A nymph of the waves / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.

PREVIOUS

NEXT

The American Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920

View this film:
(To download the film for future viewing, be sure to set your browser to the "load to disk" or "retrieve to disk" option.)

Part 1 of 1

RealMedia format ... for 28.8 or higher modem
MPEG format ... 3 megabytes
Quick Time format ... 2 megabytes

A nymph of the waves / American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, [1900?]

SUMMARY
Superimposition of a woman dancing over footage of crashing waves from the rapids of Niagara Falls. The woman wears a frilly, perhaps feather-trimmed, white dress with a low-cut bodice, a matching feathered hat, white stockings, and white ballet slippers. She holds up her skirt through the entire dance, revealing her ankles and lower legs as well as a flash of a garter above the knee on her left leg. Her movements appear to be a mixture of ballet and variety-style dancing such as a cancan, including spins and toesteps on pointe. She closes with a flourish of her skirt as she executes a curtsy on pointe with one foot.

From Biograph picture catalogue: 25 feet. This is a double-printing picture combining a view of Mlle. Cathrina Bartho in her celebrated "Speedway" dance, with one of the Whirlpool Rapids of Niagara Falls, the resulting effect being that the dancer appears to be gliding over the surface of the rushing waters.

NOTES
Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 24Apr1903; H30731.

Original main title lacking.

Performer: Cathrina Bartho.

Approximate release date of December 1900 from AFI cat.: film beginnings, 1893-1910, 1995.

Duration: 0:24 at 16 fps.

Materials listed originate from the paper print chosen best copy of two for digitization; for other holdings on this title, see the M/B/RS Paper Print database.

Catalog no. 1716; code name (for telegraphic orders) Gallabimur.

NCN046337; A nymph of the waves.

Double-printing on Dec. 8, 1900, of film no. 1210, M'lle Cathrina Bartho (filmed Sept. 7, 1899 in the New York City studio), and no. 70, Upper rapids from bridge, Niagara Falls (filmed ca. Sept. 1896 at Niagara Falls, New York, by W.K.L. Dickson).

Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Niver, K.R. Early motion pictures, 1985; Biograph bulletins 1896-1908, 1971, p. 70; Biograph picture catalogue, Nov. 1902 [MI], p. 71, 131; Biograph photo catalog, v. 1 and v. 3 [MI]; Biograph Co. prod. records [MI].

Received: 2/2/95 from LC film lab; ref print; preservation; Paper Print Collection.

Received: 4/24/03; paper pos; copyright deposit; Paper Print Collection.

SUBJECTS
Dance--United States.
Ballet dancing--United States.
Dancers--United States.
Ballerinas--United States.
Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.)
Silent films.
Dance.
Vaudeville.
Trick films.
Shorts.

MEDIUM
1 reel of 1 (24 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm. ref print.
1 roll (24 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm. paper pos.

CALL NUMBER
FEC 2527 (ref print)
LC 403b (paper pos)

DIGITAL ID
(m) varsmp 0403

PREVIOUS NEXT NEW SEARCH