Public Domain Movies
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Gitchner Hartman, Mr. Lehapman, Bessie Schrednecky
On the day before Christmas, a boy from a well-to-do family is playing outdoors with his sled, when he notices a girl who is shivering in the cold because her family is to poor for her to have a coat. The boy gives her his coat and takes her to his home, where they play together for a while. He reads her a story about Santa Claus, but she refuses to believe it because Santa Claus has never come to her home. That night, as the boy lies in bed, he decides that he will force Santa Claus to visit the girl's house and give her some gifts.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Fire Department responds to an alarm on a December morning.
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
Shows a young black boy and a white boy in a lively set-to. They finally collapse in the centre of the ring after they have fought themselves to a stand-still. The referee proceeds to count them both out, and the seconds empty buckets of water on the fighters.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Frank A. Lyons, Margery Bonney Erskine, Gertrude McCoy
A farmer's daughter helps a farmhand win the heart of a cook by convincing him to serenade her, with unexpected results.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
While our photographers were crossing the Atlantic Ocean a most wonderful and sensational picture was secured, showing a storm at sea. The picture was secured by lashing the camera to the after bridge of the Kaiserine Maria Theresa, of the North German Lloyd Line, during one of its roughest voyages. The most wonderful storm picture ever photographed. Taken at great risk.
Running Time: 7 mins Black & White
An office worker takes desperate measures in an attempt to get up on time in the morning.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Grandpa sits nodding in his armchair in the kitchen, where a sout, jolly washerwoman is washing clothes. While the woman leaves the tub to talk to a book agent, a small boy enters, and ties grandpa's chair to a towel which is hanging over the tub. The washerwoman begins vigorously wringing the clothes. The towel is drawn into the wringer, and as grandpa is sitting with his feet on the stove and the chair tilted back, a collision is brought about by the towel pulling grandpa and the tub together. This is a crowning success as a comic picture.
Running Time: 11 mins Black & White
Starring: Frank A. Lyons, Ida Williams, William Bechtel
In trying to explain to a big, fat German who has recently arrived in this country, how and where he is to change streetcars to get to a certain address, a conductor gives Herr Frantz Muller a transfer, telling him to follow a lady who is sitting ahead of him, to whom he has just given a transfer for the same car. Arriving at the crosstown line the lady, who is followed by Muller, discovers that she has forty minutes leeway before her transfer expires, and decides to do a little shopping. Muller follows her everywhere. She becomes suspicious of him and tries to evade him by rushing into a busy bargain store, but Muller sticks to her trail like Old Sleuth, the detective, never losing sight of her for a moment. At the shirtwaist counter, where great reductions are offered, the persistent Muller creates a sensation among the shoppers when the lady he is following screams for help and has him arrested. At the police station Muller tries to explain in his own tongue, but the Irish sergeant cannot understand him and is about to confine him to a cell when the lady, upon learning Muller's motive in following her so persistently, withdraws her charge, and understanding German, acts as his interpreter, has him excused and also volunteers to direct him to the proper car. Now they understand each other they become good friends, and the last seen of them is on a crosstown car with Cupid on the job.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
The camera shows a view of the American Falls and Goat Island.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Amy Muller
Vaudeville dancer Amy Muller performs a portion of her stage routine, which features dancing on her toes. She dances on one toe for part of the performance. Later, she also twirls and does cartwheel
Running Time: 17 mins Black & White
Starring: Wadsworth Harris, Marc McDermott, Margery Bonney Erskine
While their degenerate descendant sleeps, ancestral portraits come alive and admonish him.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Annabelle Moore
Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dances. For this performance, her costume has a pair of wings attached to her back, to suggest a butterfly. As she dances, she uses her long, flowing skirts to create visual patterns
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Annabelle Moore
Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dance routines. She uses her dance steps and her long, flowing skirts to create a variety of visual patterns.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Francis E. Butler, Annie Oakley
Annie get your guns. Standing on the left-hand corner of the stage, wearing a cowboy hat, a skirt with fringe at the hem, and a jacket with fringe hanging from the sleeves, Annie Oakley takes a rifle from her assistant, turns, and rapidly fires six shots, cocking the gun after each one, hitting six targets on a board at the other side of the stage. Then, as her assistant moves quickly to the target side of the stage and kneels down, Annie changes guns. The assistant tosses small clay pigeons in the air, one at a time, directly above his head; Annie takes aim and pulverizes each one. She's finished her seventh of these shots when the reel ends.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: William West, Herbert Prior, George Lessey
Alice Loraine, a young Eastern school teacher takes her father to a little western mining camp recommended by her physician, in the hope of saving or at least prolonging his life. The physician provides her with a letter to an old friend in the camp so "the boys" of Bear Track Gulch give them a real western welcome. Alice is the first woman to ever alight from the stage at the Gulch and her personal charms and devotion to her invalid father soon win the admiration of every man in the camp. The change of air failing to benefit her father, Alice is soon left alone and to add to her misfortune she gets a letter telling her that the bank in which she had deposited her meager savings in the east, has failed. The boys learn of this and start to raise money for her by subscription but old Pete Griffin realizes the danger of wounding her by this method. They decide that Bear Track Gulch is an illiterate camp and that it needs a school. Of course a school requires a teacher and none but Alice would do. Thus is Alice put on a living wage, at least. Jack Turner, one of Alice's pupils, is deeply smitten with her but his bashfulness prevents an avowal of his love. One day he finds her crying over and kissing the photograph of a young man and decides that she has left a sweetheart in the east. He tells the boys that she must be sent back and keeps his own feelings in the background. Under his leadership they steal over to Alice's little claim at night and "salt" a mine at her very door. The following morning the "school committee" calls under pretext of business and apparently accidentally picks up a piece of valuable ore from the salted mine. An auction is immediately arranged and Jack buys the claim, thus enabling Alice to start east at once, but Alice does not want to go. At the last moment when about to board the stage Jack tells of his love and speaks of the photograph. Alice quickly shows it to him, a picture of her father taken years ago. Needless to say, Alice does not go back east.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
A gymnast appears before the camera holding a wand, or short staff, with both hands. He flexes his legs and moves his arms, always holding the wand with both hands, and takes up numerous different positions. In the foreground, a dog is resting, and it occasionally takes note of the gymnast's activities.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Fred W. Boardman, William Cushing, Ad Dorsch
A scene from Charles Hoyt's 'A Milk White Flag': A brass band marches out, led by bandmaster Steele Ayers. When Ayers reaches his position, he turns around and directs the musicians as they take up their own positions.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Billy Edwards, Warwick
Former lightweight boxer Billy Edwards, now a trainer and writer of the sport, takes on a challenger named Warwick in an exhibition match. The match is scheduled for five rounds of 20 seconds each. A large crowd has gathered behind the ring to watch the fight.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Benjamin F. Hardesty, Charles Lee
Train is first seen rounding a curve nearly a mile away. Approaches at the rate of 70 miles an hour, blowing a warning whistle to a gang of track repairers
Running Time: 15 mins Black & White
Starring: Raymond McKee, Jean Dumar, Guido Colucci
Jack and Beatrice Willard have plans to go to the theater, but when Jack's law partner gets tickets to a prize fight, Jack lies to his wife and cancels the theater trip. Beatrice then decides to play bridge with some friends, and when they both come home very late, they have a bitter argument. The next morning, they make up, and swear never again to sneak out on each other. But then, on their wedding anniversary, a similar situation arises, and this time both of them will find it much harder to explain themselves.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Charles Kayser, John Ott
Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Frank Hammitt, Lee Martin, Sunfish
Lee Martin, one of the cowboy stars in 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West', rides a bronco as a crowd looks on. While the horse is trying to throw Martin off its back, another cowboy stands on top of a fence rail and occasionally fires his six-shooter, to spur on both horse and rider.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Hair Coat, Parts His Hair, Last Horse
Three Sioux Indians perform a 'buffalo dance', while two others use drums to supply a rhythm. The three dancers move around in a circle as they perform the various actions that are part of the dance.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Juan A. Caicedo
In a fenced back yard with the neighboring house visible in the distance, a stationary camera films Juan Caicedo in profile on a rope. Holding one pole while another bounces, Juan does several back flips and a few steps walking. He lands each flip straddling the rope then springs onto his feet for the next trick.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Nothing can exceed the stubborn resistance shown by the Gordon Highlanders, as we see them steadily advancing in the face of a murderous fire of the Boers, who are making their guns speak with rapid volleys. One by one the gunners fall beside their guns, and as the smoke clears for an instant the Highlanders are seen gaining nearer and nearer the disputed ground. Finally a grand charge is made, the siege is carried, and amid cheers they plant the colors on the spot they have so dearly earned.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Carmencita
Performing on what looks like a small wooden stage, wearing a dress with a hoop skirt and white high-heeled pumps, Carmencita does a dance with kicks and twirls, a smile always on her face.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Henry Welton
Two gamecocks are fighting inside a wire cage, while two spectators look on in the background. The two men agree to make a bet on the outcome. One of them shows his money to the other, who is commenting on the fight.
Running Time: 13 mins Black & White
A shopkeeper suffers the loss of some valuable merchandise, and thinks of a way to regain his losses.
Running Time: 11 mins Black & White
Starring: Miss Acton, Miss Antoinette, Edward Boulden |
While in a park, a young woman sees her fiancé being quite affectionate with another woman. When she calls him on the telephone to demand an explanation, he tells her that it was his sister. She is not satisfied, and insists on coming over to meet his 'sister'. As the young man broods over how to get out of trouble, an old college friend comes over, and he offers to pretend to be the sister. At first this works, but soon it has created even more complications.
Running Time: 4 mins Black & White
Time exposure shows us Coney Island at night, from Luna Park to Dreamland. Panning left, brilliant lights come into view, defining a long, narrow strip of rides and attractions. We're up, looking out and down. One ride spins. The sign "Luna Park" comes into view. The pan continues, marking the distance to Dreamland, a larger area with fewer lights: the Steeple Chase and a Ferris wheel are near the back. Then the camera at eye level takes us to close-ups of buildings in Luna Park. Rides spin, pavilions beckon. The camera plans slowly right. It picks one tall structure and pans down and up, ending with a shot of an empty sky.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: James J. Corbett, Peter Courtney
James J. Corbett and Peter Courtney meet in a boxing exhibition
Running Time: 10 mins Black & White
Starring: Violette Hill, Mr. Barry, Marie Murray
Cupid visits a ballroom dance and tries to bring a couple together.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: William K.L. Dickson
The earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: William K.L. Dickson
"A little while ago there was a great convention of women's clubs of America. Mrs. Edison is interested in women's clubs and their work and she decided to entertain the Presidents of the various clubs at the Convention. Edison entered into the plan, and when 147 club women visited his workshop he showed them a working model of his new Kinetograph, for that is the name he has given to the most wonderful of all his wonderful inventions. "The surprised and pleased club women saw a small pine box standing on the floor. There were some wheels and belts near the box, and a workman who had them in charge. In the top of the box was a hole perhaps an inch in diameter. As they looked through this hole they saw the picture of a man. It was a most marvellous picture. It bowed and smiled and waved its hands and took off its hat with the most perfect naturalness and grace. Every motion was perfect. There was not a hitch or a jerk. No wonder Edison chuckled at the effect he produced with his Kinetograph."
Running Time: 7 mins Black & White
Starring: Jack Brawn
The fiend faces the spectacular mind-bending consequences of his free-wheeling rarebit binge.
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
Starring: J. Stuart Blackton, Thomas A. Edison
Artist draws Thomas Edison.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Fred Ott
A man (Thomas Edison's assistant) takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. This is one of the earliest Thomas Edison films and was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
The fakir with his trick monkey is seated on the pavement in a street in Cairo. He plays a tom-tom, while the monkey dances the couchee-couchee. The movements of the monkey are very comical. (Taken on the winter cruise of the S. S. "Auguste Victoria" of the Hamburg-American Line, leaving New York on 03 Feb 1903.)
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Carl Goliath, Topsy
The execution of Topsy, a female elephant, in a publicity stunt advertising the opening of Luna Park on Coney Island. Topsy was originally owned by Forepaugh Circus where she killed a drunken spectator who burned the tip of her trunk with a cigar. She was sold to Sea Lion Park in 1902 which was then sold to new owners who turned it into Luna Park. After they decided they could no longer handle her, the owners of Luna Park announced they would hang Topsy, leading to an outcry by the ASPCA. The owners then decided they would electrocute the elephant, with a backup plan of feeding her cyanide-laced carrots and strangling her with a cable.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Fatima
The dancer Fatima, well-known for her dancing shows at the World's Exhibition in 1893, performs for the camera. She opens her act by twirling around a few times, and then she does the 'muscle dance' for which she had attracted considerable notoriety.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
A woman and a young girl each carry containers of bird feed, and they toss occasional handfuls to the chickens and doves in the farmyard. Most of the chickens stay nearby, but the doves occasionally fly off and then return to eat more.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Footage of the devastation caused by the earthquake and fires that, in the words of Jack London, "completely destroyed" San Francisco on the morning of April 18th, 1906.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Shows the efficiency of modern life-saving methods and apparatus now in use by the fire departments. Shows the front of a building burning and two ladders raised against it. Through a thick cloud of smoke and sparks membes of the fire companies are ascending. Entering the windows they pass unfortunate occupants to their comrades, who in turn take them safely to the ground.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
Starring: Miss Abbott, Miss Acton, Edward Boulden
A woman's brother comes to visit her in her home, but when the woman's husband sees the brother and sister embracing, he jumps to the wrong conclusion. He angrily expels them from the house, refusing to listen to explanations. One evening three years later, as the husband sits by the fireplace after dinner, his young daughter sparks a chain of reminiscences that cause him to reconsider.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Paul Panzer
A jealous husband arrives in the office of Hawkshaw, a private detective. The husband is certain that his wife is being unfaithful, and he wants the detective to produce photographic evidence. The detective tails the wife, and thinks he has caught her, but a sudden mishap prevents him from getting a photo. Despite this and further setbacks, the dedicated detective presses on, determined to fulfill his assignment.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: The Glenroy Brothers
The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
The Newark Fire Department is in the process of responding to a call. A crowd has gathered in and along a street to watch the fire-fighting vehicles go by. First two small carriages go past, carrying men to the scene, and then there is a succession of several larger vehicles loaded with men and equipment.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Following a shot of a newspaper that outlines the hardships of living in the Klondike, there are scenes a typical Klondike town, of people on a raft, and of people mining for gold.
Black & White
Starring: Syd Chaplin, Phyllis Allen, Wesley Ruggles |
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Hadj Cheriff
Hadj Cheriff, a performer known for a variety of unusual abilities, demonstrates part of his act in the Edison studio.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
A daredevil rides his bicycle down a ramp and attempts to land in a pool of water as a crowd of spectators watches.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Eugene Hornbacker, Murphy
A referee and five fans (including a waiter in his apron) look on as two young men box. The dark-haired, slightly taller boxer throws a right and the light-haired smaller one goes down; but he's up before the referee starts counting. After the knockdown, the boxers mostly hit each other's gloves. The fans, at least one of whom is sitting inside the ring, show no animation. They're all men, dressed in a range of late 19th-century garb.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
A French aristocrat, who has recently arrived in America, has placed a personal advertisement in the newspaper. In the ad, he invites any well-to-do young woman who is interested in marriage to meet him near Grant's Tomb. When he goes to the meeting place, he is quickly met by an increasingly large number of women. He soon becomes flustered and runs off. When he does so, the women decide to pursue him.
Running Time: 5 mins Black & White
Starring: John R. Cumpson
Bumptious objects to the price asked for repapering the pretty little parlor in his home, and decides that the operation is so simple that any child ought to be able to perform it and that consequently it will be an easy trick for him. The picture shows his reaching this decision, his selecting the wallpaper at the store and then the beginning of the difficulties. Rolls of wallpaper are hard things to carry, and when he finally does get them home he finds that the making of the paste is an operation which causes some trouble in addition to its practical difficulties. He tries to soothe the injured feelings of the cook with a kiss and thereby creates another injured feeling in his wife, who happens to enter at the psychological moment. And then the real fun begins, for Bumptious' management of the paste brush and paste proves disastrous to the parlor furniture, the curtains and floors, as well as to the wall he is trying to decorate. He does get one piece of paper up, but it is pretty crooked, which fact promptly starts an argument. He appeals to one of his friends, who is brought in by the wife to see the operation, and by making the appeal loses his balance from the ton of the ladder, with the result that the wife and the friend and Bumptious himself are deluged with paste when he falls, and the whole room is made to look as if a cyclone had struck it. The last scene of this uproarious story shows the "easiest way." and with some very effective trick work brings a final laugh to close the picture with.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: The Sarashe Sisters
A charming representation of the Mikado dance by three beautiful Japanese ladies in full costume. Very effective when colored. (from the Edison Catalog)
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
She's sitting on a small bench beneath a tree in a garden; he sits down next to her, sets his walking stick at his feet, tosses away his cigarette, removes his boater, and puts his arms around her. They kiss and cuddle as a thin man appears behind the bench, grinning, and motioning for someone else to come from our left. It's a man, probably her dad, carrying a shovel. Our lover picks up his boater and stick with dad taps him on the shoulder; he rises, and he starts to put up some resistance as dad grabs his daughter's arm. Threatening gestures, kicks, and dad's triumph ensue.
Running Time: 10 mins Black & White
Starring: Thomas White
Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies', Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.
Running Time: 15 mins Black & White
Starring: Kitty O'Neil, Walter Griswoll, H.L. Bascomb
Captain Clearfield, a wealthy landlord, assaults Kathleen with the help of an accomplice, but Terence O'More arrives in time to break up the attack. Clearfield then tries to get his way by intimidating Kathleen and her father, but again help arrives in time. Clearfield and his accomplice then come up with their most violent plan yet.
Running Time: 9 mins Black & White
Starring: Bertha Regustus, Edward Boulden, Mr. La Montte
A woman goes to the dentist for a toothache and is given gas. On her way home on the subway she can't stop laughing, and every other passenger catches the laughter from her.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Luis Martinetti
Vaudeville performer Luis Martinetti demonstrates his novelty acrobatic act. Performing on the flying rings, he puts his legs through the rings and then contorts himself so that his head is between his legs. He swivels around to take up several different positions, in each case twisting his body around as necessary.
Black & White
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Edison employees
Two men wearing boxing gloves prepare to spar in the Edison Company studio.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
It's meal time at a training camp for the New York state militia at Peekskill, New York. An Edison Company film crew has set up a camera to film the soldiers, and it gradually attracts their attention. As the soldiers eat and drink, many of them come closer to the camera, smiling and gesturing towards it.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Giuseppe Sacco Albanese
One of W.K.L. Dickson's laboratory workers horses around for the camera.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Sergeant Eagan
A battalion of New York's famous mounted police at inspection. They approach at break-neck gallop.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Thomas A. Edison
"This film is remarkable in several respects. In the first place, it is full life-size. Secondly, it is the only accurate recent portrait of the great inventor. The scene is an actual one, showing Mr. Edison in working dress engaged in an interesting chemical experiment in his great Laboratory. There is sufficient movement to lead the spectator through the several processes of mixing, pouring, testing, etc. as if he were side by side with the principal. The lights and shadows are vivid, and the apparatus and other accessories complete a startling picture that will appeal to every beholder."
Running Time: 7 mins Black & White
A couple visiting New York City leave their hotel, and take a sight-seeing car to tour the city. They start with Grant's Tomb, and then go to Central Park and Times Square. At Luna Park, they feed the pigeons and enjoy some of the rides. They then continue to visit other sections of town, and they see some of the city's most prominent buildings.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
An athlete swings Indian clubs.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Gilbert Saroni
An old maid is walking about the studio while the photographer is getting his camera ready. She first looks at a hanger, which immediately falls from the wall, not being able to stand her gaze. Then she looks at the clock, and her face causes it to fall to the floor with a crash. She then walks over to the mirror, which suddenly cracks in several places. The photographer then poses her. Just as he is to press the button the camera explodes with a great puff of smoke, completely destroying the camera and demolishing the studio. The picture finishes up with the old maid tipping back in her chair and losing her balance, displaying a large quantity of fancy lace goods. A sure winner.
Running Time: 16 mins Black & White
Starring: John Sturgeon, Elizabeth Miller, T. Tamamoto
Mr. Bradley has been getting increasingly irritable, and today he is annoyed by everything, constantly snapping at the servants and at his wife. Then, as he is being driven by his chauffeur, the car stalls. Mr. Bradley becomes impatient with the chauffeur's repair work, and wanders off into a nearby woods. When he sees a boy fishing in a stream, he strikes up a conversation with him. Soon Mr. Bradley starts to think that a little time spent outdoors might be just what he needs to calm his nerves.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
A great feature of the Pan-American Exposition, as unanimously conceded by all visitors, was the electric illumination of the Exposition grounds at night. After a great deal of experimenting and patience, we succeeded in securing an excellent picture of the buildings at the Pan-American as they appeared when lighted up at night. All the buildings from the Temple of Music to the Electric Tower are shown, including the Electric Tower itself. The emotional and sensational effects were also secured by starting the panoramic view by daylight and revolving the camera until the Electric Tower forms the center of the field of the lens. Our camera was then stopped and the position held until night, when we photographed the coming up of the lights, an event which was deemed by all to be a great emotional climax to the Pan-American Exposition. Immediately the lights are burning to their fullest brilliancy, the camera is againt set in motion and revolved until the Temple of Music is reached. The motion is then reversed and the camera goes back until it rests on the Electric Tower, thus supplying the climax to the picture. The great searchlights of the Tower are being worked during the entire time the picture is being exposed, and the effect is startling. This picture is pronounced by the photographic profession to be a marvel of photography.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
The scene opens showing Reuben and his best girl looking for a quiet place to spoon. A photographer enters and suggests taking their pictures. Reuben gets impatient, and walks over to the photographer and insists on peering in the camera. A bad boy enters and ties Reuben's legs to the tripod. Reuben makes a wild dash for the photographer, but falls to the ground on top of the camera, smashing it to pieces. The scene ends with the lovers and Reuben all mixed up in a confused mess upon the ground
Running Time: 3 mins Black & White
Police officers pursue a speeding automobile that almost hit a small child.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Princess Ali
In the background, three accompanists stand, one beating a tambourine, another playing a flute, and the third (only partially visible) clapping. In the foreground, Princess Ali, dressed in North African clothes and waving a scarf in each hand, dances; after a slow turn, she lays the scarves on her shoulders, faces the camera, and undulates. Then, rhythmically, she turns again.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
Starring: Henry B. Walthall, Miss Earle, Jinnie Frazer
A woodcutter says good-bye to his wife and child, and then goes off to work. After he has left, the mother leaves the child outside their cabin to play. Suddenly, an eagle swoops down and carries off the child. When the mother realizes what has happened, she runs to tell her husband. He and the other lumberjacks immediately set out to find and rescue the child.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Shows a life boat coming through the breakers. The surf is high and the stout boat is tossed about like a co
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Phil Doreto, Robetta
Outside a laundry, a Chinese man hits a police officer over the head with a basket, and then runs inside the laundry. The policeman also rushes inside, only to have the other man swing outside on the other side of a revolving door. The police officer refuses to give up the chase, but the Chinese man proves very elusive.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Eugen Sandow
Strong-man Eugene (Eugen) Sandow poses in a long shot on a bare stage against a black background, wearing only tight trunks and laced sandals. He begins with his arms folded against his chest, looking off screen left, then strikes a variety of poses that accentuate his muscular development. These positions include flexing his right arm with the fist to his head and face to shoulder; turning his back to the camera and flexing his upper arms and shoulder muscles; and, with his back still to the camera, stretching out and up with one arm at a time. Sandow then turns back to face the camera and performs a standing back flip. He closes in the same pose with which he opened From Biograph photo catalog: 24 feet. Still another picture of the great athlete displaying his muscles, and turning a somersault without touching hands to the floor.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
This shows the heart of the tremendous drifts in the east end of Galveston. Hundreds of bodies are concealed in these immense masses, and at the time the picture was taken the odor given out could be detected for miles. The subject shows a gang of laborers clearing away the debris in the search for corpses, one of which was discovered while the picture was being taken.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Flags of nations fly above the water chutes at Coney Island's amusement park. A small boat with four or five seated passengers and a pilot standing in back slides down the chute. On the far side of the chute, we can see a boat going up for its next ride down, empty except for the standing pilot. A large wagon full of people going up for the boat ride is also visible, as is an empty wagon heading down to pick up the next group of riders. The boat going up and the transport wagons look as if they are being pulled on cables beneath them.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
A group of Sioux Indians from Buffalo Bill's Wild West exhibition demonstrates a dance called a "ghost dance"
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
Starring: Mr. Barry, Phineas Nairs, Laura Sawyer
A story of ye olden tyme in merrie England. Gathering Autumn Leaves: Mistress Dorothy, of Elmhurst Manor, meets perchance young Squire Douglass. He picks some desired leaves beyond her reach. Love's young dream. Sir Varney, of London Town: Her father, Lord Ravenhood, has pledged her band to Sir Varney. He is rather distasteful to the lady. The Trysting Place: The young lovers secretly meet. Plan their future. Her father and Sir Varney discover them. A quarrel ensues. Mistress Dorothy sent away in tears. Varney challenges the Squire to a duel. The Warning: Giles, the Squire's man, warns the lady of the proposed combat. The Duel at Early Dawn: The ground is paced off. All is ready. The opponents fire. Mistress Dorothy arrives to save her lover's life. She is wounded instead. In the Garden: The lady recovering from the accident. Entertaining some friends. Giles, disguised as a bird peddler, brings a message from his master. Lord Ravenhood discovers the subterfuge. Imprisons Mistress Dorothy in the tower. Love's Messenger: Giles brings the news to his master, Squire Douglass. He pens a note to his lady love. Ties the missive to a dove. The message delivered. Mistress Dorothy returns an autumn leaf as a love token. The Tower: The lovers plan to escape. The lady unravels her gown. Lowers the thread to her waiting lover. A rope pulled up. She escapes. The Gretna Green Marriage: The lovers escape on horses. Discovered by Lord Ravenhood. The runaways cross the boundary into Scotland. Stop at the shop of a blacksmith. Wedded and forgiven by Lord Ravenhood
Running Time: 5 mins Black & White
An office worker is busy at his desk, going over some papers with his secretary, when he receives word that his expectant wife is about ready to give birth. He rushes home, fetching a doctor on the way. Not long after arriving home, he is presented with a newborn child, and the new father is filled with pride and excitement. But soon he learns just how demanding 'the strenuous life' can be.
Running Time: 13 mins Black & White
Seven toy teddy bears of varying sizes suddenly come to life, getting in all sorts of merry misadventures.
Running Time: 12 mins Black & White
Starring: Kate Toncray, John R. Cumpson, Arthur V. Johnson |
Two members of a vigilante group known as 'The White Caps' post a warning sign on a man's home. When the man comes home, he tears down the sign, and then proceeds to abuse his wife both verbally and physically. As soon as she can get away from him, the wife leaves home with her child to find a place of refuge. When the vigilantes find out about this, they arm themselves with rifles and immediately go to confront the abusive husband.
Running Time: 15 mins Black & White
Starring: Barry O'Moore, Julian Reed, Viola Dana
An amateur detective's automobile is stolen by a young woman who is determined to elope, leading to a complicated chase involving several vehicles.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Miriam Nesbitt, George Lessey, Robert Brower |
Richard Farnsworth, an attaché at the U.S. Embassy in London, is in love with Helen, the ambassador's daughter, and we see her at the embassy ball refuse his proposal of marriage. The next day, while the ambassador is at work in his office, a letter containing an important document is received. This he slips under the blotting pad on his desk and goes out with Helen. A clerk in the embassy. Charles Dumont, who is really a spy in the hire of a foreign power, has seen the ambassador hide the document, and during the latter's absence avails himself of the opportunity to steal it, but hearing somebody coming, he slips it into a vase and returns to his office unseen. Meantime, Farnsworth, entering the ambassador's office, finds on the floor a glove which Helen has dropped. He acts rather foolish over it, kisses it and is just putting it in his pocket, close to his heart, when the ambassador returns with Helen. The ambassador goes to his desk and discovers that the document is gone. He questions Crompton and Dumont, but to no avail, and finally turning to Farnsworth, asks him what he had placed in his pocket. He becomes foolishly embarrassed, but refuses to tell, and Helen, divining he has her glove, throws her father off the scent by suggesting that he make a thorough search before accusing anyone. This they proceed to do and Dumont, taking advantage of the opportunity, takes the document from its hiding place and hurries from the room. Helen becomes suspicious of him and follows him unobserved. Of course the search of the desk proves unavailing and the ambassador again turns to Farnsworth for explanation. Realizing the seriousness of his silence he shows the glove and explains the reason for his embarrassment. The ambassador understands, but just then Crompton enters, telling them of the disappearance of Dumont. Farnsworth, eager for action, hurries out to see if he can get on his track. Meantime, Dumont, followed by Helen, had gone to an Italian restaurant to turn over the document to two European spies. She manages to get into the courtyard of the restaurant outside the open window at which the spies are sitting. She watches her chance, and, unobserved, takes the document from the table, but the gate by which she had expected to escape from the courtyard proves to be locked and she is caught. Farnsworth arrives in time to rescue her; having seen Dumont come out of the restaurant, he rightly assumes that there he will find her. Dumont returns to the embassy unaware of what has taken place in the restaurant. He is closely questioned by the ambassador and Crompton, but holds his own until Helen and Farnsworth arrive with the document and their story of his guilt. He is arrested and Helen discovers that she does love Farnsworth after all.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Customer gets a lightning-fast shave.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Henry Welton
A glove contest between trained cats. A very comical and amusing subject, and is sure to create a great laugh.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Henry Welton
An epic struggle for power, glory and redemption. Two magnificent cats battle in the squared circle for the heavyweight championship of the world. Millions of Lolcats have followed in their wake, but these two combatants can always claim the title of the FIRST Lolcats!
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: J. Stuart Blackton
There is a burglar on the rooftop of a Manhattan office building, and he is trying to break in. Two women spot him, and one of them begins beating him with a broom as they wait for help to arrive. Soon others do appear on the scene to help, but by now the burglar has decided that he is going to put up a fight in an attempt to escape.
Running Time: 3 mins Black & White
This picture shows the fire at its height, the firemen playing water on the buildings, and the falling walls of one of the large stones
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
A stable is on fire, and several horses are trapped inside. Firefighters and stable hands have entered the burning structure, and are bringing out the horses one or two at a time. After several horses have come out, another man emerges from the stable, pulling a cart.
Running Time: 17 mins Black & White
An American tourist has a terrible ordeal on his European vacation.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
A former convict, now released from prison, is determined to support his wife and child. But with no references, and a past that can be used against him, he has little success in finding work. Even amidst his discouragement, on one occasion he bravely saves a young girl from being run over. But when his luck continues to be bad, he gradually becomes desperate, and he begins to wonder if he may need to return to his old ways after all.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Mrs. Robert L. Thomas
A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first 'camera tricks' to be used in a movie.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, normal routines are resuming after a snowstorm. Along a city street, pedestrians watch as a vehicle passes by. But then they see something unexpected, as two sleigh drivers have decided to have a little fun on the snowy street.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Edward Boulden
A woman being fitted for shoes exposes her ankle to the shoe clerk, who is intrigued. He kisses her, but her chaperone hits him with her umbrella.
Running Time: 11 mins Black & White
Starring: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, A.C. Abadie
Four gunmen plan to rob a train, not only of its cargo, such as money, but the valuables on the possession of the passengers. They are not averse to shooting to kill anyone who is out of line, which includes anyone not listening to their instructions. To pull off their plan, they have to subdue the manager of the station where they plan to board the train, board without anyone noticing that they are doing so, subdue anyone guarding the cargo, and take over the engine so that they stop the train to corral the passengers in one area while they are being robbed, and then make their getaway. Even if they are able to get to this stage, they may have to deal with those who now know what they've done, a posse which very well may be on its way.
Running Time: 16 mins Black & White
Starring: Mary Fuller, Marc McDermott, Herbert Prior
The story revolves itself around a Western cowboy who has been sent to the town of Cedar Gulch to deposit gold in the bank for his boss. Arriving too late in the night to dispose of the gold, he seeks out the pretty daughter of the gambling-house keeper who has given her heart unto his keeping. While waiting for the bank to open in the morning, he becomes fascinated with the sight of the money being won at a gambling table, and starts to gamble with his boss's money. Luck is against him, and scarcely before he realizes it he has lost all. Ruin, disgrace, and prison or lynching stare him in the face. Only seeking to get back what he has lost he tries to rob the gambling house at night, and here he comes face to face with the little girl whom he loves. He confesses to her his crime and shame, and the woman's love spreads forth its hands to shield him. She seeks out Rattlesnake Jim, the Sheriff of Cedar Gulch, who also is in love with her, and implores his aid for her unworthy lover. A warrant for the cowboy's arrest reaches Jim while she is at his cabin and he struggles manfully to follow its mandates to the letter, but his love for the girl causes him to swerve from his strict path of duty and he decides to give the guilty man a fighting chance. Either he or the cowboy must quit Cedar Gulch at once. In other words, one of them must die. To live and not do his duty is a thought that has never entered Jim's mind. So these men of iron and nerve fight a novel duel in the Sheriff's lonely cabin, at which he has ordered the cowboy to report. Baring their arms to the elbow they sit at opposite sides of a table, calmly waiting for a great, poisonous rattlesnake to rise from its bed, which opens in the center of the table, and choose its victim. Slowly it uncoils itself upon the table with fangs darting in and out, it rears its head, the men watching its every move in fearful silence. At a moment when it seems that the awful suspense will be ended by a deadly strike fate interferes, and though justice miscarries, yet Cupid's arrow finds an unsuspecting but not unwilling victim in the person of the lion-hearted Sheriff, whose manly conduct, in contrast with that of her lover, reveals to the girl his true worth. All this is told with a wonderful dramatic strength and power, and one never loses interest for a moment.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: Fred Ott
Nothing new, but an old thing done over again and done well. Some one has attempted to describe a kiss as "something made of nothing," but this is not one of that kind, but one of those old fashioned "home made" kind that sets the whole audience into merriment and motion, and has always proven a popular subject. It is very fine photographically and an exhibit is not complete without it.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
Starring: Aline Boyd, Phineas Nairs, Jane Stewart
A well-dressed woman leaves her home and takes a carriage to a department store. While she is in the store, she steals several items, and is caught by store employees. Meanwhile, a poor woman with two small children steals a loaf of bread out of desperation, and she is quickly caught and arrested. Both women are taken to the police station and then into court, to see what penalty each of them must face
Running Time: 6 mins Black & White
Starring: Arthur White,Vivian Vaughan
Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Jennie Bartlett, Bert Conneally
A policeman has breakfast with his wife and children, and then prepares for the day's work. While on his beat, he finds and helps a lost child. Later, several officers try to save a woman who has attempted to drown herself. And there are some even more hazardous situations yet to come.
Running Time: 12 mins Black & White
In this parody of 1903's _Great Train Robbery, The (1903)_, also made by Edwin S. Porter, young bandits rob the passengers of a kiddie train and are chased by police officers.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Depicts the patient fisherman, sitting on the end of a plank, waiting for a bite. Practical joker comes along and removes stone from other end of plank.
Black & White
Starring: Norbert A. Myles, Edna Payne, Fred Hearn
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: May Irwin, John C. Rice
A couple make love, in the 19th century sense. Then he grooms his moustache, and gives her a kiss. On the lips!
Running Time: 13 mins Black & White
Hazel, the miller's daughter, is courted by a country boy and a sophisticated city boy. Her father favors the country boy, but she elopes with the city boy. Before they can marry, his wife shows up and stops the ceremony. Hazel tries to return to her father, but he has disowned her. She jumps into the river, but is rescued by the country boy, who later marries her.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Mammy is washing her little pickaninny. She thrusts him, kicking and struggling, into a tub full of foaming suds
Running Time: 15 mins Black & White
Starring: George Lessey, Miriam Nesbitt, Marc McDermott |
A stranger is invited to a bachelor dinner, where he tells the story of his life.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Bliss Milford
A young widow with two babies faces some very difficult decisions in caring for them.
Running Time: 13 mins Black & White
Starring: Jinnie Frazer, Mrs. George Gebhardt, Mr. Shelley
Chollie and George compete for a young woman's affection, using trickery and sabotage.
Running Time: 5 mins Black & White
A couple who have known each other all of their lives are shown together at different stages of life. First, as children, they play together affectionately. Soon afterwards, they are at school together, and as they grow older, they become lovers. Later on, their relationship and their lives move on to more important matters.
Running Time: 7 mins Black & White
Starring: Mannie
Two boys and their dog cause chaos with their practical jokes.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Walter Edwin, Yale Boss, Robert Brower |
A printer and his young assistant take over a local newspaper while the editor is away.
Running Time: 11 mins Black & White
Starring: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, Margaret Illington
A romance between a railroad engineer and the switchman's daughter is nearly ruined by train wreckers who knock out the girl and leave her on the tracks to be run over. The engineer perches on the engine's cow catcher and rescues the girl.
Running Time: 14 mins Black & White
Starring: Edward Boulden, Miss DeVarney, William Sorelle |
Jack and the daughter of a horse trainer are in love with each other, but when the trainer discovers them together, he makes it clear that Jack is unwelcome. Later, at the stables, another suitor for the daughter's hand appears. An unusual agreement is reached, under which the result of a race will determine which of the two the daughter will marry. But Jack's rival proves to be unscrupulous, and he will stop at nothing to be successful.
Running Time: 80 mins Black & White
Starring: Marguerite Courtot, Raymond McKee, Erich von Stroheim
A wealthy young American, bred to class distinction and racial intolerance, enters the Marines during the First World War. In the course of his training and his experiences in the trenches fighting, being wounded by, and being hospitalized with Germans, he comes to a recognition of the equality and brotherhood of men.
Running Time: 5 mins Black & White
Starring: William Courtenay, Frank Daniels, May Irwin
The Whole Dam Family and The Dam Dog is a popular fad which has been widely advertised by lithographs and souvenir mailing cards, and has recently been made the subject of a sketch in a New York Vaudeville Theatre. The Edison Manufacturing Co., with their usual up-to-date methods, have illustrated this popular subject in a most novel and original way in Motion Pictures. The picture opens with a close view of the individual members of the family. Each goes through a very amusing performance. Mr. I.B. Dam is seized with a severe fit of sneezing. Herself relieves her mind through woman's sole weapon. Jimmy Dam shows how a cigarette should be smoked. Miss U.B. Dam is very proud of the marcel wave in her hair. Annie Dam, in a large picture hat, tries to look very shy and demure. Lizzie Dam chews gum in a most artistic manner. Baby Dam gives a sample of his ability at crying. A family group is seated at dinner, with the Dam Dog seated at the head of the table. Mr. I.B. Dam enters and kicks the Dam Dog out of the chair. The Dam Dog waits until the soup has been served, and then returns and drags the table cloth and all the dishes on to the floor. The final scene is most amusing. Different portions of the Dam Dog's body appear from all directions. They finally arrange themselves in shape, showing a dilapidated looking cur sitting up on his haunches. Presently his tail joins his body by piecemeal, the end having two tin cans tied to it. The tail and tin cans begin to wag in a most comical way. The picture has made the biggest kind of a hit, and is one of the best humorous pictures ever offered.
Running Time: 8 mins Black & White
A series of demonstrations that illustrate some of the scientific principles involved in magnetism.
Running Time: 16 mins Black & White
Starring: Robert Brower, Mary Fuller, Harold M. Shaw |
Jack must prove himself before Beatrice's father will allow him to continue seeing his daughter.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
In this color-tinted short, we first see a close-up of a red rose, perfectly formed. Then, we see the rose held by a young woman who is wearing a bright yellow dress. She's the second beauty. Behind her is a slow dissolve to the US flag, tinted in red, white, and blue, blowing in the wind. Behind the flag is a star-lit sky.
Running Time: 2 mins Black & White
Starring: Charmion
In this short silent film, we see Charmion an early vaudeville strongwomen, perform her famous Trapeze disrobing act. During the Victorian era, Charmion believed in promoting physical culture and dress reform for women
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: James H. White
The S.S. Australia departs from San Francisco Bay, carrying American soldiers to the Philippines.
Black & White
Starring: Edward Boulden, Loretta Wells, George Nichols
A mild-mannered man is John, the second husband of Martha, a domineering shrew, who makes his life miserable by nagging and constantly pointing out the good traits of her first husband, lost at sea, wishing be could return to her. John determines to cure her by inducing a sailor friend of his to impersonate Martha's first husband and abuse her to such an extent that she will never mention his name again. Things do not work out quite so smoothly as John had planned. The friend who impersonates her first husband does it so remarkably well that it attracts the police and by a most laughable mistake Martha is dragged to jail charged with disorderly conduct. John then sets about to secure her release and finds that although she was arrested by mistake, it has served the double purpose of completely taming her and allowing him to be master of his house.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
During the war between Spain and the USA, American troops are landing on the Cuban shore at Daiqurí. Columns of men move slowly towards the camera, while the stern of a large ship can be seen in the background. Meanwhile, a number of small boats are also involved in transporting the soldiers.
Running Time: 13 mins Black & White
Based on the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe: Eliza, a slave who has a young child, pleads with Tom, another slave, to escape with her. Tom does not leave, but Eliza flees with her child. After getting some help to escape the slave traders who are looking for her, she then must try to cross the icy Ohio River if she wants to be free. Meanwhile, Tom is sold from one master to another, and his fortunes vary widely.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Two men have a contest to see which one can be the first to eat a large slice of watermelon.
Running Time: 1 mins Black & White
Starring: Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, Bertha Regustus
A woman riding a train must contend with the unwelcome advances of a male passenger.
Running Time: 1 min Black & White
Starring: A.C. Abadie, Florence Georgie
A winner and sure to please. In front of one of the largest newspaper offices is a hot air shaft through which immense volumes of air are forced by a blower. Ladies in crossing this shaft often have their clothes slightly disarranged. A young man is escorting a young lady and talking very earnestly. They walk slowly along until they stand directly over the air shaft. The young lady's skirts are suddenly raised to an almost unreasonable height, greatly to her horror and much to the amusement of the newsboys, bootblacks, and passersby.
Black & White