What can one collect that has to do with the musical saw?

If you have any additional information on the works displayed in this gallery, we'd love to hear from you.

Musical Saw Figurines


"Waddle I Play for You?"
"Waddle I Play for You?" is one of the E-I-E-I-O Series.
Designed by Mary Rhyner-Nadig.
It is a cute duck playing a saw with a bow. Put out by Enesco in 1996. Model number 257419, model Group MMHF EIEIO. It has been discontinued for some time. Part of the Mary's Moo collection, and of the E-I-E-I-O Series.
There is an IC Chip inside which makes it quack. Made of ceramic.

Also exists as a salt & pepper shakers, made of ceramic, model number 261769, model Group MMHF SALT & PEPPER SHAKER 1997




Vintage Squirl playing the musical saw


5" tall Chipmunk or squirrel who is playing a saw with a bow, gold trimmed - he's rather odd looking with closed eyes and red teeth and he is stamped "6651" with an N inside a C and also has a sticker that says "Handpainted, Lenwile China, Ardalt Japan, Verithin".




Musical Saw Art Work


1940 Color Lithograph Calandar Top of Bassett Hound and lady playing the musical saw. Signature of Gil Elvgren (1914-1980). He was one of the premiere American pin-up artists...the Norman Rockwell of cheese-cake. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota as Gillette A. Elvgren
This lithograph was reprinted circa 1965 as an 11 by 8" calendar print titled 'Doggone Good'.
Also reprinted 1961 on a calendar 32 X 16".

Photo the artist took of the model he used for painting this painting:


Artist: Robert Armstrong (1950 - ), Title: "Jug Band Special", Media: Gouache on paper, 16" x 20"- notice the musical saw player on the left hand side.


Norwegian print (2 versions) depicting a trol playing the musical saw


"PLAYING THE MUSICAL SAW", a print by Beryl Cook, measuring 30 x 40 cm
Beryl Cook was born in England between the two world wars.


"Natalia 'Saw Lady' Paruz", a print by Zina Saunders for her book 'Overlooked New York'


"Natalia 'Saw Lady' Paruz", a paper collage by Young Joo Noh (South Korea), 1998


Illustration, 'Saw Lady' by Heidi Younger, 2007, www.HeidiYounger.com


Artist: Elise Tomlinson (1969 - ), Alaska, 2005, Title: "Woman Playing Musical Saw"


Artist: Evgeniy Shibanov(Russia, 1941-), Title: "Musical Saw", Media: Orgalitis, oil, Size: 30 x 22 in / 75.0 x 55.0 cm, Year of Creation: 2004 .


'Tom Sawyer' by Reggie Miles, USA


Milton Trajano's cartoon interpretation of Natalia (a.k.a. Saw Lady) illustration by Heidi Younger
www.miltontrajano.com, www.heidiyounger.com


Musical Saw Newspaper ads


Musical saw advertisements of Mussehl & Westphal from 1922, 1924, 1925, 1927/8. During the 1920's there were Musical Saw ads in magazines like Popular Mechanics and full column ads in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, and American.

Article-advertisement of Mussehl&Westphal in the Popular Mechanics magazine's February 1949 issue. Advertises their musical saw, Glass-O-Phone, Jazz-O-Nette, and Musical Pitchfork.



Advertisement for Kenwood home stereo systems (1990's) featuring a lady playing the musical saw



In a 1941 issue of Newsweek there was a full page ad for Veeder Root featuring a man playing a musical saw.


Musical Saw Miscellenious

Musical Saw Ash Tray


Tin ashtray manufactured by Mussehl & Westphal, reads:
It's easy to play the musical saw, the glass-o-phone, the jazz-o-nette, musical pitchfork, flute-o-phone.


The Musical Saw Lapel Pin

Enameled cloisonne pin that tells the world that you play "The King of Toothed Musical Instruments".
Designed and made in Alaska by Jef Brown.

Another saw lapel pin, handcast from pewter:
1 1/16" X 1/4"
By artist Jim Clift of Coventry, Rhode Island.

Musical saw button:
Comes in two sizes.

Thank you Tom!

Musical Saw Tie Clip

"Tie Clip, Carpenter's Crosscut Saw" with gold plated tie clip (#3729). 2 & 3/8" long, with a real wood handle and REAL METAL saw blade! The blade is a soft metal, probably pewter, and it has a brass clip for attaching it to a tie and shirt - which is the background.

Hand Saw Weathervane


Take the nearest highway to Middle America, look up, and this is what you'll see. Nothing says Americana better than a weathervane and this Hand Saw model - carpenters have weather, too!
Measures 27 x 19 in.

Musical Saw Instructionals


The 5 Minute Course For The Musical Saw by Margaret J. Synnberg. Chicago: M.M. Cole Publishing Co., 1937.
Paperback booklet with stapled binding. The booklet has 16 pages, 7 of which have 12 lessons, and the other 9 have music to popular songs of the time. Original price: 25 cents. Following eddition: 35 cents


1922 M&W 13 PageInstructions


Musical Saw Pamphlet by Jed Sawyer
'Musical Saw and How to Play it' by Claude N. Ballard a.k.a. Jed Sawyer. Belwin Pub (January 1, 1956)
ASIN: B0007FC2JK
Another source says first published 1930 and 4 editions were published between 1958 and 1982
5 pages of text, one page of advertisements.
Here is a photo of Claude playing the saw (thank you Eve Adam, Claude's niece, for the photo!) http://community-2.webtv.net/harmoniceve3/HarmonicEvesOrphan/
:
Claude (May 8th, 1906 - early 1971, CA, survived by wife Eve and daughter) had a vaudeville act where he also played violin (probably his main instrument). He had been in a program on vaudeville where Bob Hope had also been on the stage. These were probably quite separate acts, not a collaboration. There was a later (1951?) radio program where they exchanged jokes, and Claude even made Bob Hope laugh. Claude was also a piano tuner and an engineer making maps.

Musical Saw News Letters

All about musical saws. Newsprint style with stories and testimonials: 'Just by Way of Getting Acquainted', 'Sawing News of the World', 'Musical Saw News', and 'Saw Player News'.


Mussehl & Westphal early publication 'Just by Way of Getting Acquainted'.


1968 "Sawing News of the World" printed paper. Measures 11" by 18" fully open. Includes a Mussehl & Westphal letter on letterhead.

Mussehl & Westphal papers

Paper titled 'The Musical Saw'

Paper titled 'Which Bow to Use'

Paper titled 'Instructions for Playing the Musical Saw' (copyrighted 1921)

Paper from 1972 titled 'The Apotheosis of the Handsaw'.

1925 Tuition Fee Brochure

M&W lable

Original packaging of M&W gold saw dated 1926 (28c worth of postage stamps was the shipping)
Lable reads:
- From-
Mussehl & Westphal
Creators - Manufacturers - Instructors
Novelty Musical Instruments
Fort Atkinson - Wis.

Lesson No. 1, instructions for playing the musical saw.
1966.

Ad for musical saw carrying case, and letter which came with the case:

Musical Saw Records

Record by Mussehl & Westphal MFG.Record is almost 5 inches in diameter. This record, demonstrating the sound of the musical saw, was part of the M&W musical saw kit. This record was made by FLEXO for the musical saw manufacturer. If held up to the light, this record is translucent green and is made of a heavy, yet flexible material. 78 rpm.
Original sample of the record can be heard here: http://archive.wfmu.org/ramgen/archive/FL/saw.ra

Although the record looks black, when held to the light one can see it is actually a transparent blue-green color. One side is labeled Saw Solo, the other Saw Duet.
both sides read:
MUSSEHL & WESTPHAL
MFG
FORT ATKINSON WIS.
PLAY WITH NEW
STEEL NEEDLE
Recorded by
WARNER RECORD CO. K.C. MO.
"239" is impressed or etched into the record in the unrecorded area near the label on the solo side, "238-Z" on the duet side.
The duet (piano and saw) runs just over 1 minute and is the tune "Swanee River".
Sold at auction July 2005 for $15.

Posters mentioning the musical saw

Poster for a show titled 'Totally Unexpected' (1920`s-30s?) at the Palm Court Theater, directed by: Mr Anthony Godwin. The poster reads: "fifteen unrivalled artists each selected for their individual excellence and unequalled ability, in A REPERTOIRE of WOULD YA LIKE TO SPOON WITH ME? Among the acts is the "MUSICAL SAW & STROVOLI TRIO". Other acts include BLACK-EYES gypsy violin duet, MUSIC for the SILENT FILMS, etc. The poster is by Patricia Godwin who was the artistic director of the Palm Court Theatre Orchestra and Company and is responsible for producing all of their brochures, posters, album covers and set designs. Acknowledged as a specialist of the Art Deco period her paintings capture perfectly the atmosphere of the time.

Musical saw comic strip

Polly & Her Pals Cartoon, 1936

Nov 8th, 2005 Garfield comic strip by cartoonist Jim Davis.

2008, Lou Nerdelson: Inexperienced Saw Player

Thank you Nicki!

Comics with musical saw allusion

Walter Lantz New Funnies #141, Dell Comics, 1948
Featuring stories with Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Charlie Chicken, Homer Pigeon, Oswald Rabbit and others.
The 35th Edition of the Overstreet Price Guide value on this set is approximately $14.00.
The cover of this comics book features Woody Woodpecker trying to play a cello using a musical saw as a bow... The box on the floor (out of which the saw came) says 'one musical saw' and is addressed to Woody.
I guess this is one of those books in which the cover had little or nothing to do with the interior stories (often the case in Golden age funny animal comics). Woody does play a guitar while singing 'Home Home on the Range' on an interior story, but he doesn't play the saw.
Thank you, Tex, for the info.

Valentine's Day Cards

Vintage Valentine which measures approximately 5" x 2 1/2" featuring a cat playing a saw. Card reads: THE MOMENT I SAW YOU I KNEW YOU WERE MY VALENTINE!

Thank you very much to Morgan and to Debbie for their very kind help with some of the photos on this page.

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