The video was made from archive footage filmed by the Ford Motor Company around 1917, for a film titled "The Making of a Ukulele". Around that time, Ford made many educational films showing scenes from the U.S. and abroad, and this was one example.
Featured in the movie is an unidentified ukulele maker, quite possibly an employee of Manuel Nunes. Nunes himself makes a brief appearance, as does an ukulele player who is also not identified in the film.
Some things to note:
- 1:30 mark, the builder adds a curved brace to the inside back of the uke. He then places the back wood over top an secures the entire thing down with either rubber or leather strapping.
- The 2:30 mark gives a quick glimpse of the builder adding frets.
The ukulele player at the very end may be Henry Kailimai. Kailimai was a talented ukulele player and music composer, his best known composition being "On the Beach at Waikiki". Kailimai's Hawaiian Quintet played at the Hawaiian building at the Pan Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Henry Ford visited the Exposition, and was so impressed with the band's music that he hired the quintet to come to Detroit and play at Ford company events. They were renamed the Ford Hawaiian Quintet and recorded a number of records for the company of Henry Ford's good friend, Thomas Edison.
The original film footage was silent. The video soundtrack consists of pieces of various 78 rpm records.
Replies
Madeira family in Portugal were the inventors of the uke.....the portuguese wrked in the cane fields in hawaii and brought the instrument over......the locals thought the sailor playing it was trying to kill a flea off the stick......turns out he was playing the instrument....
That is great, the builder has some serious skills - not sure how he still has all his fingers though!
I loved this video, it's great to see old style craftsmen at work, their techniques and methods, it gives me some ideas for instrument construction as well. Thanks for showing it.
This video is a great production from beginning to end