The Twins' Tea Party
About The Twins' Tea Party
Two small girls sit at a tea table. They share the meal badly, spill it, and react to each other in a medium close view. Robert W. Paul filmed the shot in 1896.
Cast & crew
More about The Twins' Tea Party
Robert W. Paul produced and directed it. About one minute. It played in his programs at the Alhambra Theatre in 1896. He remade it in 1898 and sold that version as Tea: The Twins' Tea Party, billed as an improved edition of the favourite.
Themes
Making
Paul set the camera close enough to catch the children's faces, which was the point of the facial genre.
Reviews
John Barnes, in The Beginnings of the Cinema in England, calls this one-shot "one of the most popular items" in Paul's 1896 Alhambra programs.
Look
A single medium close view of the two girls at the table.
Preservation
A copy is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Michael Brooke, writing for BFI Screenonline, calls it one of the first facials: a close view of people reacting, which was new to audiences in 1896.
- John Barnes wrote that the one-shot of two infant girls reluctantly sharing tea was one of the most popular items on Paul's Alhambra programs that year.
Scenes
- The girls tug at the meal and make a mess of the cups.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-the-twins-tea-party)
