It is was interesting to figure out what footage was the movie and what footage was from the actual 1938 performance at Carnegie Hall. There are two ways to figure it out: watch the color of the piano and what type of shot is taken by the camera. In close up shots with Steve Allen as Benny, the piano is brown. In far away shots, the piano is black. The far away shots are the actual 1938 footage. And of course, if you see Steve Allen (the close up shots), it is the movie footage. Without knowing that the original 1938 performance was spliced in with the 1955 movie footage , the viewer might see this as a continuity error.
Although Steve Allen was not a clarinetist, one can see by his "performance" that he went to a lot of trouble to look as if he was actually playing (spoiler: Benny Goodman himself was actually playing clarinet off camera with the other musicians in the movie). As a musician and music historian, I am often annoyed when an actor or actress pretends to play a musical instrument: his or her performance usually looks fake.
Excellent movie for all musicians! Very seldom do you see movies with so many great performances. It was also terrific to see some very famous musicians like Gene Krupa and Harry James.
Although Steve Allen was not a clarinetist, one can see by his "performance" that he went to a lot of trouble to look as if he was actually playing (spoiler: Benny Goodman himself was actually playing clarinet off camera with the other musicians in the movie). As a musician and music historian, I am often annoyed when an actor or actress pretends to play a musical instrument: his or her performance usually looks fake.
Excellent movie for all musicians! Very seldom do you see movies with so many great performances. It was also terrific to see some very famous musicians like Gene Krupa and Harry James.