MovieChat Forums > They Shall Have Music (1939) Discussion > School could be based on....

School could be based on....

posted 15 years ago by alrodbel
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Third Street Music School Settlement in the East Village in New York City. The school was stated in 1894 and although larger than the film's version, it is designed to give the joy of playing an instrument to working class children.

My wife took piano there in the 1950s. And in the film, one of the kids mentioned that the school was on third street, which might have been a nod that this is what it was based on.

The movie was corny as could be, but an absolute delight. And it's interesting to learn from previous comments that the talented children were the actual performers, something my wife and I were debating.

[–] colagada 11 years ago

The children in the orchestra were about a third of all of the performing members of the Meremblum orchestra. The music you hear in the movie was played by the full Meremblum orchestra (over 100 members) on a sound stage, and the kids in the movie (who were part of the orchestra who recorded the works) synced over it as it blared through a loudspeaker. Heifetz did the same thing for all of his works except the Hora Staccato, which was recorded in 1937 with Emanuel Bay.

The adult musicians you see early in the movie did NOT play the Saint Saens work. It was performed by members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Philharmonic musicians commanded a much higher rate of pay than the musicians seen in the movie. The work was recorded in about three hours, and the musicians you see in the movie synced over the recording.