The Harp Scene
There are some shots in this scene where the hands seem to be Cary Grant's but the strumming doesn't match the music, and there are some shots where it looks like somebody is reaching around Cary Grant's torso to play the harp and in those cases the hands' strumming seem to match the music.
Anybody know who the real harp player was?
I don't know who played the harp, but it does look like Cary in some scenes and someone else in others. When Gladys Cooper comes into the room, it looks like Cary's head on the other side of the harp - like he's sticking his head into the scene while someone else's hands play. But then it looks like he's playing.
I've looked for the answer to this and who the skaters were for a long time.
There's a lot of magic in that movie and perhaps we'll never know. If I find out, I'll post here.
Happy Holidays.
According to the website harpcolumn.com Gail Laughton (a male) coached Grant and plays the harp for the soundtrack. Laughton's hands are the ones seen in The Bishop's Wife playing the harp as well. Laughton also played the harp for Harpo Marx in the Marx Bros films-studio probably preferred a professional musician for the recordings.
shareIt may be Gail Laughton we hear in the Marx Brothers' movies, but Harpo played well enough that we probably see his real hands playing.
In the scenes where it's obviously Cary Grant's hands in this movie, he still does an excellent job of faking the fingering.
"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde
I noticed the same type process shot was used in Portrait of Jennie, when David Wayne plays the harp. Ironically, the original material for Portrait of Jennie and The Bishop's Wife were both written by Robert Nathan.
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