New York City
Children in the Surf, Coney Island - 1904
August 3, 1904.
American Mutoscope & Biograph Company
Coney Island's Sea Gate in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Cameraman: G. W. Bitzer
Ring-around-the-rosie
Young children wade and play in the surf at Sea Gate in Coney Island as some women swim in the distance. A jump cut [2:40] shows a toddler as he moves for the camera holding a cricket paddle. A moment later a man fetches the paddle out of the water, leaving the boy with a toy boat with which to play. He seems more interested in the real schooner sailing far out in the distance, but only momentarily. He'd rather be back on the beach with everyone else. After a few more attempts at making him a star the boy picks up the toy and leaves.
A Trip to Coney Island 1905
July-August 1905
Thomas Edison Manufacturing co.
Camera: Edwin S. Porter
BOARDING SCHOOL GIRLS
[0:15] Miss Knapp's young ladies from the Select School are taking a trip to Coney Island. Here they come out of their Posh Brooklyn Brownstone dorm. Miss Knapp looks like she runs a tight ship. She's hired a charabang to get them there. Who ever would have thought that people getting into a vehicle could be entertaining? Look at the size of that thing, not to mention those dresses! Its like the ever classic 'Clown Car' in reverse. I'll bet all of those open parasols put some serious drag on that car.
[1:40] Ahh! Here we are.....Coney Island! Surf Avenue, the main strip. The girls depart the tank like embroidered paratroopers.
DREAMLAND
[2:35] OH! The sun and the salt air.....rented bathing suits, lots of sand, a sneaky prank, poor Miss Knapp! We should all get wet.....Hotcha! ''Sodom by the Sea!'' suddenly, another edit takes us to.....
At the Foot of the Flatiron Building - 1903
Photographed October 26, 1903.
American Mutoscope and Biograph Co.
Camera: A. E. Weed
The wind whips around on the Broadway side of the Fuller (Flatiron) Building.
New York historians have long considered this the windiest corner of the city. A tough deal in a world full of hats and long skirts.
Madison Square Park, just north of the Flatiron, was the original location for the city's Christmas tree long before Rockefeller center. It was also the the main point of congregation during elections.
Panorama of Flatiron Building 1902
Photographed October 8, 1902.
American Mutoscope and Biograph Co.
Camera: Robert K. Bonine
When it was completed, the Fuller (Flatiron) Building (1901-1903) was the tallest skyscraper north of the financial district. The building stands twenty-one stories tall including the attic story measuring 307 feet. The Broadway front is 190 feet wide, The Fifth Avenue front is 173 feet wide, and its nearly 87 feet wide on the 22nd Street side. Its north end is one-bay point, prompting a description as the slenderest building in New York.
- A Wonderful Building, New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement, June 29, 1902
