Power of the Mason Hamlin

Dec. 19—The unexpected looms for characters — and audiences — in "The Power of the Dog," a dark Western in the mix for seven Academy Awards.

The movie, set on a Montana ranch in 1925, also uncorks a surprise — of the pleasant kind — for Haverhill piano manufacturer Mason & Hamlin.

One of its pianos plays a key role in the Netflix movie about two rich rancher brothers, character opposites Phil and George Burbank.

The piano gets introduced when ranch hands lug a big, tarp-covered box across the yard to the front door.

"George, what is it — a grand?" asks Rose, played by Kirsten Dunst.

She's unnerved by the gift from George, her husband.

"It's a Mason Hamlin, baby grand," says George, played by Jesse Plemons.

Later a tense scene unfolds. Rose's halting practice before sheet music in the parlor is mocked by Phil Burbank, standing outside his room, upstairs, picking the classical tune on his banjo by ear.

It's one of two tense scenes in which the piano figures.

Mason & Hamlin head design engineer Bruce Clark hadn't seen the movie — hadn't even heard of it — and was pleasantly surprised when shown scenes streamed on a laptop at the Haverhill factory.

"That is a very wealthy home in the old style of wealth," said Clark, who grew up in Wyoming, cowboy country.

"The Mason and Hamlin fits right in. They were one of the most expensive and absolutely best at the time of the movie. and they are today."

The piano in the movie looks like a vintage Mason & Hamlin, a pre-Depression model, said Clark, who has written a history of the company and piano manufacturing.

Tom Lagomarsino, the company's vice president, at the corporate office in Sacramento, California, hadn't heard from the movie makers that the Mason & Hamlin would be part of the film.

"Evidently, they really did their research," Lagomarsino said. "It is flattering and we appreciate the recognition."

Jane Campion, the director and writer of The Power of the Dog, based it on the 1967 novel of the same name, by Thomas Savage.

The novel identifies the piano as a Mason & Hamlin.

Mason & Hamlin was king, along with Steinway and Sons, in the Golden Age of American piano making in the early 20th century.

Today, the two manufacturers are among only three large piano makers left in the United States.

The Mason & Hamlin factory, located on Duncan Street in a tall, red-brick mill building where shoes were once made, employs about 35 people, half the number they did in 2017.

The company sells about 100 pianos a year. Its six models range from about 4 feet long to 9 feet 4 inches, the length of a horse.

Prices start at about $11,000 for the smallest upright (strings and soundboard vertical) to more than $150,000 for the largest grand (strings and sound board horizontal).

The Mason & Hamlin has a distinctive, big, powerful American sound, rich in bass.

That sound was by design, needed to fill large American concert halls, said Clark, whose mother, a sought after piano teacher in Wyoming, owned a Mason & Hamlin.

Legendary early 20th century pianists Sergei Rachmaninoff and Maurice Ravel endorsed and played Mason & Hamlin pianos, then made in Boston.

After the Great Depression, the manufacturer's reputation and sales slipped.

Twenty-five years ago, Gary and Kirk Burgett acquired the company out of bankruptcy and located it in Haverhill.

The company was closed for four months in 2020 when the pandemic arrived, Lagomarsino said.

The company has continued to turn a profit, he said, and is enjoying a nice rebound in 2021.

"We are doing very well," he said. "It is almost like a renaissance."

The factory inventory is sold and the company has inquiries coming in.

It's a competitive business and people don't buy acoustic pianos they way they did in the past.

In 2020 the total number of acoustic pianos sold in the U.S. was about 21,000 (a 33 % decline from 2019).

A century ago, in 1923, almost 350,000 acoustic pianos were sold in the U.S., when the population was a third of what it is today, according to Census and consumer data.

Meanwhile, the movie "The Power of the Dog" scores high among critics. The movie review site Rotten Tomatoes gives the drama a 96 % rating. Audiences appear less enamored, giving it a 61 % score.

The Power of the Dog script writer and director, Campion, who previously won the Oscar for best director for the 1993 film "The Piano," is among the contenders for the 2022 best director award.

Other categories where the film is considered to be a contender include best movie, best actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), musical score (Jonny Greenwood) and cinematography.

At the core of the drama, strength and weakness vie, but putting a finger on where they lie keeps viewers on their toes.

The rich visuals and music, and the history, entertain in The Power of the Dog.

The Mason & Hamlin has a vital part in the movie, bringing an East Coast connection to the latest rendition of the American Western.