Cinematic Era: 1904 Vintage

A womens' basketball game from 1904, documented.

A view of the opening ceromonies for New York's Williamsburg Bridge.

The title of this early US film is something of a con really. Another rube couple had appeared in an entertaining movie set at Coney Island the previous year, and that film had been quite entertaining (for it's day) so any audience of the time would have been forgiven for thinking this film would provide them with more comedy along the lines of the first film.

Arrival of the management and staff of the Koninklijk Nederlands Circus Oscar Carré at Amsterdam’s Weesperpoort Station. The train arrives on the platform. The ladies and gentlemen of the circus are greeted, and walk along the platform, followed by the circus horses and their attendants.

On Friday, February 19, 1904, at four thirty in the afternoon, one of Juan Jose Pont's employees took pictures of Jirón de la Unión and Plaza de Armas.

Mr. Peter Jones has vowed to get married. In his efforts to secure a desirable wife he has inserted some advertisements in the newspapers. So we find him going through hundreds of letters as he thrusts aside disdainfully the greater number of photographs accompanying the answers. One letter finally finds favor in his eyes; the writing is excellent, the phrasing is pleasing and the photograph which he extracts from the envelope shows to him the likeness of a young girl, pretty, smiling, lovely, in every way ideal for a life’s companion. But while he dreams with half-open eyes of the joys in store for him, old Truth comes out of a well in the middle of the room, and she presents to him a mirror in which he may see reality.

It is the birthday of Uncle Rube, a foxy old peasant who has gathered at his table his family and his help, among whom is a sleepy farmhand, a boy just suited for being made fun of by his comrades. The dinner over, Uncle Rube proposes to finish up the day at a cabaret, singing and drinking. The farmhand, already intoxicated quite enough, takes to bed. Stretching himself out as he falls asleep. Uncle Rube and his companions, seeing him asleep, propose to have a little fun at his expense. They balance the bed upon a stool, with a vessel of water at the head as a counterweight. The farmer takes a trumpet and makes some shrill noises which awaken the unfortunate boy, who, breaking the equilibrium, falls head first into the water while his comrades dance around him. Uncle Rube who has taken possession of the clock executes a breakdown. Frightened, amazed, the farmhand falls into a bucket of water from which he is unable to extricate himself.

Recreation of a real-life fire that took 602 lives.

Reenactment of a battle in the Russo-Japanese War.

A group of naughty boys steal a bird's nest and are pursued by game wardens.

This dynamic actuality film documents the hunting of a boar from the first bugle call to the distribution of the spoils.

A corset maker -- for those of you who don't know what that it, it was a tight of highly reinforced girdle which gave the wearer an 'hourglass' figure -- has her model come in and wear one of her wears. The well-dressed customers enter and examine the corset on a mannequin.

Two small boys with policemen's hats and nightsticks are struggling with another small boy. The object of their struggle seems to be to arrest him. Approaching the camera from a distance are two men in bathing suits, pretending they are horses, and pulling what is supposed to be a patrol cart. The small culpit is put in the wagon and taken back to a tent on the sand. The tent bears the sign "police patrol headquarters."

It's clearly set in a studio set and people are walking about on the "street" in front of a window. A woman enters the window frame, and pulls off her blouse, then a couple of other items of undergarments, while a young man pauses to look. At this point, as the title indicates, she pulls down the blinds.

The severe cold of the winter of 1903-04 allowed the rapids of Niagara Falls to freeze over, allowing the brave tourists to enter the chasm and cross to the other side over the formed ice bridge.

Renactment of a skirmish that was likely to have occurred in the Russo-Japanese War. Opens with an establishing scene entitled "A Japanese outpost on the Yalu River," which shows the Japanese soldiers of the infantry outpost doing rifle drills and raising the flag. Following scenes are entitled "The Attack," "The Capture," and "The Retreat". In them, the Japanese fire their cannon; the Russian infantry demolish the camp, replace the Japanese flag with their own, and then fire their rifles at the enemy; and the Japanese recapture the outpost and once again run up their flag. Photographed from a single camera position.

A documentary recording of the Šibenik port from 1904, by Frank S. Mottershaw. For a long time considered to be the oldest extant Croatian film and recording of Croatia, possibly even all Yugoslavian countries, dated to 1903 and ascribed to Stanisław Noworyta. In the meantime, these theories have been rejected, and this film is known to be a part of a larger film, "Krunisanje kralja Petra I Karađorđevića i putovanje kroz Srbiju, Novi Pazar, Crnu Goru i Dalmaciju" ("The coronation of king Peter I of Serbia and a ride trough Serbia, Novi-Bazar, Montenegro and Dalmatia"), by F.S. Mottershaw and Arnold Muir Willson.

A man preparing for a trip encounters a series of mysterious problems.

The film begins from a camera position over the heads of spectators standing on the sidewalk in union square, New York city, watching a fire drill. Three pieces of equipment can be seen from the first camera position. The next scene, from another camera position, shows the equipment at the station, and water can be seen coming out of the nozzles held by firemen. Beyond them, spectators can be seen on the other side of the square.

This film appears to have been taken in a fairgrounds or a similar cleared area. A woman mounted on her horse is seen guiding it through a number of difficult tricks, such as various paces, crossing one foot in front of another, side stepping, and "dancing." the film ends while the horse is executing a bow.

A woman is hanging out wash on a roof. Below the edge of the roof, a man peers up at her while painting the eaves. The director, in order to add zest to the film, had threads attached to the hem of the woman's garments to make it appear as though the wind was blowing her skirts and allowing the painter to see what he should not. The woman hanging out the wash suddenly discovers the illicit observer, picks up a bucket filled with soapy water, and throws it upon him.

A mechanic avenges his wronged wife by strangling the guilty officer.

A parade by denizens of one of the Oriental Concessions, The Pike, St. Louis.

To film this event, the camera was placed inside the rail, on the track surface itself. As the film begins, in the foreground a gate opens and a horse ridden by a jockey is escorted across the track, followed by several men who appear to be fans of the race horse. Following the first horse are six in succession, and then there is a large group of men surrounding another horse that appears to be a favorite.

A large number of horses are swimming a deep river. The cowboys urge them on and do some fancy riding while their ponies swim across. One of the men loses his balance while kneeling on the back of his pony and gets an unexpected bath.

Numerous women stand in rows at winding machines, taking material from large spools behind them. A male supervisor walks down the aisle, checking the work of the women.

Scene II of the Buster Brown Series. Shows a millinery store in the shopping district, and Mrs. Brown with a lady friend, admiring the hats displayed in the window. Buster and Tige are standing in the foreground. A howling swell, leading a small dog bedecked with ribbons, recognizes Mrs. Brown and stops to chat. Buster becomes impatient, tugs at his mamma's dress, and endeavors to hurry her; but the dude waves him aside. Buster gets angry at this and retaliates by setting Tige on the dude's dog.

The entry of the teams and action from both halves of an Edwardian football game at Ewood Park.

A turbine is shown operating.

A true-crime short of a bank robbery and chase and capture.

Billy Bitzer filmed 21 short actualities inside the Pittsburgh Westinghouse Works in April and May of 1904. Audiences of the day would have been treated to footage of factory panoramas, women winding armatures and turbines being assembled. These industrial films were produced for the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company.

Taking views of Paseo Colón at five in the afternoon.

The Simple Simons have determined to give a dinner to their friends in honor of the birthday of the Madam. They call their chef who, just as he is on the point of presenting himself to them, is headed off by Mephisto, who has come to make a brief tour of the earth and to amuse himself at the expense of mortals, Mephisto appears to Mr. and Mrs. Simple Simon disguised as the cook: he receives their orders. Then he rapidly withdraws from an inexhaustible basket the table, the cloth, the napkins. all the service, and even all the chairs necessary for the guests. The latter arrive and joyously seat themselves around the magnificently appointed table: but, at the moment when they begin to cat, everything disappears in the midst of flames. The guests, amazed at this spectacle, rush off, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Simple Simon, who are at a loss to account for such an exhibition.

Documentary about a hunting party.

A newspaper brought to life.

Newsreel footage of an execution by beheading of Li-Tang, the Chinches chief of a band of Manchurian bandits. Shot during the Russo Japanese war by the Charles Urban Trading Company. Charles Urban was formerly a partner with the Warwick Trading company who shot many newsreels of the day.

A sailor and a policeman get into a comedic encounter involving a carpet. This short film (believed to be from 1904) is part of the Corrick Collection by the Corrick Family Entertainers.

It's another crowded day in the water at Coney Island, with people shoving small boats out of the way so they can have enough room the splash about in the water next to the half million or so other people trying to get away from the crowds.

A man of the cloth relates a good story to a fellow clergyman. A hearty chuckle is had. Released by Pathé in the US as a split reel along with the documentary Renard et lapins (1904), the drama Dispute de joueurs (1904) and the comedy Amateur de glaces (1904).

Boy swimmers upset a bench and throw lovers into a stream.

A poor woman abandons her younger baby on the steps of a rich couple's house. She returns home to find herself evicted and her older child missing. She returns to the rich couple's house and collapses. Eventually a policeman helps reunite her with her children.

It is obvious that the cameraman placed his equipment close to the edge of a seashore. A large number of children followed by bathers can be seen running into the surf from behind the camera position. Close to the end, the camera's view is obscured as a female bather of large proportions strolls between the swimmers and the camera.

In this one, we have a tracking shot, starting from a long distance into a close up as policemen restrain a woman for her mug shot -- and she does some mugging to enliven the piece.

Japanese kill a Russian sentry, charge the outpost and fight the Cossacks.

Salvation Army officials are given a welcoming salute on a visit to a girls' school in Gujurat, western India. Actuality short showing Salvation Army leader visiting a site in India.

thirty-second clip of young men mounting and dismounting the parallel bars and young women swinging from a ladder.

The subject of this documentary is an orphan asylum for infants. The beginning portion includes the dining facilities for the children. A woman dresses as a nurse leads approximately two hundred small children into the eating area where they stand behind their chairs. At a given signal, each child sits down and begins eating. The remainder of the film is devoted to showing some of the infants, less than a year old, being pushed in baby carriages and bathed, and later having haircuts. All of the children wear similar attire and the nurses wear uniforms. New York City.

Early commercial film for Daniel Dalsgaards Kaffeforretning.

Schoolchildren doing calisthenics.

This farce is built around the efforts and frustrations of a woman who attempts to get through a narrow door while wearing a hoopskirt. She finally succeeds by tilting the hoop, thereby exposing her pantaloons.

Dreamland was a theme park at Coney Island, Brooklyn that opened in 1904. One of its major attractions was the stunt spectacular "Fighting the Flames," which simulated a major fire at a six-story hotel and featured a cast of 2000 including 120 firefighters, who had to rescue guests jumping from windows as well as 15 people trapped on the collapsing roof. Ironically, Dreamland itself was destroyed in 1911 in a massive fire.

A camera in the Plaza of St. Louis at the World's Fair slowly pans counter clockwise in nearly a full circle: we see the crowd and various buildings, palaces, statues, arches and columns built for the fair. It's opening day, April 30, 1904. After the camera has done its circular pan, it comes to rest with a raised dais visible to the left, where dignitaries stand and speak to the crowd.

The single camera position was from the point of view of the judge of the course. The films shows a boat race between small, motor-driven speed boats, which were approximately twenty feet long with the inboard engine decked over. Many boats of various designs and spectators can be seen as if the locale were a yacht club basin or yacht mooring.

The Great Toronto Fire was a devastating blaze that destroyed 122 buildings and put 5,000 people out of work. The fire started in a clothing warehouse on Wellington Street and quickly spread, gutting thirteen acres of Toronto's prime commercial district. Special trains brought hundreds of firefighters from as far as Buffalo, New York. There was only one person injured -- the Toronto fire chief. Amazed firefighters and onlookers watched photographer George Scott and his assistant set up in the thick of the fire and film the burning buildings on Front Street. One of the first big Canadian film scoops, Scott's film was distributed throughout Canada and the United States.

A large group of men are shown performing various tasks in one room at the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. On one side, men are shown pouring a hot liquid into molds on the floor. A conveyor belt delivers items which are then taken off the belt by a man. Men on the other side of the screen appear to be lifting items out of what could possibly be a furnace and putting them on tables. It appears that the men in this room are casting machinery from molds.

Numerous women sit in rows at machines where they appear to be winding some type of wire and tooling it onto machines. Two young men push spools of this wire down the aisle. Supervisors, male and female, walk down the aisle and observe the women's work, stopping for a while at one woman's station.

Scene V of the Buster Brown Series. Shows an Italian balloon vendor near the "Flat-iron" Building, New York City. Mrs. Brown and Buster appear on the scene. Buster begins teasing his mamma to buy him a balloon, but she refuses. Buster whistles for Tige, and at the same time jostles the vendor, who roughly brushes him aside. Seeing a chance to get a balloon for nothing, Buster sets Tige upon the Italian, and points towards the balloons.

A magician makes a woman appear and disappear.

The view from a moving train shows some of the Westinghouse interests and the surrounding areas.