Pan-American Exposition by Night

1901 Documentary 1 minute Directed by Edwin S. Porter

Open in new tab

About Pan-American Exposition by Night

In daylight the camera pans the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo from the Temple of Music until the Electric Tower sits in the middle of the frame. The camera stops and waits. At night it starts again as the lights come up, the tower's searchlights sweeping, then pans on to the Temple of Music and reverses until the tower is the last image.

Cast & crew

More about Pan-American Exposition by Night

Edison released it on October 19, 1901. Thomas A. Edison copyrighted it on October 17, 1901, as H9784. The AFI Catalog credits James H. White as director and lists both White and Edwin S. Porter as cameramen. It runs 75 feet. The Edison catalog sold it as a Class A subject, telegraphic code Unhagata, for $11.25. An alternate title is Night Panoramic View of Electric Tower and Temple of Music.

Themes

  • The fair in daylight and after dark
  • The Electric Tower lighting up
  • A panorama instead of a story
  • Pan-American Exposition
  • Buffalo
  • Electric Tower
  • Temple of Music
  • searchlights
  • Edison

Background

The exposition's main boast was electric light from Niagara Falls. Edison put the film on sale on October 19, 1901, six weeks after McKinley was shot in the Temple of Music, a building the panorama includes.

Making

Porter and White did not fake the night view in a studio. They locked the camera off, waited, and exposed the lights when the fair turned them on.

Look

Edwin S. Porter and James H. White photographed a single panorama, stopped from day into night so the Electric Tower's lamps come up in the same shot.

Technique

The day-to-night hold is an early time-lapse. The camera stays aimed at the tower while the sun goes and the bulbs take over, then completes the circle.

Preservation

A paper print is in the Library of Congress. The Edison copyright is H9784.

Notes

  • The fair ran from May 1 to November 2, 1901. Its lights were powered from Niagara Falls.
  • President McKinley was shot in the Temple of Music on September 6, 1901. That building is in the pan.
  • The Edison catalog tells exhibitors the camera was held from daylight until the lamps were lit, then moved again.
  • The catalog calls the searchlights on the tower the startling part of the view.
  • It belongs to Edison's series of films of the Buffalo exposition.

Scenes

  • The pan stops on the Electric Tower in daylight and resumes when the lamps and searchlights are burning.
  • The camera reverses from the Temple of Music and finishes on the tower.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Pan-American Exposition by Night (1901).webm)

More from Edwin S. Porter

View all →