Dr. John Spicknall and bassist Joe Deal showcase popular tunes from the career of pianist Eddy Duchin, who was not a jazz pianist, but who produced a sweet, ever-flowing stream of melody, the main current in America’s post-war musical era. During the recital on August 8, Dr. Spicknal and bassist Joe Deal will feature tunes from the 1956 controversy-laden film “The Eddy Duchin Story,” tunes such as Time On My Hands, What is This Thing Called Love?, Shine On Harvest Moon, Smiles, You’re My Everything, April Showers, Three O’Clock in the Morning, The Man I Love, Just One of Those Things, Stardust, and ‘Til We Meet Again.

During the August 15 session, OLLI participants will view and discuss the controversial 1956 film starring Tyrone Power playing the role of Duchin. Fresh out of pharmacy school he traveled to New York in the 1920s to take a job playing piano for band leader Leo Reisman. Kim Novak plays the role of Duchin’s mother, a socialite removed from the New York Social Register when she married Duchin’s Jewish father. Part of the success of the film has been attributed to Novak’s appearance in ads for No-Cal diet soda. Duchin’s son Peter, a talented pianist band leader who combined “a musical approach incorporating big bands, swing and Broadway songs”, has criticized the script regarding fictionalization of the lives and deaths of his parents.