- 2J1 - EROTIC TENDENCIES TN nm. ignn-ionc John Hagan One of the main attractions at the 1R3T rr,i ui was the unveiling of Thomas EdUnni !• C°lumblan Exposition in Chicago could show a film with a maximum i 3 ^netosc°Pe. a peep-show machine «hich 1894, the Kinatoac^e mLľítľcomľ9 f ab°Ut ninBty second9- 0n APril 14' followed two weeks liter by what 2 "av t™? "*« ľ°rk- This -™rt — against a film, tha work íl ouestľnn S ?!? ľ FirSt recorded Protest DANCE. This film, wh"h íenľ" ío hní^h í"" 8 D°L°RITfi IN ™E PflSSI°N machines at Atlanúc cíty^s Laídualí cnn Í°h °7ÍCBnrBcord f°r P-aP-show a North Afriran dano«, ,*i ! °oardualk» consisted of an Americanized version of a North African dance which had been popular at the Columbian Exposition. UÍUE nrp^tľ/°ll0l,'ed-1 S00n aft«»«d». a Pantomime of a bride's wedding night preparations was closed by order of a New York judge who denounced it as an outrage upon public decency.» Senator Bradley of New Jersey expressed shock at a film in which the Spanish dancer Carmencita revealed her ankles. The proprietor of the New Jersey parlor in which the film was being shown was ordered to replace it immediately with something more suitable. Similarly, the owner of the Kinetoscope parlor on thB Boardwalk was asked by legal authorities not to show the film of Dolorita's dancB. In light of this, he cancelled orders from the Kinetoscope Company for films of a similar nature. Some officials found the erotic elements of these pictures to be only one indication of their general vulgarity and attempted to stop the burgeoning film industry altogether. In 1895, the Flayor of New York triBd to shut all nickelodeons as immoral places of amusement and in this and other states heavy license fees were charged in the attempt to curb the growth of the movies Tnese large—scale attempts did not prove very effective and action against particular films continued. A film of Fatima, another "exotic dancer" who had appeared at the Columbian Exposition, fell victim to the whims of a censor who placed a stencil ------ which, in the felicitous words of Knight and Alpert, "resembled two New England fences"------over the offending portions of the dancer's anatomy.! The Edison studio was not above exploiting the erotic nature of Dolorita's dance. A Kinetoscope exhibitor, looking for a film suited to the tastes of his copper town audience, received this reply to an inquiry in 1Q96: We are confident that the Dolorita PASSION DANCE would be as exciting as you desire. In fact, we will not show it in our parlor. You speak of the class of trade which wants something of this character. We think this will certainly answer your purposes. A man in Buffalo has one of these films an m ořme us that he frequently has forty or fifty men waiting in line to see it. lue do not send out films for inspection n2 ĺ. u —j« ife Hahut in April 1896, was considered an Edison's «"ascope whic m t djbut in p .^ ^^ ^ g improvement over the "J"«0.?"^ mouieg gh0wed what may have been the screen One of the early ££■»£ fchen Q hit on BroadL)ay, had as a high-screen's first kiss. THE uiiuuw ju , 3ohn c_ Rice< Thia light a prolonged kiss between the actors nay I i Ml if r i im ar aaaad unci ^ /,. Howavar. "hen tha film raachad r*„«- f,n«h»r nf tha iltnrarv maaazlna tmi ;;-Wľrľ0ní.....íifild .pUtu.n on. and ndt) t. .t.tuM i. nothing I.....L.. . n nfm the "tag. ' ibl..ux il( rric. and europo . c.n.oral liln| ._«pactaclaa •• P*«' wiv.ntr. Statuary» Ln vti '««1 i íl deletion, a. I 'h«t pa n i la at Naw York thaatrai on i i with u ite natraJ iffln9 In whli 1* po** n vivnnta | lainoa ^uaic halla. AMrleafi «lft * ' ivanta ami Am. awapapnra >ad compariaona batweon bha ra and tha I •«• Hm ■ arotic aapacta of aarly cinomo couM ba found pra v in aoma r in f ;iaan and American popular thaatra. In English auppor /ba dut ha ninataanth century, enricnturoa or div/orca .man wara atagad in which famala witnaaana, uaunlly r n drag, would a ca -r avidanre. Tři- Minn prašan* f hair aalacioua . Whan the i I uiaa ov/or, tha platí m would an axl Poaaa Plaatiqunn. Along with hurleequ'- ' ■ mod tha hanin or I nuaic halla of the °* in franca, P luced naidarable numbar ot c llmp *»t yaara of tha i taanth cantury wi ina ,9' í *rd«. ,11 i i ,„u Thaar ■ lmn 11 »a or «oman und laaing r.-r bed; iUix Ol »man poainq as "'^ naa - . The *„ an mama draw ita a Bnt. řh„B rrflnch , own voudavi 111 n. •n n°ľnľ ľľV ^ its root, in both European ulíznu ľ íľ ľ' "' on of 8uch ■■tabli.h.d American Vaud. . .. Iľ,ľ ľľ 2 ľľ0U' ,nd th" "-aveling playor troupes. •h of time Hei LE in"!""? ' ^^ Ulthln ^ r», . ,«.n (1 „, r l'0 " Jn flí"«i«. vaudeville grew it i. not .urpri.ing ÍJ.Ví !.*« *%£"* J»'«" ■' »f*""11 •oon becam. a .tr. ,.„„, " 3hl" *■ °nd to the point - - «apie of vaudeville pmnrama. Juat aa netoseopea - 23 5 - had included vaudeville performer- = Include the movi.a.3 A„ if „J"' " 8"bJ8ctB. vaudeville soon began to genaou. naturae of the eocietiee um l iľ < itS "BrÍBd ori9ina and the hetero-cineme often did not deal with *Jllt « 80me 88n9B mi"ored, early ad the eroticiam which ...hn BXP"«=itly and neatly but instead which ie intertwined with It« «thi iP"ľ " aocioty'a humor and drama: ■» etnical, ethnic and class concerns. my purpoaaa, I would define th«, .,„m. , which exp Ltly or imolicltl« hi ^ľ BlBmants in Film as those elements al.rn.nti several fnrL !l r ľ!™31 dB8ire or «PPaal. Such di.cu.. edeg, ,iy in a Jape ŕ 1 mlted 1»ZT "J"1™ "* ROt B8Sy t0 - tha mo.t celebrated being Parkaľ !Í„Í ' V"0 BCOPB' S°mB fLla Criti" mythological and paychoanaiy?ic ..pecte of ICn^™ 8n8lyZed '" det3Í1 ^ It an art uhlrh r«.ri.^ . aBPecta or cinema aa a popular art - - that ,' dream tíe «„Í"'*, "yn,bollc f°rmB uhich nesd to be deciphered íní. tv S'eneľvľľ ,'ÍÍT a0XUal and 80ciBl bBliefs °f fcns ""aaeee.* „Íllr rnn-°Lrľľ o h ^ *" ^ Í0 mlnd WhBn lookin9 <* the early films f ľ.-noľľí Vil "ľ: BUen thB m08t inn0CBnt °F thBm- «"h their reams nf .uggeetive imagery: the depiction, for inatance, of innocent but seductive yi | nirle; or of women who are magically transformed or dismembered. ,nBl 'ample, the poeaibla aignificance of the robber as a sexual bandit - - "ateolirv m0n'8 wife in A P10DERN SAPPHO or hiding beneath the bed of y< girls in THE GIHLS, THE BURGLAR AND THE RAT. These films have a in erotic qunlity which ia absent from more explicit films since, by not making eroticiam explicit, they unconsciously suggest itB ambiguity and secrecy I do not mean to suggest, by the uey, that the film routines, often besed on stage routines, ln which erotic elements appear ore used only in relation to women. Clan, aa well as women, are sann being dismembered or eyed by huge isects or with their clothes askew. In these instances, it is the manner in which the routine ia pressnted whirh is pertinent: the particular "allure" which characterizes most of the women as opposed to the men. There are a number of ways in the sarly cinema in which women are depicted n what might be said to be a sensuel manner. For instance, young women are ahown aa being essentially innocent but naughty and vivacious: enjoying e holiday away from academic regimentation (BOARDING SCHOOL GIRLS, Edison 1905); lingly posing for a perhaps deceptively genteel man with a camera IT00 HUCH JOHNSON, 1000)5; attacking, spiritedly end without any real sense of outrage, a man hiding under their bed but then losing their courege when they see a rot (THE GIRLS, THE BURGLAR AND THE RAT, 1905). ■ i i tk „„ „r1u nim, are often vulnerable or the victims of attack (e.g. In THOSE WEDDING BELLS SHALL NOT RING 0 ^ _ . ^.^ thg father of arrives at a wadding end shoots the gro ^ ^ ^^ ^ her child. On the ighter side «hen th. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ prosecuted in THE B IGAmIST s TRI AL ^1^ >> oft_times married husband. !:"!hM GÍRLsľBlSÍi'SaSSr»» Se RAT and many other films, morality - 2 54 - Some worn threat to the virtue of women, and mischief -ai°SC8 ^uTa^eaT^ P™«1 ^ justice is administered with a Y In A MODERN SAPPHO (1905), a uioman ia ,en are actually lic*n;*0"*'theLt home when they are interrupted by kissing her husband in the hall o ^^ carrieg tne flighted wife a burglar who BS9aul^p:„B"|Uf TqT Ü905), women visit a fortune teller and, upstairs. In THE SOCIETY PAU1ISTU» J.^ g lo?)f ne bBgins to kiss after they pay him - th ( he site of her thwarted attempt to nl ,1905), an actress1 understudy (if mľnhľ8* In THE PRInA D0NNA UNDERSTUDY kicking after she has been discovered tr *"*" ÖB her mBid) is Cörrled QwaY psychoanalytic and mythopOBic critic 9 °n thö star,B stockings. A that in each of these films a u J"d"in9ithan my8eU might ProP°«e movements after having been frustrated T I I Y simulatBS orgasmic ------in one case, the pleasure nf a k« r QttBmPť to Qain erotic pleasure wearing exotic end forbidden germe^sT*0™'' *" ^ 0thQr' the Dle"ur0 of In each of these tuo films, an emohAoio u „i fho fori- that tho aHr,r..' • öumY ^19°5), the jokes centre around ľiíľríní nni Vrí I It™ Pl"B °f mmm'a 1b93 that UB ■« «re, in fact, artificial ones such as those found in clothing stores for display purpose». One occasionally even comas across undergarments exhibited in a dramatic fÍím- ÍSfmaľ íaUB ^en d0nB l8S9 ror atmospheric purposes than to provide, a little titillation for the viewer - - conaider, for instance, the pair of stockings which hangs prominently but gratuitously upon the clothesline in THE STRENUOUS LIFE (1904). Trick effects were often used to display women in an erotic fashion: the merging of several women into one in a number of Pléliea' films as well as in THREE GIRLS INTO ONE and PIERROT'S PROBLEM (1900), to cite a few examples« conversely, thB "dismantling" of a woman in THE WAY TO SELL CORSETS (1904) in which, when the woman suddenly becomes a mannequin, shB is taken apart and her clothes removed; the evocation of a beautiful woman by an opium usnr in TOUR DE MONDE DE P0LICIER (Pathé, 1905); a nude seductress1 transformation into a skeleton in TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY (1900; perhaps bassd on Melles' similar 1898 film). In all of these films, "magic" is used to touch upon the mystique of women: multiplying or dissecting their allure; transrorminti them into sensuel fantaaieB or harbingers of misery. It is curious how films made on the same set, Bnd around tho sama theme, treat eroticism differently. For instance, the same bathhouse Bervee as the site for various kinds of mildly erotic misadventures in A POOR PLACE FOR LHUE MAKING, ON THE BEACH AT BRIGHTON and HE WENT INTO THE WRONG OATH HOUSE (all 1905). In a crude way, these films made on the same set utilize, through variations on the same basic plot, the tinge of eroticism, and the sensual aura which characterize a place like a b.thh«..e. Or consider A ™ SAPPHO, POMPEY'S HONE;.GIRL ancROVE'S E ™ -1^)^ Allies films^ use the eame set "hi^ P""""^ 9tands unseen in the foreground the background while ™°th« f""1" Bfn- eacn film uses this specially Although the plot changes from film to ^^ unlch center, around designed two-area set in order to develop a narra sexual infidelity. j „„ nn. riav and with the same actora, involve Three other 1905 films, all made on one r^^ a man 1(J 8B>n advBn, variations on the theme of seductio . ^^ ^ ^ flirtatloUBly t„BBe towards a woman on a o ouch, pullin ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE, him; he finally gives her a lingering kiss. .... „k —-ntlallv th» same actions but thia Ume on th. s«™ « =• ^, 5í"Ujf Uns, LUCKY AT LOVE, thay rep.et their am, ,, r and in ^LUCnKY " CJ™*8 ThM. thra» »lightly ri.que picture, behavior while eitUng on a table. me» attempt of both tyD8. resell, the -»•' "•'"'^AÍc.I^t actione eeem unique by veíy * ľhrer;"a;.0amľrw"c8hľ0::dCtTľonb5:^eÍC:Pon Which. such ettrectione ere manifested. mnHfl nn f ha aame eet and around the aame theme - -5ometi.es, however, films mede on *c™lmtmly different meeninge. I flnd 0n or ;JS^ made only to diepley acme tenta- instance, KISS re. uwa/ COnniTTEE ON ART usee the some poetere, thi. litíng posters °' ■ J^f"^ £j™Tbut rather to show the morel outrage time not for purposes of ta^llza SAIL0RS flSH0RE (1904)f girl. „„ SE S" r íg'"ht": n"£. SrTEilSlng Tor en pbviou.ly l..ciwiou. purpoee Sil. in I HRE IN A BURLESQUE THEATRE, equally raunchy girle are carried through the same window» but this time for a more honorable, even noble, reason: they are being rescued. Erotic films et timee resemble other films which ere not erotic. F instance, Edison's 1902 BURLESQUE SUICIOE ia e cloee shot of a rotund man taking e drin, then pretending to kill himself, and finally pointing et the camera and laughing. In a similar film, THE WINE OPENER (1905), the viewer ie nn' e tutt of a joke thia time but rather the object of a flirtation? the film conaieti of a close shot of a laughing woman, her dreea alipping off her shoulder, looking into the camera es she opens a bottle and then drlnka wine. Both pictures would seem to fall into that category of film known as the facial. In her history of British cinema, Rachel Lou obeervea that filmmakers began to use close-ups in the late 1890s in the production of " acials". In these films, which were based on vaudeville routines, an actor with e comical expreaaion would be seen in a tight shot doing something amuaing. The close-up was a device used many timea to incraeee the erotic quality of a film. Besidea the examplea already noted, one might mention THE TROUBLESOME FLY (1903) which conaiata entirely of a close-up of a women'e feet with s fly hovering over them; or A PIPE DREAtf (1905) in which a woman in cloee-up smokes e cigarette (opium?) and then, ea ehe amilea seductively, imagines that she ia holding a paaaionate young man in her hand. At one point, she looks into the camera - - as if making the audience conepirators in her naughty fantasy. The close-up also provided a means by which early films could display to full SľSnÄ naughtiness) of the ailhouette. For instance, in in iTll t ,(J90?,f a ÜOman 8tandin9 before her h™° "es her husband tlnL ÍM0U" i8ei?9 the m8id behind a wind™ «hade. This kiss, shown ae se'eľof^oth1;; íl! moatHdramatÍCal]y Uses the cloB-up to increase the e'ale Lstomer "ľn V"' Br°ticlem ÍB ™E 'AY SHOE CLERK (Edison) and his t Io^ÍSÍ if mI ÍTUP/ hÍfl handS tyin^ *** «hoe; the film then cuts Po.ItÄ hZl J£ ■""*■ the ■««■" change in earners - 257 - fnOTNOTES 4. . '. 7. The erotic appeal of the dancer urn» aiBQ „„t f„ filme of the period. One of the mn.ľ i ♦ Ĺ 9°°d U8e in meny rlcti°n«l ANIMATED PICTURE STUDIO (lgn-O 1<° intor89tin°- ie the »trick film" the film la Isadora Duncan. Howe er" \ Zl^lT*^* ^ ľ" d8nC8r '" one of the original Duncen Dancerľ li„ T Btt«™">d 8 ahowing during which uaa being projected and atandlnn - ľ V BpproachBd **• «"een aa the film hegen proteetíng ^i^S^^ß^^^ *"" °' *' ^ A comparable mixture of nmnriafu p,«.» „_. i The factuel information found in thia paper has been compiled largely from the sources listed in the Bibliography. As regards eroticism in early cinema, several of these sources also contain a good deal of information which fall beyond the scope of thia paper. Among Tyler's writings, see particularly THE HOLLYWOOD HALLUCINATION (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944). Note also Stan Brakhage'a discussion of how Holies "drew upon the whole mythic hiatory of women," which can be found in Brakhage's I LP) BIOGRAPHIES (Berkeley: Turtle Island, 1977). One finds this ssme combination of innocence and flirtatious naughtiness in the behavior of young girls being photographed for the non-fictional early film BRIGHTON SCENES AT AHUSEWENT PARK. Piany of the filme mentioned in thia paper are not being shown at the F1AF conference aince they are of little consequence except as illustrationa of certain points which I wish to raiee. Except where noted, all of the films mentioned in this paper were made at Biograph. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates shown are the yeara of both production and copyright except for the Biograph filma copyrighted in 1902, in unich case the films may have bean made earlier. - 2JB - BIBLIOGRAPHY Elson, John. EROTIC THEATRE (Neu York: Taplinger, 1973). Hammond, Paul. MARVELLOUS MtLIES (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975). Hendricks, Gordon. ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN FILM (Neu York: Arno Press, 1972) See particularly THE KINET0SC0PE book in this volume. Knight, Arthur and Hollis Alpert, "The History of Sex in the Cinema----- Part 1, The Original Sin." PLAYBOY, April 1965. Kyrou, Ado. AMOUR-EROTISME ET CINEMA (ParJBt Le Terrain Vague, 1957). Lou, Rachel and Roger flam/ell. THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH FILM, 1896-1906 (Neu York: R.R. Bouker, 1948). McLean, Jr., Albert F. AMERICAN VAUDEVILLE AS RITUAL (Kentucky: Univorsity of Kentucky Press, 1965). Ramsaye, Terry. A MILLION AND ONE NIGHTS (Neu York: Simon and Schuster, 1926) Randall, Richard S. CENSORSHIP OF THE MOVIES (Madison: University of Wiscono* Press, 196B). n Sklar, Robert. MOVIE-MADE AMERICA (Nnu York: Vintage Books, 1975). I -239 SIMULTANEOUS ACTIuN^nt^^ John Hegen - USA The early cinema employed a number of tvoe* a uarV baaic lawel, this could invoiL k ! »i^ltaneous action. On actione taking place at the aame S wítíín9 * hTľ °f BÍmple' incidantal more realistic and leea theatricals „ľ ľ 8hot in order to mal „ „ next Bhot reveals that he le accus y orical» 9hot relationship suggests that what one finds era * a^on.2 However, I would which reinforces the film'b "lmul"""ty_n rllm8 in which the simultaneous prefer to concentrate for the "».t part activity occurs within the ahot itself.