The Steel Guitar Forum

I've seen it all now!

Well...... if he could fly a B52, then, I guess he could play a steel guitar.

Wow!

He could play trombone. If you watch The Glen Miller Story all his slide positions are correct and could not have been coached.

Is that why he got the part? Is Hollywood really that smart or did they just get lucky?

"As I briefly mentioned in my intro, music was a big part of Jimmy Stewart’s life growing up. His mother was a gifted pianist and he himself learned how to play both the piano and the accordion. It’s quite certain that his experience was helpful in the making of this movie. Although he insisted on playing the trombone himself, he was ultimately dubbed by the musician Joe Yukl after it became apparent that he was not up for the task. He instead agreed to plug up his mouthpiece and concentrate on learning the correct hand positions on the instrument."

From here:

https://oldmoviesnostalgia.com/9630/jim ... tory-1954/


Did you ever wonder how Stewart was able to play the trombone in the film? Well, here’s Jimmy’s own answer to that question:

Answer here at 6th sound bite:

http://www.jimmystewartontheair.com/moo ... nd-miller/

Brilliant, Greg - thank you! All my questions answered. The fakery worked and made for an excellent movie.

There are some truly dreadful ones out there with musical instruments being abused by people who are not fit to handle them. They wouldn't allow it with animals

Wa wa wa what a great instrument this is.

A man of impeccable taste!

Am I missing something? Does anyone know if he is playing the steel guitar for a movie, or he actually played and owned the instrument?

I think neither.

The trombone? It was acting!

Where did he park the fork Lift for loading and unloading that thrashing machine? lol

There's a whole lot of charisma sitting behind that steel guitar!

Darrell Criswell wrote:Am I missing something? Does anyone know if he is playing the steel guitar for a movie, or he actually played and owned the instrument?

All I can say is that I've seen worse hand positions on beginning students. He might have had some experience...

I was thinking the same thing about the hands .

Does anyone know the history of that photograph?

Looks like it was connected with a movie he made just before going off to the war, called "Pot O'Gold," which co-starred a big band called Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights.

This picture of the band shows what looks like the same guitarist with his Gibson L-5 and that industrial-legged steel (also a Gibson?).



Horace Heidt must have been a fan of steel, because Alvino Ray was apparently in an earlier line-up of his band before setting off with his own.

There's a scene in "Godfather II" in which the young Corleone family are sitting on the front stoop of their brownstone apartment, timeframe was circa WW1, and there's a neighbor playing guitar behind them. But the guitar was obviously a Gibson flattop from the 1960's.

It initially bugged me, but I got over it. It's my favorite of the GF Trilogy.

What's that thing the CG is setting on? Looks kinda like a Deluxe34 on steroids. (Mark, do you have any plans to offer a model with wheels on it?) Somewhat reminiscent of a certain album cover back in the day:

I agree, looking at his hands, Jimmy seems to know what he´s doing there. Also, his facial expression reminds me of Buddy.

FWIW, on page 52 of the Duchossoir Book, there are two photos of Alvino Rey with his new Console Grande delivered in March 1939. Alvino´s CG has a Blonde finish and the same Industrial Strength Stand as the one in the Jimmy Stewart photo. It´s hard to be positive, but Alvino´s guitar also seems to have one Pedal Rod.

Looks like it was connected with a movie he made just before going off to the war, called "Pot O'Gold," which co-starred a big band called Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights.

This picture of the band shows what looks like the same guitarist with his Gibson L-5 and that industrial-legged steel (also a Gibson?).

By jove, Bill, I think you've got it. Here's another picture from that same movie..

Here are a couple of screenshots from the movie. The steel player keeps the guitar on his lap and he switches from steel to guitar a lot. Jimmy Stewart is on the far left in the top picture.

jimmie sterwart played the accordion quite a bit on a western called night passage. his character was a down and out who made a subsistence living playing accordion for tips.

Jimmy tunes a banjo in the movie and has a relatively long scene where he plays harmonica with the band. They ask him if he can read music and he says "of course".

There is a scene in the movie where the wheels on the steel are used to quickly move it out of the way to make room for a big clock!

In all of the pics, I only noticed one of them where the guitar is plugged in - it is not in the Stewart pic.