A History Of Drummers In Film & An Irksome Example Of Health & Safety

In Anne Billson’s excellent round up of drummers on film in the Telegraph she mentioned Gene Krupa nifty matchbox percussion in a nightclub scene with Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire.   

Matchbox Boogie - Gene Krupa

Ball Of Fire, 1941

Back in 2009 when I put on the Krupa centenary concert at Cadogan Hall we wanted to reproduce this scene so in rehearsal I got out the matchbox and proceeded to play it with two matchsticks (this is actually more difficult than you’d think because of modern matchboxes having no rough striking surfaces so sandpaper had to be attached). 

Gene Krupa Centenary Concert At Cadogan Hall

The Jazz Repertory Company

Within seconds one of the hall’s staff appeared and said that there was no way he was going to allow us to do this.  I explained that the two matches would be lit for about two seconds and then blown out by me, but he wasn’t having any of it.   

Gene Krupa On Drums

This made me whine on to him for much too long about how in the history of British cinema up until 40 years ago a large percentage of the audience would have been happily puffing away and in all that time not one cinema burned down. (I was possibly wrong about this – does anybody know of any instances where cigarettes caused a cinema to go up in smoke?).

Richard Pite On Drums

Pete Long suggested an excellent compromise.  We introduce the number, issue a health and safety warning and explain we couldn’t exactly reproduce the scene in the film and then I donned hard hat, safety glasses, orange visibility jacket and waved two torches around during the feature.  I’m pleased to say it got a laugh (and also allowed me to rant on in pubs for a long while after about “elf and safety gone mad” – an essential part of the conversational repertoire of a grumpy old git).

Richard Pite On Drums

The post script was that at the Purcell Room the following year we did actually get grudging permission to go ahead and do the routine with the matchbox but I was so nervous about setting the esteemed venue on fire I couldn’t get the bloody matches to light.

A list of our www.jazzrep.co.uk concerts can be found here and our showreel is below.