William K.L. Dickson Movies

Experimental film made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope and believed to be the first film shot in the United States. It shows...

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.

In a long, diaphanous skirt, held out by her hands with arms extended, Broadway dancer Annabelle Moore performs. Her dance emphasizes the movement of...

The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United...

Early Edison short showing two men fencing.

William K.L. Dickson plays the violin while two men dance. This is the oldest surviving sound film where sound is recorded on the phonograph.

Single shot of a column of Gordon Highlanders marching out of their camp at Ladysmith to meet General Buller's relief column.

Naval ratings pulling along naval guns during the Boer War.

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

The pursuit of Hop Lee by an irate policeman.

Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dances. For this performance, her costume has a pair of wings attached to her back, to suggest...

A remix of Dickson's Annabelle Butterfly Dance with a modern score.

“Interior of Barber Shop. Man comes in, takes off his coat; sits down, smokes; is handed a paper by attendant, who points out a joke; both...

Based on Shakespeare's play, Act V, Scene vii: King John is in torment, and his supporters fear that his end is near. As he writhes in agony, he is...

A series of short black and white films from director William K.L. Dickson which chronicle the adventures of Rip Van Winkle.

Probably the first video of a Pope: Leo XIII sits in his chair with guards and attendants, then blesses the viewers.

Taken in 1896 on the Boulevard (upper Broadway) on the occasion of a bicycle parade in the heyday of the wheeling craze. Old-fashioned horse cars...

"A company of little darkies showing off their paces to the music of the banjo."

"A glove contest between trained cats. A very comical and amusing subject, and is sure to create a great laugh." (by Edison Films)

Annie Oakley was probably the most famous marksman/woman in the world when this short clip was produced in Edison's Black Maria studio in West...