“A Date With Dizzy”, by John Hubley

“A Date With Dizzy” (1958), Directed by John Hubley
Music by : Dizzie Gillespie (tp) •  Sahib Shihab (as) •
Wade Legge (p) • Nelson Boyd (b) • Charlie Persip (d)

«A commercial director is trying to get Gillespie and his band to score music for an animated spot for “Instant Rope Ladder”. Also present is the product’s ad representative. The band plays their first music submission which the director says is too long. The next one is then considered too short. Gillespie then plays one that has nothing to do with rope ladder so the filmmaker shows three commercials that Hubley had actually filmed for his Storyboard Studio in Los Angeles. The first is for E-Z Pop, a popcorn product for stove heating with some of the most entertaining jazz riffs I’ve ever heard in a TV spot. Then there’s Heinz Worcestershire, which the animated spokesperson has trouble pronouncing at first that’s quite hilarious. Finally, there’s one for Speedway “79”, a gas company spot with some of the most entertaining abstract animation I’ve ever seen. At this point, Gillespie gets it and plays one that gets the ad representative singing along! The end. Well worth seeing for Hubley/Gillespie fans, A Date with Dizzy is also a wonderful satiric look at the advertising industry. Don’t miss it!»