Theremins on the Silver Screen

By omhoge - 6/10/2011 - History

It's always a treat to hear a theremin in a movie score. It's even more rare to see one.

Jerry Lewis' comic dance with Samuel Hoffman's theremin in The Delicate Delinquent is the most famous appearance of a theremin on screen.

There is a theremin player in an Argentinian film, The Holy Girl, and it is featured in the recent Spanish short Martians Go Home!.

Though not a complete theremin, The Thin Man's opening scene (pictured up top) shows a scientist moving a box of tubes to and fro in front of a generator making its humming pitch change. The scene sure echos the moment the theremin was invented, and the actor even looks like Leon Theremin!

(Edward Ellis)

It would be great to start building a list of films were the theremin makes an on screen appearance. Do you know of any more?

Tags: Films

6 Comments

Showing 6 Comments

coalport 6/11/2011 6:52 AM

Hold on one darn second! That's MY theremin that Jerry Lewis is playing in THE DELICATE DELINQUENT, and he never asked me if it was O.K. to use it!

omhoge 6/12/2011 7:05 AM

What theremin was being played off screen during the scene if Samuel's, was on the set and he was playing off to the side?

Jason 6/16/2011 11:35 AM

What about TV? There were a couple of episodes of Weeds that included a theremin as part of a sub-plot line and of course all the Simpsons references.

theremar 7/1/2011 6:40 AM

The Big Bang Theory - Season 4, Episode 12. The Bus Pants Utilization.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnTLZtZzrWU
http://youtu.be/Hp52...

Jeff S 7/1/2011 9:01 AM

Also on the small screen, a Moog Etherwave Pro was seen (but not heard) on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Wilco Botermans 7/7/2011 5:11 AM

Well, this one is not silver screen, but showed on the box a lot. Does that count?
Episode 10 of teen-sitcom Lizzie McGuire features an RCA-like theremin. It is the episode called" "I Do, I Don't".

From Wikipedia:
For a class project, Lizzie and her classmates are paired up for marriage. Lizzie becomes jealous, when Miranda ends up with Ethan Craft. She soon discovers that Kate (who is paired up with Larry Tudgeman) wants Ethan to leave Miranda at their "20 year reunion" (which is a part of their project) and Lizzie has to find a way to tell her. Matt builds a cave and his dad joins him there to live in solitude.

.....end

the 'husband' of Lizzie is a nerd, and he takes her to a science museum, where they encounter, and play (!) a theremin.

cheerio,
Wilco

Sorry, you must be logged in to leave a comment. Please log in or register for an account.