Only Girl in the Orchestra, The (2023)

[bunniefuu]

Well, well, well

- What a surprise.

- Hello! Surprise.

- Like this. Like that.

- Okay.

- Phew!

- You're very good. Hey.

I don't know how you

did this for 55 or 60 years.

I did it until I

was 87. Let's put it that way.

Look at

that. Oh, my goodness.

Step one, rosin the bow.

- Orin?

- Yes.

Ready when you are. Camera's

ready and sound's ready.

My niece is the director.

I told her not to do this,

and she's disobeying me.

I want to tell you

about my aunt Orin O'Brien.

Orin O'Brien, double bassist.

She's my last elder.

All the rest are gone.

Beautiful. One more for safety?

Orin was the first female

musician hired full-time

by the New York

Philharmonic in 1966.

The conductor Leonard

Bernstein said this about Orin

"I love Orin because she's a source

of radiance in the orchestra."

"Her musical involvement is total,

and whenever I look in her direction,

and inevitably find her

looking intently back at me,

I marvel at this concentration."

"How does she do it?"

"Has she memorized every note of every

bass part in every work we play?"

"It is as impossible

as any other miracle."

That's it,

I got it.

Okay.

We have to go to work.

The elevator is not

air-conditioned,

so I bring my own air

conditioning with me.

Ah, it is here.

Lafayette, you are here!

- Hey! How are you?

- Good morning. This is my niece.

- Hey, it's cool.

- Yeah.

- Molly, are you warm enough?

- I'm fine.

Oh, okay.

Hi.

Why the double

bass? Why did you choose...

I chose the double bass

because I liked the idea of

playing with other musicians.

I didn't have much ambition

to be a soloist or anything.

I like being in the background.

- Orin.

- Yes?

We don't need to do all this. We

could go from here to the end.

- From here...

- Only...

Let's just go from here to, um

Let's make a little pause.

Once through and

then

Then we'll go to here.

One, two, three, four.

Ladies and

gentlemen, five-minute announcement.

- We have to go.

- Let's play it one more time.

No, no, no. No, I don't

want to be late on stage.

- We're not gonna be late.

- Yes, we are.

Come on. I can't do this.

It's

To play the double

bass in an orchestra

feels like you're in

the belly of a submarine

with machinery going all around you,

and everything happening all at once,

and millions of notes

falling all around you,

and you having to maintain

your steadiness within.

We look at each other coming

off the stage and say,

"This is why I became a

musician, for this experience."

Okay.

- Jacqui!

- Hi.

How are you? So good

to see you. Come on in.

This is something else. Wow.

I bet you my father had this.

Probably.

- He seemed to know all about you.

- Oh, dear.

- "Orin O'Brien"

- This is painful.

"newest member of

the New York Philharmonic,

scurried into Philharmonic

Hall one rainy night,

and, ignoring the musicians' locker

room, got dressed in a washroom."

"Miss O'Brien,

who is the daughter of old-time

Western star George O'Brien

and actress

Marguerite Churchill"

That was magnificent.

Oh, it wasn't much.

"may be the best

woman bassist in the world."

"To a man, they say 'Orin

is one of the boys.'"

"Only Orin is one of the girls."

"The only girl, in fact, in

the 104-member orchestra,

a situation unique

at the Philharmonic,

so there is yet no

place for her to dress."

- Beauty at home.

- Pitiful.

Gorgeous. Oh, boy.

You're prettier now.

"Miss O'Brien, who is curvy

as the double bass she plays"

Oh my gosh.

"does not mind."

"On tour, the men make up for it

by falling over themselves

to carry her bags"

This is so bad and wrong.

"and save

her a seat on the bus."

Well, they did save me a seat.

"The slender but

mighty arm of women's lib

hasn't exactly reached

into the music world yet."

"Zubin Mehta of the Los

Angeles Philharmonic

commented, 'Women had no

place in the orchestras, '

a remark which Orin O'Brien

finds slightly absurd."

Then it goes on.

"Despite the undeniable

excellence of the ladies,

some men musicians and conductors

still view them with a wary eye."

"If she is attractive, I

can't perform with her."

"If she is not, then I won't."

Quote, "A woman's life in the

orchestra is not as long as a man's."

"She is just not as good

at 60 as a man is at 60."

This is outrageous.

But can I tell you, they

never mention anything

about my ten years of

freelancing, about the Ballet,

about all the recordings I made

with Saidenberg, with one bass.

No, not one word, just, "She was

cute and the guys carried their..."

No, they didn't carry my suitcase.

Nobody carried my suitcase.

Because they're carrying

their instruments.

I never let anybody touch my...

a man carry my bass for me.

- Do you know something?

- I'm just saying. To this day.

The year I joined the Philharmonic,

they did a lot of publicity photos of me

which I was embarrassed about.

After all, I was a member of a section,

I wasn't principal, I wasn't a soloist.

They made a big fuss,

so I didn't like that.

I don't

understand, Orin.

Why didn't you want

to be celebrated?

Well, the focus was

on me all of a sudden.

And I thought,

"How embarrassing."

It was t*rture.

It was t*rture and I

was humiliated inside,

because I thought all the other musicians

are going to resent this because I'm new.

You shouldn't be riding out here

alone like this, away from the train.

Why not?

Because this is dangerous country,

and anything might happen.

My parents, they wanted

to be in that spotlight.

They craved it.

Dad was a very

famous movie star.

When somebody came up at

a table in a restaurant,

and they bothered my

father for an autograph,

he was thrilled.

John Ford gave him his big starring

role in The Iron Horse in 1924.

And his best film was Sunrise,

which Dad loved to death.

My mother was gorgeous,

and she was always telling me,

"You've got to be noticed."

You bet your right eye.

But I didn't want

the limelight to be on me.

I just backed off

from all of that.

There can't be,

"Everybody be a general."

Somebody has to be a soldier.

To me, that's part of the pleasure

of playing in an orchestra,

is that you can join what

everybody else is doing.

These are the men

of the New York Philharmonic,

led by the conductor

Leonard Bernstein.

The orchestra has 107 men in it.

To join the orchestra, Orin O'Brien,

who plays the double bass of all things,

had to face the ordeal

of the audition.

When you take an audition, they can select

anything from the orchestral repertoire

of the last 300 years

and ask you to play it. They

put the music in front of you

and you're supposed to have

studied it or known it,

or you'll be sight-reading it.

- Kyung is here?

- Yes.

Oh, great.

Kyung, where are you?

Oh, boy!

What are you

going to play first?

Beethoven's

Symphony No. 5.

Okay, Julian. Just sit

down. Make yourself comfortable.

I should put this over here.

So much is in disarray

because I'm moving.

If you went in the hallway,

you would see boxes all over.

Yes, I saw some.

Now, I want you to feel

that this is an audition rehearsal.

I think I'm going

to start with the easy ones.

- Save your solos for the end?

- Warming up. Yeah.

Okay, sorry. I have to stop

because I want you to give me more.

The beginning has to be like

you almost rip the strings off.

- Except you don't.

- Okay.

You know It's angry.

Okay.

Where is everybody? Coming

from other classes, I guess.

What do you think

are the main characteristics

that an artist, "a musician" I

should say, needs to survive?

I'll tell you what I

tell my students all the time.

You start out with a passion for

the sound of your instrument,

for loving to play, loving

to play with other people,

loving certain

kinds of repertoire.

But if there's anything

else that you enjoy doing

as much as playing the bass,

by all means do it.

The double bass is

terribly temperamental.

It changes with the

weather because it's wood.

You have to talk to it, baby

it, or it'll decay and dry up.

It won't stay vibrating.

It must vibrate to stay alive.

First of all, you have to have the talent.

If there's no talent, then it's hopeless.

You have to have strength in your fingers

in order to press the strings down.

You must use the weight

of your body properly.

If you're going to keep honest and

keep playing the way you need to,

you need to have your physical

control of the instrument.

You have to be able to have

strength of character to do it.

Would you like a glass of water?

- Yes, please.

- Okay, I figured. You know Okay.

The question is, "Are you meant

to be a musician, really?"

Tempo's okay, Orin?

Yeah, perfect.

- Shall I show you my first album?

- Yeah.

This is Dad, that's

Mom, that's me.

- My God, that's such a cute...

- Isn't that adorable?

And that's Dad and me.

Me sitting on Dad.

- And

- So cute.

And that's me with the bass

that I took to New York.

Yeah.

When I was 13, I

fell in love with Beethoven.

I read, in high school, every

book in the school library

on music and musicians and

composers and performers.

I couldn't get enough.

So by the time I was 16,

I went to the school conductor and said,

"Please, can I join the orchestra?"

The conductor said, "We

need a double bass player,

and there are four basses

in the closet over there."

"Just go pick a bass, and

if you study for six months,

we'll let you in the orchestra."

So I never missed

a day of practice

the first four years

that I played the bass.

My fingers, the nails I cut so short

that the fingers became infected,

and I had to soak them in

Epsom salts every night.

But I was determined I was

going to learn everything.

And that was something

else you sent me somewhere,

yes, and I saved it 'cause

I thought it was so great.

You called me Wonder

Woman.

Well, not surprising.

Growing up, Orin was the

adult I admired most.

My father's older sister.

She had the life I

wanted for myself,

a New York City artist's life,

an independent woman's life.

She's navigated getting older

better than anyone I've ever known.

How does she do it?

I agree with Bernstein.

She's a miracle.

Orin, how

does it feel to retire

after 55 years in the

New York Philharmonic?

Oh, well, I think I enjoyed

myself probably as much or more

than anybody else

in the orchestra.

Although all my friends

tell me they enjoy it too,

but I think I enjoyed that

feeling more than almost anybody.

I can't believe

it. That's too much!

Ready? We got everybody,

we're all good?

Come closer.

Everybody sure loves Orin

She's still

roarin' on her bass

- Orin O'Brien

- Boom

Orin O'Brien

When she don't

like a conductor

You can see it on her face

- Orin O'Brien

- Boom

Miss O'Brien

She has ten

gazillion students

Spread all over the world

And they all use German bow

So low

So congrats on

your retirement

We're envious, you know!

Don't go

Our beloved Miss O!

Surprise!

Holy cow!

I would have made more

pumpkin bread if I had known.

Okay.

I'll come back later

and clean you, dear.

Shall I close the

door when I leave?

All right.

Yeah, that'll be okay.

I'm moving because

everything is crumbling.

That's black mold up there.

And this whole north wall

here crumbles during the year.

Are they coming in?

Oh! A Steinway.

- Oh, it's a Steinway.

- Expensive piano.

And I've had it for 51 years,

by the way, in this apartment.

- It came to me already 50, 60 years old.

- Okay.

So it's probably

over 100 years old.

Probably.

Ah!

All right.

This is what I chose.

It's teriyaki ginger chicken

That's fine.

with pineapple meatballs.

- What can I do? Can I help?

- Nothing.

Just admire me.

That's what I

was about to bring up.

Do you remember when Mom

and I came and visited...

- Yes, when you were 11.

- I fell in love with New York.

And therefore, you, and I

wanted to be just like you.

- I wanted your life. I wanted...

- At age 11?

I went to ten different

schools in grade school.

The eight grade years were

ten different schools,

different place,

different thing.

Grandma, mother, father

not there. Da-da-da-da.

I wanted stability

and everything.

It k*lled me to move

out of my old apartment,

because I I felt it

was home, you know?

And I... It was...

Any kind of change is upsetting to

me, I think, because of my early life.

And here is

film star George O'Brien

after years of active

duty in the Navy.

I used to feel very

anguished in my teenage years,

maybe because my family was

going through a divorce,

which is very difficult and very dramatic,

and there were all kinds of problems.

But I used to get a great deal of

satisfaction and emotional release

playing Beethoven sonatas, Bach,

anything that I could

get my fingers around.

I used to play for hours

whenever I was upset.

I wanted emotional expression,

and music helps us

organize our emotions.

I think you have a better life than me

because you have a more normal life.

I have an abnormal life.

What is normal?

That doesn't make any sense.

Orin, you've done an amazing job of

living a fulfilling and purposeful life.

And I was trying to

figure out why I'm making this film.

I think part of the reason why is

because I want to navigate my life

the way you have navigated it.

It's been very accidental.

- Orin, it's not.

- It's completely accidental.

Look, look, see, I don't

feel so very special

if you compare my life

with somebody else.

People want to

celebrate you, Orin.

- Why is that funny?

- That makes me laugh.

We come from artists.

I don't feel I'm an artist.

I don't feel I'm good enough.

I've never felt I've been good

enough. I don't feel I'm an artist.

I'm trying to just...

You're trying to make me more important,

and I'm not comfortable with that.

Okay.

Okay, so tell me the story

of your successful movie star parents

and the decline of

George's career.

His last film was

Cheyenne Autumn in 1964.

He played the part of a villain, a

captain who was sh**ting at the Indians.

Ford said, "I got one part left, you

take it or leave it." And he took it.

You know, when you come out of the

Navy and you're 47, 48 years old,

and you're used to playing

the parts of a hero in film,

you don't get heroes'

parts anymore.

And it was quite a shock to him.

He was waiting at home for the

phone to ring with an acting job.

The second

half of their life

Things went down

from what they were.

They were not happy with the

way their lives were going,

and in a way I was very

glad that they ignored me

and let me do what

I wanted to do.

And I managed by

accident to succeed.

I'm very happy the

way things have been,

and, you know, I'm I'm fine.

I don't have any uh, regrets.

I'm fine.

I don't feel that I have missed out

on anything, except maybe children,

except that my students

are like children to me.

And your double basses.

Well, double basses are

different. They're like pets.

You've been going through the process

of figuring out foster homes for them,

or new homes for them. How's that going?

Not well. Um, I don't

wanna talk about it.

Okay.

Mm.

I'm sorry.

- Hi.

- Hey, Orin!

- Hello.

- How are you?

I'm hysterical. How are you?

Look at

all these basses.

Shall I go to the Duke?

- Yeah, let's go say hi.

- Okay. All right.

- Someone you might be familiar with.

- Oh, dear old thing.

Okay.

Oh, that's gorgeous!

I just thought this was the

most beautiful sound, you know?

And it just rang forever.

There's been so many people

who have come in here.

And they go

We're so proud to say, "Hey,

check out what we have here."

"We have the Duke. Orin's Duke."

These instruments have

such a rich history.

Duke was a maker in 1750.

If only these

instruments could talk.

I mean, they speak, but if

only they could actually talk.

- If only they could... A recorder inside.

- Talk about all the history.

"I played for George III,

and I was very proud."

That's right! Yeah.

Oh, that's so

beautiful. That is gorgeous.

Okay. Okay.

I love that

bass. I love that bass.

This is the best bass

that I ever owned,

and David is going to be

the new owner of that bass.

- Thank you.

- He's going to be the owner and enjoyer.

Because you need to be able

to play it in such a way

that the entire

instrument vibrates,

and a lot of people don't devote

that kind of interest and study

to know how to play that

way, and he does. So

- Thank you, Orin.

- Okay, all right.

All right.

It's very emotional. Yes.

Now, if I play that,

- you play that.

- Oh!

- I play the double?

- Yeah.

- You play this, and I play that.

- I never did that.

- That's so cool.

- It's a built-in duo.

Three, and

- Can't get better than that.

- That is so cool.

You just taught me

something. That is fun.

- Isn't that great?

- Yeah.

You could also improvise if

you're a jazzer, like you are.

- You could improvise a jazz bass part.

- That is so cool.

Mmm. Yummy. Yes.

That was so fun. You sound so good.

- I think that's enough playing for today.

- Okay.

Are you excited?

I'm so curious to see all the

bass players. That'll be fun.

Hi, Orin! How are you?

Wonderful. Glad to see you.

I wanted to study

with you because you're a legend.

The first lady of New York

Philharmonic on double bass.

And, you know, your reputation

was just to the moon.

And it was like my

highest hopes and dreams.

And I remember walking

into your apartment,

and all the records, and just

It just felt like...

It felt unreal.

It was really wonderful.

- Oh my gosh, yeah.

- Yeah.

I'm just kind of curious as

to what you're doing now.

I'm very busy teaching,

and I now am able to go to

concerts that I couldn't go to.

Basically, I'll just show you...

I retired last October,

and the month that I moved

- That's the month I moved.

- Wow!

And this month

hasn't filled up quite yet.

This is this week.

So I'm very busy.

What do you do for yourself,

when you have the time off?

I'm able to see my niece,

my one living family member,

which I never had

time for before.

Good!

I go to Gyrotonics once a week, I

have an Italian ballet dancer teacher.

Really?

Who likes that I studied ballet

as a kid, and I know the terms.

So when I try to stand on my toes, she

says, "You can do your petit relev."

So let's start after 142.

One, two, three, one, two

One, two, three,

four, five, one

One, dun A one, two

One, dun A one, two

Shorter. Shorter. Shorter.

Timpani. Timpani. Timpani.

One, two, three smash!

Yes, okay.

I'll just tell you

one more story.

When I first played this at

Juilliard many years ago,

I was playing a big

vibrato on a low-F,

and I thought it showed that

I cared about every note.

And the conductor stopped

the orchestra and says,

"You think your

part is melody? No."

"Don't, it's a supporting

role. Don't vibrate."

And I was humiliated, but I

learned something important.

You don't want to stick out.

You're a support for

what else is going on.

You're the floor under everybody that

would collapse if it wasn't secure.

So it's a very proud feeling,

but it's a supportive part.

So, okay, all right. Is

that enough for today?

This is my theory of how

to enjoy your life incredibly.

You don't mind

playing second fiddle.

The idea of being

a public figure

and having applause and

being in the limelight,

and then all of a sudden, you're

deprived of that as you get older,

and then not being

in the limelight.

I think it's better to

love something so much

you do it for its own sake,

and also for the wonderful

people that you're playing with.

You're creating something together,

which is better than something alone.

Can we rehearse the

beginning so it's perfect?

I'm sure it'll be perfect

with everybody, but I just...

make me feel better

if we rehearse.

I'd rather

be a secret artist

than an artist with PR.

I'm an artist in my own mind,

but I don't want to advertise.