Has anyone ever seen foxtrott danced like this?

[alang]

Found this link on the German forum. If they danced and partied like that in the twenties, how tame and uptight have we become later on?
Enjoy.
Andreas

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TS0ffJ4sHk[/youtube]

[Henry]

Mmm, suspicious sound track. The orchestra in the film, a *huge* dance orchestra (jeez, you could play Beethoven symphonies with that group!), bears no relation to the sound I'm hearing, which is a violin and a piano with some percussion now and then. The action is reasonably synchronized with the music, but there are some "jumps" in the film to bring things back in line. As for the fox trot, the music is in 4/4 meter, like all good fox trots, and the tempo is not especially fast, c. 108-120 mm. The dance style seems a bit frenetic for the tempo, and the music starts out like a rumba, but hey, it's show biz!

I'd like to know who put that sound track together with that film. What I see/hear is bogus, added later.

[wjw]

Well, they're having a big time there but I don't know about foxtrot. Looks like a polka breakout to me! As for the music- the clip is from a silent movie so I guess anything goes.

[Roaring20s]

I have half expected to see Chaplin as the conductor or Groucho cutting into the dance.
Don't get me started on the face slapping. Looks like a fun movie.

James.

[estott]

Mmm, suspicious sound track. The orchestra in the film, a *huge* dance orchestra (jeez, you could play Beethoven symphonies with that group!), bears no relation to the sound I'm hearing, which is a violin and a piano with some percussion now and then. The action is reasonably synchronized with the music, but there are some "jumps" in the film to bring things back in line. As for the fox trot, the music is in 4/4 meter, like all good fox trots, and the tempo is not especially fast, c. 108-120 mm. The dance style seems a bit frenetic for the tempo, and the music starts out like a rumba, but hey, it's show biz!

I'd like to know who put that sound track together with that film. What I see/hear is bogus, added later.

The film is "The Oyster Princess" (1919) by Ernst Lubitsch. The music is by Aljoscha Zimmermann, it was scored around 2005 and I think that the film score as a whole works very well- it's quite a funny film. The orchestra is RIDICULOUSLY big on purpose- these are all supposed to be wealthy Americans living an over the top lifestyle.

[Henry]

Mmm, suspicious sound track. The orchestra in the film, a *huge* dance orchestra (jeez, you could play Beethoven symphonies with that group!), bears no relation to the sound I'm hearing, which is a violin and a piano with some percussion now and then. The action is reasonably synchronized with the music, but there are some "jumps" in the film to bring things back in line. As for the fox trot, the music is in 4/4 meter, like all good fox trots, and the tempo is not especially fast, c. 108-120 mm. The dance style seems a bit frenetic for the tempo, and the music starts out like a rumba, but hey, it's show biz!

I'd like to know who put that sound track together with that film. What I see/hear is bogus, added later.

The film is "The Oyster Princess" (1919) by Ernst Lubitsch. The music is by Aljoscha Zimmermann, it was scored around 2005 and I think that the film score as a whole works very well- it's quite a funny film. The orchestra is RIDICULOUSLY big on purpose- these are all supposed to be wealthy Americans living an over the top lifestyle.

Yeah, I was certain that the music track was recent, just from the sonic quality and the playing styles. Wonder if there was an original score for the film, as there often was over here, to be played by either a pit orchestra (in the large-city movie palaces) or an organ or piano (in smaller venues). It's curious to me that the violin-piano track here is mostly in a minor key; not exactly the right mood for a glizty celebration. (Why don't they ever tune the piano for these things?)

BTW, just to clear up any misunderstanding, I didn't mean to suggest that the film is bogus, only the linking of this music to it.

[FloridaClay]

Good fun.

Clay

[estott]

Very few silent films came with composed scores- those were reserved for very big productions. If a film like the Oyster Princess came with anything it would have been a cue sheet, usually a list of suggested pieces for certain scenes. Most conductors of theater orchestras considered themselves experienced enough to compile a score themselves.

This site has a lot of information: http://www.mont-alto.com/photoplaymusic.html

and theater musicians had a lot to chose from:

(Double-click the video above or click this link to go to the video on YouTube.)

[Henry]

Thanks for that link. Lots of good info there. Here's another: http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/about/
The Dryden Theater shows vintage films (including those on nitrate stock!), sometimes accompanied by a professional orchestra from the Eastman School of Music, which was founded in 1921 by George Eastman for the purpose of training theater musicians. The orchestra for the 3,000+seat Eastman Theatre comprised the instrumental teaching faculty of the School. This arrangement lasted until 1931, when the Eastman Theatre became no longer economically viable as a movie house. The International Musicians' Association (union) of the AFL-CIO estimates that around 14,000 theater musicians were thrown out of work, practically overnight, by the advent of sound movies in 1927 and after. That figure seems to be confirmed by the stats in estott's link as to theater orchestra sizes and numbers, in fact it may be a minimum number of unemployed musicians. Like manufacturing jobs in the US that have vanished, these jobs never came back.

I studied trombone with Emory Remington at the Eastman School; he was engaged by the School in 1922 to play in the theater orchestra and be the major trombone teacher at the School, a post he held for almost 50 years!

Incidentally, George Eastman committed suicide at his East Avenue mansion (today it's the International House of Photography) in 1932, the year after his dream was shattered by sound films. The Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester has, of course, continued to exist as one of the premier music schools in the nation.

[estott]

Thanks for that link. Lots of good info there. Here's another: http://dryden.eastmanhouse.org/about/
The Dryden Theater shows vintage films (including those on nitrate stock!), sometimes accompanied by a professional orchestra from the Eastman School of Music, which was founded in 1921 by George Eastman for the purpose of training theater musicians. The orchestra for the 3,000+seat Eastman Theatre comprised the instrumental teaching faculty of the School. This arrangement lasted until 1931, when the Eastman Theatre became no longer economically viable as a movie house. The International Musicians' Association (union) of the AFL-CIO estimates that around 14,000 theater musicians were thrown out of work, practically overnight, by the advent of sound movies in 1927 and after. That figure seems to be confirmed by the stats in estott's link as to theater orchestra sizes and numbers, in fact it may be a minimum number of unemployed musicians. Like manufacturing jobs in the US that have vanished, these jobs never came back.

I studied trombone with Emory Remington at the Eastman School; he was engaged by the School in 1922 to play in the theater orchestra and be the major trombone teacher at the School, a post he held for almost 50 years!

Incidentally, George Eastman committed suicide at his East Avenue mansion (today it's the International House of Photography) in 1932, the year after his dream was shattered by sound films. The Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester has, of course, continued to exist as one of the premier music schools in the nation.

I think you're putting a rather odd spin of Eastman's suicide. For two years before Eastman's suicide he was suffering from extreme degenerative spinal disease The exact diagnosis is uncertain, but he was in constant pain, partially incapacitated, and suffering depression as a result. He shot himself through the heart leaving a note reading: "To my friends: my work is done. Why wait?"
As a side note- in the rebuilding of Eastman's house for museum purposes the walls were reconfigured to completely remove the bedroom where he killed himself.