Something Good – Negro Kiss

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Something Good – Negro Kiss
Still Something Special.jpg
Directed byWilliam Selig
StarringSaint Suttle
Gertie Brown
Distributed bySelig Polyscope through Sears & Roebuck
Release date
  • 1898 (1898)
Running time
29 seconds (first rediscovered version)
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Something Good – Negro Kiss is a short film from 1898 of a couple kissing and holding hands. It is believed to depict the earliest on-screen kiss involving African Americans and is known for departing from the prevalent and purely stereotypical presentation of racist caricature in popular culture at the time it was made.[1][2] The film was a lost film until its rediscovery in 2017, and was added to the American National Film Registry in 2018.[3][4]

Production[]

In Something Good, a well-dressed African American couple exchanges several kisses. Between kisses they hold and swing each other's hands and laugh together. The chemistry in the performances is described as "palpable,"[3] conveying an "unmistakable sense of naturalness, pleasure, and amusement."[2] A slightly longer version came to light in 2021; this version shows the couple before they embrace, and includes the "prelude before the kisses, with wooing, refusal and negotiation.”[5]

When it was produced, it was likely presented with other shorts as a comedy vignette, a take-off on the 1896 film The Kiss. Something Good starred stage entertainers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown. Suttle was a composer for popular theater and Brown a vaudeville circuit actress. The two also performed as dance partners.[1] They were part of a group known as The Rag-Time Four, who performed variations on the popular cakewalk dance. They may have been at the film studio to perform in a cakewalk vignette.[6]

The film was made in Chicago by director and producer William Selig, a film pioneer, who also had prior experience with staged minstrel shows.[1] He used his own version of a Lumière cinématographe camera to shoot Something Good.[2] Selig distributed the Selig Polyscope Company film through the Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog.[3][1]

Rediscovery[]

Something Good's nitrate film negative was rediscovered at an estate sale in Louisiana by an archivist from the University of Southern California in 2017.[1] Reviewing the technical details of the film, catalogs and sales material, scholars at USC and the University of Chicago were able to identify the film's production history.[2] The USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive claims the copyright to the restored version of the film, which it published on Vimeo.[7] A seconds longer version was rediscovered in the National Library of Norway in 2021, which includes the lead-up to the kisses. It is one of the oldest films in the National Library collection.[5]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e Bowean, Lolly (December 22, 2018). "Tracing Chicago origins of 'Something Good,' a recently discovered film clip depicting first onscreen kiss between two African-Americans". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Wang, Jack (December 12, 2018). "Silent film of black couple's kiss discovered, added to National Film Registry". UChicago News. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles". Film Registry – National Film Preservation Board – Library of Congress. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  4. ^ "2018 additions to the National Film Registry". CBS News. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Reuters Staff (February 26, 2021). "New version of first ever African-American screen kiss discovered in Norway". Reuters. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  6. ^ Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (December 16, 2018). "Library Of Congress Honors Groundbreaking 1898 Film Depicting Black Joy". NPR – Weekend Edition Sunday. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  7. ^ "Something Good Negro Kiss 1898 Restored". Vimeo. December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.

External links[]

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