Blacksmith Scene (1893) Barber Shop, The (1893) These two Edison shorts are more "film like" than previous items from the studio, which were pretty much just camera tests. In the first film we see three men hammering some iron before taking a break and passing a beer around.
Edison innovators W.K.
The history of anything involves trying to discover the accidents of convention that stuck. Movies could have taken off from any of a number of the already mature arts: especially painting.
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Before I discuss this film, I'd like to clear up the date discrepancy surrounding the short. On the Kino's "Movies Begin" set we aren't actually given a date to the short, as it is put in a collection of eight Edison movies that aren't in chronological (since "The Kiss" comes at the beginning and this is near the end of the list).
I thought that this movie is from 1893. Please check once more time is 1894 correct year.
Yes those were the days when you could get a shave and a haircut for a nickel (according to the sign behind the barber). This barber shop is on the stage in the Black Maria studio - so called because, to some people, the weird design of this building made them think of a horse-drawn police paddy-wagon that was called a "Black Maria" - at the Edison laboratory.
The Barbershop is another short that I saw on the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. A guy walks up to a barbershop, a man is getting shaved, and another man is there reading the newspaper.
