Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
| Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Edwin S. Porter |
| Distributed by | Edison Manufacturing Company |
Release date |
|
Running time | 1:30 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog is a 1901 silent short film directed by Edwin S. Porter. The film depicts a vaudeville act featuring Laura Comstock and her trained dog, a pit bull named Mannie. Comstock's act was currently appearing at Keith's Union Square Theatre.[2]
The film begins with a five-second shot of Comstock and her dog seated at a table and looking at the camera, with a sign in the foreground that says "Laura Comstock". Following this, the rest of the film shows Mannie in front of a rustic backdrop, repeatedly jumping and punching a bag suspended by a rope.
Edison's film catalog said that Mannie's "high jumps and lightning-like punches are remarkable and cause one to marvel at the amount of patience that must be necessary to teach a dog such tricks."[2]
The technique of opening a film with a portrait-style shot of the performers was new to film. This was an innovation by Porter based on the practice of showing lantern-slide photos preceding the exhibition of filmed scenes.[2] It proved influential, and was adopted by other American producers during this period.[3]
Mannie appeared in a number of subsequent Edison films, including several Buster Brown shorts,[4] the Happy Hooligan short Pie, Tramp and the Bulldog, and The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog.[2]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Niver, Kemp R. (1985). Early Motion Pictures: The Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress. Library of Congress. p. 180. ISBN 0-8444-0463-2. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d Musser, Charles (1991). Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company. University of California Press. p. 173. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Musser, Charles (1994). The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907. University of California Press. p. 316.
- ^ Dickey, Bronwen (2016). Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-345-80311-5. Retrieved 16 February 2024.