Music Boxes

 

The most famous movie piano might also be the smallest: Sam’s miniature upright from “Casablanca” in 1942. Humphrey Bogart was only 5’8”, but he towered over the tiny 58-key upright. FNP is stenciled on the back, for First National Pictures, which merged with Warner Brothers in September, 1927. It was manufactured earlier that same year by Kohler & Campbell. The piano and its stool were painted a rose-gold for the black-and-white movie, and elaborately decorated with Moroccan motifs. The lid was detached from the case and fitted with a hook-and-eye closure, so Rick could slip the letters of transit inside, undetected by the Nazis. Arthur “Dooley” Wilson, who played Sam, was actually a drummer. In the scenes where Sam seems to be playing, he’s really mimicking the motions of pianist Jean Vincent Plummer, just off camera, playing “It Had to Be You,” “Knock on Wood,” and “As Time Goes By.” Sam’s piano sold at auction in 2014 for $3,413,000.