Marlene Dietrich Plays the Musical Saw (aka the Singing Saw) to Entertain the Troops During WWII — openculture.com

It’s not my favorite Marlene Dietrich gem on the internet. No, that would be her temperamental screen test for The Blue Angel  (1930). But it’s still a precious find. Above, we have an audio clip featuring Dietrich, one of the towering movie stars of early cinema, playing the musical saw. Andrea James writes over at BoingBoing: “Dietrich always wanted to be a classical musician. Since her cabaret act and film career left little time for her to do the required practice, she played the musical saw instead. Throughout World War II she wowed USO audiences with the novelty.” And that’s what we get a taste of here. In other clips available on Youtube, you can find Dietrich playing her “singing saw,” and again playing the musical saw on the radio, circa 1945.

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