The Mandolin 'Scoop"

[jefflester]

I saw Woody Allen's latest movie "Scoop" with Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman's character is an upper class Englishman with a big country house. He has a locked vault in the basement of his house thats holds a bunch of rare and vintage instruments, including a Strad. There were a number of bowlback mandolins and other various stringed instruments on the wall, though nothing that I could definitevely identify. No Loar to be seen.

[Jim Garber]

Of course, if he were an upper-class Englishman he would not have a Loar, he would have a high-end italian mandolin: Vinaccia, Calace or, most likely, if he were a player, and Embergher.

Now, I must see this film.

Jim

[first string]

It's not a great film in my opinion (in fact, much of it made me cringe), but anything with both a passel of mandolins and Scarlet Johansson, is worth seeing.

[jefflester]

It's not a great film in my opinion (in fact, much of it made me cringe), but anything with both a passel of mandolins and Scarlet Johansson, is worth seeing.
Agree, on all accounts. Even bad acting by Scarlett is fun to watch.

[jackofall]

Of course, if he were an upper-class Englishman he would not have a Loar, he would have a high-end italian mandolin: Vinaccia, Calace or, most likely, if he were a player, and Embergher.

Now, I must see this film.

Jim
Most Englishmen wouldn't know a mandolin if one fell on them. Upper class Englishmen are often the product of a limited gene pool, and would know even less about mandos than us working class types!

An Irishman, on the other hand, wouldn't need to come up to me at a session, as English people do, to ask "What's that little instrument? Is it a banjo or a small guitar?".

I'm English, by the way...

[Elliot Luber]

When I used to play violin, nothing would annoy me more than someone coming up to me and asking me to "strum" it for them. People mean well, they just tend to be ignorant. Typically they WANT to be educated. It just takes a lot of energy to keep doing it, time after time. Mandolin is an interesting issue, it's a fine classical instrument with a down-home country derivation. It's the violin/fiddle thang, only they don't look alike. What someone calls it belies their upbringing, rich or poor. People would be a lot richer if they could see both ends of the spectrum.