Klarinet Archive - Posting 001151.txt from 2003/03

From: "James O'Briant" <jobriant@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Benny Goodman Story
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 21:46:17 -0500

Dan Leeson wrote:

> Are you aware that the clarinetist in this
> picture has his hands backwards? The left
> hand is on the lower joint and the right
> hand on the upper joint. I think the picture
> was simply printed backwards.

Yes, it was -- the clarinet itself is also reversed. The keys that
appear on the right hand side (that is, the player's right) of the lower
joint are the keys that in reality are on the left side of a clarinet.

The clarinetist in the photo is Steve Allen, who played Goodman in the
film. Allen himself was of course a superb pianist, composer of several
hundred songs, and not a terrible clarinetist himself.

Allen used to boast, as a joke, that they used his clarinet playing in
the film. Then he would explain that all the good playing in the movie
was actually done by Goodman himself, but for the scenes where the young
Goodman was just learning, and was sounding terrible, they actually did
use Steve Allen's playing.

Jim O'Briant
Bayside Music Press
Gilroy, CA 95020

www.baysidemusicpress.com

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