Catch ‘Fifth Beatle’ Billy Preston in ‘Chopsticks,’ a Salinger-esque TV pilot about child prodigies — dangerousminds.net

Billy Preston had one of the most remarkable musical careers of the twentieth century, joining Little Richard’s band at the age of 16, becoming a favorite of both the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, scoring the #1 hits “Will It Go Round in Circles” and “Nothing from Nothing,” appearing as the very first musical guest (with Janis Ian) on Saturday Night Live in 1975, and so on. Preston was known for his endless good cheer (he is almost always pictured smiling), his eye-popping afro, but most especially his natural musical flow. Preston with June Christy In this un-aired TV pilot hosted by John Scott Trotter that was probably shot in 1958, Preston at the age of 12 appeared alongside four other musically gifted youngsters for a kind of musical quiz show called Chopsticks. It’s hard not to think of “It’s a Wise Child,” the fictional quiz show that J.D. Salinger invented for his short stories involving the precocious Glass family. The spectacle of five talented children playing the piano with virtuosity doesn’t mix well with the requirements of a game show—in an early round, for instance the pianists are invited to come up with tunes that conform to the requests of viewer letters, such as “a tune with a girl’s name in it”—but you can see why they tried to make it work. Preston plays “Mary Had a Little Lamb” early in the show (in response to the above query) and later gets a brief solo appearance on the organ. Singer June Christy comes by an does a brief duet with each of the young soloists.

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