Edison Manufacturing Company

Metropolitan Opera stars, tenor Enrico Caruso and bass-baritone Pol Plancon, in a scene from the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" filmed in Edison sound-on-disc process known as Cinephonograph.

Captain Clearfield, a wealthy landlord, assaults Kathleen with the help of an accomplice, but Terence O'More arrives in time to break up the attack. Clearfield then tries to get his way by intimidating Kathleen and her father, but again help arrives in time. Clearfield and his accomplice then come up with their most violent plan yet.

Billie is the "little mother" of the family and cares for the two smaller children. Her father has fallen under the spell of drink. Billie has become hardened by her struggle against the drink demon in her father and treats him with scant consideration.

Extremely condensed version of the Mark Twain story of a royal heir and his poor doppelganger trading places.

A slumlord learns just how important it is to maintain clean living quarters when his wife contracts tuberculosis.

A Story of the Lumber Regions of Western Canada: a lumberjack remember his past while he listens to a record of the song his fiancée used to sing him.

Kimura, a drunk and a gambler, has no affection for his daughter Kiku-San, who falls in love with Dick Tower, an American college friend of her brother Okuma.

A showcase of trapeze artist Alciede Capitaine, billed as “The Perfect Woman,” whose daring feats on the flying bar combined grace with breathtaking athleticism. Produced by Edison in 1898, this title should not be confused with Dickson’s earlier 1894 short Mlle. Capitaine, which also featured the performer.

A line is shot to the man clinging to the overturned boat. He fastens it to his body using all his fast failing strength. The crew pull him through the surf to the shore, where he is rolled and patted and worked over until resuscitated.

A woodsman leaves a hut followed by a woman with their baby. Nearby some men chop down a tree. The baby is left outside the hut, but an eagle flies away with it.

The camera shows a view of the American Falls and Goat Island.

Grace Walker, a young Miss, attends a dinner dance wearing tight slippers. She accidentally kicks off one slipper to relieve her foot, but the guests' feet accidentally kick it away. Grace leaves the room in her stockinged foot, hoping to find the owner. Dick Evans, a young man, finds the slipper and tries to find the owner. He eventually finds Grace behind potted plants with one foot visible. Grace denies knowing about the slipper, and Dick devises a clever plan: he traps a mouse in a trap in the house, causing the ladies to climb chairs. Grace admits ownership of the slipper, allowing her to join in the whirl.

An excerpt of the Shakespeare play presented in the Kinetophone sound system, in which the sound was provided by synchronized Edison cylinders.

American Falls, from Incline R.R. (1896) is a brief silent actuality directed by James H. White and produced by Thomas A. Edison. Filmed from a tourist-friendly incline railway in early December 1896, it presents a striking view of the American Falls at Niagara Falls in crisp detail—part of Edison’s “New Niagara Falls” travelogue series.

Starting for the Fire (1896), directed by James H. White for the Edison Manufacturing Company, was filmed on location in Newark, New Jersey. The short captures the dramatic moment fire engines race into action, with teams of horses “dashing madly by, reeking with foam” as one engine after another speeds past. Part of a trio of Edison firefighting films, it exemplifies the era’s fascination with motion, urgency, and public spectacle.

A Kinetophone short featuring Andrew Carnegie speaking on “The Duty of the Wealthy Man,” recorded January 20, 1914, at Edison’s Bronx studio (production number 5113). The motion picture element is presumed lost; however, the synchronized sound cylinder survives.

A short Edison Kinetophone film, distributed by General Film Company, representative of Edison’s early sound-film experiments. Details on plot, cast, and runtime are not fully documented in surviving sources.

Daniel Boone is captured by Indians when he tries to rescue his abducted daughter.

The Birth of the Telephone (1914) is a Kinetophone short produced by Edison, featuring Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, discussing his role in the development of the telephone. Recorded at Edison’s Bronx studio, the film is presumed lost, but the synchronized sound cylinder survives and is accessible.

East Side Drive, No. 1 (1896) is a brief, silent actual-city documentary directed by James H. White for Edison. Filmed on New York City’s East Side during high society’s “driving hour,” it captures elegant, horse-drawn carriages gliding through the streets in a stylish display of urban leisure.