The Eddy Duchin Story

When I opened ''''The NEW Stork Club"" in the 70's, on Central Park South, down the block from Plaza hotel, and with ED WYNN [NOT the little funny looking comedian, with the same name, lol... but the former manager of BILLINGSLY'S original Stork, who then moved on to open his own Harwyn club which was responsible for the world known original stork's demise.... Ed and I got PETER DUCHIN for the opening to play on the White Grand Pianio, [I decorated the club] and Peter came back often. Here is a couple of articles for those who LOVE this film and Eddy and his son Peter, still alive luckily... at least to THIS date, I think.... June 16, 2014, coincidently also my birthday lol Ed was over 30 years oldeer than I, now deceased for over 10 years, but we spent 30 years together and this was our world too Ed was mentioned in Sammy Davis' Book ''Yes I Can'' for being the FIRST Cafe owner celebrity who allowed ALL ethnics into clubs those days.... Sherman Billingsley was a Racist and never allowed access to his STORK. Sanny Cavis appeared constaly in Ed's Harwyn forr FREE in appreciation along with talking about it in his Biography. Now about DUCHIN... If anyone's interested in the real facts from the FILM, also an article below it, about Peter's current life, enjoy.......>August 19, 1996Vol. 46No. 8Society's ChildPerhaps Wary of What He Might Find, Bandleader Peter Duchin Takes Stock of His Unsettling PastFacebookTwitterE-mailIN A WORLD GIVEN OVER TO SELF-analysis, navel-gazing and parent-blaming, pianist Peter Duchin was a failure. "He's been untroubled because he managed to forget," says writer Brooke Hayward, 59, his wife of 10 years. While others endlessly rewind and replay their childhoods in search of insight, "Peter had the opposite desire," Hayward says. "He didn't want to know."These days, the Manhattan-based Duchin is a—some would say the—society bandleader par excellence, playing more than 100 gigs a year. But he is equally famous for having led a through-the-looking-glass life marked by tragedy, privilege, politics, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Kim Novak and thousands of parties. At 59, he has finally written a memoir, Ghost of a Chance. "It was just going to be an anecdotal book about things I saw from the bandstand," says Duchin. "But I'd been talking to Jackie O, who was a really close personal friend, and she said, 'Look, there's more to talk about because your life is so weird and there's been so much tragedy and pain. If you have the guts, do it.' "The tragedy in Duchin's life began early. His mother, prominent New York socialite Marjorie Oelrichs, died of childbirth complications six days after he was born, in 1937. Duchin himself barely survived. One of his lungs collapsed right after he was born, and he spent months in an oxygen tent. Almost immediately, his father—the dashing bandleader Eddy Duchin—turned him over to family friend Averell Harriman, later governor of New York, and his wife, Marie.Duchin says he was always hurt and puzzled by his father's abandonment but now believes that "he must have blamed me to a certain extent for the death of his wife, whom he loved very much." At the age of 10, he moved in with his father and stepmother Chiquita. That reunion ended when Eddy died of leukemia three years later. Peter eventually went back to the Harrimans. Remarkably, Duchin says, he has no memory of the years with his father. Until he started the book, he didn't seek information about his mother either—though he had plenty of opportunities. "To think that I often stayed in Newport [R.I.] with people who knew my mother and my mother's family and never asked about her—that's really weird," he acknowledges.Before he started on the book, Duchin says the unexamined life suited him just fine. "I don't know if I was scared or what," he says. "I've never been to shrinks. I never wanted to. It wasn't my style."His wife—herself the author of the bestselling memoir Haywire, about her own celebrated and unhappy parents, theatrical producer Leland Hay-ward and actress Margaret Sullavan—thinks his forgetfulness was a survival mechanism. Even though facing the past was "a risky process," she thinks that, ultimately, "it will be immensely important to Peter that he did the book, that he had the courage."At Arden in Woodbury, N.Y., Harriman's 40-bedroom estate on the Hudson River, Duchin learned to hunt, play polo and be a people pleaser. "I tried to be liked and charming so I'd be asked to stay around," says Duchin. That charm came in handy at Yale, where he studied music, and during one memorable weekend when he romanced Kim Novak, who played his mother in the 1956 movie The Eddy Duchin Story. She was 22; he was 17. "Kim is just a wonderful woman," says Duchin, when pressed for details.Duchin knew the blue-blooded—the Whitneys, the Dukes, the Phippses—and the hot-blooded, most notably Ava Gardner, with whom he had an affair in 1962. "She was a woman who really knew a great deal about all levels of life from the dregs to the top," he says of the actress.With his first wife, Cheray (the mother of his three children—Jason, 30, an actor; Courtenay, 28, a graphics designer; and Colin, 26, a potter), he was a frequent guest on Aristotle Onassis's yacht. He describes the Ari-Jackie union as "an extremely intense, close relationship," adding, "I daresay she loved him very much at one point."He was much less impressed by Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman, Averell Harriman's third wife (and wife Brooke's stepmother during Pamela's 10-year marriage to Leland Hayward). "I think I write about her honestly," says Duchin, who portrays the current U.S. ambassador to France as controlling and conniving: "Pamela's focus became Averell and what was good for her and him." Duchin claims, among other things, that she cheated him out of land that had been promised to him by Harriman. She won't comment on the book.With Ghost of a Chance out of the way, Duchin is back on the road. Between jobs he retreats to his country house in Connecticut, where he gardens and listens to Bach. In those baroque strains, he hears the echo of personal rhythms. Bach, says Duchin, "is highly structured, yet it's immensely free." As is Duchin. He has faced his music; now he's ready to dance.CURRENTLY...>

To have this dvd is a must. The beautiful piano music of eddy duchin is something to experience and the sad tragic story of his life is something to know. Just a terrific movie.

I saw this movie when it came out in the theaters and enjoyed watching it again.

I liked the main story of Eddie Duchin's life, BUT the ending could be a real tearjerker for some people.

There is a peculiar irony in the necessity of producing a movie depicting civilized culture during a time when culture was still civilized. It no longer is. The barbarians are no longer at the gates, they occupy the essential seats of power. This sensitive, riveting look at a real-life musician sensation is polished, enjoyable moviemaking at its best. It is the account of a gifted man pursuing The Good Life, only to find that attaining one's dreams/ambitions is only the first layer of real life - a layer that paradoxically must be shed if life's core is to be attained. The protagonist of this epic runs headlong into life's limitations laid on him by God, circumstance and his own limited vision of happiness and love."The Eddy Duchin Story" has a universal quality about it in its theme of recognizing, then reconciling oneself to, the "plot" of one's own mysterious life. And like another moving classic, "The Razor's Edge," Tyrone Power masterfully portrays the hero of an elusive chase for joy and meaning in life, and the discovery that mature happiness lay in wait for us beyond the shattered dreams of our youth. It helps that the protagonist really lived, so that we feel this film goes beyond mere idle artistic speculation. We also feel the intrinsic fascination toward a celebrity of soaring talent who has captured the acclaim of Society in his day.The entertainment value of the film is fully equal to its message. The breathtaking popular music permeating the movie is anything but gratuitous, woven logically and elegantly into the story line. The casting, the beautiful uptown Manhattan setting, and the script are cobbled together well, and the generous length of the film is just right here - we want to spend time watching this plot sort itself out, yet the film never drags.TRANSLATION: kick back for the night with the ones you love - I saw this one when my parents brought me to the theater as a young boy, and I in turn treated my family to it now - get a handkerchief ready at hand, turn out the lights, bring out the popcorn, plug in "The Eddy Duchin Story" ... and bring on Entertainment with a capital "E". Oh yes, and bring out the cliché, "They don't make 'em like they used to." In this case, sadly, "they" could not - this film was made shortly before America had lost its culture, and now it's a case of "all the king's horses..." Today's Hollywood could no more produce a heartfelt, cultured drama like "The Eddy Duchin Story" than today's music industry could yield another Mozart symphony. It is a singular cinematic treasure. We are fortunate to have it in our archives, if not in our active entertainment industry capabilities.

I love this story so I tried to find a Bluray version. I purchased "The Eddy Duchin Story [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import - Spain ]." I put it on and the film was very dark and saturated. It is not transferred well to Bluray at all. I am just returning it now and will try to find a good quality DVD. Extremely disappointed.

A real tear jerker. It’s a long story, but Eddie Duchin performed at my house when I was about 4 years old. I love this movie for many reasons.

One of the best love stories of all time...wonderful, unforgettable music and actors are great...saw it as a child and was enthralled by it..

A brilliant film,really enjoyed it great music,definitely recommend it for all music lovers of dance bands and love a good story ofMusicians,who gave us great music to listen and dance to.will watch it many times again,very touching to the heart in parts,will put it in my collection of other dvds in the great dance bands of the thirties ,fourties ,love these films got a few more to collect yet,Thanks for giving me the chance to buy and relive those memories of my younger days ,when real music was played,to dance too,

I love Tyrone Power, that is the only reason I bought this DVD, but even I had to laugh at the sight of him playing a young man straight out of college! Luckily it was only for a couple of scenes, but it really was ridiculous, as was the whole drama of Kim Novak's character being scared of the wind, what the hell that was all about, is anyone's guess. I remember watching the film years ago and think it was the best thing ever, but now I've re-watched it, it's probably the most wooden pile of tripe I've seen for ages, i still love Tyrone Power though.

This movie is great for anyone who longs for good music written in with a good (and true) story line.I speak of these things because I have been involved in performing with various size bands for many years, and (trust me) I know the difference between GOOD MUSIC. , well written and arranged, not like the awful stuff that we are suffering on our TV screens, with sub standard ..just into puberty...so called vocalists.The pianist for the movie was Carmen Cabellero,, (who actually knew the main actor..Tyrone Power ) ....Great stuff....James

Mention Eddie Duchin today and you'll be greeted with "Who" I saw this film years ago and even I didnt know who he was. He was a piano player with a difference. He could get more out of a piano than most people. His story is how he got to be a top entertainer and how he met his society wife and married and had a son and his wife died so he left his son to be raised by other people. When his son was about 9 it was pointed out to him that he better get to know him or else he would lose him. He got to know him and married again and the story goes on. All the way through is beautifully played music for piano. I could compare his playing with Liberace. They had a similar style. It is a good film and a good story and good music.

I love the movie. It’s my style. Today them doesn’t do films quite all special effect