Stan Harper in One Third of a Nation 1939

[Danny G]

When I visited Stan at his home a few months before he passed away he gave me a DVD of the harmonica scene from a movie he played in when he was just a boy. I happened across it today and out of curiosity I checked to see if it might be on Youtube. Bingo ! The third close up shot is a boy playing chromatic. I'm pretty sure that's Stan

https://youtu.be/b12gZKrL-k4?t=3613

[beads]

That was a treat. Thanks for sharing it.

[SlideMeister]

If it ain't, it's his twin brother. 
Just add eighty odd years and a pipe.

[smojoe]

So I was thinking?? If Stan was born in 1921 and this movie was out in 1939, Stan would have been..what?.. 18. I watched the whole thing and wasn't sure if I saw him. Stan was, after, quite handsome when he was younger. I was just wondering, how MUCH younger. in any case, a great display of harmonica.

Shout to Mr. Beads. I noticed that you mentioned my name in the same 'township' with several other players t'other day. I don't deserve it BUT I sure smiled when I read it. Thank you.

j.c. smo-joe

[Danny G]

Hey, look what I found

[Gnarly He Man]

No like button—but I like it.

[SlideMeister]

Hey, look what I found

I gotta start standing on a box.

[Bernie9]

Naw, I gave up trying to look taller years ago, and pardon me for saying so, but I doubt the sincerity of your remark lol

[Scotty]

When I visited Stan at his home a few months before he passed away he gave me a DVD of the harmonica scene from a movie he played in when he was just a boy. I happened across it today and out of curiosity I checked to see if it might be on Youtube. Bingo ! The third close up shot is a boy playing chromatic. I'm pretty sure that's Stan

https://youtu.be/b12gZKrL-k4?t=3613

Yup: at 1:00.31 - that's definitely Stan playing chromatic. He's wearing a dark shirt and looking down and slightly to the right. The next player has slicked back dark hair and a checked shirt. Stan could easily have been 18 or even 17 here, given that it probably took a year to finish the Movie. I ended up watching a lot of the film since it took place in lower Manhattan.

scotty

[SlideMeister]

I have no doubt that that's Stan in that cut. The more I look at it the more obvious it becomes; same round face and the same eyes. My wife, Barbara only spoke with Stan once, but after seeing the cut. she said: "Oh yeah! That's definitely him."

[brorat]

I don't mean this in a negative way, but ...
It's amazing how much changes in 80 or so years.  Can you even imagine a group of young teens sitting around a dock and playing harmonicas today?
Those days were so much more innocent in many ways.  Perhaps our world needs a group of young teens hanging out at the docks and playing harmonicas! 
I attended college at The Virginia Military Institute in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  I have a copy of a movie about VMI called "Brother Rat" which was released in 1938.  It starred Ronald Reagan, Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman and Wayne Morris.  It, too, captures a much more innocent period in US history.  I graduated from that school over 52 years ago.  Our "innocence" of my era was much closer to the 1938 setting than to today's.
I guess it's true of most "old folks", but I kinda yearn for those more innocent times.

[Scotty]

Not to burst your bubble, Brorat, but you're seeing this only through your own eyes, and not those of others whose
lives might not have been half as wonderful. We can't get into it here - Age's orders, but at least do some homework
and see what the lives of the rest of the people not portrayed on film in such an 'innocent' way were actually like.

Movies are a wonderful way to gloss over real life, but in this case the film was all about falling-down tenements owned
by a rich businessmen who was entirely unaware of the squalor his tenants were forced to live in, nor that the single rooms
were filled with roaches and were literally fire-traps. There is a crippling accident to a young boy followed by a terrible death at the end. Thank goodness NYC instituted Fire rules (sprinklers) on high-rise buildings.

scotty

[brorat]

Thanks for the lesson, Scotty!
I should have prefaced with “IMHO”

[OhioMusicalSawMan]

When I visited Stan at his home a few months before he passed away he gave me a DVD of the harmonica scene from a movie he played in when he was just a boy. I happened across it today and out of curiosity I checked to see if it might be on Youtube. Bingo ! The third close up shot is a boy playing chromatic. I'm pretty sure that's Stan

https://youtu.be/b12gZKrL-k4?t=3613

That was fun to watch!!  Thanks for posting this Danny. Who was this Stan guy?

[Scotty]

When I visited Stan at his home a few months before he passed away he gave me a DVD of the harmonica scene from a movie he played in when he was just a boy. I happened across it today and out of curiosity I checked to see if it might be on Youtube. Bingo ! The third close up shot is a boy playing chromatic. I'm pretty sure that's Stan

https://youtu.be/b12gZKrL-k4?t=3613

That was fun to watch!!  Thanks for posting this Danny. Who was this Stan guy?

This was at one of the last 3 Garden State Harmonica Festivals run by Val Redler and her husband Phil Caltabellotta.
I loved Stan's tone here (with Ron Kalina on keyboard -he's also since passed). Stan was in his late 80's at the time.
He had a long and very interesting harmonica history - counted among his best friends his 'gang', including Carl Reiner Mel Brooks, and a few other very famous names. He regaled me once at SPAH (as he did so many others) over a very long lunch with his entire life history - so funny, informative and absolutely fascinating. I wished later i'd had a recorder to remember it all. He was a character. One of those you don't forget. Others knew him far more intimately than me.




scotty

[Wendellfiddler]

I have no doubt that that's Stan in that cut. The more I look at it the more obvious it becomes; same round face and the same eyes. My wife, Barbara only spoke with Stan once, but after seeing the cut. she said: "Oh yeah! That's definitely him."

Yep, I agree.  That's him. Really to see that and I also found pieces of the film interesting.  So much has changed.

doug tanner