''Something Good – Negro Kiss'' is an American
short silent film
A silent film is a film without 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, w ...
from 1898 of a couple kissing and holding hands. It is believed to depict the earliest on-screen kiss involving
African Americans
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...
and is known for departing from the prevalent and purely stereotypical presentation of racist caricature in popular culture at the time it was made.
The film was a lost film
A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...
until its rediscovery in 2017, and was added to the American National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
in 2018.
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,"[ conveying an "unmistakable sense of naturalness, pleasure, and amusement."] 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.” The longer version was produced at the same time and may have been produced for the international market. Research notes that alternate versions were sold and separately listed with varying lengths. The longer version is also from a perspective point further away and inverted, with the actors on opposite sides from the first version, although whether this was a mistake in production or reproduction is unknown. Scholars also perceive the longer film as more “vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
sque”, with more acting work, than the romance of the first.
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
Gertie Brown Moore (born Gilberta Gertrude Chevalier, August 23, 1878 – February 24, 1934) was a vaudeville performer and one of the first African-American film actresses. Brown is most famous for her part in the 1898 silent film ''Something Go ...
. Suttle was a composer for popular theater and Brown a vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
circuit actress. The two also performed as dance partners.[ They were part of a group known as The Rag-Time Four, who performed variations on the popular ]cakewalk
The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on black slave plantations before and after emancipation in the Southern Unit ...
dance. They may have been at the film studio to perform in a cakewalk vignette, playing the film as impromptu.
The film was made in Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
by director and producer William Selig
William Nicholas Selig (March 14, 1864 – July 15, 1948) was a vaudeville performer and pioneer of the American motion picture industry. His stage billing as ''Colonel'' Selig would be used for the rest of his career, even as he moved into ...
, a film pioneer, who also had prior experience with staged minstrel show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of theater developed in the early 19th century. The shows were performed by mostly white actors wearing blackface makeup for the purpose of portraying racial stereotypes of Afr ...
s.[ He used his own version of a Lumière ]cinématographe
Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as movie projector, film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to release pri ...
camera to shoot ''Something Good''. Selig distributed the Selig Polyscope Company
The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company that was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. The company produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures, including the first films ...
film through the Sears & Roebuck
Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwal ...
mail order catalog.[
]
Rediscovery
A 20 second long negative of ''Something Good'' nitrate film
Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitration, nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitri ...
was rediscovered at an estate sale in Louisiana
Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
by an archivist from the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
in 2017. Reviewing the technical details of the film, thereby dating it with the film stock and perforation holes, catalogs and sales material, scholars at USC and the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
were able to identify the film's production history. The USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive claims the copyright to the restored version of the film, which it published on Vimeo
Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...
.
Four years later, in 2021, a 49-second film held in the National Library of Norway
The National Library of Norway () was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened in 2005.
Prior to the e ...
in Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
was identified as an extended version of ''Something Good''. At the time of its accession by the Library, it was misidentified and cataloged as a Lumière film. It is one of the oldest films in the National Library collection.
This copy was included in a reel found in Leksvik Municipality, and was housed in a barn until authorities said the films posed a risk of fire. Oral history suggests the film came to Norway when a Norwegian filmmaker wanted to assemble a projector in the early days of film and brought home film-reels from the US. News of the 2017 discovery in the United States caused the National Library of Norway to reexamine it and correct its provenance.
The film was listed in catalogs of lost films
A lost film is a feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. Early films we ...
before its rediscovery, although details concerning the film, other than its title and director, were unknown. Since almost all surviving films from that time are overtly racist, it was usually just listed as a lost race film
The race film or race movie was a genre of film produced in the United States between about 1915 and the early 1950s, consisting of films produced for African American, black audiences, and featuring black casts. Approximately five hundred race ...
.
Further reading
*
See also
* African American cinema
*'' The Tramp and the Dog'', an 1896 Selig film rediscovered on the same film strip as the ''Something Good'' version in the Norway National Library.
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Something Good - Negro Kiss
1898 films
1898 short films
1890s American films
1890s rediscovered films
1890s romance films
African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement
African-American romance films
American black-and-white films
American silent short films
Articles containing video clips
Films shot in Chicago
Works about kissing
Rediscovered American films
Selig Polyscope Company films
Surviving American silent films
United States National Film Registry films
Silent romance films