China Doll Parade dates from 1937 and can be heard in several different arrangements. The realisation of this piano duet version plays back at 66 minim beats to the minute. The sheet music score has more graphics and score detail than shown in the video score. The music needs to be played in a swing style (with a triplet rhythm or groove) which is a style that emerged after ragtime in the so called novelty era. The form of the work is ABA (ternary) Accompaniments are in place for both the primo and secondo parts enabling pianists to practice in an ensemble context. They play at 60, 62, 64,and 68 half note or minim beats to the minute. John Stephan Zamecnic was born in Cleveland, USA in 1872 to Czech parents . Aged 14 he was admitted into the Prague Conservatory studying composition with A.Dvorak in the mid 1890's before returning to the USA in 1899 to play first violin with the Pittsburgh Symphony. He then moved back back to Cleveland where in 1907 he became music director, conductor and composer at the Cleveland Hippodrome Theatre. There he composed music appropriate for the featured acts and performances and subsequently then went on to write music for silent movies, a genre that is now referred to a "photoplay"music. The silent movie era was a time when live music was played to audiences as they watched the film. This might have been played by a pianist, organist or orchestra. Silent movies were replaced by talkies in 1927/28 with music in time becoming part of the pre-recorded movie soundtrack Sam Fox was music publisher for Zamecnik from 1914 who used as many as 21 pseudonyms to possibly suggest and imply that the Sam Fox Music Company was a much larger organisation with many composers on its books.
