Annabelle Butterfly Dance

Anyone who knows about the earliest movies in film history should know about Annabelle Moore, popular serpentine dancer and frequent performer for Edison studios. One of the biggest sensations of her day, Moore is most remembered now for her huge contribution to the early film genres, in the sense that she started one of the biggest movie fads frequently copied over the years: the serpentine dance. Already, Edison had broken ground the same year with his filming of Spanish dancer Carmencita (believably the first woman to appear in a US film) and would later continue his exploitation in the dance genre later (with his films of "Imperial Japanese Dance", "Princess Ali" and "Amy Muller") but it was the Annabelle films in particular that saw rapid profit. Often, due to how the original negatives of a film would wear out from having copies made, the same film would have to be replicated over and over again; such was the case of the Annabelle films. Already this says something about how popular they were, if demands for copies couldn't be met after awhile. Other Annabelle dances filmed for Edison include "Annabelle Sun Dance" of the same year and "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" of 1895, colorized by hand to add an additional artistic touch to the short.

In the butterfly dance film (of which one of its several remakes is included on Kino's "The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works" disc) we see a 20 second performance of the dance by Moore, complete with butterfly wings and the white flowing skirts which have become her trademark. Just by watching it anyone could see how the dance was so popular in the day, and I'm not talking just about the almost hypnotic dance itself; a lot of male viewers would no doubt have been sexually aroused, shall we say, to see the frequent glimpses of leg and ankle. This can be considered one of the major reasons as to why the company earned its reputation as the dirtiest source of motion picture production in the whole US. Such display was considered naughty at the the time and it was not very moral for the studio to promote these fads further than they already were.

It wasn't just Edison that created dance films, either. After the start of the genre progressed, other filmmakers too began shooting their own versions, none quite as popular as the Annabelle performances. Loie Fuller, the originator of the dance, appeared in several shorts by the Lumière Brothers and Segundo de Chomòn (who created his own variation on the genre with his 1908 film "The Beginning of the Serpentine Dance"). Even Georges Méliès expanded the genre with his own version of the dance in 1896, "Serpentine Dance" (now lost to history) and a dance film of his own: "Miss de Vère (English Jig)" (also 1896). Edison himself would continue to promote the "Annabelle" dance fad until 1897, with his remakes of the serpentine, sun, and butterfly dances and additional recordings of Moore's flag and tambourine dances. All told, it wasn't until the late 1890's that the well-known genre would go into decline. But here it is, in its full glory.

Even before the Great Train Robbery, the Annabelle Dances were the first big motion pictures in America. Just starting to make its way into the major cities, Annabelle Dances amazed its audience with the movement and added spray color to the images. Deep down, all it was, was a woman (Annabelle) dancing on stage with a crazy butterfly like costume. The world was dazzled by the new invention called cinema.

Annabelle Moore (born Annabelle Whitford) was only 16 years old when she did this film. She had made her debut dancing at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago the previous year. When she moved to New York City, she performed in several short films for the Edison Studios. The Butterfly Dance was the first of these films. Her costume and attractive appearance caused the film to do very well, and Annabelle was thus asked to do several more films which greatly built up her popularity.

Proximity to New York City provided Edison's West Orange studio, the Black Maria, with the opportunity to obtain talent from the city's artistic community. An artist, invited to appear before the Kinetograph, might take the North River ferry to the west shore. There, at the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad station, they could purchase a ticket and take the train directly to West Orange, New Jersey. Arriving at the West Orange station they could take a trolley or walk a half-mile to Edison's laboratory complex.

This was possibly the route followed by Annabelle Whitford, a vaudeville performer, as she went on a number of occasions to appear before the camera. Although Edison publicly professed the high-art-artistic merits of his invention, the actual films taken - cock fights, blacksmiths working and drinking, boxing matches and sexy female dancers - show a pandering to the masculine element of future peep-show patrons.

This film of Annabelle Whitford was so popular that she was invited back a number of times to do dance numbers. With her cute butterfly wings and high kicks that reveal shapely legs under her neck-to-ankle dress, it is no wonder that she was well received by the 1894 male audience. The copy I saw of this 15-second film had "copyright 1897" imprinted on the film. Her attire, was tinted yellow at the very end.

Annabelle (Whitford) Moore dances for the camera of Edison filmmakers, William Heise and W.K.L. Dickson. She was a favorite of the Edison crew and was invited back several times to perform for them.

In the film, her movements are pretty basic. She lacks the energy of other Edison shorts, such as "Carmencita" or the "Buffalo Ghost Dance". Her costume is supposed to copy the movements of a butterfly as she dances around. Yet, the effect is muted, as Moore is not able to do much in the short time span of the film.

YOU WILL LIKE THIS FILM: IF YOU LOVED: "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" IF YOU HATED: "Breakin'"