Vintage Variety Stage and Vaudeville Film Collection - 61 Films From 1897-1920 Demonstrating Animal Acts, Burlesque, Comic Sketches, Dance, Physical Culture, Dramatic Sketches, and Tableaus

The 61 motion pictures in the American Variety Stage collection includeanimal acts, burlesque, dance, comic sketches, dramatic excerpts, dramaticsketches, physical culture, and tableaus.These motion pictures present a rare animated record of vaudeville acts fromthe turn of the century. Although not filmed during an actual theatricalperformance, the films sought to recreate the atmosphere of a theaterperformance by showing the types of vaudeville acts and performers popular atthe time.The use of vaudeville acts as material for motion pictures made sense forearly filmmakers. Early films were very short; thus the abbreviated nature ofthe early vaudeville act, or "turn," made an ideal subject for films.Vaudeville and other types of popular entertainment offered a pool of readytalent for filmmakers who frequently chose to record the less expensive, and,therefore, less famous.It is important to note that very few of the films in this collection presenta vaudeville act exactly as it would have been performed on stage. Allthe motion pictures were silent and could not include the verbal humor,music, and ambient sounds of the live variety stage. Therefore, filmmakers hadto adapt stage performances and feature the most visual elements of them onfilm. The challenge was to find acts with strong visual components that wouldwork well on films.This collection of 61 silent variety stage films represents an excellent crosssection of entertainment offered to the masses at this time. It has a totalrun time of 1 hour, 25 minutes. Product Description

Historic reminder of what entertainment WAS.

Purchased as a historic time capsule,
I got what I expected. Would've been
nicer with some background-music, but,
watched in different segments-- on
different days-- it's a very DIFFERENT
time-killer. Got my money's worth. October 16, 2008

Vaudeville meets the Movies

In the late 1890s, nickelodeons began popping up by the thousand all over the United States. These tiny movie houses showed what were essentially film clips by today's standards. The customer base was primarily working poor and transplanted Europeans, for in their infancy, the movies (and those who attended them) were considered déclassé by genteel society. Immigrants (especially those who didn't speak English), found these flickering moving images helpful in learning the ways of America.

Early film vignettes were quite diverse-- circus and other parades, winter sports, skyscraper construction, street urchin gymnasts, open air markets, pushcart peddlers, panoramic cityline vistas or candid ground-level shots of a busy street were all subjects of pioneer cameramen. (For such examples, see NEW YORK CITY NY - 45 VERY EARLY FILMS FROM 1898-1905.) The movies weren't always direct-from-life or meant to be educational. Some were simply for fun, as this unusual collection of vaudeville performances demonstrates.

The DVD program is divided into seven categories: Animal Acts, Burlesque, Comic Sketches, Dance, Dramatic, Physical Culture and Tableau (there's only one of these). A title and date precedes each segment. There is no audio track. Video quality on some films is grainy and a bit blurred; others are badly degraded-- about what you'd expect from century old nitrate stock and paper prints. Projection speed is off, so the disc is best viewed on a PC DVD player (like InterVideo) with playback set at 70% of normal. At this speed, running time is considerably over 2 hours.

CONTENTS:
(any marked ** are from Spanuth's Original Vod-A-Vil Movies)

ANIMAL ACTS--
Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog (5/6/09)
Stealing A Dinner (6/13/03)
Baboon, Dog and Monkey ** (ca.1919-20)
Tom Tinker's Pony Patter ** (4/5/19)
Jumbo - The Trained Elephant, Parts 1 & 2 ** (4/5/19)

BURLESQUE--
From Show Girl to Burlesque Queen (9/12/03)
Karina (10/14/02)
Kiss Me (with Rose St. Dell) (2/27/04)
Pity the Blind #2 (2/2/04)
Princess Rajah Dance (6/3/04)
Trapeze Disrobing Act (11/11/01)
Turkish Dance, Ella Lola (10/7/98)

COMIC SKETCHES--
Alphonse and Gaston #3 (10/27/03)
As In a Looking Glass (5/29/03)
The Boys Think They Have One on Foxy Grandpa, but He Fools Them (5/23/02)
The Chimney Sweep and the Miller (4/16/02)
Dancing Boxing Match - Montgomery and Stone (5/7/07)
Dog Factory, Parts 1 & 2 (4/21/04)
The Extra Turn (10/3/03)
A Frontier Flirtation (10/1/03)
A Gesture Fight In Hester Street (8/19/03)
Happy Hooligan ((6/20/07)
Levi and Cohen, the Irish Comedians (6/8/03)
Mr. Jack in the Dressing Room (3/29/04)
The Serenaders (11/11/02)
Subub Surprises the Burglar (8/11/03)
The Tramp's Unexpected Skate (5/23/01)
2 A.M. in the Subway (6/20/05)
A Wake In "Hell's Kitchen" (6/12/03)

DANCE--
Ameta (4/24/08)
Betsy Ross Dance (6/25/03)
Cake Walk (5/11/03)
Charity Ball (9/24/97)
Comedy Cake Walk (5/11/03)
Crissie Sheriden (10/25/97)
Dance, Franchonetti Sisters (4/24/03)
Fougere (6/7/02)
Foxy Grandpa and Polly in a Little Hilarity (5/23/02)
A Nymph of the Waves (4/24/03)
A "Tough" Dance (12/19/02)

DRAMATIC--
Duel Scene, "By Right of Sword" (1/16/04)
A Ballroom Tragedy (6/22/05)
FIGHTS OF NATIONS (2/18/07)
Part 1: "Mexico and Spain," "Our Hebrew Friends"
Part 2: "'Hoot Mon!' A Scottish Conflict," "Sunny Africa - Eighth Avenue, NY"
Part 3: "Songs of the Ould Sod." "America, The Land of the Free"
The Society Raffles (12/7/05)

PHYSICAL CULTURE--
Arabian Gun Twirler (3/20/99)
Toto Brothers - Balancing and Iron Jaw Novelty Act ** (2/26/20)
Bicycle Trick Riding, #2 (3/20/99)
Expert Bag Punching (Gus Keller) (7/28/03)
Gordon Sisters Boxing (5/6/01)
Japanese Acrobats (4/29/04)
Latina, Contortionist (11/21/05)
Latina, Dislocation Act (11/21/05)
Sandow (6/11/03)
Kawana Trio - Artistic Foot Juggling ** (4/5/19)
Three Acrobats (3/20/99)
Treloar and Miss Marshall, Prize Winners of the Physical Culture Show in Madison Square Garden (1/16/04)
Kruger and Ward - The Tall and Short of It ** (2/26/20)
Three Jumping Tommies ** ( 2/26/20)

TABLEAU--
Spirit of '76 (5/19/05) May 31, 2008

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