The Kiss
About The Kiss
May Irwin and John C. Rice reenact the kiss from the last scene of the stage musical The Widow Jones. They prepare, they kiss, and they hold it. William Heise filmed them for Thomas Edison in about eighteen seconds.
Cast & crew
More about The Kiss
Heise directed and photographed the short in April 1896 at the Black Maria, the Edison studio in West Orange. It was one of the first films shown commercially to the public.
Themes
Background
Shot in April 1896 and sold as a commercial view, it put a Broadway kiss on a Kinetoscope and projection program.
Making
Edison brought the two stage leads into the Black Maria and had Heise photograph the kiss they already played in the musical.
Look
William Heise photographed Irwin and Rice against the Black Maria stage in a single short take.
Preservation
The eighteen-second film survives. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1999.
Notes
- Also known as The May Irwin Kiss, The Rice-Irwin Kiss, and The Widow Jones.
- The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 1999.
- Irwin and Rice were restaging their own stage business, not playing new characters.
Awards
- National Film Registry (1999)
Scenes
- Irwin and Rice kiss and hold the pose.
Influenced by
- The stage musical The Widow Jones
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Kiss (1896).webm)
