formal wear dresses

I like to experiment with adding audio tracks to silent films. From Edison films catalog: “Champion lady boxers of the world. Here we depict two female pugilists that are really clever. They are engaged in a hot and heavy one-round sparring exhibition, which is photographed against a very pleasing background, consisting of a park, with marble entrance and walk, and beautiful trees and shrubbery. The exhibition is very lively from start to finish; the blows fall thick and fast, and some very clever pugilistic generalship is exhibited. Length 100 feet. .00 We also furnish an excellent 50-foot strip .50.” Two sets of Gordon Sisters advertised their bag punching and boxing act in the New York clipper: Bessie and Minnie in 1901, and Bessie and Alice in 1903. The sisters performing in this film are most likely Bessie and Minnie, given a photo of the two that ran in the 11/15/02 issue of the Clipper. Another description: (via www.thevirtualdimemuseum.com “Here are the Gordon Sisters, filmed on May 6, 1901 by Thomas Edison – having a boxing match in frilly dresses accessorized with leather boxing gloves. They are fighting in front of a backdrop of a lovely formal garden, for some reason. Minnie Gordon is the one wearing the white dress, and Bessie – who seems to dominate most of the match – is in the black dress. In 1898 Bessie (billed here as Belle) had made an earlier boxing film for Edison, called “Comedy Set-to,” in which her opponent is a man, Billy Curtis. Bessie/Belle …

One Response to “Two Women Boxing — Gordon Sisters via Thomas Edison in 1901”