Souvenir Strip of the Edison Kinetoscope

Eugene Sandow stars as himself in this early film from the Edison Manufacturing Company. The film was shot by cameraman William Heise and was directed by W.K.L. Dickson. In it, Sandow strikes several different "strongman" poses. At the time, Sandow was a vaudeville performer who promoted himself as "the strongest man alive".

The film is less than a minute in duration. Nothing was new or unique from any of the shorts than the Edison group where churning out during the new year of 1894. The only important thing of the film was that it starred the first celebrity put on film, Sandow, who would go on to star in several other shorts.

I gave it 2 out of 10.

The historical background to this Edison Company footage of strongman Eugen Sandow is much more interesting than the movie itself. In its day, it was a triumph of opportunistic self-promotion, both by the subject and by the film studio, and it became the first of many Edison features to showcase the era's entertainment celebrities.

Sandow was renowned for his formidable physical strength, but unfortunately he does not perform any feats here that might provide evidence of it. Instead, he spends his screen time flexing his muscles and assuming a variety of positions that highlight them. To be honest, it's rather boring, but that is admittedly a matter of personal taste, and many of its viewers probably enjoyed it for its own sake.

According to film historian Charles Musser, Sandow waived his appearance fee in return for the chance to shake hands publicly with Edison, which provided lavish press coverage that helped both of them to share in one another's celebrity. They each certainly understood what they were doing, and thus this short feature is quite interesting as a demonstration that the commercial aspects of the movies have been part of the field right from the beginning.

This is a 20-second long Edison Company short, filmed March 6, 1894 at Edison's Black Maria studio, of the man widely considered to be the first modern body builder, Eugen (or "Eugene") Sandow, who flexes for the camera.

Sandow, born Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller in 1867 in Prussia, had worked as a sideshow strongman, often for famed showman Florenz Ziegfeld. In later years he was the personal fitness instructor for King George V. He authored a number of books on health and fitness and is credited with doing much to start the "health movement" that continues to this day.

Sandow was notable for believing that strongmen shouldn't just present displays of strength, but show off their bodies as works of art. Conceiving of his body as sculptural artwork, Sandow looked to classical Greek and Roman statuary for an ideal human form to emulate.

Ziegfeld put together a traveling show called "Sandow's Trocadero Vaudevilles"--"Trocadero" after the Chicago nightclub Ziegfeld's father opened in 1893, hoping to capitalize on the city's upcoming World's Fair. In the roadshow, as in appearances at the Trocadero, Sandow presented "Muscle Display Performances", as he does in this short. He also performed the usual feats of strength, although he would occasionally execute odd stunts such as holding a pony above his head.

An amusing incident on the roadshow occurred in San Francisco, where it was publicized that Sandow would wrestle a "man-eating lion". Thousands showed up, but it was obvious that the animal had been drugged--it could barely function. Despite such fiascos, Ziegfeld and Sandow traveled for nearly two years.

So Sandow, the short--the copyright title is actually "Souvenir strip of the Edison Kinetoscope (Sandow, the modern Hercules)"--has much historical significance. As a work of art, it isn't quite as successful as some other Edison shorts, such as Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894). The picture is broached by light seeping in from either side, probably due to some technical problem with the early cameras. Less forgivable, the framing of Sandow is too close, resulting in poses being cut off; you can often not see Sandow's hands, and it somewhat ruins the statue-like effect that was the point of Sandow's performance.

But Sandow is impressive enough physically, and in light of the historical interest, both because of its place in the history of film and Sandow and Ziegfeld's lives, it's certainly worth the few seconds it takes to watch.

In truth, the Edison company actually made three different films of strongman Eugene Sandow to be released to the Kinetoscope parlors and all of them made in 1894. Not only was the first one, entitled "Souvenir Strip of the Edison Kinetoscope" (and later retitled "Sandow No. 1" after the others were made) the third known film made in 1894, it was also as a result the first known film to be placed in a genre of 'performance' films. This long-running genre could include films of almost anything: Annabelle Moore doing the serpentine dance, Ena Bertoldi doing amazing contortion stunts, Juan Caicedo on a high wire, etc. Some might argue that "Sandow No. 1" is not a performance film, that all Sandow does is just stand in medium closeup and flex, but I would disagree. Yes, no stunts are performed (it would have been nice if they'd tried a more interesting action shot) but this was in truth part of Sandow's routine and it would be incorrect to call it as such.

On the other hand, it's possible that the other two films did include more action, yet they no longer appear to survive. The biggest probability is that the first was remade twice because the original negatives wore out from having too many copies made; but if that was the case, it would be a slightly odd (and ironic) that it was the original that stood the test of time.

Because of these brief filmed acts that became popular because of the original popularity of the performer, Edison was thus the most prominent film director of movies throughout 1894. When 1895 struck, he would be faced with a new problem: the Lumière Brothers. Their father Antoine had already been to the U.S. to view movies on Edison's Kinetoscope; yet upon his arrival home and informing of the brothers of the great inventor's achievement, he dismissed it and told them they could do better. After the first commerical exhibition of films in France on December 28th, 1895 at the Salon Indien, the company would be faced with competition and eventually resort to abandoning the Black Maria to shoot subjects in natural settings. Until then, the Kinetoscope parlors would make quite the profit in the dozens of performance movies and boxing shorts that crammed their machines.

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.