movie.

Here's some kind of English machine, from KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS - nice horn, large reproducer. What is it?

[outune]

A few weeks ago, while firmly planted in my Lazy-Boy recovering from a cold, I tuned into an old "Leave It to Beaver" re-run. The Cleaver family was spending a weekend at a lake cabin that the father, "Ward", used to frequent when he was a young boy. As they entered the old cabin, in the background was a dusty, but easily identifiable Victor VI with a spear-point horn. It appeared in several scenes, but unfortunately never "starred". I was hoping they would play it at some point during the show.

And of course-- "My Fair Lady" has lots of machines in Henry Higgins home.

Brad

[neilmack]

The British film "Seance on a wet afternoon" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058557/ has a starring role for an EMG Mark IX. The film dates from 1964 and I suppose the wind up gramophone is to reinforce the atmosphere of out-of-date gloom in the kidnappers' house. It was the 1960s and they didn't understand.

And if that weren't gramophonic enough, there's a bit part in the film for actress Marie Burke, wife of the well known Lancashire tenor and recording star Tom Burke.

[neilmack]

Here's some kind of English machine, from KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS - nice horn, large reproducer. What is it?

A Gramophone Co. Intermediate Monarch or the subsequent HMV model II with the small size wooden horn.

At a guess.

[estott]

Here is one of the most beautiful uses of a vintage phonograph in films - EVERGREEN (1934). This clip is right at the end but the whole film is worth watching: [YouTube]http://youtu.be/8KA8lMbgjAQ?t=1h27m40s[/YouTube]

[De Soto Frank]

I seem to remember a silent Laurel & Hardy, where Ollie vigorously winds a Victrola-type machine, alas too much, and turn-table platter pops-up on a coily-spring, like a jack-in-the-box... I think I am remembering a quick "scene-grab" from some documentary or ad for a video anthology ?


There's also the self-playing phonograph bit in Noel Coward's "Blythe Spirit" ( don't know if it made it into the film version... )

And there's a significant bit with a large (Victor-based?) home-recorder machine in one of Red Skelton's "Whistling" movies ("Whistling in Brooklyn" ?)

[Phonofreak]

Another movie is Donovan's Reef with John Wayne and Lee Marvin, 1963. There was a nice Victor 3 0r 5 with a spear tip horn. It was sort of abused in the movie when Lee Marvin was messing around with it at the bar. It made me cringe, but it was a good movie.
Harvey Kravitz

[startgroove]

An earlier Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, "The Gay Divorcee" of 1934, uses a white Credenza, possibly the same one as you mention, in a scene where the pair wish to get away from their hotel room. They use the turntable to rotate a cutout of a dancing couple while a lamp projects a shadow of the cutout onto the wall, thus fooling their chaperone into thinking they are dancing in the other room. They sneak off to the ballroom and dance to "The Continental". A close examination of the turntable should reveal that it is not the original configuration, since the turntable board seems to be flush to the lip of the cabinet body. The movie is also notable in that it debuts Betty Grable, who just turned eighteen.

[Joe_DS]

... The movie is also notable in that it debuts Betty Grable, who just turned eighteen.

O.T., I know, but Betty Grable appeared as a chorus girl as early as 1929, and was featured as a singer the opening number of "Whoopee" the following year -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021549/ful ... cl_sm#cast

BettyGrableWhoopee.JPG (37.32 KiB) Viewed 1331 times

(If you haven't seen it, Whoopee is a treat -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F_vra- ... oxcYAGATSe Not only was it shot in two-strip Technicolor, but the music was performed by George Olsen, well known to Victor disc collectors.)

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More, on topic, the Credenza is also featured, prominently, in 1949's "House of Strangers." It was the patriarch's pride and joy, and was played during the dinner hour. If I remember correctly, in the opening scene, the son comes to the abandoned house and opens and closes the lid.

You can see it to the right of the fireplace in this scene --

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwbisC0MyLM[/youtube]

JDS