Méndez in the motion picture Cowboy
Méndez played in the motion
picture Cowboy from 1958. The
stars were Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon.
In a scene at the end of the movie, Harris (Jack Lemmon) enters a bar
in Mexico. A musician (Méndez)
can be seen close to the bar counter. He is playing a simple Mexican
song, but as a reviewer say on Amazon:
I like that
Mr.Mendez. He can really play that horn. Hot I tell you..
hot! Anyways folks, I recommend that you all buy this fantastic root
in tootin' slam here footin' horse riding shootin' movie! You'll love
it and as for Mendez. He is the greatest.
Images:
Here are a few captured images from the movie. The scene is very
dark (a bar with candlelights). As one can see, Méndez is playing a sheperd crook cornet
(typical instrument for that time, late 1800).
Méndez playing on a
cornet.
(Click on image to see a larger! )
Méndez
and Jack Lemmon (standing behind the cornet)
(Click
on image to see a larger! )
About the cornet:
(David Hickman said this on Trumpet
Herald)
The cornet was an antique, not a Mendez model
cornet. I don't know the brand. It was not in his collection of
instruments when we moved everything to the Rafael Mendez Library at
Arizona State University. Perhaps he borrowed it. Might have even been
a stage prop. I know that several studios have collections of old
instruments for period movies.
In the RML, we still have
his hand written music for this soundtrack.
It contains parts of several of his solos. Obviously, he is faking it
in the movie. He recorded it separately.
Dave Hickman
Head, Rafael Mendez Library
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