Cinematic Era: 1891 Vintage

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

William K.L. Dickson brings his hat from his one hand to the other and moves his head slightly, as a small nod toward the audience. This was the first film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company to be shown to public audiences and the press.

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

Experimental film made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film. Film reoriented by Gordon Hendricks.

Experimental test footage from Edison’s earliest motion picture work, capturing camera trials, exposure studies, and mechanical movement. Likely filmed by Edison staff in the early 1890s, it survives today in the Library of Congress collection. The film has been preserved and restored by the LOC and was later showcased in the compilation Copyright Comedies and More (2022).