Monkeyshines

Monkeyshines
Monkeyshines No. 1 and 2
Directed by William K. L. Dickson
William Heise
Starring John Ott
G. Sacco Albanese
Release date
 1889 or 1890
Country United States
Language Silent

Monkeyshines (1889 or 1890) were a series of experimental short silent films made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope, are believed to be the first films shot in the United States.

Monkeyshines, No. 1 was shot by William K. L. Dickson and William Heise for the Edison labs. Scholars have differing opinions on whether the first was shot in June 1889 starring John Ott or sometime between November 21–27, 1890 starring G. Sacco Albanese.[1] Both men were fellow lab workers at the company; contradictory evidence exists for each claim. Monkeyshines, No. 2 and Monkeyshines, No. 3 quickly followed to test further conditions.

These films were intended to be internal tests of the new camera system, and were not created for commercial use; their rise to prominence resulted much later due to work by film historians. All three films show a blurry figure in white standing in one place making large gestures and are only a few seconds long. We will never know what "Monkeyshines No. 3" exactly looked like as it has disappeared from the public making it the 3rd lost film that we know exists.


References

  1. ↑ Kino Video. "Edison: The Invention of the Movies". Retrieved August 13, 2006. Archived May 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.


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