Trial Marriages - 1907

Country: USA
Language: English (intertitles)
Release Date: 17 January 1907 (USA)
Production Co: American Mutoscope & Biograph
Runtime: USA: 12 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
A man attempts a series of 'trial marriages' with various women, and eventually gives up on marriage altogether.

White Wings on Review - 1903

Country: USA
Filming Locations: New York City, New York, USA
Runtime: 3 min
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Documentary | Short
A fine picture of the celebrated "White Wings" or street-cleaning department of one district of Greater New York, showing over 350 men in line, and over 100 carts that are used to carry the refuse away to the dumping-wharf, marching through the streets of New York.

Franz Reichelt's Jump from the Eiffel Tower in 1912

Franz Reichelt, also known as Frantz Reichelt or François Reichelt (1879 – February 4, 1912), was an Austrian-born French tailor, inventor and parachuting pioneer, now sometimes referred to as the Flying Tailor, who is remembered for his accidental death by jumping from the Eiffel Tower while testing a wearable parachute of his own design. Reichelt had become fixated on developing a suit for aviators that would convert into a parachute and allow them to survive a fall should they be forced to leave their aircraft. Initial experiments conducted with dummies dropped from the fifth floor of his apartment building had been successful, but he was unable to replicate those early successes with any of his subsequent designs.
Believing that the lack of a suitably high test platform was partially to blame for his failures, Reichelt repeatedly petitioned the Parisian Prefecture of Police for permission to conduct a test from the Eiffel Tower. He was finally granted permission in early 1912, but when he arrived at the tower on February 4 he made it clear that he intended to jump himself rather than conduct an experiment with dummies. Despite attempts by his friends and spectators to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to deploy and he crashed into the icy ground at the foot of the tower. Although it was clear that the fall had killed him, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. The next day, newspapers were full of the story of the reckless inventor and his fatal jump – many included pictures of the fall taken by press photographers who had gathered to witness Reichelt's experiment – and a film documenting the jump appeared in newsreels.
Information extracted from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Reichelt