TICKLING THE IVORIES

 

1959 – My youngest sister playing on our old mustard yellow upright piano

 while sitting on a kitchen stool in the laundry room.  Not the greatest place for

 a piano to be with all that moisture in the air, but perhaps better than the

 garage where it would have been otherwise?  There was no place for it in our

 living room.

Under all that Grey Poupon colored paint is a beautiful mahogany finish.  My Dad

 found this out when he sanded the piano bench down, but sanding down the

 piano would have been too much of a job.  Besides, it would still have to be in

 the laundry room or garage so probably just as well to leave it mustard yellow

.  I’ve mentioned before my Mom wanted to paint it pink to match the laundry

 room & stencil daisies in the indents but that never got done either.  Oh well.

A friend accompanied me singing for Groveland’s 49er Festival in the

  fall of 1983 with my eldest daughter helping out by being a music page turner.


A month later that year I was preparing to sing for a concert in Sonora, CA.

In 1993 the Pine Cone Singers of Groveland were rehearsing musical skits for

 their annual spring choral concert.

 December, 2011.  A few Pine Cone Singers gather round the piano to rehearse holiday numbers with Director, Dennis Brown.

2015 found a friend playing for the Columbia City Hotel's Victorian Dinner.

Victor Borge playing the piano with the Muppets.


Victor Borge accompanying opera singer Marilyn Mulvey.  They did several of
 these comical duets together and you can find more of them online.  This is a shortened version.  Below is the full aria with Victor adding more fun bits.


His fingers are nimble. Her voice is amazing. And I love her gowns in both videos.

:->

La Nightingail

Comments

  1. B. RogersDecember 12, 2025 at 11:11 AM

    Yes you have a great musical background...no matter the color of the piano! I used to really enjoy the Victor Borge skits. Thanks for including them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KristinDecember 12, 2025 at 1:15 PM

    The photo of your sister playing the mustard piano in the laundry is my favorite. The basket of clothes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MargaretDecember 13, 2025 at 8:46 PM

    a pink piano - now that would have been very fun. Wish she had done that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike BrubakerDecember 18, 2025 at 2:48 PM

    Of corse you would have photos of piano players. Why am I not surprised? One of the strange things about my photo collection is that I have found very few, almost zero, photos of piano players. Once upon a time every house had to have piano, but for some reason few people posed with one. Curious. I once played a concert with Victor Borge. It was very hard to keep a straight face in the performance since he knew how to hit all the musical buttons for a laugh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La NightingailDecember 19, 2025 at 7:20 PM

      Oh my goodness - what an experience to play in a concert with Victor Borge! I can well imagine how much effort it must have taken to maintain a straight face - especially as I understand it, he never did anything exactly as rehearsed which kept everyone performing with him on their toes! What fun!!! :))

      Delete

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