Daniel and the Towers | |
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Directed by | Paul Schneider |
Written by | Stephen Tolkin |
Produced by | Judith James |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Tom Hurwitz |
Edited by | Norman Hollyn |
Distributed by | WonderWorks |
Release dates |
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Running time | 61 minutes |
Country | United States |
Daniel and The Towers is a television film featuring the folk art masterpiece, the Watts Towers, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The film was directed by Paul Schneider, and broadcast on PBS's WonderWorks children's anthology television series. It was released on VHS in 1992. [1]
The movie was made by Wonderworks, a PBS family series, and tells the story of Rodia and Daniel, a delinquent neighborhood boy who learns valuable lessons from Rodia. The film is part true and part fiction. The pair come to know each other after Rodia discovers that Daniel had been using Rodia's ceramic pots for target practice. Daniel agrees to stop destroying the pots, and instead, agrees to collect more junk for him to build the towers, while Rodia agrees to fix a neighbor's window that Daniel had broken.
Sam Rodia spent 33 years single-handedly creating the Watts Towers. He built the towers without any scaffolds, cranes or any hired help. He was also known as Simon Rodia, and inexplecibaly disappeared in 1954. He was later discovered to be living in a rooming house, and he died in a hospital in 1965. He never returned to the towers after building them. [2]
The script was based on an UCLA doctoral thesis, research and imagination. During their research, the producers discovered that Rodia was a "cantanerous guy", who had a habit of yelling at people. The working title was "Ask Columbus", because of Rodia's fascination with Christopher Columbus, but they finally settled on Daniel and the Towers "to convey the program's theme more clearly and make a more direct reference to the story's unique setting". [2]
The movie was nominated by the Young Artist Awards in 1988 as "Best Television Family Special, Movie of the Week or Variety Show" and Miguel Alamo was nominated for "Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Drama Special, Movie of the Week or Variety Show".[ citation needed ]
Only When I Laugh is a 1981 American comedy-drama film based on Neil Simon's 1970 play The Gingerbread Lady.
The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles, California, United States. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is 99.5 feet (30.3 m). The work is an example of outsider art and Italian-American naïve art.
Watts is a neighborhood in southern Los Angeles, California. It is located within the South Los Angeles region, bordering the cities of Lynwood, Huntington Park and South Gate to the east and southeast, respectively, and the unincorporated community of Willowbrook to the south.
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Billy Rose's Jumbo is a 1962 American musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, and Martha Raye. An adaptation of the stage musical Jumbo produced by Billy Rose, the film was directed by Charles Walters, written by Sidney Sheldon, and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography. It was nominated for an Academy Award for the adaptation of its Rodgers and Hart score.
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I Build the Tower is a feature-length documentary film depicting the life of Sabato Rodia, also known as Sam Rodia and Simon Rodia, the Italian immigrant who created the Watts Towers in South Los Angeles.
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Nicholas King was an American actor and horticulturist who was instrumental in preserving the Watts Towers.
The Eastern Star Home was a retirement home and convalescent facility in Los Angeles, California for the members of the Order of the Eastern Star, Master Masons and their female relatives. Built between 1931 and 1936, the home operated until the late 1990s when membership in the home had decreased precipitously to just 34 residents. "The retirement home moved to a new location, and the Order of the Eastern Star sold the property at Sunset Boulevard to Archer School for Girls."