CHO-CHO-SAN - Fox Trot
(On melodies by G. Puccini arranged by Hugo Frey)
Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
Victor 18777-A, 1921.
Please watch at 720p for better picture quality!
\"Cho-Cho-San\" is one of a number of classical pieces given a jazz interpretation by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra (on the reverse side of this record is \"Song of India\"). Hugo Frey, who composed \"Havanola\", borrowed melodies from Puccini's opera, \"Madame Butterfly\" for \"Cho-Cho-San.\" You will certainly recognize the strains of \"One Fine Day.\"
In 1902, my grandfather was a photographer for a publisher of scenic views. His work took him to Japan that year, where he not only took pictures but collected souvenirs. It seems he was quite intrigued with something called \"Fancy Flowers\" (\"Place One or Two in Water and Watch Result\"), as he bought dozens of them, each in a small, brightly-colored envelope. Each envelope contains several round paper tablets, that, when placed in a bowl of water, slowly unfurl into flowers. The pictures on the envelopes are shown in the video.
Back in California, the collection of little envelopes remained stored away in his steamer trunk in the attic, and years later his children, on rainy days, were allowed to each choose an envelope from the trunk and watch the flowers open in water. And, many more years later, his grandchildren - my sister and I - would find the envelopes still in the same trunk, then in the garage at our home, and have the same enjoyment from their contents. And lucky was the one who found a rare boat or goldfish opening among the flowers!
That's my grandfather near the start of the video, next to a letter he began while in Nagasaki in 1902. Now, as I am writing this, I realize that the \"Madame Butterfly\" opera is set in Nagasaki. Coincidence . . . ?
