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Film, Video A Tough dance Shooting title from Biograph production logs: Dance at McGurks / Title in Biograph photo catalog: "Tough dance" at McGurks

Digital viewing copy

About this Item

Title

  • A Tough dance

Other Title

  • Shooting title from Biograph production logs: Dance at McGurks
  • Title in Biograph photo catalog: "Tough dance" at McGurks

Summary

  • From either side of a white, apparently outdoors, setting enter a man and woman, both wearing ragged street clothes and caps. As they approach center stage, the man grabs the woman's arm and pulls her to him, then slaps her. Still holding her arm, the man and his partner cockily strut towards the camera. The man grabs the woman in a crouched, bear-hug type of hold and they perform a rough little dance that almost seems a parody of a waltz. In a jerky type of jitterbug, the man twirls the woman out of his hold and back again, a movement which is repeated often within their spinning dance. They finally fall to the ground, still clutching each other, and roll around.
  • "Two people imitate the celebrated dance of the French Apaché. As the film begins, a man dressed in rough clothing approaches a woman, also dressed in tattered garments, who is standing near the center of camera position. They begin to accentuate their shoulder movements and, at the end of the film, are hitting one another and rolling about on the floor. The participants were Kid Foley and Sailor Lil, who claimed to be the champion performers of this popular Bowery dance"--Early motion pictures.

Names

  • Kid Foley, performer
  • Sailor Lil, performer
  • Bonine, R. (Robert K.), camera
  • American Mutoscope and Biograph Company
  • Paper Print Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • United States : American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1902.

Headings

  • -  Tough dance
  • -  Dancers--New York (State)--New York
  • -  Bowery (New York, N.Y. : Street)

Genre

  • Filmed vaudeville acts
  • Silent films
  • Short films
  • Nonfiction films

Notes

  • -  H24891 U.S. Copyright Office
  • -  Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 9Dec1902; H24891.
  • -  In the variant title, the name McGurks (also known as McGurks Suicide Hall, or Suicide Hall) refers to an infamous saloon located at 295 Bowery in New York. Sources indicate that this film was not actually taken at McGurks, but at the Biograph studio.
  • -  Original main title lacking.
  • -  Duration: 0:45 at 15 fps.
  • -  Although Niver's Early motion pictures says that the dance being performed is the French Apaché, according to the Oxford dictionary of dance, the Apaché did not appear in France until about 1908, several years after this film was made. The Tough dance appears to be an earlier form of a related dance.
  • -  Biograph production no. 2166.
  • -  Paper print shelf number (LC 1894) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
  • -  Additional holdings for this title may be available. Contact reference librarian.
  • -  Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 331; AFI cat.: film beginnings, 1893-1910; Biograph production logs, v. 1, p. 124; Biograph photo catalog, v. 5 [MI]; Ferrara, E. The Bowery : a history of grit, graft and grandeur, p. 115.
  • -  Camera, R. Bonine.
  • -  Performers: Kid Foley, Sailor Lil.
  • -  Filmed June 19, 1902, at the Biograph New York City studio, perhaps on the roof.
  • -  Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.

Medium

  • viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (16 ft.) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.
  • viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (42 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm.
  • dupe neg pic 1 film reel of 1 (16 ft.) : si., b&w ; 16 mm.
  • dupe neg pic 1 film reel of 1 (42 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm.
  • paper pos 1 roll of 1 (ca. 40 ft.) : b&w ; 35 mm.
  • paper pos (copy 2) 1 roll of 1 (ca. 40 ft.) : b&w ; 35 mm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • FLA 4808 (viewing print)
  • FEC 2134 (viewing print)
  • FRA 1907 (dupe neg pic)
  • FPE 7636 (dupe neg pic)
  • Box 0098A (paper pos)
  • Box 5176E (paper pos, copy 2)

Repository

  • Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA dcu

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 96520498

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Bonine, R. , Camera, American Mutoscope And Biograph Company, and Paper Print Collection. A Tough dance. performeds by Kid Foley, and Sailor Lil United States: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1902. Video. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/96520498/.

APA citation style:

Bonine, R., American Mutoscope And Biograph Company & Paper Print Collection. (1902) A Tough dance. Kid Foley & Sailor Lil, performers United States: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/96520498/.

MLA citation style:

Bonine, R. , Camera, American Mutoscope And Biograph Company, and Paper Print Collection. A Tough dance. performer by Kid Foley, and Sailor Lil United States: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1902. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/96520498/>.