'Lubin, from Chelm' - Hilarious & Delightful Klezmer-styled Re-telling of 'Lazy Jack' Is Storytelling Gold

Illustrations for Lubin, from Chelm by Alisa Snyder for ESO

Need a smile? Do yourself a favor and listen to - and watch - this wonderful storytelling performance of 'Lubin, from Chelm' (a.k.a. the Eglish folktale 'Lazy Jack', relocated to the Ukrainian shtetl).

The English Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is in the middle of recording and airing a series called The Art of Storytelling and this is the second story of five planned for it. It's also become one of the best things we discovered this month!

We know it doesn't sound like it would grab you unless you're already regularly listening to orchestral programs - there's no pixie dust here to hook you - but believe us when we say this story is SO well presented and did we mention hilarious? These guys know what they're doing, no pixie dust needed. The series is called The ART of Storytelling for good reason.

(Think of an updated and somewhat edgier storytelling of the classic "symphonic fairy tale for children", Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf', but with far fewer musical instrument detours and many more puns!)

Here's what ESO's The Art of Storytelling series is about:

ESO’s ‘Art of Storytelling’ project presents world premiere recordings and broadcasts of five exceptional works for narrator and orchestra. From the cheeky humour of the Brothers’ Grimm to the touching tale of Hans Christian Andersen’s Ugly Duckling, and from the Jewish humour of Lubin from Chelm to the ancient Egyptian tale of The Warrior Violinist, this is classic family entertainment for the modern age at its finest, a powerful synthesis of great literature and great music.

When we clicked on the link to take a half-interested look at this version described as "a Klezmer-styled re-telling of the classic English folk tale, 'Lazy Jack'," we expected to scan the site, maybe listen for thirty seconds, then get back to our to-do list. It took far less than that for the iconic Yiddish storytelling to hook us and we listened, smiled, and giggled more than a few times, for the full seventeen minutes! (Sorry to-do list - another time!) 

The presentation includes the narrator/storyteller, who in this case is Henry Goodman, the ESO playing a soundtrack throughout the story, and delightful little illustrations that, while simple as stand-alones, are wonderful in context.

Here's a trailer to give you a taste, though we must say we think the real opening of the story hooked us much better and wish we could just show you the first couple of minutes to hook you in the same manner we were:

A hilarious re-telling of the traditional English folk tale, Lazy Jack, relocated to the Ukrainian shtetl and brought to life with abundantly witty Yiddish turns of phrase and evocative Klezmer musical stylings by Jewish-American composer David “Yankele” Yang and orchestrated by Kenneth Woods. (ESO)

As we mentioned, Lubin is actually the second story in the series. The first, currently available to view/listen to as well, is 'The Ugly Duckling', and is also wonderfully done, with actor Hugh Bonneville (Paddington, Muppets Most Wanted) as the perfect narrator.

We managed to catch this when it was streaming (for free) on release day and didn't realize it would require being an ESO (English Symphony Orchestra) Digital supporter to view it at a later date, so we apologize for this, but having seen the program we completely believe it to be a most excellent way to spend a £5 monthly donation (yes you can "donate" from the US and other countries, and yes you can cancel anytime). A donation gives you access to all their other digital offerings too, not just The Art of Storytelling, so if you like beautiful music, beautifully conducted and played, it's a great bonus. We've jumped on board the ESO train, at least for the holiday season, so we don't miss any of this magic as well.

The next story in the series is from an Egyptian tale, titled 'The Warrior Violinist'. We're looking forward to it very much!

You can find ESO Digital's The Art of Storytelling series HERE and learn more about Lubin HERE.

Oh - and if you don't know how the tale ends, well, let's just say it will leave with a grin. ;)

Artful Journeys: Oddly Modern Fairy Tale Series Program (6 Weekly Live Online Lectures & Discussions with Prof. Jack Zipes)

The Forgotten by Ray Ceasar

NOTE: This awesome program actually began last week, on November 3, and is continuing for six weeks. Our Editor, Gypsy Thornton, learned of it just as the first session was getting underway and quickly joined in mid-discussion, as she's a HUGE fan of the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series. Having jumped in at the deep end of the first session she happily recommends this special program! If you're familiar with the fairy tale collection series published by Princeton University Press, that's a plus, but you will get a lot from it if you're not, and each week, PDFs of a selection of tales are sent to participants ahead of time so everyone can get up to speed without having to purchase the book and read it all that week.

The next session is TOMORROW, so sign up today so you don't miss out on hearing about Fairy tales written in the French Decadent tradition in the late 1800s, and being part of a stimulating discussion. (The original cover above remains our favorite - we love this collection of crazy, decadent tales!)

Artful Journeys is actually an Arts Education program set up to take people on a special art-based travel tour, to see amazing art, and to participate in artful experiences -in person- around the world. With the pandemic locking everyone down, and travel being put on hold, Director Joan Hill looked to continue the Arts Education programs in a different way by developing Armchair Journeys, that anyone can join online. She had been wanting to focus on a theme of fairy tales for some time, and with everyone stuck at home, she contacted highly respected fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes and asked if he might be interested. He immediately proposed a program based on the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series of books for which he is the Series Editor and this unique lecture-with-discussion series was born. Opportunities like this are rarely accessible to people who aren't local to wherever the speaker will be, so this is a special opportunity to hear - and meet - Professor Zipes, along with other fairy tale enthusiasts.

From the promotional material:

Jack (Zipes), will take us on another Armchair Journey, not through castles and turrets, but on a more modern, recognizable path full of mean-spirited bullying; "saucy, angry and capricious" persons from late 19th century France; political tales for social equality; subversive German Dadaism; and Hungarian persona with transcendent powers. The series will end on a return to more familiar children's stories but retold to mesh into our reality. ​

Oddly Modern Fairy Tales is a series dedicated to publishing unusual literary fairy tales produced mainly during the first half of the twentieth century. International in scope, the series includes new translations, surprising and unexpected tales by well-known writers and artists, and uncanny stories by gifted yet neglected authors. Postmodern before their time, the tales in Oddly Modern Fairy Tales transformed the genre and still strike a chord. 

 

 

November 3–Smack-Bam, or The Art of Governing Men: Political Fairy Tales of Édouard Laboulaye (a recording of the session was made and access may be available on request. Please contact Joan Hill with this special request if you are interested.)

 

November 10–Fairy Tales for the Disillusioned: Enchanted Stories in the French Decadent Tradition

 

November 17–Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales by Kurt Schwitters

 

November 24–The Castle of Truth and Other Revolutionary Tales by Hermynia zur Mühlen

 

December 1–The Cloak of Dreams: Chinese FairyTales by Béla Balázs

 

December 4, 11 am EST/8 am PST/4 pm UK–Old Tales Told Again by Walter de la Mare

 

*Schedule is subject to change.

Tuesdays, 11 am EST/8 am PST
November 3–December 4, 2020*

 

Registration Status: OPEN

​

Tour Cost: $10 per session, $50 for series

Ages: 15+

Kirsten Dunst & Sofia Coppola Want To Make A New Version of Faerie Tale Theatre But No One Will Bite?!

Yes. You read that correctly!

Here is the quote from an interview just this month (Vogue magazine speaking to Kirsten Dunst):

A contemporary version of Faerie Tale Theatre, helmed by Kirsten Dunst and Sofia Coppola? With great directors and a bunch of celebrities lined up and ready to jump on board?? And no studio is interested??!!! (a.k.a. willing to spend the $)

This confounding news was included in an article published in Vogue on September 9th (2019), interviewing Kristen Dunst, right after she was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Shelley Duvall posing with a poster showing some of the stars
she worked with on various fairy tales during her series

Both Kirsten Dunst and Sofia Coppola (who are longtime friends and worked together on Marie Antoinette, Beguiled and many other projects) have been publicly enthusiastic about their love of fairy tales, and it's a massive, missed opportunity for any network or studio to not take the pair of them on, especially for a project that will hit all those buzz buttons: Star directors! Star actors! Fantasy settings & costumes! And the nostalgia-hook of the moment: 80's remakes & call-backs!

With regard to their love of fairy tales, it's been something both women have always been drawn to.

Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Dunst has long proclaimed her love for her favorite book, Jane Yolen's Briar Rose, even admitting it has been her "bedside book" for many years. There were rumors she expressed an interest in being involved in a movie adaptation, (though we can't find any source online to confirm that), something Jane Yolen said she would have been thrilled to see but that hasn't eventuated, despite the book having been optioned for a film version quite a number of times. When Kirsten originally announced this, she would have been the correct age to play the protagonist, but odds are good she would still want to be involved in some capacity should a film adaptation of Briar Rose ever get off the ground.

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola, as anyone who has been following this blog for a while knows, was set to direct her own version of The Little Mermaid for Universal Pictures and Working Title Productions. The first news about her vision for retelling the fairy tale was thrilling, edgy, and promising and fresh - and representative - vision of the story. She was on the project for a year before things came to a fault. Unfortunately, it seems her vision was just a little too edgy (risky?) for the studio and Coppola left the project, citing creative differences. (No one has yet to revisit the project for Universal.)

But back to the concept of a contemporary version of Faerie Tale Theatre.

If no studio will take the plunge and trust it will bring in the crowds (and the $), how do we:
a) change their minds
or
b) go about crowd-funding this?

As much as we love Shelley Duvall's series, we all agree it could use some serious diversifying and updating to reflect proper cultural - and differently-abled - representation, which makes the concept even more exciting!

(Gosh - and we just missed the "pop-up exhibit", advertising poster shown below, of the costumes from the show too; which means, they still exist... and might be available for re-use, should any brave costume designer wish to take on the job of respectfully overhauling the originals for a new show...)

We know there are many folks who would be willing to support a project like this and show just as much enthusiasm and excitement as we have about the potential. Just take a look at these early social media responses now the word is getting out about this. Time to tweet this - and retweet this - and make sure to tag @Netflix, or @Hulu, or any well-funded Independent studio and get this happening.

And while you guys are doing that, go ahead and start making lists of fairy tales with current celebrity actors in the lead roles, then post them and tag those actors and @kirstendunst *, and add the #NewFaerieTaleTheatre hashtag to boost this project.

If enough people show interest, their wish (and ours) might just come true.

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

A Look At How Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre Began

& Illustrating Those Beautiful Posters

If you haven't seen the full set of posters from Faerie Tale Theatre (we included 5 small ones in our header-banner at the top of this post), we recommend going and taking a look HERE.

Then you can go read an article on how those posters - and the show - came about HERE.

Here's an excerpt:

Once Upon a Time…It was 1980, the sun reflected brightly off the limestone cliffs surrounding Anchor Bay in Malta...The ramshackle locale was the set for the ambitious and original motion picture production of ‘Popeye’. From behind the camera, director Robert Altman was watching Robin Williams, a new talent chosen to portray the eponymous sailor. The energetic actor was performing a scene and was leaping about the set. 

Playing the role of Popeye’s lady love, Olive Oyl, actress Shelley Duvall sat reading under the shade of an umbrella... Looking up from her book, she watched Williams as he danced about. Duvall returned to her book, she had read it many times before but the stories felt as fresh and exciting as the time that she had first read them: 

‘Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?’ ‘Alas!’ said she, ‘what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.’ ... 

Duvall smiled to herself; she looked up at Williams again and thought he would make a great frog in a live adaptation of the tale. The fact that this thought occurred to Duvall was not unusual. For the past few years she’d had the idea to create a live-action series that brought her much loved fairy tales to life. 

The idea became a reality in September of 1982, when ‘The Tale of the Frog Prince’, starring Robin Williams was broadcast on Showtime, the US cable television channel. The premiere episode of Duvall’s ‘Faerie Tale Theatre’ series was followed by 25 more adaptations of world-famous classic tales brought to life with creative scripts, dazzling special effects and lavish production design formatted aesthetically after the work of a famous illustrator or painter. With Duvall serving as executive producer, the series ran until 1987 and featured the most popular entertainers of the day playing the parts of the celebrated characters. Conceived with special consideration to entertain and instruct the young, the series was also executed to amuse and appeal to adults. By 1983, the immense popularity of ‘Faerie Tale Theatre’ led to the decision to begin releasing the episodes on home video. 

Released by CBS/Fox Video, the covers of the 26 titles in the series featured unique illustrations that depicted the actors rendered in the style of the famous illustrator or painter whose work had inspired the production design of the episode.

You can read the long-but-interesting article in its entirety HERE.

*That is the most official Kirsten Dunst twitter handle. Sofia Coppola is not on social media.

'The Adventures of Snow White & Rose Red' Amazon TV Series in Development

Looks like this fairy tale series is still in the early stages of production. It's set to debut on Amazon in December 2017.

Here's the blurb and storyline from IMDB:

'The Adventures of Snow White and Rose Red' is a magical live action fairy tale about two girls who live in an enchanted forest and have adventures with their fairy tale friends.

Snow and Rose are secret princess sisters who live in hiding with their surrogate parents, a friendly woodcutter and his wife, in their cottage in the woods. They have many adventures with various fairytale friends, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella. 

And here's the casting call for the film, (on March 18th), which outlines the characters they're looking to include:

Prince Ferdinand 8-13 yrs - Mother 35-50 yrs - Father 40 - 60 yrs - Gnome 6-12 yrs, or little person - Door Mouse 4-7 yrs - March Hair 10-90 yrs - Queen of Hearts 5-10 yrs. OR 30+ yrs - Fairy Queen 16+ yrs - 4 Little Fairies 6 - 12 yrs 4'10 or under with ballet training - Little Red Riding Hood 6 - 10 yrs - Grandma 60+ yrs - Rapunzel 16+ yrs - Wizard 20+ yrs - Cinderella 16 - 30 yrs - Prince 18-30 yrs - 

We will admit we are a little disappointed to find the sisters already princesses, as well as joining an 'Into The Woods'-like cast of popular fairy tale characters. We're also a little disappointed that one of the few positive and strong single parents in fairy tales will now just be part of a nondescript sort of couple.

         

The fairy tale has so much richness on its own it really doesn't need to add 'well known' characters. Just check out the fan-made collages above. You can't help but be intrigued by the image combinations. We're not suggesting family film makers take on Margo Lanagan's critically acclaimed retelling, Tender Morsels, but it's quite an adventure on its own. This fairy tale has been filmed in Europe at least twice - 1955 & 1978 - and dubbed into English, during the lengthy hey day of family fantasy films in Europe, as well a a couple of more recent foreign animated versions.

All you really need to pique interest in this tale is the image of the girls, sisters, letting a talking bear into their cottage in mid-Winter. Between the push for more sibling girl-power stories, thanks to Frozen, and the The Beauty and the Beast links with the 'prince enchanted as bear' there to take advantage of, there's a lot to recommend sticking with this fairy tale's bones, instead of trying to assimilate it into a mash-up.


That said, it's very difficult to judge what it will truly be like from little bits of information. Perhaps the elements we're less keen on really have a much smaller role, and will be used for the traditional fairy tale marketing strategies, a la Once Upon A Time.

Either way, it's interesting to see Amazon delving into this. Clearly they think there's a market for this fairy tale series, which makes us happy! We're looking forward to watching this develop to see which direction it goes.

The Adventures of Snow White and Rose Red is being created by the team at Trident Fantasy Films.

Lego's 'Frozen Northern Lights' Trailer (Series Airs Dec 9)

The upcoming Lego four-part animated shorts, revolving around Disney's main Frozen characters, are set to air December 9th (a little later than originally anticipated) on the Disney Channel, and have just released their trailer for the series.

Frozen Northern Lights will be an original story spanning multimedia art forms including books and animated shorts.“It’s a new story that follows Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and, of course, Sven on an epic adventure to restore the Northern Lights,” Josh Gad explains. (People)

With the original Frozen cast of Kristin Bell, Josh Gad and Idina Menzel, this is primed to be popular!

Take a look:

(Nice nod to Wicked there!)

The first book for this collection, Journey to the Lights was released in July 2016  and is likely the first of many more to come.

What's the fairy tale content? Likely more snow adventure that derives from snow fairy tales like the Snow Queen, the Snow Maiden. We might get some Polar bear King references, and some holiday-jolly ones too, considering the release season (though the plan was initially to stay away from it being particularly 'holiday'-seasonal). We can also look forward to lots of variations on ice magic and good doses of courage and friendship. If we're lucky we might get some legendary references to the folklore and stories surrounding the Northern Lights, which many cultures have, and possible more troll lore too, as a young troll is a new character joining them on the journey.

The Northern Lights Adventure Notebook (illustrated) is a great companion to the book and series and might inspire a little storytelling at home. Here are a couple of pages, with two more at the link. We wish they made more books for young kids like this that inspire fairy tale imagination and magical adventure!

What impact - if any - this will have on the 'mythology' of Frozen 2 remains to be seen, but in the meantime extra magic for the yule season is always welcome.

Baba Yaga Meets Narnia in T. Kingfisher's New Online Serial Novel 'Summer in Orcus'

When the witch Baba Yaga walks her house into the backyard, eleven-year-old Summer enters into a bargain for her heart’s desire. Her search will take her to the strange, surreal world of Orcus, where birds talk, women change their shape, and frogs sometimes grow on trees. But underneath the whimsy of Orcus lies a persistent darkness, and Summer finds herself hunted by the monstrous Houndbreaker, who serves the distant, mysterious Queen-in-Chains…

Do you remember who T. Kingfisher is? It's the multi-talented, Hugo-award winning artist and writer Ursula Vernon, writing for older readers and adults under a different name, many of which are fairy tales. We have a review of one of her wonderful collections HERE.

Below: Fairy tale short story anthologies written by Vernon with covers also created by her.

And she's at it again.

This time she's taking her latest novel online and is publishing it in twice-weekly installments, for free.

Did I mention the novel is a Vernon-esque mash-up of Baba Yaga (complete with personable walking house) and Narnia? Vernon explains her inspiration for this in her introduction, which I am posting below because I can't think of a better way to get you reading it and supporting her.

When I was young and reading the Narnia books, I detested (as I was supposed to detest) Eustace Clarence Scrubb, who did not enter into the spirit of Narnia at all, who was sulky about grand adventures and had to be turned into a dragon in order to learn his lesson. 

I bitterly envied him being turned into a dragon. I would have given my eyeteeth to be a dragon. 

Years later I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader again and realized that Eustace got a pretty raw deal, although arguably not as raw as Susan, and that you really couldn’t win sometimes. And I had watched The Neverending Story about five hundred times and when I finally read the book, where the child story-teller’s creations are given life and come to him crying “Why have you done this to us?” I was deeply horrified. Artex in the Swamps of Sorrow had nothing on this for sheer awfulness. 

But these were adult understandings, and as I am often a children’s book author, I set out to write a portal fantasy for children. 

I couldn’t do it. 

I couldn’t get out of my own way. Narnia was too important to me. It mattered too much. I could not sanitize it. The terrible, fascinating darkness underneath the fantasy world would not go away. When I put myself in the shoes of my heroine, I knew enough to be afraid. 

There is a legacy in children’s books–I blame the Victorians–for books to reassure children that being a kid is just fantastic, that adulthood is nothing but taxes and hair loss, that being a kid is an idyllic innocence and only a very foolish child would want to grow up. 

Neverending Story interior illustration by Katie Vlietstra

Well, I was skeptical even then, and more skeptical now. And that, too, got in the way of my writing. So eventually I gave up on trying to write a proper children’s portal fantasy and wrote this book instead. 

Summer in Orcus is my portal fantasy. It is my response to Narnia and The Phantom Tollbooth and The Neverending Story, which I read (and watched) as a child, and to Abarat and Valente’s Fairyland, which I read as an adult.
Whatever age you are, I hope you find something worth having in Orcus.

START CHAPTER ONE BY CLICKING HERE

So far there are six chapters and counting at the writing of this post. All we feel we can share at this point is that a smothered young girl named Summer has had her day unexpectedly interrupted by a walking house, that seems to like her and has somehow convinced Baba Yaga this little girl is worth her attention...

Summer in Orcus will be available in full when the serial has been run in full, early in 2017. Unlike some serial novels, this one is completely finished and edited and avid readers are in no danger of never finding out the end of the story. We are looking forward to the journey very much, and will likely be sad when we read 'The End'.

Frog Road: from the amazing imagination and talented fingers of Ursula Vernon

Goodbye "Fables" :'( Thank You For All the Fairy Tales

Today is the very final release of the last installment of Bill Willingham's Fables and it's a very special finale, made with care, love and, in true Willingham-form, a few surprises:

On Wednesday, July 22, “Fables” will take a bow with its 150th issue, which is a full-sized, 178-page graphic novel (that doubles as the series 22nd volume). Titled “Farewell”, the graphic novel will wrap up the story Willingham and Buckingham have been telling alongside a deep roster of other talented creators like Steve Leialoha and Andrew Pepoy for over a decade. (source)

An Open Letter of Thanks to Bill Willingham

Dear Mr. Willingham,

A huge and heartfelt thank you for being a wonderful writer, researcher and advocate for fairy tales and folklore in general, and for persisting with this world and these characters for so long. It seems so short now... 

You've been an inspiration to so very many, and people are really only just beginning to understand some of the innovative work, writing and art you (and your Fables teams) have done. 

We can't thank you enough.

We also thank you for introducing us to Mark Buckingham, James Jean and a host of other talented people, who now have a special place in our hearts for treating the Fables characters with such care and excellence.

We hope the yet-to-solidify Fables film does your work justice and inspires a whole new generation of fans, bringing good things back to you as well. We also look forward to seeing your work studied in Universities around the world.

And we can't wait to see what you do with fairy tales next!

Best wishes, with grateful thanks.

Sincerely,        

Your Fairy Tale Friends & Fans

 Once Upon A Blog... Fairy Tale News

Tom Davenport's Pioneer Fairy Tale Films Now Available to Stream Free!

From the Brothers Grimm

Tom Davenport's Pioneer Fairy Tale Films

This is great news! I haven't had the chance to view all the films in the From the Brothers Grimm Davenport collection yet myself, as getting hold of copies has been challenging but I'm so glad Mr. Davenport has decided to share his films so freely so they can be much more widely viewed.

These aren't your average fairy tale films. They're set in a 'pioneer-era America', with a lot of Appalachian flavor, and are beautifully done. (They also show what filmmakers can do without a massive budget if you know what you're doing! I'd love to see what Tom & his wife Mimi could do with the current technology-on-the-go now available like smart phones and Go Pros!) 

I would also like to make special mention that, though the Davenports are kindly making these available for free viewing, please consider a small donation to help with the archive cost of these films so the originals can be preserved. (And it's a nice way to thank the Davenports too.)

Here's what the Davenports have announced:

We made a series of adaptations of folk/fairy tales in the 1980s and 1990s that were popular in schools and libraries. My wife Mimi and I set them in our local rural Virginia community near Delaplane. 

We have made streams and would like to share them freely with you. Donations will help us preserve these films in a climate controlled archive and allow us to connect with you - a gift much appreciated by this old filmmaker. 

Tom Davenport

 

Suggested donation is $2 for a single film. $10 for the whole series. But any amount will be gratefully received.

There are 11 films and I'm including the synopsis and the trailer for each as a teaser, but encourage you to go to his site, donate what you can and view the whole films there. There's also a bonus MGM Guide (Making Grimm Movies Guide)  for how to make low budget films series you can find HERE, and a teacher's guide to use with high school and college film students as well.

Ashpet (45 mins)

Set in the rural South in the early years of World War II, Ashpet is a version of Cinderella, the world's most popular folk tale.

Bearskin (20 mins)

In a contest with the devil, a Civil War soldier must not wash nor pray for seven years.

Bristlelip (20 mins)

A haughty princess gets her comeuppance in a version of Grimm's King Thrushbeard.

Frog King (15 mins)

A princess breaks her promise to a frog.

Goose Girl (18 mins)

An evil maid forces a princess to change places on their way to her wedding.

Hansel and Gretel (16 mins)

An Appalachian version of the classic story of the courage and loyalty of two children abandoned in the forest.

Jack & the Dentist's Daughter (40 mins)

In this comic variant of the Grimm's story, The Master Thief, a poor laborer's son wants to marry the dentist's daughter.

Mutzmag (50 mins)

With nothing more than her plucky spirit and her pocket knife, a mountain girl outwits a witch and an ogre to save herself and her sisters.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel (15 mins)

Rapunzel imprisoned in a tall wooden tower by a witch, allows a young man to climb her long brown hair to visit her.

Soldier Jack (40 mins)

Jack catches Death in a sack in this Appalachian tale.
Willa (85 mins)

An American version of 'Snow White' where Willa joins a traveling medicine show to escape her evil step-mother.

You can find links to the full films HERE. Enjoy your Summer viewing! And support a 'pioneer' filmmaker while you're at it.
Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

There is also a book available about the films and filmmaking process via amazon HERE. Recommended by Jack ZIpes and including a forward by him (which you can read HERE), this is one for the FT library folks!

From the Brothers Grimm: A Contemporary Retelling of American Folktales and Classic Stories

Description: Retells ten fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, placing them in the Appalachian Mountains and other American settings through the text and photographs from the Tom Davenport film versions."This collection will add a new dimension to any folktale section.  The ten tales have been Americanized and reset in Appalachia.  Imagine Cinderella as a poor, white Southern girl named Ashpet who is helped to romance by a wise black woman. Hansel and Gretel become children of a poor mountain family during the depression. Other stories include “Rapunzel, Rapunzel” and “Jack and the Dentist’s Daughter.” In its simplest form this book will be used with delight by speech students searching for a children’s story to read aloud. The book is also meant to spark interest in the video series that Davenport produced for PBS. B&W photos from the videos will encourage this. With or without the videos, language arts teachers will find many ways to use the tales. An accompanying teacher’s guide gives hints on using the book for kindergartners through senior high students, but it is also bound to be read just for fun. Recommended." (from The Book Report 1993)