ENTERTAINMENT
A former
Detroiter
went to Canada,
but returns
through the eyes
and ears
of children.
MARILYN LESSEM
Special to The Jewish News
W
hat some peo-
ple won't do for
their kids.
"When my
son Jacob was 3- or 4-years-
old," says Mark Rubin, "he
was listening to some classi-
cal music and kept looking at
the record cover. I thought it
would be good for him to have
something to look at and
listen to at the same time.
There was nothing. What I
had in mind didn't exist."
So he did what any good
father would do. He wrote a
book called The Orchestra
and followed it with an award-
winning record, tape and
video of the same name.
Mr. Rubin, who grew up in
Huntington Woods and now
lives in Toronto, needed seven
years to get the book written
and published. It was a long,
frustrating process, and he
was ready to shelve the idea
of the record. But when the
book was received with great
enthusiasm, the record
became an inevitability.
Mr. Rubin needed a voice —
a presence — to narrate the
record and he focused on
Peter Ustinov. Mr. Ustinov's
agent's name was listed with
Actor's Equity in New York.
After seeing the book, and
after a rather long, anxious
wait for Mr. Rubin, Mr.
Ustinov responded affirma-
tively.
But the logistics of getting
together for the actual record-
ing were daunting. Half the
time Mr. Ustinov was travel-
ling in Europe, and his U.S.
agent didn't know where he
was. After many transatlan-
tic phone calls, it was finally
arranged that the recording
would be done in Geneva,
Switzerland.
A studio was reserved and
a date was set. Up until the
last minute, Mr. Ustinov kept
juggling the arrangements
and at one point it looked like
things would have to be
cancelled altogether and mov-
ed to London. This was tough
on a guy on a budget, who
had already purchased his
"The Brass Band"
makes you feel
like the sun is
shining in the
park.
economy class, non-refund-
able ticket to Switzerland.
But Mr. Ustinov made the
recording and The Orchestra
received excellent critical
response.
The Orchestra was original-
ly viewed as being a single
production, not part of a
series. "Again, my son, Jacob,
provided inspiration," said
Mr. Rubin.
This time, Jacob was taking
trumpet lessons with a
teacher who was one of the
founders of a Toronto-based
brass band. "We were invited
to go to concerts, and I had no
experience with the brass
band in the British tradition.
I didn't even know there was
a British tradition, but I
thought the sound was
wonderful.
"It's big and bright, and
they played a variety of
things; and I just thought it
sounded great. At one point
they played 'Grandfather's
Clock, and I thought, 'This is
appealing, this is something
kids would like.' "
Mark Rubin holds copies of The Brass Band and The Orchestra.
The concerts were informal,
and the conductor would
often talk to the audience,
especially to the children, do-
ing it all with great good
humor. "It didn't take long to
put two and two together,"
Mr. Rubin said. Mr. Rubin
had decided to produce The
Brass Band, with Leo
McKern (Rumpole of the
Bailey) as narrator.
Tracking down Mr. Ustinov
had been easy, but not so Mr.
McKern who had been swit-
ching agents. Then there was
the problem of Mr. McKern's
phobia — he does not fly. His
home is in London, he was
about to begin filming more
episodes of Rumpole, and was
finishing up some other
projects.
Mr. Rubin viewed his Lon-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
69