Edison Manufacturing Co.The Kiss (1896)

This is the first ever moving picture image of a kiss. It was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. There is a longer Edison film of a kiss, filmed in 1900, that has at times been confused with this one.

OTHER TITLES
May Irwin kiss / Thomas A. Edison, Inc. ; producer, New York world.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., 1896.

SUMMARY
From Maguire & Baucus catalogue: An osculatory performance by May Irwin and John Rice. The most popular subject ever shown.

From Edison films catalog: By May Irwin and John Rice. They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time. 50 feet. 7.50.

NOTES
Copyright: no reg.

May Irwin (Beatrice Byke), John C. Rice (Billy Bilke).

Camera, William Heise.

Duration: 0:18 at 30 fps.

Scene from the New York stage comedy, The widow Jones, in which Irwin and Rice starred. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, the actors staged their kiss for the camera at the request of the New York world newspaper, and the resulting film was the most popular Edison Vitascope film in 1896.

Filmed April 1896, in Edison's Black Maria studio.

Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, 1997, p. 197-99; Maguire & Baucus. Edison and international photographic films catalogue, April 1897, p. 11 [MI]; Edison films catalog, no. 105, July 1901, p. 70 [MI].

MEDIUM
1 reel of 1 (ca. 34 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm. ref print.

CALL NUMBER
no shelf no.

REPOSITORY
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID
edmp 4038 urn:hdl:loc.mbrsmi/edmp.4038 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/edmp.4038

This item is part of the collection: Open Source Movies

Producer: Edison Manufacturing Co.
Audio/Visual: silent, b&w
Language: None
Keywords: kiss; silent; edison; 1896; irwin; rice

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Write a review Reviews

Downloaded 16,262 times Average Rating:

Reviewer: Robin_1990 - - May 1, 2008
Subject: Best Film Ever!!

An epic masterpiece of cinema, This film has it all.
Comedy! Drama! Suspense! Cheese! Fun!
This film is FUN!

Credits

Irwin, May, cast.
Rice, John C., cast.
Heise, William, camera.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Hendricks (Gordon) Collection (Library of Congress)