Ukuleles in film and tv

I just saw this the other day on The Odd Couple - Oscar's Surprise Party.


In 1980 I was working at Paramount as an assistant prop master on a TV pilot produced by the Happy Days team, starring Al Molinaro, with Lyle Waggoner. A couple days into rehearsals, the producers told everyone to relax for a couple of hours while they reworked the script. After about 20 minutes, Al brought out a ukulele and played, then the casting director, an ex-hoofer, got up and started doing a soft shoe tap routine. Then Lyle took out a harmonica and accompanied in excellent fashion. They went on for about 20 minutes.

As soon as they were done, I made a beeline to Lyle sitting in the audience bleachers and said that I've been trying to learn how to play harmonica for a few years, but couldn't figure out the instructions for placing my tongue. He said he'll show me the same way his teacher showed him. He took my hand, put the fleshy side in his mouth and played it like it was a harmonica. That was it, I got it.
 
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He said he'll show me the same way his teacher showed him. He took my hand, put the fleshy side in his mouth and played it like it was a harmonica. That was it, I got it.

Wow! I can't even imagine! 🤣 But I love it!


Movie "Wild Hogs" - William H. Macy playing ukulele in camping scene

Turns out that our man Bill is a major aficionado! I saw an article last year called "William H. Macy thinks ukuleles can save the world" that I think a lot of you will relate to. The broader context is that people turn to ukes in times of trouble, first noted in the 1918 flu epidemics (actually spanning three full years - ring any bells?), and of course, repeated in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (that's the bell 🤣).

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(There's Bill with a Martin C1K.)

A little snippet:
Macy wasn’t always a ukulele player – he grew up with a guitar. It wasn’t until after filming “Boogie Nights” in the mid 1990s when director Paul Thomas Anderson held an impromptu talent show to celebrate – with the caveat that you had to do something you’d never done before. Macy picked up a Martin ukulele at a nearby Guitar Center, and though he didn’t win (“I’m still pissed about that,” he joked) he also “never picked up a guitar again.”

I also noted that he keeps at least 8 ukes just in his office! A man after our own heart. 😊
 
Wow! I can't even imagine! 🤣 But I love it!




Turns out that our man Bill is a major aficionado! I saw an article last year called "William H. Macy thinks ukuleles can save the world" that I think a lot of you will relate to. The broader context is that people turn to ukes in times of trouble, first noted in the 1918 flu epidemics (actually spanning three full years - ring any bells?), and of course, repeated in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (that's the bell 🤣).

900x0.jpg

(There's Bill with a Martin C1K.)

A little snippet:
Macy wasn’t always a ukulele player – he grew up with a guitar. It wasn’t until after filming “Boogie Nights” in the mid 1990s when director Paul Thomas Anderson held an impromptu talent show to celebrate – with the caveat that you had to do something you’d never done before. Macy picked up a Martin ukulele at a nearby Guitar Center, and though he didn’t win (“I’m still pissed about that,” he joked) he also “never picked up a guitar again.”

I also noted that he keeps at least 8 ukes just in his office! A man after our own heart. 😊
not to be "that guy" but the C1K doesn't have binding (I know, it's in the caption of the pic)... my guess is a 2K. I've also seen him playing a Flea.
 
not to be "that guy" but the C1K doesn't have binding (I know, it's in the caption of the pic)... my guess is a 2K. I've also seen him playing a Flea.

Yeah, I don't know enough to overrule most captions, so I'm glad to have the clarification.

Sounds like he has a good number of 'em, so I'm not surprised there at least one Flea/Fluke in the mix. They seem perfect for having nearby on a set between takes or what have you. 🙂
 
Probably considered the best sounding uke in a film as well.

🤣

Buster Keaton & Bartine Burkett, later Zane in a colorised version of The High Sign, 1921. Sadly we don't get to hear Bartine, who was clearly quite a musical lady.

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Another silent as Buster serenades Phyllis Haver in The Balloonatic, 1923

Buster Keaton & Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards from Doughboys, 1930.

Buster Keaton, from Pest from the West (1939)

Bobby Van & Debbie Reynolds- All I Do is Dream of You, from The Affairs of Dobie Gillis. Bobby is miming, but keeping good time.
 
The TV show Glee had a rendition of Over the Rainbow/What a wonderful world. Kamaka even donated a Kamaka HF-3 for the episode!

 
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