The Circle

“A clever characteristic dance called the 'Yellow Kid.' Very unique. Stage is in the Sutro Baths, San Francisco, Cal., and the audience is composed largely of bathers.” (Edison Catalog)

A man plays the trombone, to which is attached a saw.

Several men in a basement barbershop become excited by women walking past the window. The ankles and knees of the passersby are visible to the men below, causing pandemonium among the barbershop customers. Possibly released in 1901.

Opens on a closeup of a baboon "playing" a violin, then cuts to a medium shot of the same. The baboon wears a white short-sleeved shirt with a loose bow tie and tweed pants. Cuts to a closeup of the baboon in a circular mask or iris effect, without the violin but with a collar around his neck and a striped kitten that he places on his shoulder. Another iris effect opens to a long shot of a stage with a painted backdrop of a river. Standing at stage left is a woman in a spangled, sleeveless dress to the knee and high laced boots, holding the leash of a dark donkey. (Library of Congress)

This scene is laid in the parlor of a New York tenement. Two watchers at the wake are smoking and drinking, while the widow is weeping over the coffin. The attention of the three is attracted for an instant, and the supposed corpse rises up, drinks all the beer in the pitcher which is standing on a table nearby, and lies down in the coffin again. The mourners return, and seeing that the beer is gone, engage in a controversy over it. During the scrap the corpse jumps out of the coffin and takes part in the melee.

A burlesque on the work of highwaymen in Chicago. An elderly gentleman is sandbagged and robbed by a thug, who inadvertently leaves some money on the victim's prostrate body. A policeman shows up.

The scene takes place in a fashionable cafe. A well dressed couple enter, and after a careful perusal of the menu, conclude on an order of boiled eggs and Welsh rarebit.

This scene opens by showing a pretty cook mixing bread in the kitchen. Jones comes in unexpectedly from a trip and carries a dress suitcase. He inquires for his wife and is told by the cook that she is absent. Jones is hungry and asks for something to eat. The cook is very obliging and Jones becomes unruly, chuckles the cook under the chin. The cook puts her arms around Jones' neck and leaves finger imprints of flour on his back. This is where the trouble commences. (Edison catalogue)

A chimney sweep and a miller become involved in a street fight. The sweep has a bag of soot on his back, and the miller a bag of flour.

This is a new adventure in which our friend, Mr. Hooligan, appears in an entirely new capacity. On a stage a professor of magic is performing some wonderful experiments, and when he requests some assistance Happy Hooligan immediately volunteers his services and climbs upon the platform.

“Mr. and Mrs. Hayseed have heard of this wonderful Professor, and come to his office. They waken him from a trance, give him a fee and he hypnotizes them. The stunts they do while under his influence would make the Sphinx laugh for joy. Hayseed stands on his head, balances himself on a chair and takes off his clothes. Mrs. Hayseed also begins to disrobe, but she goes behind a screen. Her bare arm appears over the top, and she drops her clothes on the floor. It is a hair raising moment to guess what she's going to do next. The mystical appearances and lightning changes are managed with wonderful cleverness.” (Edison film catalog)

Vaudeville comedians Foottit and Chocolat hop and dance around and occasionally fight.

Papa is reading his newspaper and his little girl tickles his neck with a long straw. Thinking it is a fly papa "shoos" away the supposed fly with his hand…

A young man leers through a peephole in the wall separating two dressing rooms, but he is caught, and is humiliated by his victim.

The formal name of the peep show machine was the Mutoscope -- at least when it was manufactured by the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, which later became simply "Biograph" and is best remembered for the films directed by D.W. Griffith with G.W. "Billy" Bitzer as him cameraman. At this point, however, Griffith was a struggling stage actor and Bitzer was a leading cameraman for Biograph. This meant that he did all sorts of movies, including peep shows, and this is one of them. The title tells all and the show shows a lot as a woman exposes a shapely limb and is punished for her flouting of decent behavior.

A photographer welcomes a theather actress into his studio for a glamor shoot.

Instead of going to work, a man gets drunk, harasses women and torments his wife. The gimmick of this short comedic drama is that all characters are filmed from the waist down.

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

An aged father and his younger, mentally challenged son have been working hard every day to keep the bathhouse running for a motley group of regular customers. When his elder son, who left years ago to seek his fortune in the southern city of Shenzhen, abruptly returns one day, it once again puts under stress the long-broken father-son ties. Presented as a light-hearted comedy, Shower explores the value of family, friendship, and tradition.

Cretinetti sidesteps his creditors using several amazing tricks.