 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-03-19 21:56
Does anyone know who played the clarinet solos for the soundtrack of the 1947 MGM mystery movie, "Song of the Thin Man"? If nobody knows that specific information, does anyone know who was principal clarinetist in the MGM orchestra from, say, 1945-1947?
"Song of the Thin Man" is the last in the series about Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy), but instead of the comedy that audiences expected, it's film noir with extremely dark humor. It's less popular than the others and not too well remembered, but well worth watching just for the music soundtrack (which has never been released as a record, as far as I can find out). The setting is the world of jazz and swing nightclubs. The soundtrack features a lot of original music, composed by David Snell, but none of the musicians got a credit.
Two of the major characters are clarinet players. It's obvious that neither actor knows how to play the clarinet. Some excellent clarinetist deserves a mention in the film noir encyclopedia entry I'm writing for _Scarlet Street_, but I'm totally striking out on finding this information. I've already checked the klarinet archives, asked a question on the klarinet list with no responses, and searched the web sites of ASCAP, AFTRA, the American Film Institute and the Internet Movie Database (plus a number of other sites the search engine turned up...), without results. I think my only hope is to find some individual who happens to *know* who played the clarinet in that movie, or who knows where to find out. Any ideas? Thanks very much!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-20 00:02
Lelia - I'll sure try to find a video of it and listen carefully. I still might be able to style-pick among the major jazz soloists of that era, '45 to '47, if he were added to the "studio band". Also I have several jazz musician books, will look there. Interesting, Don
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-03-20 14:52
Don Berger wrote:
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Lelia - I'll sure try to find a video of it and listen carefully. I still might be able to style-pick among the major jazz soloists of that era, '45 to '47, if he were added to the "studio band". Also I have several jazz musician books, will look there. Interesting, Don
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Thanks very much! Hope you have better luck than I've been having. My books on jazz and swing not only don't talk about this movie, they don't even mention David Snell, although he composed for more than two dozen movies. Evidently he's slipped under the radar. Most books about mystery movies dismiss "Song of the Thin Man" in a sentence or two.
The movie is available on video. I rented it from Tower two weekends ago. One thing I should warn about it -- the dialogue includes some ethnic humor that's mild by the standards of 1947, but offensive by today's standards. A character uses an antisemitic nickname for a clarinet, for instance. I don't think it's bad enough to ruin the movie, given that times have changed, but I could have done without that stuff. It sounds especially jarring to me right now because I'm in the middle of reading Artie Shaw's autobiography, _The Trouble with Cinderella_, where he talks about why he changed his name and about the antisemitism in the music business in the early 20th century. The dialogue also includes some incredibly forced, lame humor about jive and beatnik lingo.
It's a flawed movie in other ways, too. IMHO, the final scene, revealing the identity of the murder, is beyond preposterous. But still, that music -- and the movie interests me a great deal as a cultural relic. It doesn't show reality (and didn't intend to -- it's entertainment, not a documentary), but I think that people's fantasies (and what movie-makers imagine will appeal to the audience's fantasies) say a lot about them.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-20 15:42
Lelia - Have you looked in Colin Lawson's "Clarinet" ? I skimmed thru Chaps 11 and 12, he mentions many jazz cl'ists, mainly Americans, I found nothing re: Song ---. It does bring back memories of some oldies I heard and saw in NYC, such as Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall etc in the 40-60 era. I'll keep looking, our library has a number of books on jazz history. Don
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-03-21 14:20
No, I've never seen the Lawson Book. Sounds most interesting -- I'll try to find it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Don Berger wrote:
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Lelia - Have you looked in Colin Lawson's "Clarinet" ? I skimmed thru Chaps 11 and 12, he mentions many jazz cl'ists, mainly Americans, I found nothing re: Song ---. It does bring back memories of some oldies I heard and saw in NYC, such as Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall etc in the 40-60 era. I'll keep looking, our library has a number of books on jazz history. Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-21 21:05
Found the video at the library!! Checked out a jazz book, 1930-45 "swing era". Will report. Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-22 19:15
Played the video once [so far]. My impression is that two different cl soloists played the Dixie-altissimo and the soft-jazz [much vibrato] solos. I initially picked Jimmy Dorsey for the high parts, and favored early Pete Fountain over Goodman for the "sweets". Check out what recordings you can find. There were, of course, many other cl'ists in that time period. For a dated mystery, not bad with tongue-in-cheek character!! Fun, Don
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-22 20:51
Consulting "The Swing Era" G Schuller [781.65 SCH 1989], re: Dorsey and Bob Crosby [ Dixie cl also!], believe I would pick Irving Fazola [pg 654+, see 657]for the "sweet" parts, maybe the Dixies also??, not as wide a vibrato as "Stranger on the Shore" but wonderful tone quality, AND little known and therefore not demanding a "credit" in the movie or video!! What a research project! Don
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-03-22 21:00
Don,
fazola was pretty much always one of the top 10 clarinetists in "Downbeat" magazine during those years (he was normally in front of Goodman, neck to neck with Hucko and Galodoro, and behind Buddy DeFranco (DeFranco was #1 in the lists for years & years - Goodman wasn't high in the polls most years).
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-03-22 22:09
Thanx, Mark, am sure you are right, my memories of that time period are vague. Lelia, I suspect all of the jazz cl'ists played Selmers in those days, likely the big-bores!
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-03-23 15:09
Thanks very much for these great educated guesses! Maybe I can find out for certain by researching these names. It's possible that a biography of one of these clarinetists will list "Song of the Thin Man" as a credit. Sure beats floundering blind into the vast resources of the Library of Congress! Thank you again!
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Author: david sherr
Date: 2021-02-01 23:00
The first clarinet player in the MGM orchestra at that point was David McKenney but I sort of doubt he was the jazz soloist. He had, according to his contemporaries, a great sound. Antonio Raimondi, whose son, Hugo, replaced McKenney when he retired in 1954 (and never again took the clarinet out of the case, according to legend), said McKenney "had a beautiful tone, but was not ambitious to play chamber music." McKenney's recording of the Hindemith Quintet is on youtube; judge for yourself. He sure sounds good to me. According to McKenney's counterpart at Fox, Russ Cheever (one of my teachers), "McKenney had a sound as big as this house."
According to Wikipedia, Gus Bivona joined the MGM orchestra in 1947, so that would be the best guess. Whoever it was sure sounded good.
http://www.belairjazz.org
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