Leonard-Cushing Fight
About Leonard-Cushing Fight
Mike Leonard, in white trunks, and Jack Cushing, in black, box a six-round exhibition in a ring built inside the Black Maria. Five spectators lean on the ropes, and the referee barely moves. Leonard rushes, lands to the body, and keeps Cushing on the edge of the ring. In the sixth round Leonard knocks him out.
Cast & crew
More about Leonard-Cushing Fight
William K. L. Dickson produced it for the Kinetoscope. The bout was shot on a date between 24 May and 14 June 1894 and premiered on 4 August 1894 at a Kinetoscope parlor in Manhattan run by the Latham brothers. Each round was sold separately for five cents, and the negative ran 900 feet, 16,500 frames at 46 frames a second.
Themes
Background
Kinetoscope parlors showed the rounds one at a time. A customer paid five cents to see a single round.
Look
The Kinetograph was fixed on the ring inside the Black Maria, with the roof opened for the light.
Preservation
No full print is known. A 23-second fragment is at the Library of Congress.
Notes
- Leonard is Michael Wellington Leonard.
- Prizefighting had been outlawed in New Jersey since 1835, and a grand jury looked into whether a fight had been staged at the studio. No record of that inquiry survives.
- The picture is counted as the first sports film released.
- What viewers usually see is one stretch of the bout, with Leonard the aggressor and Cushing pawing from the ropes.
Scenes
- Five fans lean on the ropes while the two men trade roundhouse swings.
- Leonard drops Cushing in the sixth round.
