Charity Ball

Late 1800s cigarette advertisement produced by Thomas Edison Manufacturing.

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 After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy.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.

William K.L. Dickson plays the violin while two men dance. This is the oldest surviving sound film where sound is recorded on the phonograph.

King of the slack wire. His daring feats of balancing as he performs his thrilling feats in midair show that he is perfectly at home.

A short Edison Black Maria studio film featuring famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley, known as “Little Sure Shot.” Born Phoebe Ann Oakley Mozee in Ohio in 1860, she rose to global fame performing with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Accompanied (likely) by her husband and fellow marksman Frank Butler, Oakley’s diminutive stature belied her legendary marksmanship.

In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of the flowing cloth. She moves to her right and left across an unadorned stage. Many of the prints were distributed in hand-tinted color.

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.

They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.

The busiest corner in Chicago. Cable cars and street traffic of all descriptions. Hundreds of shoppers. Fine perspective view looking north toward the Masonic Temple.

“Interior of Barber Shop. Man comes in, takes off his coat; sits down, smokes; is handed a paper by attendant, who points out a joke; both laugh. Meantime the man in the chair is shaved and has his hair cut. Very funny.” (Edison's Latest Wonders, 1894)

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.

From Edison films catalog: One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes. 40 feet. 7.50. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film and others shot on the same day (see also Buffalo dance) featured Native American Indian dancers from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and represent the American Indian's first appearance before a motion picture camera.

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 second motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.

Experimental film that follows up on the results of "Monkeyshines, No. 1". Once again, an Edison company worker moves around in front of the motion picture camera.

A fellow in a wide-brimmed hat, with a willowy stick for a rod and a baited hook, sits down on a plank hanging over a bridge above a stream. He sticks the rod under his seat and picks up his bottle to take a swig. Behind him creeps a joker who removes the large flagstone that's holding the fisherman's plank in place.

“A file of Spanish soldiers line up the Cubans against a blank wall and fire a volley. The flash of rifles and drifting smoke make a very striking picture.” (Edison film catalog)