The Barber Shop
Strange and quirky.
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We’re an on-demand movie theater where you can discover hand-picked films from festivals and collections around
the world. We make it easy for you to find films you’ll love, no matter what your interests are.
William Heise
Films
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Monkeyshines no.1
MONKEYSHINES is the first of three tests shot by Thomas Edison's "Williams" (Heise and K.L. Dickson) to determine if the Edison lab's camera system was functioning properly. It is unknown whether if the tests actually occurred in 1889 or the following year.Start your free trial to watch
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Men Boxing
Displays of virile masculinity, taken in the male-centered world of the Edison Laboratory. The disciplined, toned bodies of these athletes stand in implicit contrast to those of Edison staff members behind the camera (the fleshy tinkers, brains and insomniacs).Start your free trial to watch
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Newark Athlete
An unnamed man (a local recruit from Newark) juggles Indian clubs in one of the first of W.K.L. Dickson's many films shot to demonstrate the possibilities of the young medium. Inducted into the National Film Registry in 2010 for perpetual preservation, its blink-and-you'll-miss-it fragmentary status belies its extreme...Start your free trial to watch
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Blacksmithing Scene
That the old-fashioned blacksmith shop was the first subject to be shown in Edison's kinetoscope was a quiet kind of joke. The Edison Laboratory was the center of innovative technology in the late nineteenth century but here the laboratory staff takes some time off to play at blacksmithing and pass around...Start your free trial to watch
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Annabelle Butterfly Dance
Annabelle Whitford, known as Peerless Annabelle, had her debut at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago. Although hardly a stage star on the order of Carmencita, films of her performances proved popular and the negatives wore out quickly (meaning that she appeared frequently before Thomas Edison's cameras...Start your free trial to watch
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Athlete with Wand
A gymnast for the Newark Turnverein performed for Thomas Edison's camera, almost certainly as a test in preparation for the filming of Eugen Sandow (which took place a short time later). Scenes of somersaulting athletes were filmed at about this time as well. Why is the dog in the frame? We'll never know.Start your free trial to watch
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Band Drill
One of several films made from Charles Hoyt's musical burlesque "A Milk White Flag," which mocked the state militias that savored their snappy uniforms and male camaraderie (including free drinks at the regimental bar). In fact, their actual courage was questioned for the "milk white flag" (the flag of purity but also...Start your free trial to watch
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Bucking Broncho
Cowboy star Lee Martin rides the bronco "Sunfish" in a small corral built outside the Black Maria studio. Martin was a star for Buffalo Bill's Wild West, as was Frank Hammitt, who encourages his daring by firing a six-shooter. Neither joined William F. Cody (alias "Buffalo Bill") on his European sojourn.Start your free trial to watch
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Buffalo Dance
Sioux Indians from Buffalo Bill's Wild West dance in Thomas Edison's Black Maria motion picture studio. The Edison Manufacturing Company took numerous films of dancers from different nations and cultures. These could be shown in a bank of kinetoscopes, creating a miniature ethnographic museum.Start your free trial to watch
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Caicedo with Pole
Juan Caicedo was billed as the "King of the Wire" and was a leading attraction at Koster & Bial's Music Hall for seventeen weeks during the spring and summer of 1894. The filmmakers moved their camera outside the Black Maria studio to photograph his performance. Admittedly, the end-credit ("composed by")...Start your free trial to watch
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Cockfight no.2
The first version of this subject had been taken in March 1894 but these early negatives wore out quickly. This remake was more elaborate as two men exchange bets in the background. The use of a white backdrop also shows off the action more clearly. Blood sports, including rat baiting, were popular early subjects for Thomas...Start your free trial to watch
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Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph
Although prize fighting was illegal in every state in the Union, boxing was a national obsession. James J. Corbett, the heavyweight champion who had defeated the great John L. Sullivan, was not only a sports hero but a stage star (and, for women, a matinee idol). The Corbett-Courtney fight was far and away...Start your free trial to watch
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Fire Rescue
Staging a fire rescue inside the Black Maria was no easy feat and this short may have used members of a local fire department. Films of fire departments in action were among the most popular subjects in the 1890s. The R that appears in the frame indicates that the picture was made under the auspices of Raff & Gammon,...Start your free trial to watch
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Hadj Cheriff, Arab Knife Juggler
Hadj Cheriff and his small troupe executed dervish-like dances and feats of strength until his wife's danse du ventre resulted in police interference for indecent performance. After that, he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West and visited the Black Maria with others associated with William Cody's organization....Start your free trial to watch
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Imperial Japanese Dance
With the continued popularity of Gilbert and Sullivan's THE MIKADO (which debuted in 1885), Japanese dancing girls enjoyed a certain caché in New York's theatrical world. This film featuring the Sarashe Sisters was shown in Japan as NIPPON MAIKO NUNO SARASHI (JAPANESE DANCING MAIDENS WAVING STREAMERS....Start your free trial to watch
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Louis Martinetti
Luis (né Louis) Martinetti, of French Canadian background (born in Montreal), had been part of an acrobatic team with his two brothers before launching out on his own. At about this time, he was associated with Charles E. Blaney's A BAGGAGE CHECK (for which he did an acrobatic dance).Start your free trial to watch
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Robetta and Doretto no.2
Robetta and Doretto were known as "the Chinese comiques" and appeared regularly in vaudeville throughout the 1890s. They appeared in three different scenes for Thomas Edison cameras though only one survives. In this, one performer plays a Chinaman and the other plays an Irish cop. Certainly the comedy duo...Start your free trial to watch
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Sandow
Eugen Sandow was the first star to perform before Thomas Edison's Kinetograph camera. The film reprises the opening of his stage routine. Sandow had become a vaudeville star at the Chicago Columbian World Exposition and then settled into a long run as the headline attraction at Koster & Bial's Music Hall in New York City. His...Start your free trial to watch
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Sioux Ghost Dance
"Buffalo Bill" Cody and members of his Wild West traveled from Ambrose Park in Brooklyn to appear before Thomas Edison's camera. In this short, the Sioux Indians performed "in full war paint and war costumes," according to Edison catalogs. These films were taken for Franck Maguire and Joseph Baucus, who...Start your free trial to watch
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Billy Edwards and the Unknown
The only surviving round of a five-round contest (with each round a separate film lasting about 20 seconds). Billy Edwards was a middle-aged boxing instructor in 1895. Because the boxer "Warwick" bears a striking resemblance to Edwards, this film has often been identified (incorrectly) as a Glenroy...Start your free trial to watch
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Dickson Experimental Sound Film
This short film is the world's first known experiment in producing a motion picture with a recorded synchronized soundtrack. Although the kinetophone combined recorded sound with moving pictures, even approximate synchronization was elusive. Still, William K.L. Dickson and his crew pursued serious efforts...Start your free trial to watch
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Princess Ali
Barnum and Bailey Circus was in Orange, New Jersey, on May 9th, 1895, and a number of its performers visited the Edison Laboratory and appeared before the kinetograph camera. The only footage of these half dozen subjects to survive is of Princess Ali, who executes a danse du ventre.Start your free trial to watch
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The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
As the kinetoscope business declined in the second half of 1895, the Edison group hired Alfred Clark to make some films of original subject matter. He produced a number of historical tableaux, including BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC. Several of these, including THE EXECUTION OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, used the...Start your free trial to watch
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A Morning Alarm
One of three films taken of the Newark Fire Department over the course of a single day. According to the Newark Daily Advertiser, "Photographer J. H. White, with two assistants, had the kinetograph stationed on a wagon a few feet above the City Hall. Beside the camera, 2,000 curious onlookers witnessed the event: Chief...Start your free trial to watch
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A Morning Bath
A remake of rival Biograph's popular A HARD WASH, this film's "joke" plays with racist clichés as well as theatrical conventions where blacks, whether impersonated by white actors or played by African Americans, performed using burnt cork as "masks." No matter how vigorous the bath, the baby's skin remains dark and corky....Start your free trial to watch
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American Falls from Above, American Side
Niagara Falls was a frequently filmed subject. In May, it had been one of the first places to be visited by the Edison Manufacturing Company's new mobile camera but the films were not entirely satisfactory. With more experience and better technology, an Edison crew returned to film the falls in early...Start your free trial to watch
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Black Diamond Express
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the on-rushing express train was a symbol of American power and technological achievement. The Biograph Company had filmed the Empire State Express in September 1896, the fastest train of the New York Central Railroad. The Edison Company subsequently teamed up...Start your free trial to watch
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Going to the Fire
One of three films taken of the Newark Fire Department over the course of a single day. According to the Newark Daily Advertiser, "Photographer J. H. White, with two assistants, had the kinetograph stationed on a wagon a few feet above the City Hall. Beside the camera, 2,000 curious onlookers witnessed the...Start your free trial to watch
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Inventor Edison Sketched by World Artist
When J. Stuart Blackton appeared before Thomas Edison's camera (either at a make-shift roof-top studio in New York City or at the Black Maria studio in New Jersey), he performed several lightning sketches in exchange for a donation from the Vitascope Company to the New York World's Sick Babies' Fund. The...Start your free trial to watch
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Mounted Police Charge
One of several films taken of the mounted police performing in Central Park. In this scene, the policemen charge toward the Edison camera in emulation of the cavalry in a popular Lumière film CHARGE OF THE SEVENTH FRENCH CUIRASSIERS. They are, of course, in full dress uniform.Start your free trial to watch
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The Burning Stable
In the fall of 1896, the Edison Company was busy making their own versions of other company's hits. Since Biograph films were shot on a different (68mm) format, their pictures could not be shown on regular 35mm projectors, providing Edison with an attractive commercial opportunity. THE BURNING STABLE...Start your free trial to watch
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The Kiss
May Irwin and John C. Rice enact the final moment from THE WIDOW JONES, a musical comedy then playing on Broadway. Initially, it was to be published as a series of photographs (via line drawings) in the Sunday edition of the New York World. The "risqué" scene had become a center of controversy during the 1895-96 theatrical...Start your free trial to watch
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The Lone Fisherman
THE LONE FISHERMAN was a role made popular by the actor James Moffit in the theatrical version of "Evangeline," one scene from which apparently served as the model for this film. The character, which appeared at various points throughout the production but does not exist in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's...Start your free trial to watch
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The Morning Alarm
The Thomas Edison crew shot a group of films in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Many of these served initially as local views to draw people into the city's theater that was featuring a new, Edison-designed projector. This film of a fire run proved distinctive because of its snowy background.Start your free trial to watch
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Watermelon Eating Contest
Following the move to projection and fostered in part by the increasing diversity of subject matter, Edison and other American production companies put scenes of well-known racial stereotypes on the screen, black chicken thieves and watermelon eaters among them.Start your free trial to watch
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Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory
Thomas Edison displays his talents as a performer, showman and wizard of self-promotion. According to the original catalog description, the inventor is "in working dress, engaged in an interesting chemical experiment in his great laboratory." And to the extent that the Black Maria motion picture studio,...Start your free trial to watch
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Shooting Captured Insurgents
This staged scene of Spanish soldiers executing Cuban prisoners was designed to underscore Spanish brutality and support American intervention in the war. According to one catalog description, "The Spanish officer, resplendent in gold lace and buttons, raises his sword. One can imagine his commands by his...Start your free trial to watch
Genres
- Short / Actuality
- Short / Actuality
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- Short / Actuality
- Short / Actuality
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- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
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- International / Americas / North American / American
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- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
- International / Americas / North American / American
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- Documentary / Biography
- Sport / Boxing
- Sport / Boxing
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- Drama / Costume Drama
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Documentary / Art / Performing Arts / Dance
- Drama / Docudrama
- Drama / Docudrama
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Short / Documentary
- Documentary / Science / Geology
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- Documentary / Art / Visual Arts / Motion Pictures
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- Short / Performance
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- Short / Performance
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- Drama / Pseudodocumentary
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- Drama / Romantic Drama
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Recent Reviews
Annabelle Butterfly Dance
beautiful
American Falls from Above, American Side
Interesting, grainy and very short, but an incredible look at the American Falls and their majestic power.
Sandow
Something strange and haunting. If only I could play it as a loop it would serve as a conducive meditation tool.
The First Sleigh Ride
these short silent films are retarded.....