Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog Explained

Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
Director:Edwin S. Porter
Distributor:Edison Manufacturing Company
Runtime:1:30
Country:United States
Language:English

Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog is a 1901 silent short film directed by Edwin S. Porter. The film depicts a vaudeville act featuring Laura Comstock and her trained dog, a pit bull named Mannie. Comstock's act was currently appearing at Keith's Union Square Theatre.[1]

The film begins with a five-second shot of Comstock and her dog seated at a table and looking at the camera, with a sign in the foreground that says "Laura Comstock". Following this, the rest of the film shows Mannie in front of a rustic backdrop, repeatedly jumping and punching a bag suspended by a rope.

Edison's film catalog said that Mannie's "high jumps and lightning-like punches are remarkable and cause one to marvel at the amount of patience that must be necessary to teach a dog such tricks."[1]

The technique of opening a film with a portrait-style shot of the performers was new to film. This was an innovation by Porter based on the practice of showing lantern-slide photos preceding the exhibition of filmed scenes.[1] It proved influential, and was adopted by other American producers during this period.[2]

Mannie appeared in a number of subsequent Edison films, including several Buster Brown shorts,[3] the Happy Hooligan short Pie, Tramp and the Bulldog, and The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog.[1]

See also

References

  1. Book: Musser . Charles . Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company . 1991 . University of California Press . 173 . 1 February 2024.
  2. Book: Musser . Charles . The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907 . 1994 . University of California Press . 316.
  3. Book: Dickey . Bronwen . Pit Bull: The Battle Over an American Icon . 2016 . Alfred A. Knopf . 978-0-345-80311-5 . 94 . 16 February 2024.