Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel
About Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel
A hotel manager shows Uncle Josh a room and says a ghost is rumored to appear there at midnight. A ghost slaps Josh. Josh thinks the landlord did it and knocks him off his chair. They sit again. The ghost slaps the landlord, and each man blames the other. The Library of Congress description adds that the ghost is a figure in a skeleton mask, popped in and out by stop-action.
Cast & crew
More about Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel
Edwin S. Porter photographed the comedy for Edison. The AFI Catalog dates the release to March 1900 and the length at 80 feet. Thomas A. Edison copyrighted it on 21 March 1900, number D6367. It is a companion to Uncle Josh's Nightmare, copyrighted the same day as D6366 at 150 feet. The Edison catalog is the source of the slapstick with the landlord.
Themes
Making
Porter stages the whole night in one room. The ghost is a substitution splice, the same trick the Edison catalog uses for the slaps that set Josh and the landlord on each other.
Look
Porter shot a three-wall bedroom and used stop-action for the ghost's entrances and exits.
Preservation
The film survives. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons. The AFI Catalog cites the Library of Congress paper-print description.
Notes
- The set is a small hotel bedroom with a bed and two chairs, shot so three walls are in frame.
- Stop-action puts the skeleton-masked ghost behind Josh, then removes it when he turns.
- Charles Manley plays Uncle Josh in Uncle Josh's Nightmare, the film Edison released with this one. Catalog listings also put him in the hotel picture.
- A New York Clipper notice is dated 24 March 1900.
- A file is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- The landlord tells Josh the midnight story, and the ghost slaps Josh at once.
- Josh hits the landlord. The ghost then slaps the landlord, and the two men accuse each other.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel (1900).webm)
