This black and white silent film compiles early 1900’s Edison and Biograph Kinetoscope motion pictures of Coney Island, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The film features Thompson and Tilyou’s Steeplechase Park, Dundy’s Luna Park, Dreamland concessions and amusements, and Coney Island beach attractions. This retitled Blackhawk Films home distribution print was derived from a 1961 copy of 35mm paper positives preserved in the Library of Congress, originally dating from 1903-1905.

A title card describes Coney Island as a “magic world of razzle-dazzle excitement” and invokes Charles Feltman, who “introduced the first hot dog at his Ocean Pavillion in 1874” (0:39). Titles continue, noting the Edison and Biograph companies that “cranked out” early motion pictures, and alluding to their using Kinetograph cameras for Kinetoscope exhibition (1:01). Another title explains that movies could only be copyrighted as photographs, so 35mm paper prints were filed with the Library of Congress (1:18). Seashore swimmers in modest turn of the-century bathing costumes splash in the water at Coney Island Beach. Couples dance a jig and one woman takes a tumble in the sand. A man flips his partner, then does a cartwheel and a backflip while younger boys look on (1:48). A title card explains how George Tilyou opened Steeplechase Park in 1897, then rebuilt it after a 1907 fire (2:28). Couples mounted on double-saddled mechanical “horses” race down steep iron rails, variously waving and gripping their partners tightly. Men wear straw hats and women wear petticoats. A batch of single riders follow, then more couples without hats (2:59). Title: “Bike riding on the beach was precarious…” (3:38). Women in patriotic stars & stripes costumes and plaid skirts pedal clumsily along the coastline on bicycles (3:45). An intertitle mentions Feltman’s of Coney Island, as well as businessman “Diamond Jim” Brady and stage singer/actor Lillian Russell, indulgent gossip column celebrities of the day (4:04). The electric spectacle of Luna Park, created by Elmer “Skip” Dundy and Frederic Thompson. A panorama from cameraman Edwin Porter’s Edison picture “Coney Island at Night”: Illuminated towers and spires, a spinning chair swing ride, the park’s entrance gate, “Luna Park” signage, Feltman’s hot dog stand, a ferris wheel, the steeplechase, and other thrill rides (4:18). Lady acrobats perform at Luna Park, swinging from a rotating trapeze. They suspend themselves and spin rapidly, then close their act with a flourish (5:22). More of Luna Park from “Coney Island at Night”: Panning closeups reveal crowds in fast-motion due to undercranking, meticulous strands of lightbulbs, and the mouth of an illuminated “fish” (7:12). The Shoot-the-Chutes log flume attraction. Flat bottomed boats race down water chutes and splashdown into a “spacious lagoon,” where a crowd of spectators watch from a bridge overhead. Men in top hats exit the boats, and climb a staircase. A faux castle stands in the background (7:58). The “Fire and Flame” spectacular, featuring the mock firefight of an apartment building. Imperiled actors wave from windows as horse-drawn fire engines lift ladders and climb up from below. People leap from four stories into a safety net as smoke pours from windows (8:46). Tiles introduce Dreamland (11:28). Men in Roman centurion costumes march and ride on horseback around a mock hippodrome track. Men and women in robes and racing charioteers follow (12:08). The 374-ft. Beacon Tower via Porter/Edison (15:07). More of the staged firefight, shot from the ground (16:09). A title card mourns the burning of Dreamland in 1911, and the subsequent Luna Park fires of 1944 that ensured the demise of the amusement parks. (17:21). Dense crowds of bathers and young men in a rowboat at Coney Island Beach. (17:47). “The End” (19:04).

Plagued by fires and frequent redevelopment, Steeplechase park operated from 1897-1944, Luna Park from 1903-1944, and Dreamland from 1904-1911.

Blackhawk Films was founded in 1927 as Eastin Pictures, specializing in newsreel footage, but pivoted to direct mail-order distribution of 8mm and 16mm silent-era classics for private home viewing with the advent of television in the 1950’s. The company was based in Davenport, Iowa, and remained in operation through various ownerships into the 1980’s.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com