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I'm always looking at pianos in movies and TV shows to see what brands they are, and it's traditionally been rare to catch a brand name. But I've seen two recently!

In an episode of "Only Murders in the building" I spotted a Story & Clark in Charlie's apartment. I didn't note the episode, but I think it was 2nd or 3rd from the end of the 1st season.

My daughters were watching "Pitch Perfect" this afternoon, and I saw a Mason & Hamlin in the audition scene.

Casablanca. Sam's piano?

I saw a piano in a movie recently... I CANT REMEMBER!

A good thread. One post said, "The hilarious and gifted Victor Borge used a Bosendorfer whenever possible". Cross threading, that's why Bosendorfers are well known in Denmark?

That's probably just because it's such a funny looking word to see and say.

Yeah, I should have just revived that thread!

Spotted in episode 2 of series 2 of "Endeavour" (the prequel to "Morse", the Oxford detective). An early Broadwood.

Cool!

Incidentally this episode of Endeavour concerned murders in a girls' school; there were flashbacks to dark and dreadful deeds in the same house 100 years earlier. Hence the costume in this snapshot - and why a 19th century piano was required.

In the movie "The Afternath" a lovely Steinway grand is seen and played (probably that one) in a beautiful house owned by a wealthy German.The house was billeted by an allied officer.Keira Knightley is the officers wife who has traveled from England to join her husband during a recent post war Germany.(still quite dangerous) There is also the German's
young daughter who has her own problems.(worth seeing, I think)

These two both sound interesting!

Most of my tv watching is British murder mystery series. Go figure. In a fairly recent one (The Chelsea Detective), the first scene of Season 1 Episode 1 introduces us to the detective by showing him at his digital piano, picking out a melody (which happens to be the musical theme of the show), while he is waiting for his coffee to brew. He lives in a houseboat (after separating from his wife). His coffee burns while he is thinking the ivories. The piano makes several appearances in the season.

It’s a slab DP. I can’t tell anything else about the piano. But he never seems to play it with headphones! Apparently the boat neighbors don’t mind. The piano is definitely important to the character, and I enjoyed seeing it as more than part of the scenery. I’m curious about the reasoning for making this a part of his character…. Is it just a nod to the musical instruments that were associated with classic fictional detectives (like Sherlock Holmes and his violin)? Or does one of the writers have an affinity for piano?

Yeah, the piano isn't usually featured so prominently. Even keyboards.

Speaking of keyboards...

We did a lot of walking in the last several days, but when we'd crash back at the hotel my daughters left the TV on a channel that seemed to play nothing but Friends episodes. One story arc features Ross and his keyboard from college. It's funny, and a great retrospective into his character. But I'm not sure that I like to see pianos or keyboards used as jokes.

Not surprisingly...someone has made a website devoted to this. It's called Product Placement Blog. Apparently Fazioli was featured in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movies (never watched them). Bosendorfer in at least a couple TV shows I've never heard of (including this one, "Pieces of Her").

There's also this one..."Grand Piano" starring Elijah Wood. A psychological thriller. "One wrong note and you die." Featuring Bosendorfer. I might have to check it out. Sounds fun.

Apparently the S&S in Frazier's apartment on the Frazier show was a product placement (according to some past threads).

I saw a Kawai piano in a movie a while ago,.also cannot remember? For those who watched the Twilight Zone there was this one.
https://productplacementblog.com/movies/kawai-piano-in-twilight-2008/

The Fabulous Baker Boys's had a Baldwin piano in the movie.

There was a very "trashy" 2016 Netflix series, "Greenleaf" which featured

"The unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf family and their sprawling Memphis Baptist megachurch, dark secrets and lies."

Quite frequently in the series a white baby grand piano with D. H. Baldwin clearly visible on the fall board was seen on screen.

If I remember correctly - and the series was anything and everything but memorable - the piano was occasionally used to accompany one of the characters who was developing a singing career.

Regards

There is a K-Drama with a Yamaha grand, they played “River Flows in You”.


Show isn’t that great though lol.

Anyone see that the music stand is pretty low?

Apparently he plays in real life too.

Steinways are all over the place for sure. Movies are one of the biggest places you can see the perpetual monoculture.

I watched that movie "Grand Piano" and it was kinda fun, actually. Pretty silly plot and totally implausible. Kinda low budget, international film made with American actors. But the instrument came to life in a neat way. Many nice piano shots and thematic elements. It features a Bosendorfer Imperial very prominently, with some interesting customizations made to further the plot of the film. Really fine music in the film as well (all contemporary stuff). It's a cheesy movie though, purely frivolous entertainment with some nice aesthetic value in terms of the music. Raises interesting questions. I like music movies in general, they always fascinate me.

The Sound of Music 😳

You can see Baldwin on the fallboard of the grand piano in the movie Ray staring Jamie Foxx. And C. BECHSTEIN on the fallboard of the grand in the movie The Pianist staring Adrien Brody.

Isn't there a line in the movie when they are selling the piano, they get lowballed and respond "But it's a a Bechstein!"

My youngest loves K-Pop and Dramas. I've watched several with her, and some are really compelling. "Squid Games" really enjoyed some crossover success recently. I don't remember them all by name, but a couple that I remember are "Descendants of the Sun" and "Crash Landing on You".

Hi sorry for not seeing this.

I’m not really the one who watches K-pop/K-Dramas it’s mostly a family member, I just watched with them for once 🤪

They were watching “Crash Landing on You” at one point.

The one in the video is “Business Proposal” by the way.

I assume they dropped it so that the camera can get a good angle on his face in the closeup shots. But he's not using sheet music so maybe they didn't know they could just drop it flat, or just remove the music desk?

Who knows..

Saw this "Kroeger" in Season 4 of Stranger Things!

I don’t know if this counts but about 3 or 4 years ago Mecum Auto auctions had Jerry Lee playing a smaller black Yamaha grand.

Here is an old documentary about making a once favourite middle class brand.All that wood, and of course "Hand Made!" Oh excuse, I think I saw a machine?😳

Actually after watching the whole video I thought it quite fascinating and charming. An old world approach to piano making. I have never visited a piano factory in the past but i hope to visit a couple soon.I loved the way "modern methods" was spoken of by the father of the children. I cannot tell when the documentary was made, I guess in the 1940's or was it 50's'?

According to the person who posted the YT Video it was in the 50’s

Thanks for sharing this!

I'm a manufacturing enthusiast, as folks know, and always love to see a factory.

Interesting that all the way back in the 1950's they were touting automation! For example, they point out that "drilling a bridge by hand is tedious and less accurate," and that "the machines do things quickly, accurately, and automatically!"

This was definitely leading towards the zenith of American piano production. The speed and throughput is evident in the video, so it's amazing to think about how many spinets Wurlitzer was cranking out. It's no wonder that there are still so many in existence.

The early ‘50s was the boom of suburbs. In middle class suburban homes there was supposed to be a piano, which most often was a small upright in one of 3 furniture styles. At least one of the kids took piano lessons. Small uprights hit a boom along with Levittowns springing up.

It’s sad that now I do piano spotting in shows rather than other peoples homes.

That was fun, TreCorda! Suddenly I was a kid again, thanks for posting it!