Orin O'Brien

The Only Girl in the Orchestra, Molly O'Brien's delightful and musically rich documentary about her aunt, the legendary double-bassist Orin O'Brien, is now playing on Netflix. I recommend it very strongly. A little while ago I spoke to Orin for a future book project — not, as it happens, about her remarkable fifty-five-year career with the New York Philharmonic but about her father, the film actor George O'Brien, who starred in F. W. Murnau's Sunrise. Her cultural memory spans much of the twentieth century, and she brings it to life magnificently.