A Kiss in the Tunnel -1899

This story derives from a popular magic lantern slide show and shows a couple in a railway carriage, going into a dark, Freudian tunnel, taking the opportunity to steal a kiss. As the train emerges into the light the couple move apart in a guilty fashion, and although scarcely enough to make your Victorian grandmother blush, it gives the scene its slight frisson of naughtiness. (Bryony Dixon)

Kiddies and Rabbits - 1901

Notice how the poor rabbits appear to be thrown unceremoniously into the frame by someone standing off camera. Produced by the Warwick Trading Company

Women's Rights (1899)

A century before Little Britain's Emily and Florence first assaulted our screens, a pair of equally rubbish transvestites could be spotted in this short comedy. Our cross-dressing housewives are enjoying a gossip before they're abused by a couple of men. The film doesn't make clear why they deserve this attack, but an accompanying set of cards produced by the production company indicates that the ladies were engaged in a discussion about the then pressing political issue of women's suffrage.
It's hard not to suspect a degree of misogyny on the behalf of not only the abusing men, but also the filmmakers. There's no record of why the housewives should have been played by an amateur drag act, but perhaps it's nothing more than that noble British tradition of men slipping into frocks at the drop of a hat. (Robin Baker)

Daisy Doodad's Dial - 1914

Country: United Kingdom

Director: Laurence Trimble

Stars: Florence Turner and Tom Powers

Release Date: April 1914 (UK)

Production Co: Turner Films

Plot Keywords: Contest | Dream Sequence | Arrest | Face | Making Faces  |  Toothache |

Character Name In Title

Genres: Short | Comedy

For those who like their humour daft and thoroughly unsophisticated, this silent short will be a delight. The titular Daisy enters a face-pulling competition ('dial' - as in watch dial - is neglected slang for a face), but on the big day she falls victim to toothache. When her husband returns from the contest triumphant, the distinctly unladylike Daisy vows revenge in the next competition. But her impromptu rehearsal on a train causes chaos among her fellow passengers, and things only get worse after she is arrested for disturbing the peace...

Director/lead actress Florence Turner was an early Hollywood star, who briefly operated her own production company in Britain in the mid-1910s. Back in Hollywood in the late-1920s, she appeared alongside Buster Keaton in 'College' (1927), before her star faded. (Mark Duguid).

Mary Jane's Mishap (1903)

Laura Bayley, the most prolific British actress of the period and the wife of director G.A. Smith, shows her flare for clowning in this uproarious black comedy. Mary Jane learns that lighting your hearth with a tank full of paraffin may not be the safest of household chores, in a stern tale that could have come from the pages of 'Struwwelpeter'.
As in much of Smith's work, the film delights in its trick effects, including an explosion and the apparition of a ghost. (Alex Davidson)

Edison: The Stenographer's Friend - 1910

The Stenographer's Friend; Or, What Was Accomplished by an Edison Business Phonograph
Edison Manufacturing Company, 1910
It's a busy day at the office, and the stenographer is exhausted from trying to keep up with the demands on her skills. Even when she stays late, she cannot catch up with all of the work. But then a man comes into the office to demonstrate the many advantages of his company's new business phonograph.

The Burgler’s Dilema - 1911

Wilful Peggy (1910) 2/2

Peggy (Mary Pickford) is a high-spirited young woman from a poor family who catches the eye of a wealthy lord.

Wilful Peggy (1910) 1/2

Peggy (Mary Pickford) is a high-spirited young woman from a poor family who catches the eye of a wealthy lord.

The New York Hat (1912)

From 1912, a film starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore - "The New York Hat". It was filmed in Ft. Lee, New Jersey! It is a short film produced by Biograph in 1912. Based on a scenario by Anita Loos, it was directed by D.W. Griffith and stars Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore and Lillian Gish. It is considered one of the most notable of the Biograph shorts and is perhaps the best known example of Pickford's early work.
The story is simple: Mollie (Mary Pickford) leads a cheerless, impoverished life, largely because of her stern, miserly father. Her mother is mortally ill, but before dying, she gives the minister(Lionel Barrymore) some money with which to buy her daughter the "finery" her father has always forbid her. Mollie is delighted when the minister presents her with a fashionable New York hat she has been longing for, but village gossips misinterpet the minister's intentions and spread malicious rumors. Mollie becomes a social pariah, and her father tears up the beloved hat in a rage. All ends well however, after the minister produces a letter from Mollie's mother about the money she left the minister to spend on Mollie.
Mary Pickford is young & beautiful in it. A young dashing Lionel Barrymore is the minister. Its rare we've seen him at this age long before arthritis set in and was in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Both of the Gish sisters are seen as well. Finally, even Mack Sennet makes a cameo appearance as well! Also, since American Biograph was afraid of piracy (even way back then!), they incorporated their "AB" logo into the film itself. (Look closely on the back wall at Mary's house and you'll see the Biograph logo pasted on the wall!)
Released: December 5, 1912

His Trust Fulfilled - 1911

Continuing where His Trust (1911) leaves off, George, a slave, takes care of his deceased master's daughter after her mother's death. He sacrifices his own meager savings to give the girl a good life, until the money runs out and he tries to steal money from the girl's rich cousin.

Director:

D.W. Griffith

Writer:

Emmett C. Hall

Release Date:

19 January 1911 (USA) 
Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0001681/

His Trust - 1911