Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Friday, February 23, 2007

New York City "Ghetto" Fish Market, 1903


Fine panoramic view of this busy market on a Friday morning. Immense throngs of people are seen passing along the stands and making their selections of fish. A great character study." Thomas Alva Edison, 1903.

The view, photographed from an elevated camera position, looks down on a very crowded New York City street market. Rows of pushcarts and street vendors' vehicles can be seen. The precise location is difficult to ascertain, but it is certainly on the Lower East Side, probably on or near Hester Street, which at the turn of the century was the center of commerce for New York's Jewish ghetto. Located south of Houston Street and east of the Bowery, the ghetto population was predominantly Russian, but included immigrants from Austria, Germany, Rumania and Turkey. According to a description in a 1901 newspaper, an estimated 1,500 pushcart peddlers were licensed to sell wares (primarily fish) in the vicinity of Hester Street. At one point the film seems to follow three official looking men (one in a uniform) as they walk among the crowd. They may be New York City health inspectors, who apparently monitored the fish vendors closely.

More detailed Info here at the Library of Congress.

Roosevelt Island, 1903



Thomas A. Edison Inc. footage of Roosevelt Island, formerly Blackwell's Island, on May 20th 1903.

This film was photographed from a boat ... all » heading south along the eastern shore of Blackwell's Island (known today as Roosevelt Island). The island lies in the East River, between Manhattan (which can be seen in the background) and Long Island City, Queens. It is approximately one and three-quarters of a mile long, extending from 51st Street to 88th, and at the time of the filming was the location for a number of New York City's charitable and penal institutions. The film opens showing the lighthouse at the north end of the island (Hallet's Cove) [Frame: 0186].

As the boat enters the east channel of the river, the stacks of a large brewery on Manhattan are visible in the distance [0542]. The camera pans along the island's granite seawall (built by inmates of the Penitentiary and Workhouse) and the following buildings, in order of appearance, are shown: the New York City Lunatic Asylum [0956]; the Workhouse [1274]; the Almshouse [1524]; piers for the Queensborough (or 59th Street) Bridge, which upon completion in 1908 will span 135 feet above the island [2388]; the Almshouse Keeper's House (originally the home of the Blackwell family, who had once owned the island) [2730]; the Penitentiary [3646]; Charity Hospital [4140]. The film ends before reaching the southern tip of the island.

Other rare films can be seen at the Library Of Congress

The El at 104th St


104th Street Curve, New York, Elevated Railway.
April 22, 1899, Thomas Alva Edison

New York Police Parade, June 1st 1899


Thomas Alva Edison, New York Police Parade, June 1st 1899

Sleighing in Central Park, 1898


Schlittenfahrt im Zentralpark... - wieder ein Film von Thomas Alva Edison.

Herald Square 1896


Herald Square am 11. Mai 1896, Edison

In Old New York - Billy Murray - Foot of Flatiron1903


Produced by Michael J. Loughlin for the Thomas A. Edison Music Video Co.

Panorama of the Flatiron Building


SUMMARY
This shows a view looking south from Madison Square, across the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-third Street, to the famous Fuller (or "Flatiron") Building. The cameraman elevates his camera, going from street level to the roof. Designed by D.H. Burnham and Company, the Fuller Building is an important early skyscraper and a New York City landmark. Known as the first great steel-framed building, the exterior of the lower three stories is stone, with the remainder clad in terra cotta. Twenty-one stories high, it is considered the first tall building erected north of city hall. Its completion in 1902 marked the beginning of New York City's first skyscraper era.

NOTES
Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 4June1903; H32387.
Duration: 1:00 at 15 fps.
Camera: Robert K. Bonine.
Photographed October 8, 1902. Location: New York, N.Y.
CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States : American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1903.

What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City (1901)


A Thomas Alva Edison Movie from 1901: The corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue was renowned for its gusty breezes that might allow a man to catch a glimpse of a woman's stockings. Most of the time there was a police officer posted, shouting "23 Skidoo!" when men stood too long at the corner of the Flat Iron Building - which was actually build in 1902. In this staged scene we see Alfred Abadie, an Edison cameraman, and Florence Georgie strolling along when Georgie has a Marilyn Monroe type moment.

Als die Bilder laufen lernten 1

Thomas Alva Edison, 1903: Skyscrapers of New York City, from the North River, 3.25 min



Description: "A Beautiful panoramic view of lower New York from Barclay Street to Battery Park, showing a beautiful stereoscopic effect of the sky-scrapers in the business section of the city. Old Castle Garden, at which place hundreds of thousands of emigrants have landed from time to time, but now used as an Aquarium, is also seen in the picture. One of the finest panoramic pictures of New York ever taken."

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Ozapft is!

Poll der Woche: Wer soll CSU-Chef werden?
* Edmund Seehofer
* Michael Huber
* Erwin Glos
* Horst Stoiber

Kick Bush's Ass

Der britische Performancekünstler Mark McGowan wird am 22. Februar als George W. Bush verkleidet 72 Stunden lang auf Händen und Knien durch New York kriechen und allen seinen Allerwertesten zum Reintreten anbieten. Antritt ist um 15 Uhr im Zelt des Damrosch Park am Lincoln Center.Ob's hilft?
Mehr hier und hier.