Gene Rodemich was a fine orchestra leader and piano player who worked in the 20s and 30s. His band included many great musicians of the time, and he became well-known for his involvement in early animation. He provided the music for over 100 cartoons. Here is a marvelous recording by […]

Many have speculated about the origins of the musical saw. The Hyde Park Herald, August 27, 1926 included this article explaining how it all happened: “First ‘Musical Saw’” “The idea of extracting music from such an unlikely medium as an ordinary steel saw is said to have originated more than […]

Bugs Bunny is the star of this cartoon from 1958, and the musical saw plays a big part in this production. The cartoon is titled “Knighty Knight Bugs” and it’s the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award. The plot revolves around the theft of a “singing sword,” […]

The saw shows up in old country songs, and here’s a great Soundie by Tom Emerson’s Mountaineers, “I Wish I Died In My Cradle.” There’s not a lot of information about them, but they seem to have done most of their recordings in the late 1930s and early 1940s and […]