Quiet on the Set!
My comrade in music, Jack Hirschorn, is best known to all the
world by his title,
"Mayor of Old-Time Music in New York City." However,
few know that Jack leads another life: he's a highly-respected camera technician and an assistant
camera man in the Big Apple's film industry.
On occasion Jack's two worlds-- music and film-- will collide. Often in interesting ways....
Here's an example:
Back in the 1980s, "busking"-- that is, performing on the street for tips-- was a popular activity for many of us in the Big Apple old-time scene. Knowing this, a budding film maker asked Jack to muster together a small group of old-time musicians to appear in his film about buskers in Central Park.
The project had a novel "angle" -- the film was to be silent.
Undaunted, Jack put together an impromptu band which featured most of the principal string instruments found in the classic old-time genre. (I covered both the banjo and mandolin categories with my 1930s Weymann banjo-mandolin.)
The day of the shoot we gathered in Central Park, nearby the Hans Christian Andersen statue and commenced to play for the benefit of the camera. As we were supposed to be busking, we placed an open instrument case in front of us, the busker's traditional receptacle for tips. In no time a crowd had gathered to listen to us play.
However, there was also a story-telling session in progress by the HCA statue. We were informed that we needed to keep it down. Way, way, way down....
Quite a pickle indeed. What were we to do?
Jack thought for a second and came up with a brilliant scheme. As the film was begin shot silent, all we needed to do was gradually lower our volume to the point where we were, in effect, miming the playing of our instruments.
And that's just what we did. We just merrily plucked and sawed away on our instruments, but, lo and behold, our music kept getting softer... and softer... and softer.... Our audience, unaware of our predicament, kept moving in closer... and closer... and closer... in an effort to hear the tunes better.
At the end of performance, the crowd applauded heartily and tossed coins into our "tip case." Several came up to compliment us on our music.
Not a few politely suggested that we should try playing louder next time....
-- Shlomo Pestcoe
Illustration Credit:
Jack Hirschorn. Brooklyn, 2000 (Photo by Robert Gilberg)
