One of this area's musical icons and most famous native sons, Scott Joplin, gets the documentary treatment in work that explores his East Texas roots.
Carol Collins-Miles, who penned the script and directed, worked with Marvin Williams, whose video business is Sky Over YONDER productions, on this documentary. Williams shot the footage and edited it down to an hour's running time.
As part of events this year marking the centennial of Joplin's passing, they'll present the documentary, which is titled "Scott Joplin-Hometown Hero-Texarkana USA," three times in the coming week:
n Saturday, 1 p.m., at Pleasant Hill Center (2700 Farm-to-Market 1399) in Linden, Texas;
n Friday, Nov. 24, 7 p.m. at the Lindsey Railroad Museum's Old Town Saloon (202 E. Broad St. in Texarkana);
n Saturday, Nov. 25, 1 p.m. at the Museum of Regional History (219 N. State Line Ave. in Texarkana).
For this documentary, Collins-Miles and Williams interviewed locals, including descendents of Joplin's family. Warren A. Smith III serves as narrator. Williams previously made a short documentary about the Jamison Building here in Texarkana, a historic place for the African-American community.
The work of another filmmaker, Luis Perez-Bayas, on a 3-D Joplin documentary here inspired Collins-Miles to work on her own project. She also strives to simply celebrate this local heritage that too few seem to know about.
"It's all about how when I was in Europe, I would come home and people didn't know who Scott Joplin was, and I still get that to this day," Collins-Miles said.
She says there are unanswered questions about Joplin's birth and early years, whether he was born in Linden or Texarkana and other questions. "This is what we wanted to cover, the early years of Scott Joplin," she said. "The roots: where he was born, his family."
As part of this exploration, they interviewed local Joplin descendants who could provide information about his life. They started filming in Linden. Joplin, hailed as the King of Ragtime, was born to Florence Givens, and there are Givens family members whom Collins-Miles was able to interview, giving a picture of Joplin's family life and area background. They also spoke with La Erma White, a Joplin niece.
"Still, we have not answered all the questions. It's really a treatment that opens the door to answers and getting the different answers. There are conflicting stories in the video," said Collins-Miles, who has worked for years with the Scott Joplin Support Group to promote his local legacy.
"She provided a lot of material, a lot of VCR tapes, and material that I looked at over a number of months," said Williams, who enjoyed visiting places Joplin lived. His job was to keep the documentary focused on Joplin, then narrow it down to an hour. Collins-Miles thinks of this doc as part one of a larger project.
For one thing, they intend to add images to the documentary from this past spring's Scott Joplin International Centennial Celebration organized by the Regional Music Heritage Center. She thinks of it as destined to be an educational piece for the RMHC and for the MoRH.
Williams hopes people gain a deeper understanding of Joplin's life. "We know of him, but a lot of people don't know of him," he said.
Purchase of a screening ticket also enters ticketholders for a raffle called the Great Music Train Raffle. Raffle tickets can also be purchased separately. People can win two Amtrak tickets on the Texas Eagle for a Texarkana to St. Louis round trip. Raffle tickets support the decorative light fixtures going up on the rooftops of a few downtown businesses. It's a "skyscape" project, said Collins-Miles.
About the area's rich musical history, Collins-Miles said, "There's some special waters in this area."
(Tickets are $10. They can be purchased at the screenings. Separate raffle tickets are $10, too. Please RSVP to the appropriate venue: 903-826-2495 for Pleasant Hill Center, 903-748-1235 for the Lindsey Railroad Museum and 903-793-4831 for the Museum of Regional History. For more information, contact Carol Collins-Miles at 903-490-5471.)