Century Film Project

This Kinetoscope movie depicts a boxing match, but, unlike last night’s “Corbett – Courtney Fight” or the previous “Leonard – Cushing Fight,” it probably didn’t get anyone at Edison Studios in trouble. It is a comedy routine performed by two actors known as the Glenroy brothers, and is an early example of the use of slapstick in silent film. It is included with other “Buffalo Bill” Kinetoscopes in “The Invention of Movies,” but it doesn’t look like a Wild West act to me. Charles Musser in The Emergence of Cinema refers to the Glenroy Brothers as “a burlesque boxing act” – let’s remember that “burlesque” had different connotations at the time, because this is, if anything, a less sexy fight than Corbett & Courtney’s. I would say that this, along with the Annabelle Moore movies, represents one of the first genuine crossovers between moving pictures and Vaudeville, two forms of entertainment which would be closely linked in the years to come. Once again, there is no surviving “no. 1” of which I am aware, so this was probably a remake of a damaged film.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 36 secs

You can watch it for free: here.