Children in the Surf, Coney Island -1904

Filmed August 3, 1904.
American Mutoscope & Biograph Company
Coney Island's Sea Gate in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cameraman: G. W. Bitzer
Ring-around-the-rosie
Young children wade and play in the surf at Sea Gate in Coney Island as some women swim in the distance. A jump cut [2:40] shows a toddler as he moves for the camera holding a cricket paddle. A moment later a man fetches the paddle out of the water, leaving the boy with a toy boat with which to play. He seems more interested in the real schooner sailing far out in the distance, but only momentarily. He'd rather be back on the beach with everyone else. After a few more attempts at making him a star the boy picks up the toy and leaves.
By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea!
You and me, you and me, oh how happy we'll be!
When each wave comes a-rolling in
We will duck or swim,
And we'll float and fool around the water.
Over and under, and then up for air,
Pa is rich, Ma is rich, so now what do we care?
I love to be beside your side, beside the sea,
Beside the seaside, by the beautiful sea!
- By The Beautiful Sea (Harold Atteridge / Harry Carroll) (1914)