The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton's)

This is one of the coolest shorts I have seen in my goddamn, freaking life! One of the best things that I REALLY like about this short are obviously the boxing cats and I am just wondering: In real life, the cats are not intelligent, like us, humans. But, the question is: in the film, how did the cats wrestle each other and became trained? Was it, like, a special effect or, nah, I am just freaking curious. Later on, I hope I have a complete answer of how the cats were intelligent by boxing each other in the film.

Besides that, I actually enjoy this short: I give this short: Duhhh! ~ Obvious!!! - a 10 out of 10 because the real life cats were boxing and it was really awesome!!!

Two cats, performers from Professor Welton's Cat Circus, paw at each other with boxing gloves on. I found them rather amusing and cute. The cats seem very well trained and the way they swing their paws actually looks somewhat like a boxing match. Boxing was a very popular sport in the 1890s and this parody was a big hit with kinetoscope viewers.

The Boxing Cats was directed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson and William Heise at Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, New Jersey. Even in 1894, footage of cats doing amusing things was a big hit.

Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton's), The (1894)

**** (out of 4)

When "movies" first came to be, studios would often just grab their cameras and film something popular and then release it to the thousands who wanted to see it. Professor Welton was a popular vaudeville act and his main highlight was two cats, wearing boxing gloves, who would do battle in the ring. PETA members will certainly want to stay away as the Professor holds the cats by their backs and makes this box. While some might object to this I find the overall film rather innocent, charming and fun. Seeing the cats go at it for around thirty-seconds might not be entertainment like we expect today but I'm sure it was a riot back in the day.

Sandow (1894)

Carmencita (1894)

Boxing Cats (1894)

Caicedo With Pole (1894)

Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1894)

Cockfight, no. 2 (1894)

These six shorts from Edison, still early in the movie game, are rather interesting because of the self promoting factor in them. It's clear a few famous folks thought appearing in movies might bring more people to their actual show and on that level these shorts remain very interesting today. That's especially true when you consider the lack of footage of such acts. Sandow is Eugene Sandow, the man who claimed to be the strongest in the world. Shot on March 6, 1894, we see Sandow flexing in various ways in front of the camera. I'm not sure what he was thinking at the time of shooting but seeing this today is quite a laugh. Carmencita is the famous dancer doing her belly dance on screen making her the first woman to appear in an American movie. The film has become somewhat famous over the past several years because of various documentaries doing studies about early sexuality and how it caused so much controversy. This film, as innocent as they come, did strike a bit of outrage when originally released so it's fun to look at with that in mind. It's also worth noting that this was the first movie listed on the IMDb. Boxing Cats would have PETA members throwing a fit today but in 1894 seeing two animals fight, in a funny manor, was quite entertaining. Prof. Welton can be seen in the center of the frame directing his two cats, with boxing gloves on, to fight. This is actually pretty funny and it's worth noting that the cats throw more punches than a lot of the real fights that were filmed around this time with humans. Caicedo With Pole has hire-wire specialist Juan Caicedo jumping, bouncing and flipping on his wire, which must have been an amazing site when originally released. Annabelle Butterfly Dance features the famous Annabelle Moore dancing around a stage in a white outfit with wings attached. This here probably remains one of the most viewed shorts from this era with its images being shown throughout the world when it comes to exploring early cinema. Cockfight, no. 2 would be controversial today as it features two birds going after one another while two men in the background make bets. This was actually a remake so to speak as the original film was released earlier in the year and was apparently so popular that the prints wore out, which caused the studio to make this version. Apparently the original version didn't feature the men in the background.

Damn you Welton – you've doomed us all! Skip forward over 100 hundred years and, aside from pornography, the internet's second biggest use is surely the sharing of videos of cats doing stuff that is amusing, cute or amusing and cute. I'm not saying that Professor Welton (professor of what I am not sure) is to blame for this but certainly this must be one of the earliest examples of an amusing cat video and/or spoof video using cats in place of humans. AT barely 30 seconds long this very early short film is essentially a shot of part of Welton's vaudeville act which involves, well, two cats boxing one another in a tiny "ring" while Welton is visible just behind the foreground (he is too close for it to be called background) to keep an eye and lend a hand when necessary.

In terms of modern value it must be said that there is almost none as the shot is fairly static, the action pretty simple and the attitudes of the cats perhaps too aggressive to really be classed as cute. OK neither of them hurt one another but it comes over as more than harmless toying. In terms of history then yes the film has historical value given its early place in the development of cinema – but there are better short films that display more creativity and exploration that come from the same period. Personally, I prefer to just think of it as a fore-runner of the many, many cat videos clogging the internet.