[Dixieland] Dancing Flower
Identifier
F.2022-09-0328a
Date Of Production
circa 1955
Abstract
An excerpt from an episode of John Nash Ott's weekly television program How Does Your Garden Grow?, featuring a performance by Ott's neighbor Jim Cunningham and his seven-piece traditional jazz band. How Does Your Garden Grow? first aired in 1951 on the Chicago television station WNBQ (channel 5), and became part of NBC network programming where it continued to air until 1956.
Description
The film begins in host John Ott's tool shed and studio in Winnetka, Illinois, where he greets the audience and prepares to introduce the day's topic, but is quickly distracted by the sound of an offscreen musical instrument. His neighbor Jim Cunningham enters the tool shed clutching a trumpet and questions if Ott has been playing "the right type of music" for his flowers. When Ott asks him if he can help with that endeavor, Cunningham promptly summons the rest of his seven-piece band into the shed who immediately begin rearranging the furnishings to make room for their piano, guitar, trombone, clarinet, drums and upright bass, much to Ott's consternation and amusement. In the remainder of the excerpt, they play several traditional jazz songs, including "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Tiger Rag."
In Ott's book, My Ivory Cellar: The Story of Time Lapse Photography, he explains that two of his sons encouraged his further experimentation with a plant's time-lapse photography synchronized with music, as he had initiated with the primroses featured in Dancing Flowers. His sons emphasized, "they thought I would do much better to keep more abreast of the time," by exploring more topical musical genres, so Ott recorded songs played by his neighbor's traditional jazz band on magnetic tape, and then re-recorded on an optical film track.
Featured band members include Mel Grant on piano, Bob "Cuz" Cousins on drums, Sid Dawson on trombone, Frank Chace on clarinet, and Marty Grosz on guitar, nearly all of whom regularly played alongside Cunningham at the Red Arrow Lounge at 6929 Pershing Rd in Stickney, Illinois.
In Ott's book, My Ivory Cellar: The Story of Time Lapse Photography, he explains that two of his sons encouraged his further experimentation with a plant's time-lapse photography synchronized with music, as he had initiated with the primroses featured in Dancing Flowers. His sons emphasized, "they thought I would do much better to keep more abreast of the time," by exploring more topical musical genres, so Ott recorded songs played by his neighbor's traditional jazz band on magnetic tape, and then re-recorded on an optical film track.
Featured band members include Mel Grant on piano, Bob "Cuz" Cousins on drums, Sid Dawson on trombone, Frank Chace on clarinet, and Marty Grosz on guitar, nearly all of whom regularly played alongside Cunningham at the Red Arrow Lounge at 6929 Pershing Rd in Stickney, Illinois.
Format
16mm
Extent
300 feet
Color
Color
Sound
Optical
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Element
Print
Genre
Form
Subject
Related Collections
Related Places
Main Credits
Ott, John Nash Jr. (is filmmaker)
Participants And Performers
Cunningham, James Jr. (is musician)
Grant, Mel (is musician)
Cousins, Bob (is musician)
Dawson, Sid (is musician)
Chace, Frank (is musician)
Grosz, Marty (is musician)
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