Automobile parade / Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1900.
[click on image; file size: 16.9 mg]
SUMMARY (from Library of
Congress catalog)
This may be the first annual automobile parade, held on November 4, 1899 in
downtown Manhattan. At least ten different makes and models are seen,
including electric and steam powered machines. Only three years earlier, in
1896, Henry Ford, Charles Brady King, Alexander Winton and Ransom Eli Olds had
each introduced their gasoline cars. In 1900, the first National Auto Show was
held at Madison Square Garden and the favorites were the electrics and the
steamers. In 1901, new oil fields in Texas made gasoline affordable.
That same year, mass production techniques were introduced into car
manufacturing. These two factors would prove to be key developments in the
rapid growth of the American automobile industry.
Bromley's Commentary: What I find fascinating in this film is the way pedestrians walk by and around the camera, as if they don't understand what is happening. I also love the horse and carriage that are caught in the middle of it all. The horse remains beautifully calm. As for the automobiles, the whole purpose of the parade was to show the latest and greatest, so we're seeing here the height of technology c. 1900, be it steam, gasoline, and electric. Those tall, funny looking cars were electric cabs. I'll be grateful to anyone who can point out specific makes.
Note that the Library's assessment that the "new oil fields in Texas" and "mass production techniques" brought us the automobile is entirely wrong. Those were, at best, helpful. There was plenty of oil from Pennsylvania. What changed was consumption of gasoline, which created demand for naptha, which was previously used only as a solvent in such things as dry cleaning. But 1901 was still to early for any serious gasoline consumption. Existing refineries met the slowly growing demand.
What happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City / Thomas A. Edison,
Inc.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1901.
[click on image; file size: 11.8 mg]
SUMMARY
(from Library of Congress catalog)
A street level view from the sidewalk, looking along the length of 23rd
Street. Following actuality footage of pedestrians and street traffic, the
actors, a man in summer attire and a woman in an ankle-length dress, walk
toward the camera. As they cross a grate on the sidewalk they pause, and the
escaping air blows the woman's dress to her knees.
From a contemporary Edison film company catalog: WHAT HAPPENED ON 23d STREET, NEW YORK CITY. Unbarbour [code for telegraphic orders]. This is a winner and sure to please. The scene as suggested by the title is made on 23d street, New York City. In front of one of the large newspaper offices on that thoroughfare is a hot air shaft through which immense volumes of air is forced by means of a blower. Ladies crossing these shafts often have their clothes slightly disarranged, (it may be said much to their discomfiture). As our picture was being made a young man escorting a young lady, to whom he was talking very earnestly, comes into view and walks slowly along until they stand directly over the air shaft. The young lady's skirts are suddenly raised to, you might say an almost unreasonable height, greatly to her horror and much to the amusement of the newsboys, bootblacks and passersby. This subject is a winner. Class B. 50 ft. $6.00.
Bromley commentary: no cars here, but what a great glimpse of a turn-of-century NYC street. Gotta love that surprise ending, too! Note here the horse muck in the sidewalk. I was surprised at how unconsciously that woman walked across it, with her skirt dragging on the ground. The sidewalk was built to keep pedestrians away from the muck. Carriages had side entrances to allow the passengers to drop from the carriage directly upon the sidewalk without having to touch the dirty street. Automobiles cleaned it up.
Lower Broadway / American Mutoscope and Biograph
Company.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1903.
[click on image; file size: 14.2 mg]
SUMMARY (from Library of
Congress catalog)
The film shows a view which appears to be looking north on Broadway at the
intersection of Wall Street, in front of Trinity Church. The sidewalk along
Broadway is crowded with people, and the traffic in both streets is very
heavy. A horse-drawn streetcar passes in front of the camera [Frame: 2814],
with a sign giving its destination as the "Courtland and Fulton Street Ferry."
Bromley commentary: no cars here, either, but a fabulous presentation of what cars would change. Note how the trolleys are entirely regulated by the speed of carriages, therefore pedestrians have free run of the streets, and outside of a general left/right directional flow there is no strong pattern of traffic. With its freedom of movement and speed the automobile forced new rules and patterns in the city streets. It was quite a fight, however, as cities tried their damnedest to harmonize automobiles to existing street behavior. The automobile refused.
Automobile race for the Vanderbilt Cup / American
Mutoscope & Biograph Company.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, 1904.
[sorry no screen capture:
click here;
file size: 25.3 mg]
SUMMARY (from Library of
Congress catalog)
This automobile race was filmed from many camera positions. Several
different types of motor cars from all parts of the world are seen. A series
of interconnecting roads was used as the race course.
Bromley commentary: the Vanderbilt Cup taught Americans speed. And they loved it! These races were attended by hundreds of thousands, and the news went from there to the millions. This film shows the great speed these cars made, especially when compared to the pace we see in the street scenes in the films above.
Scenes and incidents, Russo-Japanese peace conference,
Portsmouth, N.H. / Edison Mfg. Co.
(film 4/4)
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Edison Mfg. Co., 1905.
[click on image; file size: 18.7 mg]
SUMMARY
Scenes from the 1905 peace conference between the Russian and Japanese
Governments, mediated by the U.S. Government at the invitation of President
Theodore Roosevelt. Scenes of the dignitaries and celebrities who are part of
the conference include travel between Oyster Bay and New York and Portsmouth.
The Japanese, then the Russian, delegations, including envoys Count Vitte,
Baron Rosen, and Marquis Jutaro Komura depart, from the foot of 23rd Street,
at the East River, the wharf of the New York Yacht Club for Oyster Bay, Long
Island on August 5. The Japanese delegation boards two U.S. Navy launches. The
Russian delegation is greeted by third assistant secretary of state Herbert
H.D. Pierce. The last two men walking down the ramp are Witte (the tallest)
and Rosen, and other members of the Russian delegation board another launch.
The launches are taken to ships and then to Oyster Bay to confer with
President Theodore Roosevelt.
On August 9, first the Russian and then the Japanese delegations are received by Rear Admiral William W. Mead, commanding officer of the Portsmouth Navy Yard, and staff at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Baron Kogoro Takahira is the Japanese Ambassador to the United States. On August 8, a street procession follows the arrival of the envoys Portsmouth. The parade includes the New Hampshire National Guard, with the Russians in the first carriage, and the Japanese in the second. The officials arrive at Rockingham County Court House in Portsmouth. Members of the delegations depart from the Hotel Wentworth in Newcastle, N.H. by automobile for the first conference in the negotiations, with the Japanese in the first car, and the Russians in the second.
Bromley Commentary: the use of automobiles at this conference was an anomaly for President Theodore Roosevelt, who sponsored the event (he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for it). Roosevelt himself did not use the automobiles. They were provided for the Japanese and Russian delegations. I am ever curious as to who requested them or who decided to use them. Anyway, this film gives a good view of the delegates piling into the cars and taking off right past the camera. The license plate of the first car is plainly visible, number "O5," from New Hampshire I assume.