''Waiting at the Church'' is a 1906 American

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

directed by

Edwin S. Porter Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21, 1870 – April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over 2 ...

for the Edison Manufacturing Company. The film has been preserved in the Library of Congress collection.''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', (<-book title) p.203 c.1978 by The American Film Institute

Production and release

The film features a performance of the popular British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...

song

Waiting at the Church "Waiting at the Church" is a popular British music hall song written by Fred W. Leigh (words) and Henry E. Pether (music) for Vesta Victoria, and copyrighted in 1906. It is sung by a bride-to-be who has given her fiancé, Obadiah Binks, al ...

Vesta Victoria Vesta Victoria (born Victoria Lawrence, 26 November 1873 – 7 April 1951) was an English music hall singer and comedian. She was famous for her performances of songs such as " Waiting at the Church" and "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow Wow", both ...

.Bold, Christine (2011). ''The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture: Volume Six: US Popular Print Culture 1860-1920.''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Film historian Charles Musser notes that ''Waiting at the Church'' was Edison's lowest-selling film of the year, at 52 copies, compared to '' Dream of a Rarebit Fiend'', which sold 192.Musser, Charles (1994). ''The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907, Volume 1.''

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, The action in the film follows the lyrics of the song. Porter made another film to accompany the song for the Novelty Song Film Co. in 1907. That version focuses more on the singer's performance.Altman, Rick (2004). ''Silent Film Sound.'' Columbia University Press,

Cast

- Vesta *

Alec B. Francis Alec B. Francis (born Alec Francis Budd, 2 December 1867 – 6 July 1934) was an English actor, largely of the silent era. He appeared in more than 240 films between 1911 and 1934. Biography Francis was born in Suffolk, England. He studied law ...

- suitor

References

External links

* American silent short films 1906 films Films based on songs Films directed by Edwin S. Porter 1906 comedy films 1906 short films Silent American comedy films American black-and-white films American comedy short films 1900s American films {{1900s-short-comedy-film-stub