Inventing Entertainment: the Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies

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The films in Inventing Entertainment document life during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries with footage of events such as the Spanish-American War, the Pan-American Exposition of 1901, and the funeral of President William McKinley. Unlike contemporary feature-length films, these short pieces were often exhibited as a series within a vaudeville program. Special Presentations in the collection chronicle Thomas Edison's life and his involvement in the phonograph and motion picture industries. The presentations also provide historical context for the development of the popular twentieth-century medium of narrative films.

Please Note: The bibliographic pages of the collection's items contain links to the Early Motion Pictures Search Engine. This search function accesses films from other American Memory collections that are not otherwise available via the Inventing Entertainment collection and its search engine. For best results, please be aware of which search function you are using at all times.

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was a prolific inventor and successful businessman who dramatically influenced modern life in the twentieth century. This collection's Special Presentations, magazine articles, and audio and video recordings provide information about Edison's personal life and his commercial success.

Edison earned the first of 1,093 patents in 1869 for an electric vote recorder. The Special Presentation, "The Life of Thomas Edison," explains that when politicians were reluctant to use the machine, "he decided that in the future he would not waste time inventing things that no one wanted." This emphasis on function and profit is reflected in the inventor's comments in "Edison Views the World at Seventy," (one of two 1917 interviews available in this collection), when he explains his recent work in chemistry:

For most of my life I refused to work at any problem unless its solution seemed to be capable of being put to commercial use . . . . I have always been more interested in chemistry than in physics, but I got into electricity and stuck there for a long time . . . . Oddly enough it was the war that gave me the chance I had been looking for to putter with chemicals. I mean that the cutting off of our supplies made it advantageous to find out how to manufacture [chemicals] in this country. (page 2) Which of Edison's inventions do you think were most important? Why? Why do you think that Edison was such a successful businessman? What does Edison's career suggest about the factors that influence invention? What is the impact of the public's reaction, the inventor's genius and interests, and the inventor's financial needs?

Photograph from the 1917 article, "Edison Views the World at Seventy".

Another side of Edison is revealed in the 1919 recording, Let Us Not Forget. In this rare public speech, the inventor comments on the national sacrifices made during World War I, addresses the end of the conflict, and celebrates national courage: "The word, American, has a new meaning in Europe . . . We are proud of the North Americans who risked their lives for the liberty of the world."

• What contributions do you think that Edison made to his country?
• How might Edison have viewed his relationship to his country?
• Why do you think that Edison recorded the address, Let Us Not Forget?

The completed light bulb in a scene from A Day with Thomas A. Edison.

Three years later, Edison allowed the motion picture camera to focus on its inventor in the six-part series, A Day with Thomas A. Edison. This documentary recorded the 74-year-old Edison's collaborations with his staff, conversations with industrial leaders, and supervision of the factory's production line. The majority of the film (parts 3, 4, and 5) chronicles Edison's trip to the incandescent light bulb factory and details its manufacturing process.

• Why do you think that Edison allowed cameras to document his activities in A Day with Thomas A. Edison?
• Why do you think that the film devoted so much time to the manufacturing of light bulbs?
• How do you think that the public might have perceived Edison?
• What do his public appearances (in the interviews, recording, and film) imply about Edison's status as a private businessman and a public figure?
• Do you think that there are any contemporary businessmen or inventors who rival Edison and his contribution to modern life? If so, then who? If not, then why?

The Phonograph and Motion Picture Industries

During the February 1917 interview, "Edison Views the World at Seventy," the inventor said that his favorite creation was the phonograph: "[T]he development . . . was most interesting, but it took a long time-thirty years," (page 2). The Special Presentation, "The Life of Thomas Edison" explains that the phonograph was an outgrowth of the inventor's work on the telephone and telegraph. He successfully recorded sound "with a tinfoil-coated cylinder and a diaphragm and needle" in 1877. A year later, he formed the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company.

Edison's first phonograph with a tinfoil cylinder from "The History of the Disc Phonograph."

This collection's histories of the "Edison Cylinder Phonograph" and "Edison Disc Phonograph" chronicle the machine's evolution from a business dictation system to a home entertainment luxury item. The transition in marketing the phonograph is reflected in two of the collection's films. The Stenographer's Friend (1910) presents the Edison Business Phonograph as a means to increase productivity in a modern office. The Voice of the Violin (1915) uses Edison's record shop and music laboratory as settings and explains that the new phonograph records are the result of "four years of research work in acoustics and chemistry and over two million dollars in experiments alone."

How does the film, The Stenographer's Friend depict the concerns of a modern office? How do The Stenographer's Friend and The Voice of the Violin demonstrate the capabilities of a phonograph without the benefit of a soundtrack? How do the characters respond to the phonograph's performance? How does the representation of Edison's music laboratory in The Voice of the Violin compare to the manufacturing scenes of incandescent light bulbs in A Day With Thomas Edison (1922)?

A businessman marvels at the clarity of the phonograph in The Stenographer's Friend.

Edison guaranteed the quality of his machines. In "Edison Views the World at Seventy," he declared: "[T]here is not much more to be done with the [improvement of the] phonograph," (page 2). The motion picture industry, however, was a different story.

Edison invented the Kinetograph, a single camera recording a series of images, in 1891. The Special Presentation, "History of Edison Motion Pictures," chronicles the evolution of the technology over subsequent decades as studios developed motion picture projectors and produced a variety of films for a growing audience. The filmography, "Chronological Title List of Edison Motion Pictures," supplements this history with examples from the first three decades of the motion picture industry.

• How did competition between various phonograph and motion picture companies influence the development of these technologies?
• What types of improvements were made in both industries during the first decades of the twentieth century?
• How were these technologies marketed to consumers?

Spanish-American War

On February 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine exploded and sank in Cuba's Havana harbor killing 260 sailors onboard. While the cause of the explosion was unclear, many people in the United States sought to hold Spain accountable for the incident. A search on the term, battleship Maine, yields footage of the aftermath in the films, Burial of the 'Maine' Victims and Wreck of the Battleship "Maine," which was shot in Havana harbor two months after the blast.

International relations between the United States and Spain were already tense due to a debate over the island of Cuba and its independence from Spanish colonial rule. In April 1898, the United States proclaimed Cuba free from Spanish rule and declared war on Spain. A search on the phrase, Spanish-American War produces documentary footage and reenactments of the four-month conflict. (Additional footage and information on the war is available in the collection, The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures and in the exhibit, "The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War.")

A scene from U.S. Troops Landing at Daiquiri, Cuba.

Documentaries from the war include footage of the first U.S. soldiers arriving on Cuban soil in U.S. Troops Landing at Daiquirí, Cuba and of Cuban Refugees Waiting for Rations. January 1899 footage of a triumphant U.S. Army parading through the streets of Havana in Troops at Evacuation of Havana and in General Lee's Procession is also available.

The risk was far too great for cameramen to film actual battles in the Spanish-American War but studios capitalized on the public's interest by filming reenactments of the conflicts. National Guard troops recreated several scenes in New Jersey, including an attack on a Spanish scouting party in Cuban Ambush and Spanish soldiers executing Cuban rebels in Shooting Captured Insurgents.

A scene from Shooting of Captured Insurgents.

• How do you think that audiences might have responded to the documentary footage of the battleship Maine and of U.S. troops in Cuba?
• When describing the documentary, Cuban Refugees Waiting for Rations, the Edison catalog explains, "One expects to see just such men as these, after the centuries of Spanish oppression and tyranny. As they come forward, their walk, even, is listless and lifeless." How do the documentaries (and the Edison catalog summaries) depict the Cubans?
• How are the Cubans portrayed in the reenactments?
• Are there any differences in the representation of Cubans in the two formats? How do you think that U.S. audiences might have responded to these depictions?
• What aspects of war are featured in documentaries and reenactments? What do you think are the limitations of each format?
• Do you think that these films contributed to the U.S. war effort? If so, how?

The Paris Exposition of 1900 and the Pan-American Exposition of 1901

International expositions or "World's Fairs" were popular pastimes in the United States and Europe from the middle of the nineteenth century to the start of World War I. These venues entertained millions while celebrating culture, commerce, and technology.

A search on the term, Paris Exposition, produces footage from the Paris Exposition of 1900--the third such fair held in the city, which boasted approximately 40 million visitors between April and November. Films from this collection include, Panorama from the Moving Boardwalk, the Panorama of Eiffel Tower (a "temporary building" held over from the 1889 Exposition), the Palace of Electricity, and the Scene in the Swiss Village where children in native costumes performed for the camera.

The Palace of Electricity from the 1900 Paris Exposition.

A year later, the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, drew approximately 8 million people between May and November 1901. The official start of the Pan-American Exposition occurred on May 20, 1901 with Vice President Theodore Roosevelt leading a procession across the fairgrounds in Opening, Pan-American Exposition.

One of the first film images shot with incandescent light at night in the Panorama of the Esplanade at Night

A search on the term, Pan American, yields additional footage of the fair's attractions, including the three-part series, A Trip Around the Pan-American Exposition. This film guides viewers on a tour through the canals bordering the perimeter of the Exposition and features a number of temporary buildings constructed for the fair. (A description of these scenes is available in the summary information on the film's bibliography page.) Meanwhile, films such as Pan-American Exposition by Night feature closer looks at the Temple of Music and the Electric Tower, a massive construction boasting over 35,000 light bulbs.

Other pieces in the collection feature performances from the fair's foreign villages, including Spanish Dancers, acrobats in the Japanese Village, and dogsleds running across the Esquimaux Village. The final day of the Exposition featured a Sham Battle between six Native American tribes and the U. S. infantry in the fair's stadium. The two-part film of this reenactment features cavalry charges, hand-to-hand combat, and a lot of gunplay.

• What types of architectural styles and technological innovations were represented in the buildings at these expositions?
• How do you think that fair visitors responded to the entertainment in the foreign villages such as the Spanish Dancers and the Sham Battle?
• How did the temporary buildings and performances at both fairs emphasize the themes of commerce and culture?
• What do you think that these fairs suggest about popular entertainment in the United States at the turn of the century?
• What do you think that events such as the Sham Battle suggest about popular entertainment in the United States at the turn of the century?
• Are there any contemporary events or locations in the United States that offer a similar entertainment experience to a World's Fair?

The Assassination of President William McKinley

The Pan-American Exposition became part of the tragic history of the United States on September 6, 1901, when anarchist Leon Czolgosz approached President William McKinley in the Temple of Music and fired two shots into the president's chest and abdomen. The film, The Mob Outside the Temple of Music . . . documents the crowd's attempt to reach the assassin moments after the shooting. President McKinley died eight days later due to complications from his gunshot wounds. He was the third U.S. president to be assassinated since the Civil War.

A search on the terms, McKinley and exposition, yield images of some of the president's last public appearances reviewing U.S. infantry troops and delivering his final speech on the day before the shooting. Meanwhile, a search on McKinley and funeral produces films of the president's funeral procession in Canton, including President Roosevelt at the Canton Station and McKinley's Funeral Entering Westlawn Cemetery. This series also includes The Martyred Presidents, a tribute to Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley that the Edison catalog promoted as "most valuable as an ending to the series of McKinley funeral pictures."

The arrival of McKinley's funeral train in Canton, Ohio.

In October 1901, Leon Czolgosz was convicted of the McKinley's assassination, sentenced to death, and executed. Execution of Czolgosz features an image of the execution site, Auburn Prison, on the morning of the event, as well as a reenactment of the assassin's death in the electric chair based on details from an eyewitness account.

• How do you think that audiences might have responded to the films documenting McKinley's last presidential actions and his funeral?
• Why do you think that the Edison company offered The Martyred Presidents as an ending to the funeral series? What does this film suggests about President McKinley's place in U.S. history?
• How do you think that audiences might have responded to the Execution of Czolgosz?
• Do you think that audiences viewed documentary films of current events and reenactments in the same way? What expectations might audiences have had of each format?
• What value does the footage of the exterior of the Auburn Prison on the morning of Czolgosz's execution add to the piece featuring the reenactment of the execution?
• Is there a difference in filming a live event and recreating it for a camera at a later date? If so, what?
• How are reenactments used in contemporary film and television? Are all contemporary reenactments clearly identified as reenactments? Do you think that there are any potential benefits to an audience failing to recognize footage as a reenactment?
• Do you think that there are any potential dangers to an audience failing to recognize a reenactment?
• Do you think that there are implications to using reenactments within a documentary-style production?
• Do you think that reenactments should be clearly identified if they are used in news programs?