A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 4

This is the 12th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one:

You can evolve into being a writer-producer.

Let’s face it, you can only write so much. But sitting on your side of the table, all those story meetings you’ve had to endure, you’ve probably developed a pretty good sense of what it takes to be a producer at least on a creative level.

Why not don that hat, too?

A quick way to jump start you producing career: Come up with story ideas.

Today’s story idea: “Viola Smith, ‘Fastest Girl Drummer in the World.’”

Viola Smith, who played a giant 12-piece drum kit and was billed as the “fastest girl drummer in the world” — and who wrote a widely read essay during World War II advocating for big bands to hire female musicians in place of the male ones who had been drafted — died on Oct. 21 at her home in Costa Mesa, Calif. She was 107.

Ms. Smith, who hailed from a little town in Wisconsin, grew up playing in a jazz band with her seven sisters. Her entrepreneurial father had conceived of the group, the Schmitz Sisters Orchestra, and they performed at state fairs and toured the vaudeville circuit. After most of her sisters left the band, Ms. Smith started another all-female outfit, the Coquettes, which rose to modest national fame in the late 1930s.

Ms. Smith became the first female star of jazz drumming. She performed at President Harry S. Truman’s inauguration gala, and she worked with Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb. Her showcase tune was a jazzy arabesque called “Snake Charmer,” in which she exhibited her virtuosity in a flashy solo.

Viola Smith was a hell of a drummer. Check this out:

I see this as a straight-ahead biopic. Grows up in a band featuring her sisters. Moves to New York City and lives in a rent-controlled studio apartment for seventy years. Plays with several different bands, tours everywhere, featured in movies and TV including several appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” At the age of 99, she moves across the country to live in a Christian commune in Southern California. Fascinating life.

It’s tough to write “cradle-to-grave” biopics, let alone get them made. How to find the story when the Protagonist lives to be 107 years old? Besides, it feels like audiences are more in sync with “snapshot biopics.” These are movies which focus on a specific period of time in the central character’s life — a compressed time frame, perhaps a few weeks or months — and use that episode as a lens through which to explore the character.

In reflecting on Viola Smith, the thing which jumped out at me: Trying to get more female bands together during World War II.

“Why not let the girls play in the big bands?” she wrote. “In these times of national emergency, many of the star instrumentalists of the big name bands are being drafted. Instead of replacing them with what may be mediocre talent, why not let some of the great girl musicians of the country take their places?”

“There are many girl trumpet players, girl saxophonists and girl drummers who can stand the grind of long tours and exacting one-night stands,” she continued. “The idea of girls being able to play only legitimately is a worn-out myth now.”

In another article I read about Viola Smith, there’s a reference to a man named Phil Spitalny whose passion was all-girl bands.

What if Viola had a hard time convincing others to hire female musicians? What if she met with Spitalny to get his support?

The movie starts to come together in my head: Something like A League of Their Own. Period piece. Women struggling to get recognition for their talent. And they ARE talented, supremely so. The sexism they face, challenges from unenlightened men. Rivalries with male bands featuring less talented players. A friendship between Viola and Phil. Great music sequences featuring dancing jazz couples. All with the backdrop of World War II.

There you go, my take on the 4th story of the month.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

What would you do with this story?

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.