Babies Rolling Eggs
About Babies Rolling Eggs
On the White House south grounds, small children in winter clothes stand in a semicircle and throw eggs down the slope toward the camera. Boys run in from both sides and scramble for them. The Edison actuality was filmed at the Easter egg roll on 31 March 1902, when Theodore Roosevelt was president. A Library of Congress viewing copy runs 1 minute 9 seconds at 16 frames a second.
Cast & crew
More about Babies Rolling Eggs
Filmographies credit Edwin S. Porter. The Library of Congress record names Thomas A. Edison, Inc. as the company and does not name a director. Copyrighted 7 April 1902 by Thomas A. Edison (H16124). The catalog length is 50 feet. Edison also sold a 150-foot subject, Egg Rolling at the White House, which could be bought as three 50-foot films: Babies Rolling Eggs, Tossing Eggs, and Scrambling for Eggs. The Edison catalog quoted a Washington Star piece dated 1 April 1900, with a crowd of over 40,000. The roll this camera caught was 31 March 1902. AFI’s production date of 1 April 1902 is the day after.
Themes
Background
The White House Easter egg roll was a public lawn party. In 1902 it fell on 31 March. This is one of three Edison slices of that afternoon.
Making
Edison sent a camera to the south lawn and sold the roll three ways. This third is the babies at the top of the slope and the boys who dive for the eggs.
Look
The children face the lens and roll eggs down the incline into the scramble. Later frames move in closer on the lawn.
Music
Silent.
Preservation
A paper print is in the Library of Congress. The viewing copy runs 1 minute 9 seconds at 16 frames a second.
Notes
- The paper-print viewing copy at the Library of Congress is 33 feet on 16mm.
- The Star quotation in the Edison catalog is from 1900 and does not match the year of the negative.
- Marine Band music is in that 1900 newspaper account, not on this silent reel.
- Roosevelt’s own children, in the 1900 story Edison reprinted, watched from the balcony and did not join the crowd.
Scenes
- Children in winter clothes throw eggs toward the camera.
- Boys rush in from both sides and fight for them.
Also available
- Library of Congress
- Wikimedia Commons (1902 Babies Rolling Eggs.ogv)
