Domitor: International Society for the Study of Early Cinema
“Copy/Rights and Early Cinema”
In Person screenings: Monday, June 6, 2022 – 10:00 am – 9:00 pm
Online conference: June 9 – 12, 2022
Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University School of the Arts
Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room, 2nd fl.
10:00 – 10:45 am: “You Don’t Own Me”: Copy/Rights and Cinema’s First Nasty Women – Screening #1
10:45 – 11:30 am: Coffee Break
11:30 am – 12:15 pm: “You Don’t Own Me”: Copy/Rights and Cinema’s First Nasty Women – Screening #2
12:15 – 2:00 pm: Lunch
2:00 – 2:45 pm: Library of Congress: Copyright Comedies – Screening #1
2:45 – 3:15 pm: Coffee Break
3:15 – 4:00 pm: Library of Congress: Copyright Comedies – Screening #2
4:00 – 5:00 pm: Cocktail Hour
5:00 – 7:30 pm: Dinner
7:30 – 9:00 pm: Sensational Melodramas – Screening
“You Don’t Own Me”: Copy/Rights and Cinema’s First Nasty Women
Program 1: First Nasty Women Screening #1 – 10:00 – 10:45 am
Le Rembrandt de la rue Lepic / The Rembrandt in Rue Lepic. Dir.: Jean Durand (Gaumont, France, 1911) cas.: Berthe Dagmar, Gaston Modot, French intertitles. Archive: GP Archives [FRPG]. RT: 6 min.
Zoé et le parapluie miraculeux / Zoé and the Miraculous Umbrella. Dir. Roméo Bosetti (Pathé, France, 1913) cas.: Little Chrysia. Archive: Eye Filmmuseum [NLA]. RT: 4 min.
La grève des nourrices / The Nursemaids’ Strike. Dir.: André Heuzé (Pathé, France, 1907). Archive: GP Archives [FRPG]. RT: 12 min.
La Peur des Ombres / Fear of Shadows. (Pathé, France, 1911). Archive: Eye Filmmuseum [NLA]. RT: 4 min.
Daisy Doodad’s Dial. Dir.: Florence Turner; scen.: Florence Turner (Turner Films, UK, 1914) cas.: Florence Turner, Tom Powers. Archive: British Film Institute [GLB]. RT: 9 min.
An Up-to-Date Squ*w. Dir.: George Le Soir (American Kinema / Pathé, US, 1911). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 7 min. (With a video introduction by TJ Cuthand.)
10:45 – 11:30 am Coffee Break
First Nasty Women Screening #2 – 11:30 am – 12:15 pm
Lea Bambola / Lea as a Doll. (Cines, Italy, 1913) cas.: Lea Giunchi, Raymond Frau, Giuseppe Gambardella, Lorenzo Soderini. Dutch intertitles. Archive: Eye Filmmuseum [NLA]. RT: 6 min.
Dollars and Sense. Dir.: Walter White and Andy Anderson (Triangle Keystone, US, 1916) cas.: Ora Carew, Joseph “Baldy” Belmont, Nicholas Cogley, Blanche Payson, Mal St. Clair, Lige Crommie, Joseph Callahan. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 30 min.
Total runtime for both First Nasty Women programs: 78 min.
Musical Accompaniment: Liz Magnes
12:15 – 2:00 pm Lunch
Program 2: Library of Congress: Copyright Comedies Screening #1 – 2:00 – 2:45 pm
Pruning the Movies. (Nestor, US, 1914) cas.: Harry L. Rattenberry, Carmen de Philippi, Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 5 min.
Imperial Japanese Dance. (Edison, US, 1894). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 30 sec.
Early Edison Camera Tests. (Edison, US, 189?). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 1 min.
Censorship and its Absurdities. (Edison, US, 1915). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 5 min.
In Wrong. Dir.: Phillips Smalley (Crystal, US, 1914) cas.: Vivian Prescott, Charles DeForrest. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 10 min.
Tillie’s Tomato Surprise. Dir.: Howell Hansell (Lubin, US 1915) cas.: Marie Dressler. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 11 min.
Indian Land Grab. (Champion, US, 1910). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 11 min.
2:45 – 3:15 pm Coffee Break
Library of Congress: Copyright Comedies Screening #2 – 3:15 – 4:00 pm
The Stolen Play. Dir.: Harry Harvey (Falcon Features, US, 1917) cas.: Ruth Roland, William Conklin. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 12 min.
And the Villain Still Pursued Her. Dir.: J. Stuart Blackton (Vitagraph, US, 1906) cas.: Paul Panzer. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 6 min.
The Doll’s Revenge. Dir.: Lewin Fitzhamon (Hepworth, UK, 1907) cas.: Gertie Potter, Bertie Potter. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 3 min.
The Disintegrated Convict. (Vitagraph, US, 1907). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 5 min.
The Mexican Joan of Arc. Dir.: Kenean Buel (Kalem, US, 1911) cas.: Jane Wolfe, Carlyle Blackwell, Alice Joyce. Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 9 min.
Fads and Fashions of 1900. (?, US, 194?). Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 2 min.
Copyright Duping / “Copy/Rights and Early Cinema”: Piracy
The Great Train Robbery (Edison Co., US, 1903) / Great Train Robbery (Lubin Co., US, 1904).
Archive: Library of Congress [USW]. RT: 5 min.
After the Edison Company The Great Train Robbery, Sigmund Lubin, later known as the “Pirate King” made his own train robbery film, which many believe is better than the Edison one. Before U.S. copyright was established in 1912, all U.S. companies “duped” and remade each other’s films, especially in the 1897–1907 period. To go with “Copy/Rights and Early Cinema,” Domitor’s conference theme, we’re showing the Lubin Company “remake” of the Edison Company film in split screen to make the argument that we need to study dupes, remakes, and piratical copies side by side.
Total runtime for both Copyright Comedies programs: 86 min.
Musical Accompaniment: Donald Sosin
4:00 – 5:00 pm Cocktail Hour
5:00 – 7:30 pm Dinner
Program 3: Sensational Melodramas – 7:30 – 9:00 pm
Who Will Marry Mary? Dir.: Walter Edwin, sc.: Ida Damon (Edison Co., US, 1913) cas.: Mary Fuller. Chap. 1, “A Proposal from the Duke.” Archive: Eye Filmmuseum [NLA]. RT: 15 min.
Dutch translation: Wanda Strauven.
Previously thought lost, this chapter from Edison’s unsuccessful sequel to What Happened to Mary (1912) will be shown for what is likely the first time in over 100 years. This is one of two chapters that is the only known extant footage of the six-chapter serial, so we may not ultimately be able to answer the question “Who Will Marry Mary?” but we may be able to tell whether audiences in 1913 were right to follow that question up with “Who cares?”
Een Carmen van het noorden/Carmen of the North. Dir./sc.: Maurits H. Binger & Hans Nesna (Filmfabriek Hollandia, NL, 1919) cas: Annie Bos, Adelqui Migliar, Jan van Dommelen, Jeanne van der Pers. Archive: Eye Filmmuseum [NLA]. RT: 57 min.
Starring Dutch diva Annie Bos in the seductive title role, this melodrama is based on the famous novella Carmen (1845) and follows soldier Jozef’s fall from grace after meeting temptress Carmen, an arrested factory worker he’s tasked with guarding. This surviving copy of Een Carmen van het noorden, a color preservation carried out by Eye Filmmuseum in 1997, is the American distribution version, which contains an alternate happier ending.
Total: 72 min.
Musical Accompaniment: Donald Sosin.
Special thanks: Jane Gaines, Maggie Hennefeld, Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi, Cindi Rowell, Kate Saccone, Tami Williams.