The Many guitars of James Cagney

[AcousticDreams]

Another hobby of mine is Classic movies. Love those 30's, 40's & 50's movies.

Watched a James Cagney Film the other day Called " Torrid Zone". Not one of his best movies, but certainly still enjoyable.

The poster for the movie intrigued me. Cagney was holding a guitar. But no where in the movie was he playing guitar. Upon further research Cagney indeed loved playing guitar and owned a Classical, several Steel Strings and even an archtop. There is a south american group playing music while Ann Sheridan sings in this movie. I believe it is the very same Martin. He must have lent it to that person..or that person lent the guitar to him to play in the off hours of movie shooting. The movie was made in 1940.

You can own one of two guitars up for sale that Cagney owned. One is a 1941 00-18 for 50K, and the other is a 1936 L-5 for 100K. In one of the pictures he is playing a rather unusual Martin with a typical arhctop bridge tailpiece.

https://rudysmusic.com/products/c-ma...sn-80766-w-hsc
https://rudysmusic.com/products/c-gi...n-93904-w-ohsc

[Organic Sounds Select Guitars]

Fun post - thanks for sharing with us!

[HFox]

I never knew J.C. Played the guitar.....I like him as an actor....like him even more now....Thanks for posting.

[Rosewood99]

“You dirty rat”. Thanks for sharing.

[Gdjjr]

Originally Posted by HFox

I never knew J.C. Played the guitar.....I like him as an actor....like him even more now....Thanks for posting.

I'll second that!

[AcousticDreams]

With a little more research from this website, http://www.guitarhq.com/martin.html#c1

I found that the guitar pictured in "Torrid Zone" was a 1931 c-1 Archtop. By 1932 they introduced the F holes, and they dropped the round hole completely by 1933.

I was very curious about how this guitar might sound. So with a little youtube searching I found this: recorded a little bit two low, so you will have to turn up the volume
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aN4DV14O4

[Gdjjr]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

With a little more research from this website, http://www.guitarhq.com/martin.html#c1

I found that the guitar pictured in "Torrid Zone" was a 1931 c-1 Archtop. By 1932 they introduced the F holes, and they dropped the round hole completely by 1933.

I was very curious about how this guitar might sound. So with a little youtube searching I found this: recorded a little bit two low, so you will have to turn up the volume
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aN4DV14O4

I heard it fine and I don't hear very well- according to my kids I like the way it sounds!

[jrb715]

Great post. Thanks!

[Wade Hampton]

That Martin C-1 is the guitar most closely associated with Cagney; he used it a lot.

Thanks for the posts.


whm

[gmel555]

That's great, I never really noticed before. Thanks for posting!

[catndahats]

Thanks!
Great story.

[Charmed Life Picks]

Wow, I love stuff like this.

sm

[PassingThru]

Nice post. Full of good stuff. No idea he was a guitar player.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by PassingThru

Nice post. Full of good stuff. No idea he was a guitar player.

Jimmy Cagney was a multi-talented guy. He was, of course, one of the leading song and dance performers of his era, as well as being a fine actor.

You know who else from that era who apparently played guitar quite well? Groucho Marx.


whm

[CopyCat]

I love stuff like this. Thanks for posting those great pics. Those old Martin round-hole archtops are the bomb and it’s neat to see someone playing one in the wild, so to speak.