Christopher Plummer Oscar Winner Played with Two Large Breasts on the Piano

 

82 year old Christopher Plummer, who on Sunday night won his first Oscar ever for his supporting role in ‘Beginners,’ did not start out with the intention of being an actor.

Before achieving worldwide fame as Captain Georg Von Trapp, in the Sound of Music, Plummer spent his time dreaming of being a concert pianist while at school in Montreal. During those early formative years, Plummer once found himself accompanying the actress Diana Barrymore to an up market restaurant in Montreal. He recalled what happened next in his memoires, ‘In Spite of Myself’:

‘I boldly sat down at the piano, hoping to accompany Diana in a French song or two. She winked at me and took up the cue. As was her custom, she had decked herself out in a daringly revealing low-cut dress. In the middle of a song in order to emphasize a phrase, she made a sweeping theatrical gesture, miles over the top, when suddenly, not just one but two glorious breasts popped out in full view and stayed out for the rest of the number’.

Plummer’s musical career may well have continued if he hadn’t been pushed off the music stool by, ‘a big black guy with pants that were a bit too short for him.’ The black guy later turned into the legendary Canadian jazz pianist and composer, Oscar Peterson.

One other famous personality, whose record company had a penchant for a bare breasted women tumbling over themselves in disarray, as displayed on the cover of Electric Lady Land, and who was not unfamiliar with tinkling the ivories, was Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix allegedly developed the track, ‘Spanish Castle Magic,’ around the jazz piano chord which follows the guitar riff played over the title.  With the help of producer Eddie Kramer pounding on the piano, the song eventually took shape.

Hendrix’s link with the piano and pianists in particular, does not end there. A large part of Jimi’s trademark rhythm style is undeniably influenced by another pianist with a similar name to his producer, Floyd Cramer.

A quick listen to the 1961 hit, ‘On the Rebound,’ and you can’t help notice a strong similarity to the hammer-ons as demonstrated by Hendrix, in tracks such as Bold as Love, Little Wing and Wait ‘til Tomorrow and Have you ever Been (to Electric Lady Land).

The attachment of Hendrix to the grand piano continued well after his death. In 2006 the Baldwin Hendrix Custom Grand Piano made its appearance on the scene.  

Bedecked on the outside with swirling psychedelic regalia and a huge squashed image of Hendrix’s head on the inside of the lid, this desirable limited edition was said by Gibson to, ‘fit beautifully into almost any home".  

Lucky for us piano playing was not Hendrix’s forte, when he died in 1970 he left us with a unique catalogue of work which has ever since profoundly influenced the playing of the modern day guitarist. Guitar playing comes in many styles, from gypsy jazz to 70’s rock, with each guitarist expressing their own unique view of life through the potency of the guitar strings. As Jimi said:

‘Nobody know what I'm talking about
I've got my own life to live
I'm the one that's gonna have to die
When it's time for me to die
So let me live my life the way I want to.


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