|
Search By:
|
|
15/6/1896: Kissy-Kissy
Cinema’s first kiss reached the screen on the 15th June 1896, and inevitably, gave rise to calls for censorship. In April, Thomas Edison had invited celebrated Broadway performers May Irwin and John C. Rice to his Black Maria studio (reportedly at the behest of the New York World newspaper) to re-enact their notorious lingering kiss from John J. McNally’s hit stage play “The Widow Jones”. The film, described by Maguire and Baucus in their catalogue as ‘an osculatory performance’ - was called The Kiss, and lasted barely 20 seconds. It featured Irwin and Rice whispering sweet nothings before cosying up and locking lips. The Chap Book described the film thus: “The life-size view, bestial enough in itself, was nothing compared with this. Their unbridled kissing, magnified to gargantuan proportions and repeated thrice, is absolutely loathsome.” Despite (or, more likely, because of) the criticism levelled at it The Kiss proved to be the most popular Vitascope production of 1896. [ADD]
© 2009-2010 moviemoviesite.com