The Tramp and the Dog
About The Tramp and the Dog
A baker sets a pie on a chair in a Rogers Park yard to cool. A tramp climbs the fence, grabs the pie, and tries to climb back out. A bulldog catches him by the seat of his trousers. He tumbles. The woman comes back with a broom and drives him off.
Cast & crew
More about The Tramp and the Dog
William Selig directed this one-minute backyard comedy in 1896 and released it through Selig Polyscope. It is taken to be his first commercial production and the first commercial story film shot in Chicago.
Themes
In film history
The bulldog gag fed a run of "pants humor," shorts built on a character losing his trousers, and other makers took up tramp characters after it.
Preservation
It was a lost film until 2021, when the National Library of Norway found it.
Notes
- Wikidata times a surviving copy at 83 seconds.
- Copies went out through North America and Europe.
- The Norway reel also held a print of the Selig film Something Good – Negro Kiss.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2025)
Scenes
- The tramp takes the pie from the chair.
- The bulldog clamps onto him as he goes over the fence.
- The woman swings a broom and sends him off.
Also available
- National Library of Norway
