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| Minnie the Magic Piano Theatrical Prop, 1954 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
“Minnie the Magic Piano” (seen above) was a prop created for the original production
of the musical “Salad Days: by Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds. The show
debuted at the Bristol Old Vic in 1954 and transferred to London's Vaudeville
Theatre where it ran from 5 August 1954 for over 2,000 performances.
Obviously,
given the title, the “magic piano” is central to the plot of the show, in which
a tramp’s piano makes anyone who hears it play, dance. After five and a half years at the Vaudeville,
followed by two years on tour, the prop is clearly well-used.
“Salad Days” was written hastily to fill a gap in the schedule at the Bristol Old Vic, so the company had only two and a half weeks for rehearsal and preparations. This is not the original piano made for the production. The first version of “Minnie” was assembled by the master carpenter Phillip Wilson and his assistant Tom Lovell from parts of old pianos mounted on pram wheels.
“Salad Days” was written hastily to fill a gap in the schedule at the Bristol Old Vic, so the company had only two and a half weeks for rehearsal and preparations. This is not the original piano made for the production. The first version of “Minnie” was assembled by the master carpenter Phillip Wilson and his assistant Tom Lovell from parts of old pianos mounted on pram wheels.
Dorothy
Reynolds, the show’s co-creator, as the V&A tells us “was upset because it
was too large, the size of an upright with a full keyboard.” Reynolds insisted that Minnie needed to “be small, or 'mini', with a five
and a half octave keyboard,” so Tom Lovell built a second version under the
supervision of Patrick Robertson, the production designer—rushing to finish it
on time.
In
the rush to complete the prop, thirteen people helped create it, painting it,
making the lamps, finding the fringing and pasting the back with theatrical
prints.
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