‘Hatari!’ was the first movie I remember watching. There is a song that Elsa Martinelli plays on the piano with Red Buttons accompanying her on a harmonica/mouth organ. It isn’t listed or included on the actual soundtrack album and to me sounds like a very odd cross between Red River Valley and Somewhere Over The Rainbow played jauntily.
The scene starts with the German former racing car driver sitting down to play and hitting the wrong note at which point Elsa’s character tells him that it’s E flat. He gives her the chance to play and tells her “You’d better be good” and she starts playing the melody with the right hand, he teases her about not using both hands and she starts playing with both hands and plays the song perfectly at which point Red Buttons joins in with the harmonica/mouth organ. Unfortunately no one sings and I have no idea what the song is called -I got the impression that it was a popular standard ie: not written for the film specifically so I don’t think it is a Henry Mancini number.
If anyone knows what I am talking about and can let me know what the title and the composer of the song is, I’d be grateful. Thanks! Mari.
I know that Henry Mancini wrote “Baby Elephant Walk” for Hatari, a jingle so catchy that it’s an instant earworm. (da-da-dada-dada-dada-dada) But I don’t remember whether it’s the music in the scene you refer to.
According to the iMDB, the only song besides “Baby Elephant Walk” is the Johnny Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael song “Just for Tonight”
(In Stephen King’s book “Cell” the zombies prove their evilness and bad taste by listening to “Baby Elephant Walk” – the Lawrence Welk version – over and over)
It’s not Baby Elephant Walk or Just for Tonight hence my description of the scene it occurred in, in the original post. It was not credited on the soundtrack and I have already run internet searches trying to find it. I was hoping someone actually recognized the song from the movie.
Side note: The young lady behind the piano, Michele Girardon, plays Red Buttons’ love interest in this movie. She died at about age 37, reportedly as OD.
(And I apologize for the quality of the video. My equipment is primitive, but it’s free.)
