A step back in time to 1911...

[PALADIN85020]

Have you ever wished you could flit back in time for just a short while, so you could see things exactly as they were? Maybe get a glimpse of your great-grandfather in New York City?

A recently unearthed mint condition film of the streets of New York City in 1911 makes this possible for a few minutes. It has been re-mastered to slow it down to normal speed, and a sound track has been added for sound effects to go with the scenes. You New Yorkers may recognize some of the locales.

Be sure to go to full screen on this and turn on your sound. Return with me now to the days of yesteryear!

John

403 Forbidden

P.S. - pay no attention to the "403 Forbidden" title. It's OK to click on it - it's quite safe.

 

[Watchdog]

Isn't that incredible. And the Swedish company that made the film, Svenska Biografteatern, obviously had camera operators who knew what they were doing.

Note the use of panning shots and how the camera sometimes was placed on a moving platform (the back of a truck or wagon, maybe?) to film early autos and horse-drawn wagons moving forward with the camera. Their cameras were not always stationary. In 1911, American cinema had not yet realized the full potential of the motion picture camera.

I could watch stuff like this for hours.

 

[H Richard]

I was amazed by the quality of the images. Having owned a variety of camera's from that vintage, that film was taken with a very high grade camera.

 

[Jack Flash]

Thanks so much for posting this John. I loved it.

The one-legged man with the white mustache (early on in the film) -- Civil War Veteran?

A billboard advertising "Crisps" -- did we use that word over here just like they did in England? What made us change to "potato chips"?

This has been posted before but if someone missed it, it's a very similar film made in San Francisco in 1906, before the big earthquake:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YRbMMqj0qw[/ame]

 

[DWalt]

"The one-legged man with the white mustache (early on in the film) -- Civil War Veteran? "

Of course that is possible, but at that time an amputated limb could just as easily have been the result of some industrial accident. Back then, most factories didn't have even rudimentary safety measures. If you got an arm or a leg caught in some piece of machinery, too bad - you are on your own.

Back in the silent movie days, the framing rate was I think 16 to 18 frames per second. When sound came along the rate was speeded up to 24 frames per second. An old movie taken at 16 frames per second but projected using a faster rate projector makes all actions appear fast and jerky. This one demonstrates how the early silent films actually looked when projected using an old projector with the matching frame rate. Very few such early films survive as the cellulose nitrate film stock used at that time disintegrated fairly rapidly.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Thanks so much for posting this John. I loved it.

The one-legged man with the white mustache (early on in the film) -- Civil War Veteran?

I think you are right - Civil War vet. At first I thought "Spanish-American War," but a vet from that war would probably be in the neighborhood of 30 years old in 1911. A Civil War participant would probably be in his mid-sixties, and this guy (shown in two segments) seems to fit that age category.

I love that San Francisco footage, also. The Ferry Building (the building with the clock tower at the end of Market Street) still stands, even after the great earthquake and fire of 1906.

John

 

[Watchdog]

The one-legged man with the white mustache (early on in the film) -- Civil War Veteran?

Could be. There were still a good many of the old vets alive in 1911.

Note that there are two one-legged men in this short film.

The first one appears at approximately 1:45 of the film. He's on crutches with his back to the camera. He appears to be selling newspapers held under his left arm. We see a passing man who's smoking a cigar hand him something...probably paying for a paper. He is missing his right leg.

Then your white-whiskered-one-legged man appears at approximately 2:18 of the film. He's moving along briskly and is aware of the camera. He is missing his left leg.

You may view this larger by clicking on it.

 

[Kurusu]

Thank you.It was a marvelous experience.

 

[loknload]

Both films were both pretty interesting! A step back in time!
Enjoyed watching them...

 

[raljr1]

Neat stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Robert

 

[S&WIowegan]

Thank you for posting that film, John. My wife and I lived in an apartment near the intersection of E.23rd St. and First Avenue. I worked at Met Life whose building was located at 23rd St. and Madison Avenue right next to Madison Square Park. This was also the location of the first of several Madison Square Gardens. The Flatiron Building prominently displayed in the film is located at the intersection of Broadway and 23rd St. just south of the Park. My wife worked for a company just up Broadway at 29th St.

Fond recollections!!

PS being practical-minded I can't help but imagine what a big job cleaning "road apples" must have been.

 

[Watchdog]

This has been posted before but if someone missed it, it's a very similar film made in San Francisco in 1906, before the big earthquake.

The San Francisco film is interesting from a historical standpoint, as it does show that part of the city as it was in 1906.

Comparing it to the NYC film of 1911, though, it's easy to see the two films are completely different in style and concept. The California film has the camera mounted in a fixed position...most likely mounted on the front of a streetcar. There are no pans, tilts, or zooms...focus is straight to the front. The camera operator has nothing to do with composing shots or framing subjects...he's simply standing at the camera turning the crank. He might not even be looking through the viewfinder. Why should he?

The film was probably seen as a marvel when it was filmed and exhibited in movie houses of the day, though, and these types of films were wildly popular with a public that often never went anywhere. It's almost the same length as a silent film from 1903 titled The Great Train Robbery, a film that thrilled and frightened thousands of people when it was shown.

The only way I can really enjoy the California film is to watch everything that's going on all around the camera...to the left and right of it...instead of focusing on what's directly in front of the lens.

It's interesting to note how the "horseless carriages" cut closely willy-nilly in front of the horse drawn carriage, while the always dependable ol' horse plods steadily along. It's as if the owners of those new fangled contraptions are showing their disdain for their own former mode of transportation. They've moved on into the 20th Century.

If I'd been there in 1906, I'd probably still been ridin' ol' Gitalong, shaking my fist at those upstarts in their fancy machines.

 

[UncleEd]

Amazing.

Couple of things.

First film probably in summer
or at least during warmer season and how so many
men wore the straw "boater" hat. Hats were
a necessary part of wardrobe but didn't realize
how popular the "boater" was.

Second thing was how oblivious people seemed to
the horse droppings as they crossed streets.

I read that a common injury for pedestrians was
getting too near the horses and being bitten.

 

[Watchdog]

I read that a common injury for pedestrians was getting too near the horses and being bitten.

I'd heard that, too. I got bit by a horse once. Wasn't doing a thing to him, and didn't think I was all that close, either. He actually took a step to bite me. That horse was just ornery.

 

[UncleEd]

Regarding horse bites, I was visiting
a stable and had my back to a stall.
Next thing I knew I felt the horse
digging into my jacket shoulder and
starting to pull me back. A handler
swatted the critter.

And regarding the boater hats I noticed
in my first posting. I checked and cities
had straw hat days, the day when all the
men were expected to leave their felt hats
at home and start wearing their straws.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Amazing.

First film probably in summer
or at least during warmer season and how so many
men wore the straw "boater" hat. Hats were
a necessary part of wardrobe but didn't realize
how popular the "boater" was.

In the first half of the 20th Century (part of which I remember as a kid), most grown men wore hats, no matter what their occupation or what they were doing at the time. Some, depending more or less on their status, also wore ties.

This is a picture of my uncle and my paternal grandfather taken about 1932. They were obviously outdoors and the sun was shining bright in Arizona - yet my grandfather wore a tie, and of course, a hat. He was at that time a sales/floor manager for a large department store in Phoenix (Korrick's).

Today, a 50-year old father and a 20-year-old son would probably both be wearing shorts, t-shirts, sandals, and baseball caps. Those were different times.

John

 

[S&WIowegan]

One of my grandfathers was a stone cutter/monument maker by trade. He went to San Francisco after the quake to get work during the rebuilding. Unfortunately he passed before I was born so I never got to hear any stories.

 

[eb07]

If I could go back I would want to go back and be on Lewis and Clark's expedition to see America before we ruined with roads and houses.

 

[JcMack]

On that film I saw my buddy Walt on his Velocipede.

 

[DWalt]

"PS being practical-minded I can't help but imagine what a big job cleaning "road apples" must have been."

And what do you do with all the dead horses? I wouldn't be surprised that a city the size of NYC probably had to dispose of several hundred per day. Maybe they just dumped them in the East River.