This summer (2015)when I went to Israel I decide I was going to see Harpo's Harp. I did email the JAMD with no response. So with my brother-in-law Udi we went to find Harpo's harp. After wandering around the Campus and asking where the harps are kept, we ended up in a practice room (I think it was room #511 or 513). There were 3 harps one of which was Harpo's, we took some pics, played it and put the cover back on; mission accomplished.
Thanks for this very lovely post, but I do need to correct a couple things - Harpo's TWO harps were donated to the state of Israel, and not by Harpo, who didn't "will" his harps to anyone. His widow Susan was VERY explicit in this and told me first-hand; in her own words, "no, he didn't will anything to anything." In a nutshell, after Harpo's death, Susan was invited to judge the first International Harp Festival in Israel. She - as she told me: knew nothing about harpistry and asked if their son Bill (who's a pretty brilliant musician and had worked extensively with his dad) could come along and judge in her place. And then SHE decided to donate those TWO harps of Harpo's to the state of Israel, with the proviso that they NOT be kept in glass cases, but that they be used by students; she told me she wanted one in Jerusalem and one in Tel Aviv. But when they were being unloaded from the plane in Israel, Susan was presented with a bill for 100% duty - which she told me, was a total of $12,000 (and this was in 1965.) She was furious and said, "Forget it! I'll send them home!" And she then told me it took (so she claimed) intervention from the highest levels of government to arrange for those two harps to be "allowed" in as nothing had ever been admitted to Israel duty-free. But that's the story, straight from Harpo's wife, as told to me. Two harps, not one!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info. Now I will need to find the one in Tel Aviv. If you have any idea the location of that one please let me know.
DeleteThanks again
What happened to the one in Tel Aviv? This is fascinating! I saw that the one used on I Love Lucy was auctioned in 2016. https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23477/lot/518/
DeleteI played the harp during my harp lessons in the 1970's at the The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance that was called then The Rubin Conservatory of Music and was located near the current Prime Minister's residence on Smolenskin Street in Jerusalem. My teacher was Klari Sarvash, who was the first harpist of the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv and then moved to Jerusalem to become the harpist for the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. I always got a thrill remembering who donated it.
DeleteAsk Steve Fritzman at Lyon and Healy where his Gold 23 from the movies is.
ReplyDeleteSix years ago, I was working as an audio engineer at the American Harp Society Convention in New Orleans. At one point, I was asked to go to a certain room to operate a small P.A. While I was waiting there for something to happen, a harp was wheeled into the room. Turns out it was Harpo's Lyon & Healy Style 23 from the movies. As a Marx Brothers fan, I was thrilled. If my memory serves me correctly, at that time, it was privately owned by someone in Florida.
DeleteBy the way, I have a photo of it.
DeleteI also "discovered" the harp in 1994. I had arranged to meet the semi-retired director of the JAMD, who had been there to receive the harp 29 years earlier. He clearly remembered that there had been a brass plate affixed to the harp, acknowledging its illustrious previous owner, but none of the three harps had such a plate. He assured me that the harp wasn't lost, but that it may have been on loan, which is common with harps. He didn't quite know who it had been lent to, but was sure it would come back. I told him that while waiting for our appointment I had wandered the halls and found a harp case which had partial freight labels to and from locations in Southern California, especially Cathedral City, Palm Springs, and the environs. The case had a serial number stenciled on it, and we matched it to a harp in the practice room. There wasn't any mark indicating that a plate had ever been affixed, he must have remembered that detail incorrectly after three decades. Similarly, Mariposa certainly knows his Harpo, (we once visited Susan together) may he be misremembering one detail: I think the second harp is in Haifa.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Unknown! But actually, it was Susan who claimed the harps ended up in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - her memory wasn't always perfect in her later years, but that was her claim, taken directly from the recordings/transcripts I made from our many discussions over the years. I do appreciate the accounting of your visit to the harp at JAMD - thanks very much for that bit of sleuthing and for sharing your story! It WOULD be great to know where the other harp is, now - perhaps Susan was correct in that it began its new life in the old world in Tel Aviv, but perhaps it then later ended up in Haifa.
DeleteAnd here's a little blog entry you all might enjoy... http://www.duckprods.com/weide/harp.html
ReplyDeleteThe second harp was donated to the Tel-Aviv music academy ,Which known today as the Buchman Mehta school of music in Tel Aviv university.
ReplyDeleteAs a student there Ive played on it many hours...
Thanks VERY much for that update, sari.shemesh - and good to know it's been accounted for. Do you know if it's still IN Tel Aviv? I had never been aware of it being moved anywhere out of Tel-Aviv in the past 55 years since Susan (and Bill) delivered it - and the second harp to Israel.
DeleteAny information is valuable and gratefully received. Thank you!