1. "Edwin S. Porter," MPW , 7 December 1912, p. 961. The fact that Beadnell's business at 5 Beekman Street in 1900 was terminated and he was working the following year as a manager at 16 Warren Street supports Porter's reference to a conflagration (New York City directories, 1900 and 1902).

2. Edwin Porter, testimony, 17 February 1911, Motion Picture Patents Company v. Carl Laemmle and Independent Moving Picture Company of America , no. 7-151, D.C.S.D.N.Y., filed 27 March 1911, NjBaFAR.

3. Ibid.

4. Clipper , 2 March 1901, p. 24.

5. Edison Manufacturing Company, investment ledger, p. 20, NjWOE.

6. Edison Manufacturing Company and Hinkle Iron Company, contract, 12 October 1900, NjWOE. This building has since been torn down and replaced by a New York Savings Bank.

7. Edison Manufacturing Company, investment ledger, p. 20; E. E. Hinkle to William Simpkin, 12 January 1901, NjWOE.

8. Percival Waters, deposition, 25 May 1912, James H. White and John Schermerhorn v. Percwal Waters , Supreme Court for the County of New York, NNNCC-Ar. This deposition describes the situation in 1906. Waters may have only occupied the front half of the top floor at first. The rent would have been somewhat less, but the basic arrangment was the same.

9. MPW , 7 December 1912, p. 961.

10. Bordwell, Staiger, and Thompson, Classical Hollywood Cinema , pp. 116-17. As we have seen, various methods of organizing film production were practiced before 1907, including the multi-unit production of actualities (as with the Dewey celebration). The question is which method, if any, was dominant.

11. James White to Dyer, Edmonds and Dyer, 10 January 1901, legal files, NjWOE.

12. Jacobs, American Film , p. 36.

13. Robert C. Allen, "Contra the Chaser Theory," Wide Angle 3, no. 1 (1979), pp. 4-11; repr. in Fell, ed., Film Before Griffith , pp. 105-15.

14. Leslie Weekly , 6 July 1899, cited in Kemp Niver, Biograph Bulletins : 1896-1908 (Los Angeles: Artisan Press, 1971), p. 46.

15. Harry Marvin, request for stay of injunction, 23 July 1901, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co .

16. Clipper , 23 February 1901, p. 1160.

17. New York Journal and Advertiser , 6 February 1901, p. 16, and 7 February 1901, p. 3.

18. "Ninth and Arch Museum," Philadelphia Record , 24 February 1901, p. 13. Possibly, Lubin showed his own remake (mentioned below) even at this early date.

19. Lubin's film is described in Clipper , 9 March 1901, p. 24. The Biograph film,

Page 515

Carrie Nation Smashing a Saloon , was photographed on 10 April 1901. Its realism was increased by the inclusion of an actual mirror. The Biograph film survives in the Paper Print Collection; the Lubin film is presumed lost.

20. "Eleventh Street Theatre," Philadelphia Record , 17 February 1901, p. 13.

21. New York World , 12 May 1901, p. 2 (comic section).

22. New York Journal and Advertiser , 2 February 1902, pp. 1A and 1B.

23. Tom Gunning makes this point in "The Non-Continuous Style of Early Film (1900-1906)," in Holman, comp., Cinema, 1900-1906 , pp. 219-29. Gunning's analysis is extremely useful, but I find his term non-continuous an unfortunate one. Filmmakers of this period had their own concept of continuity. While differing from the post-Griffith concept, it is nonetheless valid. Catalogs from the period, for instance, sometimes refer to films being in "continuous scenes."

24. New Haven Journal Courier , 30 October 1899, p. 3.

25. Edison Films , July 1901, p. 77.

26. Ibid., p. 72.

27. Niver, Motion Pictures from the Library of Congress , p. 94. See also Niver, First Twenty Years , pp. 16-17.

28. Noël Burch, Correction Please: A Study Guide (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980), provides a provocative analysis of a similar explosion film.

29. Edison Films , July 1901, p. 76.

30. John Barnes, Optical Projection , p. 32, attributes the invention of dissolving views to Henry Langdon Childe in 1836-37.

31. Hepworth, Came the Dawn , pp. 35-36.

32. Edison Films , July 1901, p. 51.

33. One might speculate on Porter's frequent use of trained animals. This (and perhaps even the Porter-Mosher relationship) may have owed something to Porter's travels with Wormwood's Dog and Monkey Circus.

34. Edison Films , July 1901, p. 51.

35. F. M. Prescott, Catalogue of New Films (New York: 20 November 1899), p. 4. See Sigmund Lubin, Complete Catalogue of Lubin Films (January 1903), pp. 21-22, for description. The film itself can be seen in the Before Hollywood series (American Federation of the Arts).

36. Certainly Lubin cannot simply be dismissed as an imitator as in Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , pp. 377 and 419.

37. The English filmmaker G. A. Smith did this with some frequency in such films as Let Me Dream Again and Grandma's Reading Glass . His efforts were widely imitated, particularly by Ferdinand Zecca, the chief filmmaker at Pathé Frères in France.

38. Clipper , 13 April 1901, p. 160.

39. Clipper , 13 April 1901, p. 147. The Edison Company's long-standing relationship with Buffalo Bill dated back to the fall of 1894, when Broncho Busting and other films were photographed at the Edison laboratory.

40. Edison Films , July 1901, p. 80.

41. See Rachel Low and Roger Manvell, The History, of British Film, 1896-1906 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1948), pp. 104-5, for a description of Robbery of a Mail Coach . Sadoul suggests that Robbery of a Mail Coach was a model for The Great

Page 516

Train Robbery ( Histoire générale , 3d ed., 2:407-8). The holdup of a stagecoach was such a popular situation and portrayed so frequently in different forms of popular culture that its use at a given time or place probably did not have any single antecedent.

42. A few of these were later copyrighted: Japanese Village on 31 July 1901 and Esquimaux Village on 9 August 1901.

43. Clipper , 1 and 8 June 1901, pp. 312 and 336. This supplement does not survive, but extensive descriptions can be found in Edison Films , July 1901, pp. 3-7.

44. Clipper , 8 June 1901, p. 336; Edison Films , July 1901, p. 91.

45. Edison Films , July 1901, pp. 86-88. It is possible, though unlikely, that some of these are dupes of competitors' pictures.

46. 110 Federal Reporter , pp. 660-64.

47. 110 Federal Reporter , pp. 664-65.

48. H. J. Collins, depositions, 2 August 1901 to March 1902, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., NjBaFAR.

49. Sigmund Lubin, testimony, 11 March 1914, United States of America v. Motion Picture Patents Company , no. 889, September sessions, 1912, D.C.E.D.P., printed record, p. 3046; Jacob Blair Smith, testimony, 20 May 1902, Thomas A. Edison v. Siegmund Lubin , no. 36, April sessions, 1902, C.C.E.D.P., filed 25 February 1902, PPFAR.

50. Thomas Armat to Thomas A. Edison, 15 November 1901, NjWOE.

51. Howard W. Hayes to William Gilmore, 31 July 1901, NjWOE.

52. "How Moving Pictures Are Made in Pittsburgh for Amusement, Practical and Scientific Purposes," Pittsburgh Post , 9 December 1906, p. 4G.

53. Notes on newspaper reproduction, Charles Hummel Collection. That Abadie, a cameraman, acted in this film emphasizes the ways in which production personnel assumed many different roles, avoiding specialization.

54. Judith Mayne, "Uncovering the Female Body," in Leyda and Musser, eds., Before Hollywood , p. 65.

55. Tom Gunning, "Cinema of Attraction[s]," p. 64.

56. "Dime Museum," Philadelphia Record , 1 May 1898, p. 16. In this instance, Charmion appeared on the same bill with Little Egypt.

57. The making of The Tramp's Miraculous Escape and The Photographer's Mishap is described in the Photographic Times-Bulletin , November 1902, pp. 525-26.

58. F. M. Prescott, Catalogue of New Films (New York, 1899), p. 4.

59. New York Journal and Advertiser , 24 July 1901, p. 16.

60. In an interview eleven years later, Porter recalled serving under Admiral Schley. Rhetorically asking himself, "What did I think of Schley?" Porter responded, "He was a very fine man" (MPW, 7 December 1912, p. 961).

61. Clipper , 10 August 1901, p. 552.

62. "Spanish Fleet's Destruction," Utica Observer , 15 March 1899, p. 8.

63. For instance: "Sampson Says Officers Must Be Gentlemen. No Promotion for Sailors," New York Journal and Advertiser , 25 February 1901, p. 1.

64. Kleine Optical Company, Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Moving Picture Machines, Stereopticons, Magic Lanterns, Accessories and Stereopticon Views (Chicago, June 1902), p. 108.

65. A technique of set construction often found in life-model lantern slides and the films of Georges Méliès.

66. Clipper , 31 August 1901, p. 583.

67. San Francisco Orpheum, programme, 26 November 1899, San Francisco Historical Society.

68. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 12.

69. Clipper , 14 September 1901, p. 624, offers a listing of photographed subjects, many of which were never actually offered for sale. They include President McKinley at the Stadium, President McKinley Walking on the Exposition Grounds, President McKinley at the Niagara Power Plant , and President McKinley Entering the Temple of Music .

70. "Kinetoscope Scenes in Buffalo Tragedy," New York World , 10 September 1901, p. 3. In Moving Picture News , 2 April 1910, Smith claims to have photographed McKinley the day before he was shot.

71. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 12. These films were copyrighted as: Arrival of McKinley's Funeral Train at Canton, Ohio; Taking President McKinley's Body from Train at Canton, Ohio; President Roosevelt at Canton Station; Panoramic View of the President's House at Canton, Ohio; Funeral Leaving the President's House and Church at Canton, Ohio ; and McKinley's Funeral Entering Westlawn Cemetery, Canton .

72. Searchlight Theater, programme, 13 October 1901, DLC; Lyman Howe Moving Picture Company, programme, 22 November 1901, Robert Gillaum Collection (PWbH). Appropriate sections of both programmes are reprinted in Musser with Nelson, High-Class Moving Pictures , forthcoming.

73. Oswego [New York] Times , 20 November 1901, clipping, NjWOE.

74. This statement is extrapolated from purchases made by George Kleine; Kleine Optical Company, "Films and Merchandise Purchased from Edison Mfg. Co. from 1899 to 1904," Kleine Collection, DLC.

75. L. J. Marcy, Marcy's Sciopticon: Priced Catalogue of Sciopticon Apparatus and Magic Lantern Slides , 6th ed. (Philadelphia, ca. 1878), p. 32:

OUR DEPARTED HEROES. Dissolving chromotrope. Arranged for dissolving effect, for two lanterns on two slides. One slider exhibits the National colors in Cromatic effect, with black center for the one lantern. The other, intended for the other lantern, contains on a movable slider five life-like portraits of distinguished heros who lost their lives for the preservation of the union.

76. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 17.

77. Although Porter took credit for this film in his interview with George Blaisdell ( MPW , 7 December 1912, p. 961), it seems likely that James Smith and James White were also involved.

78. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 22.

79. Ibid., p. 90.

80. Clipper , 16 November 1901, p. 832.

81. For example, "Chic Paree," The Phonoscope , November 1896, p. 10.

82. "Execution of Czolgosz," NYT , 15 October 1901, p. 11; "Begging to See Czolgosz's Death," New York Journal , 22 October 1901, p. 1.

83. New York World , 29 October 1901, p. 3. Other amusement centers took similar actions. The Eden Musee placed Czolgosz's wax look-alike in its Chamber of Horrors electric chair, and "a museum keeper in a large city telegraphed an offer of $5,000 for either the body or the garments of the murderer" (ibid.).

84. Clipper , 16 November 1901, p. 832.

85. Iris Barry, note in collection of Edison material, n.d., NNMoMA. In France, Pathé Frères did not have the same hesitations: they recreated the assassination and offered it for sale ( Films Pathé [Paris: Compagnie Générale des Phonographes, Cinématographes et Appareils de Précision, May 1903], p. 63).

86. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 91.

87. Other examples include Bamforth's Kiss in the Tunnel (ca. 1900), Williamson's Fire! (1901), and Méliès' Bluebeard (1901).

88. Clipper , 16 November 1901, p. 832.

89. New York World , 29 October 1901, p. 3.

90. "Assassin Czolgosz is Executed at Auburn," NYT , 30 October 1901, p. 5.

91. Thomas Edison to T. Cushing Daniel, 14 December 1901, Edison letter book, 5 September 1901 to 3 March 1902, p. 224, NjWOE. Edison's letters indicate a comparative disinterest in moving pictures relative to the phonograph and other business undertakings. They also reveal a frequent shortage of funds for various business schemes. He never devoted the money or attention that might have made his film business comparable to Pathé's in France and Europe.

92. Clipper , 19 October 1901, p. 748.

93. James White, testimony, 4 May 1910, White and Schermerhorn v. Waters , printed record, p. 108.

94. Newark Advertiser , 1 November 1901, clipping, NjWOE.

95. "Tammany 'Grafts' Pictured," New York Tribune , 8 October 1901, p. 2.

96. "A Stereopticon Explosion," NYT , 15 October 1901, p. 2.

97. Clipper , 23 November 1901, p. 586. See Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , pp. 404-5, for a greatly exaggerated account of this deal's importance to the film industry. Some commissioned films have survived in the George Kleine Collection (DLC), corroborating White's assertion that they provided an important source of income.

98. James White, testimony, 4 May 1910, p. 108.

99. "The Films That Failed," Phonoscope , May 1899, p. 14.

100. San Francisco Chronicle , 16 November 1901, p. 9.

101. New York World , 16 November 1901, p. 2.

102. James White, testimony, 4 May 1910, pp. 107-8.

103. Kleine Optical Company, Complete Illustrated Catalogue , June 1902, p. 99.

104. Clipper , 7 December 1901, p. 880.

105. Edison Manufacturing Company, Edison Films , September 1902, p. 4.

106. "100 Automobiles in Parade," New York World , 17 November 1901, p. 2.

107. Perhaps Edwin Porter returned East after helping White make films in British Columbia.

108. R. W. Paul, Catalogue for 1901/02 Season (London, 1901), offers the following description:

The Countryman's First Sight of the Animated Pictures

This amusing novelty is a representation of an animated photograph exhibition and shows the stage, proscenium and screen. The first picture thrown on the screen is that of a dancer, and a yokel in the audience becomes so excited over this that he climbs upon the stage, and expresses his delight in pantomime as the picture proceeds. The next picture

Page 519

(within the picture) is that of an express train, which rushes towards the yokel at full speed, so that he becomes frightened, and runs off at the wings. The last scene produced is that of the yokel himself, making love to a dairy-maid, and he becomes so enraged that he tears down the screen, disclosing the machine and operator, whom he severely handles. Length 50 ft.

109. See still in Films Pathé , May 1903, p. 38, or Sadoul, Histoire générale , 3d ed., 2:186.

110. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 104.

111. Ibid., p. 93.

112. "Cash for Chicago ticket to Porter," James White to Percival Waters, 25 November 1902, exhibit 4A, White and Schermerhorn v. Waters . The invoice does not specify the purpose or date of this trip, but Prince Henry was the only film taken in Chicago during the period.

113. Edison Films , March 1902, p. 92.

114. Pathé produced a very similar film, Love-Sick , which the Kinetograph Department may have copied ( Films Pathé , May 1903, p. 26).

115. Albany Evening Journal , 20 May 1901, p. 10.

116. Albany Evening Journal , 24 May 1901, p. 10; Clipper , 25 May 1901, p. 292.

117. Germain Lacasse avec la collaboration de Serge Duigou, L'Historiographe: Les Débuts du spectacle cinématographique au Quebec (Montreal: Cinémathèque Québécoise, 1985), p. 33.

118. Robert C. Allen, "Contra the Chaser Theory." Allen demonstrates that many historians referred to this situation without the evidence to back it up. I challenge his conclusions in "Another Look at the 'Chaser Period.'"

119. Judge Wallace, opinion, Thomas A. Edison v. American Mutoscope & Biograph Company , 114 Federal Reporter , p. 934. An appeal to the Supreme Court was turned down on 2 June 1902. Edison then paid court costs of $2,618.65.

120. Clipper , 22 March 1902, p. 92.

121. Clipper , 29 March 1902, p. 110.

122. Clipper , 29 March 1902, p. 109, and 12 April 1902, p. 156.

123. Thomas A. Edison v. Siegmund Lubin , no. 36, April sessions, 1902, C.C.E.D.P., filed 25 February 1902, PPFAR.

124. Clipper , 5 April 1902, p. 140.

125. Payroll records indicate that this announcement lacked any basis. It could only be seen as a belated announcement of Smith's addition to the staff almost a year before.

126. East Orange Gazette , 24 April 1902, clipping, NjWOE.

127. Howard Hayes to William Gilmore, 22 August 1902, NjWOE.

128. James White was in Europe during the making of both Appointment by Telephone and Jack and the Beanstalk .

129. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 122.

130. Prescott, Catalogue of New Films , 1899, pp. 18-19. These films are not listed consecutively. One wonders if this suggests that the films could be shown as part of the same program but not actually juxtaposed. One could imagine the showman telling his audience, "And now we return to the gay young man with those wicked intentions." In the earlier films, the typewriter conspires with the wife while in the Porter film the discovery is by chance.

131. Arthur S. White was hired in November 1900 as a replacement for Charles Webster, who apparently decided to try his luck as an exhibitor.

132. Edwin S. Porter, deposition, 20 October 1902, Thomas A. Edison v. Arthur D. Hotaling , no. 8317, C.C.S.D.N.Y. This deposition, which was not submitted to the courts, is located in legal files, NjWOE.

133. E. J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962), pp. 319-25, for a discussion of the fairy tale during the early nineteenth century.

134. Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales (New York: Knopf, 1976), p. 194.

135. Vardac, Stage to Screen , pp. 181-82.

136. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 116.

137. Another view on this problem is taken by Barry Salt, Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis (London: Starword, 1983), pp. 53 and 55.

138. Clipper , 24 May 1902, p. 301.

139. Clipper , 12 July 1902, p. 444.

140. William Gilmore to William Pelzer, 29 July 1902, NjWOE.

141. Clipper , 12 July 1902, p. 444.

142. Jersey City Journal, 2 June 1902, clipping, NjWOE.

143. Clipper , 24 May 1902, p. 301.

144. Edison Films , September 1902, p. 113.

145. Chautauqua [N.Y.] Daily Assembly Herald , May to September 1902.

146. Walter Parker to Thomas A. Edison, 17 November 1908, NjWOE. These films may also have been taken by William Wright or possibly the Miles Brothers.

147. Denver Post , 9 and 10 October 1902. The same carnival that White filmed in 1897. The contest was won by M. T. Sowders of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show amidst charges of fraud.

148. A. C. Abadie to Iris Barry, 11 January 1936, NNMoMA.

149. Arthur White, statement, 10 November 1939, Merritt Crawford Collection, NNMoMA.

150. Clipper , 4 October 1902, p. 712.

151. "Reminiscences of Edwin S. Porter, or the History of the Motion Picture," NYT , 2 June 1940, p. 4J.

152. Edison Films , February 1903, p. 8.

153. André Bazin, Jean Renoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), pp. 87-89.