Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 101; Tony Ellis interview, part 3 of 3, Tony Ellis banjo performances
- Transcript
Q: Why is Doug Unger a master craftsman in banjo making?
TONY: Doug Unger is... is an amazing talent. Uh, he’s retired art professor from Kent State but Doug’s had a lifelong love of the banjo and the artistic work put into the banjo and has become world renowned as probably the finest uh, restorer of old vintage top of the line banjos and uh, he’s very sought after to do restoration work and to build new banjos in the old way. He’s an amazing talent, beautiful work.
Q: Anything else I’ve missed that we should ask you about?
TONY: About Doug?
Q: Well... or you... either way... or Doug, sure?
TONY: No, I guess not.
Q: Do you have a good story about Doug?
TONY: Well, the Banjo next store is a good one.
Q: Ok, tell it to us.
TONY: When uh, when I was uh, thinking about getting married to Louise, we... we’d talked about it and Doug Unger was aware of all this and he knew I had an old banjo rim that was for an old Vega banjo and he had just built a beautiful neck, very, very nice neck that would fit this banjo. I was sort of interested in buying it to put in my banjo and Doug said uh, said Tony if... if you like this banjo neck, tell me something... are you and Louise really serious about getting married? And I said, yes we are. He said, well I’ll tell ya, if you get married I’m gonna give you this banjo neck as a wedding present. If you don’t you’re gonna have to pay me for it, so that’s how I got this wonderful banjo neck, and Louise accuses me of taking the neck so I could get it for free marrying her so I could get a free banjo neck. So that’s... that’s that story.
END
- Episode Number
- 101
- Producing Organization
- ThinkTV
- Contributing Organization
- ThinkTV (Dayton, Ohio)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/530-3n20c4tq17
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/530-3n20c4tq17).
- Description
- Episode Description
- Raw interview with Tony Ellis, master banjo player. Part 3 of 3. Raw footage of banjo performances begins at 2:30.
- Asset type
- Raw Footage
- Genres
- Interview
- Topics
- Music
- Performing Arts
- Dance
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:25:53
- Credits
-
-
Producing Organization: ThinkTV
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
ThinkTV
Identifier: Tony_Ellis_interview_part_3_of_3 (ThinkTV)
Duration: 0:25:53
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 101; Tony Ellis interview, part 3 of 3, Tony Ellis banjo performances,” ThinkTV, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed August 2, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-530-3n20c4tq17.
- MLA: “Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 101; Tony Ellis interview, part 3 of 3, Tony Ellis banjo performances.” ThinkTV, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. August 2, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-530-3n20c4tq17>.
- APA: Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 101; Tony Ellis interview, part 3 of 3, Tony Ellis banjo performances. Boston, MA: ThinkTV, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-530-3n20c4tq17