Uncle John Scruggs

[Wes Merchant]

I have mixed feelings about some of the imagery in the film, but I love this man's style. I apologize if this has already been posted here but for those of you that may have see this before there is some extra footage here.

http://mirc.sc.edu/fedora/repository/usc%3A1868

[Strumelia]

Those kids are so cute...they remind me of when my daughters were very little and used to dance in a random freestyle way to music.   :)  I loved when they were all waiting in a row and then suddenly bursting into action...lol

Those cats are pretty awesome too...the spotted one is a real ham.

What's the banjo tuning here?  You can sure hear the distinctive spunover rim sound.

[Wes Merchant]

Dan'l, I agree with you though sadly I doubt that he got more than a pittance.  He does seem to be really entertained by the children in one of the later clips. I don't know anything about this man other than this clip but I bet he could put on a great show.

[Ian Bell]

The shorter boy with the light shirt and suspenders really caught my eye with his dancing. A couple of decades ago, my son James and I had a very similar routine, to the song "Old Jimmy Sutton". Sadly, (fortunately) nobody came around to film it. "Took my gun and I went a huntin' - Bang, went the gun and down went the mutton....Baaa"

[Dave Culgan]

Those kids sure look happy to me. Who wouldn't love to trade places with Uncle John and play a few tunes with those kids dancing.

[Wes Merchant]

 It is a bit like a cartoon isn't it. I've seen shorts that were made for the African American movie houses.Duke Ellington in his tux and spats gives a very different kind of image. But I do think that in spite of the rags and the po' but happy visuals Uncle John manages to pull this performance off with his head dignity in tact.

[Wes Merchant]

http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/recordings/detail/id/5697   Here's an earlier version of the same song with Vess Ossman on banjo.