Frederick Paul Ott (1860;

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

– October 24, 1936;

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

), skilled machinist, was a key employee of

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

's laboratories from the 1870s until Edison's death in 1931. His likeness appears in two of the earliest surviving motion pictures – the well-known ''Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'' (a.k.a. ''

Fred Ott's Sneeze ''Fred Ott's Sneeze'' (also known as ''Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'') is an 1894 short, black-and-white, silent film shot by William K.L. Dickson and featuring Fred Ott. It is the oldest surviving motion picture with a copyright. In t ...

'') and the little-seen ''Fred Ott Holding a Bird'' – both from

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

. The former became an icon of cinema itself. Shot in medium close-up, the film shows Ott seemingly taking a pinch of

snuff Snuff may refer to: Tobacco * Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose ** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco ** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste Media and entertainment * Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder Literat ...

causing him to

sneeze A sneeze (also known as sternutation) is a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. A sneeze expels air forcibly from the mouth and n ...

. Comic in format, ''The Sneeze,'' as it also came to be known, was made in early January 1894 at the request of ''Harper's Weekly'' magazine, which requested illustrations for an article about the Kinetoscope. Ott began working with Edison in 1874 (at age 14) and became one of the inventor's most valued employees and closest friends. Alongside his brother John F. Ott, he worked with Edison on many inventions, retiring shortly after the nearly-simultaneous deaths of Edison and John Ott in 1931. Ott died at his home in

, on October 24, 1936."Frederick P. Ott, Edison Aide, Dies; Became Associated With the Inventor in 1874, Working in Small Newark Plant, Assisted In Film Work Collaborated in Development of Motion Pictures, Electric Light and Phonograph"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', October 25, 1936. Accessed June 28, 2018. "West Orange, N. J,. Oct. 24. - Frederick P. Ott, for many years an associate of Thomas A. Edison and who worked with the late inventor in the development of the electric light, the phonograph and motion pictures, died at his home here today." See also "Ott, First Screen Actor, Dies at 76," ''Motion Picture Herald'', Oct. 31, 1936, p. 34.

Filmography

*''

Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze ''Fred Ott's Sneeze'' (also known as ''Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'') is an 1894 short, black-and-white, silent film shot by William K.L. Dickson and featuring Fred Ott. It is the oldest surviving motion picture with a copyright. In th ...

'' (1894) *''Fred Ott Holding a Bird'' (1894) *'' homas Alva Edison--outtakes' (Fox Movietone News Story 5-537, recorded in Fort Meyers, Florida, March 15, 1930) University of South Carolina Moving Image Research Collections, https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MVTN/id/2409.

References

External links

* *
Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, January 7, 1894, Library of Congress
* *
''Fred Ott's Sneeze through the Ages''
(Gary M. Atkins, 1979) 18 min. a.k.a
''Variations on a Theme: Fred Ott's Sneeze through the Ages''
Super 8 film produced in Columbia, South Carolina

in ''Idea: A Remake of “Fred Ott’s Sneeze,"'' (May 1, 2006) a
Ironic Sans
Flash video no longer online; static archive page of Ironic Sans blog. 1860 births 1936 deaths People from West Orange, New Jersey Articles containing video clips {{US-film-actor-1860s-stub