Comic Costume Race

Comic Costume Race is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent actuality film, directed by Robert W. Paul, featuring comic costume scramble at the Music Hall Sports on 14 July 1896 at Herne Hill, London. The music hall sports day was an annual charity event consisting of other events such as egg and spoon races and three-legged races. The film is the best surviving pictorial record of the Music Hall Sports.[1] It is not known who the race participants are.[2]

Comic Costume Race
Screenshot from the film
Directed byRobert W. Paul
Produced byRobert W. Paul
CinematographyRobert W. Paul
Production
company
Paul's Animatograph Works
Release date
  • 1896 (1896)
Running time
43 secs
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageSilent

The film was, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "presented at Windsor Castle on 23 November 1896," which, "enabled Paul to add a royal seal of approval to his advertisements." It is included on the BFI DVD R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908.[3][4]

Another film of the costume race at the Music Hall Sports was produced in 1898.[5] In 1899, Cecil Hepworth produced a film on a similar race, entitled Comic Costume Race for Cyclists. This film depicted a group of cyclists racing to a pile of clothing, containing costumes such as those of a policeman and a clown, before remounting and racing to the finishing line.[6]

References
  1. Horrall, Andrew (7 December 2001). Popular Culture in London C.1890-1918: The Transformation of Entertainment. Manchester University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7190-5783-0.
  2. "Chaplin-in-Context: A Catalogue of Music Hall Related Films 1895 - 1930 held by the bfi National Film and Television Archive". British Film Institute. p. 3. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. Brooke, Michael. "Comic Costume Race". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  4. "Comic Costume Race". BFI Film & TV Database. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  5. Barnes, John (1983). Pioneers of the British film. p. 180.
  6. Barnes, John (1992). The Beginnings of the Cinema in England, Vol. 4: Filming the Boer War. David & Charles. p. 200.


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