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The Professor

1977

Cat no. 5164

The Professor

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A series of sketches involving a hopeless pianist and his crazy piano.

These nine sequences - created for BBC East's Tuesday Music Show, and employing a combination of slapstick humour and trick photography - are variations on a sketch involving an unfortunate pianist and his struggle to control a crazy piano. The set-up is the same in every sequence, the pianist arrives on stage to a smattering of applause, places his music, bows to the audience and prepares to play. But without failure, something catastrophic occurs: his candle burns out instantly, or takes off like a rocket, or explodes; the piano lid closes, crushing his fingers, or the piano itself plays only high-pitched comedy noises, or moves mysteriously, or explodes. In the final sequence, the pianist seems to gain the upper hand at last, wrestling the piano into submission until it lies on its back with the keys facing the audience. The pianist re-positions himself and plays a lovely tune, only to shuffle off stage and ruin his act by returning for an encore, playing a bugle woefully out of tune.

Keywords

Comedy; Music

Manifestations

The Professor

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