The Perkins Merchants are characters featured in the 1963 Disney live action film Summer Magic. They are two merchants who work for the Perkins and Co instrument mercantile company at Boston, Massachusetts.
Background[]
Mr. Perkins and his son are two merchants who work for their business, the Perkins and Co musical instruments company, which operates at Boston, Massachusetts. Hence their duties as merchants, they would often sell or trade pianos either bought or sold which they would to deliver to their customers, especially when it comes to financial difficulties occurring at Boston. As the Carey family was suffering from the financial difficulties due to the insufficient money they could afford to stay in the house, the Perkins were tasked to sell an expensive piano to trade it for a cheap piano, such as a player piano. When they plan to sell the instrument they are tasked to sell, Mr. Perkins would tell his son to help him by following his instructions so that both of them would be able to carry the piano, due to its heavy weight.
Role in the film[]
Mr. Perkins and his son only appear at the beginning of the film. Just as they arrive at the Carey family's house, they patiently wait outside in a plan for them to sell the expensive piano inside the Carey family's house. When they enter the house, Mr. Perkins asks Nancy to know if the piano inside the house is the right one they are going to sell, which the Careys agree, revealing that they are selling the piano. Just as the Perkins work together to sell the piano, Mr. Perkins tasks his son to help him sell the piano. Gilly warns them to be careful, only for Nancy to explain him that they are selling the piano. After they sell the piano, Mr. Perkins and his son trade the old piano for a player piano.
As Nancy approaches Mr. Perkins and his son, she tells them that there must have been some mistake for them. Mr. Perkins replies to Nancy that her mother Margaret sold the piano for one-hundred and fifty dollars in order for them to swap the piano for a player piano, so Mr. Perkins' son helps set up the piano. Mr. Perkins and his son both leave the house together, just before the Careys interact with the player piano. Although they do not appear again throughout the rest of the film, the player piano that they gave to the Careys was placed within the Careys' new house at Beulah in Maine.
Trivia[]
- Mr. Perkins and his son are the first and only roles of O.Z. Whitehead and Jan Stine in a Disney production before their deaths on July 29, 1998 and November 13, 2010 respectively. While O.Z. Whitehead (who played Mr. Perkins, despite his small amount of screen time) was credited in the film's opening credits, Jan Stine (who played Mr. Perkins' son) was not credited for unknown reasons.
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