While enjoying the great western classic movie, "Stagecoach", the other
night for the umpteenth time, it came to my attention that there was
some great piano tinkling during the climactic scenes in the town of
Lordsburg.  Great because the tunes were hammered-out with loving care
by an uncredited pianist who is briefly on camera.  A quick check of
the Internet Movie Database offered nothing on just who this artist
was.

As to the stylings themselves, they seemed to be a sort of hybrid
version of Stephen Foster and ragtime (which wouldn't appear on the
scene for another 25 or 30 years).  Which gives me cause to wonder:
Just what was the authentic piano music in the Old West saloon?

Are there any CDs on the market that are true recreations of this
sound?  And what about the tunes?  Does the sheet music survive, and
does it really sound like what we have come to expect "Saloon Piano"
to sound like?

I have stumbled across many recordings of "authentic" American civil
war music recorded by musicians playing on original instruments from
the period, as well as Sousa marches and ragtime played off of the
original sheet music.  But did Hollywood take liberties with the
"saloon style", giving it a sort of coin piano or ragtime flavor that
felt right for the movies but just wasn't authentic?  Or was saloon
piano a true precursor to ragtime?  Just curious.

Cheers,

Mark Forer

 [ Editor's musing:
 [
 [ "Stagecoach", directed by John Ford (1939).  The music score was
 [ awarded an Oscar.
 [
 [ A smart movie director allows the music director to choose the style.
 [ Of course, the directors know that what is offered must be enjoyed
 [ by the audience, otherwise Big Flop, no Oscar!  Nostalgia lasts
 [ only one or two generations, and that's why the 1890s Main Street
 [ at Disneyland is now (almost 50 years later) giving 'way to 1950s
 [ nostalgia.  Makes me feel old.
 [
 [ Nostalgia is generally a recollection or hint of something that
 [ was familiar a couple of generations earlier, like the sound of
 [ grandma's old player piano.  The skillful music director might have
 [ told the composer, "Make the melody reminiscent of Stephen Foster
 [ but played like an old piano roll."  The result is that feeling of
 [ a familiar bygone era: nostalgia.
 [
 [ The pianist heard in "Stagecoach" might be Ray Turner, who provided
 [ the piano music for countless Hollywood films.  He played with the
 [ Paul Whiteman Orchestra for a few years in the mid 1920s before he
 [ gravitated to radio and Hollywood.  His performances of compositions
 [ by piano roll artists Charlie Straight and Roy Bargy are included
 [ on Shellwood CD SWCD25, "Ray Turner - The Hollywood Pianist."
 [
 [ -- Robbie Rhodes