Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
About Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
Mannie, a pit bull owned by vaudeville performer Laura Comstock, jumps and punches a hanging bag. The film opens with a five-second shot of Comstock and the dog at a table, a sign reading Laura Comstock in front of them. The rest is the bag. Edwin S. Porter directed. The act was then at Keith's Union Square Theatre.
Cast & crew
More about Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
Edison's catalog said Mannie's jumps and punches show how much patience the training took. Opening on a posed portrait of the performers was new. Porter took it from the lantern slides that used to precede filmed scenes, and other American producers picked it up. Mannie later appears in Edison Buster Brown shorts, the Happy Hooligan short Pie, Tramp and the Bulldog, and The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Themes
Look
Porter opens on a posed shot of Comstock and Mannie, then cuts to the dog working the bag.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The bag hangs from a rope in front of a painted rustic cloth.
- The portrait shot lasts about five seconds.
- Mannie is a pit bull, not a variety of terrier.
Scenes
- After the table portrait, Mannie leaves the ground and hits the bag.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog)
