Santos Dumont Explaining His Air Ship to the Hon. C.S. Rolls
About Santos Dumont Explaining His Air Ship to the Hon. C.S. Rolls
Alberto Santos-Dumont stands with Charles Rolls and shows him how his airship works, using notes and a small demonstration rather than the ship itself. Rolls follows the explanation. The whole view lasts under a minute.
Cast & crew
More about Santos Dumont Explaining His Air Ship to the Hon. C.S. Rolls
William Kennedy Dickson probably directed and photographed it for the British Mutoscope and Biograph Company while Santos-Dumont was in London from 22 to 28 November 1901. The Palace Theatre screened it on 3 December 1901. At 30 frames per second it runs 43 seconds and 26 frames.
Themes
Background
Santos-Dumont was in London that week because he had won the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize by circling the Eiffel Tower on 19 October 1901.
Look
Dickson is the likely cameraman. The view is a studio explanation, not a flight.
Preservation
The reel survived inside a Mutoscope in the Museu Paulista, University of São Paulo.
Notes
- Rolls later co-founded Rolls-Royce. He is billed as the Hon. C. S. Rolls.
- The picture was thought lost until it turned up inside a Mutoscope at the Museu Paulista of the University of São Paulo.
- That machine, inventory 1-13888-0000-0000, is part of the Santos Dumont Collection given by the aviator's family in 1935.
- The airship itself is not in the frame.
Scenes
- Santos-Dumont points out the workings while Rolls watches.
Also available
- Internet Archive (explaininghisairshiptothehon.c.s.rollsacervodomuseupaulistadausp)
- Wikimedia Commons (Explaining His Air Ship to the Hon. C.S. Rolls, Acervo do Museu Paulista da USP.webm)