Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1894) User Reviews

For the male audience in 1894

[jhaugh · 5/10 · 18 March 2003]

Proximity to New York City provided Edison's West Orange studio, the Black Maria, with the opportunity to obtain talent from the city's artistic community. An artist, invited to appear before the Kinetograph, might take the North River ferry to the west shore. There, at the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad station, they could purchase a ticket and take the train directly to West Orange, New Jersey. Arriving at the West Orange station they could take a trolley or walk a half-mile to Edison's laboratory complex.

This was possibly the route followed by Annabelle Whitford, a vaudeville performer, as she went on a number of occasions to appear before the camera. Although Edison publicly professed the high-art-artistic merits of his invention, the actual films taken - cock fights, blacksmiths working and drinking, boxing matches and sexy female dancers - show a pandering to the masculine element of future peep-show patrons.

This film of Annabelle Whitford was so popular that she was invited back a number of times to do dance numbers. With her cute butterfly wings and high kicks that reveal shapely legs under her neck-to-ankle dress, it is no wonder that she was well received by the 1894 male audience. The copy I saw of this 15-second film had "copyright 1897" imprinted on the film. Her attire, was tinted yellow at the very end.

America's First Blockbuster

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 11 September 2001]

Even before the Great Train Robbery, the Annabelle Dances were the first big motion pictures in America. Just starting to make its way into the major cities, Annabelle Dances amazed its audience with the movement and added spray color to the images. Deep down, all it was, was a woman (Annabelle) dancing on stage with a crazy butterfly like costume. The world was dazzled by the new invention called cinema.

An Early Superstar!

[ronin-88 · 6/10 · 14 March 2022]

Annabelle Moore (born Annabelle Whitford) was only 16 years old when she did this film. She had made her debut dancing at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago the previous year. When she moved to New York City, she performed in several short films for the Edison Studios. The Butterfly Dance was the first of these films. Her costume and attractive appearance caused the film to do very well, and Annabelle was thus asked to do several more films which greatly built up her popularity.

An Early, Interesting Feature in the Popular Series

[Snow Leopard · 7 July 2005]

This was one of the earliest of the many 1890s movies that featured Annabelle (Whitford) Moore performing her popular dance routines, and it is still interesting enough to be worth watching. The distinctive costume in this one sets it apart a bit from most of the other movies in the series.

The "Butterfly Dance" is really a routine very similar to her popular "Serpentine Dance", but for this butterfly routine, her costume has a large pair of wings attached at the back, which along with her flowing skirts are used to create an effect. As in all of her features, Annabelle dances with skill and energy.

It's no surprise that these features were so popular in their day. By present-day standards, they are much tamer, but they still have their artistic value.

The original "naked lunch"

[cricket30 · 6/10 · 3 August 2013]

What kind of woman was the Jezebel whom the light bulb guy, Thomas Alva Edison, chose to be the first female face of Edison Manufacturing Company (the pioneer U.S. film studio, which literally invented movies), back in 1894? At the age of 15, she headlined as a "hoochie coochie" dancer at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition (which was one of the first "world fairs"). Her biggest notoriety came shortly after Edison got her to gyrate in front of his leering cameramen in this 1894 flick, ANNABELLE BUTTERFLY DANCE. The New York newspapers reported Miss Moore--still a teenager!--had "been approached" to appear naked at a private dinner party scheduled for Sherry's Restaurant. Details of this bacchanalian event have been covered up by the best bribes money can buy. Suffice it to say that even today, when you take a gander at your electric bill, most likely it's still inflated by the costly stain of sex and corporate consequence Edison and his perverse band of merry men insinuated into Ameican culture in the 1890s!

First dance movie

[vukelic-stjepan · 1/10 · 12 December 2016]

I am not fan of dance, but dance movies are often good. We can say that this is first dance movie ever and it is bad. I know, you will say to me, what do you expect, this is from 1894 ! But I watched all earlier movies and they are all some kind interesting, and this is first movie which was boring to me...dance is boring, girl is not pretty and dress looks like it is dirty.

I have read that Annabelle Moore acts in more movies, I hope that I will see progress in other movies... Now we live in time where when you more naked, you will have more money, unfortunately for Anabelle, she was born in wrong time, she wouldn't die peniless, or I am wrong?

Dance, dance otherwise we are lost!

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 October 2013]

This 30-second-movie is one of film pioneer William Dickson's earlier work. Basically, it shows a female dancer named Annabelle Moore doing a couple nice moves, some joyful jumping and leg swinging and this is the kind of film that's really hurt by the lack of sound back in the day. It would have been much more fun to hear the tune she's dancing to and what is even more regrettable is the lack of colors. I'm sure her stunning dress and majestic headdress would be a much bigger joy to look at than it already is in b&w. But that's not the director's fault. It's certainly one of the better short films from the very early days and even if it didn't wow me, I'd still recommend it.

Annabelle dances...

[kobe1413 · 1/10 · 27 August 2014]

Annabelle (Whitford) Moore dances for the camera of Edison filmmakers, William Heise and W.K.L. Dickson. She was a favorite of the Edison crew and was invited back several times to perform for them.

In the film, her movements are pretty basic. She lacks the energy of other Edison shorts, such as "Carmencita" or the "Buffalo Ghost Dance". Her costume is supposed to copy the movements of a butterfly as she dances around. Yet, the effect is muted, as Moore is not able to do much in the short time span of the film.

YOU WILL LIKE THIS FILM: IF YOU LOVED: "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" IF YOU HATED: "Breakin'"

2.25.2024

[EasonVonn · 10/10 · 25 February 2024]

The dance is better than the serpent dance. But as the serpent dance has the reputation as "the very first color-painted film," the Butterfly dance's prestige goes down the road and gains not equal popularity and recognition of Serpent dance. The dancer revolving around her consistent passion and beguiling dress are terrific The dance is better than the serpent dance. But as the serpent dance has the reputation as "the very first color-painted film," the Butterfly dance's prestige goes down the road and gains not equal popularity and recognition of Serpent dance. The dancer revolving around her consistent passion and beguiling dress are terrific.

Edison: Invention of Movies

[Michael_Elliott · 31 December 2008]

Sandow (1894)

Carmencita (1894)

Boxing Cats (1894)

Caicedo With Pole (1894)

Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1894)

Cockfight, no. 2 (1894)

These six shorts from Edison, still early in the movie game, are rather interesting because of the self promoting factor in them. It's clear a few famous folks thought appearing in movies might bring more people to their actual show and on that level these shorts remain very interesting today. That's especially true when you consider the lack of footage of such acts. Sandow is Eugene Sandow, the man who claimed to be the strongest in the world. Shot on March 6, 1894, we see Sandow flexing in various ways in front of the camera. I'm not sure what he was thinking at the time of shooting but seeing this today is quite a laugh. Carmencita is the famous dancer doing her belly dance on screen making her the first woman to appear in an American movie. The film has become somewhat famous over the past several years because of various documentaries doing studies about early sexuality and how it caused so much controversy. This film, as innocent as they come, did strike a bit of outrage when originally released so it's fun to look at with that in mind. It's also worth noting that this was the first movie listed on the IMDb. Boxing Cats would have PETA members throwing a fit today but in 1894 seeing two animals fight, in a funny manor, was quite entertaining. Prof. Welton can be seen in the center of the frame directing his two cats, with boxing gloves on, to fight. This is actually pretty funny and it's worth noting that the cats throw more punches than a lot of the real fights that were filmed around this time with humans. Caicedo With Pole has hire-wire specialist Juan Caicedo jumping, bouncing and flipping on his wire, which must have been an amazing site when originally released. Annabelle Butterfly Dance features the famous Annabelle Moore dancing around a stage in a white outfit with wings attached. This here probably remains one of the most viewed shorts from this era with its images being shown throughout the world when it comes to exploring early cinema. Cockfight, no. 2 would be controversial today as it features two birds going after one another while two men in the background make bets. This was actually a remake so to speak as the original film was released earlier in the year and was apparently so popular that the prints wore out, which caused the studio to make this version. Apparently the original version didn't feature the men in the background.

Continuing the Dance Genre

[Tornado_Sam · 31 October 2017]

Anyone who knows about the earliest movies in film history should know about Annabelle Moore, popular serpentine dancer and frequent performer for Edison studios. One of the biggest sensations of her day, Moore is most remembered now for her huge contribution to the early film genres, in the sense that she started one of the biggest movie fads frequently copied over the years: the serpentine dance. Already, Edison had broken ground the same year with his filming of Spanish dancer Carmencita (believably the first woman to appear in a US film) and would later continue his exploitation in the dance genre later (with his films of "Imperial Japanese Dance", "Princess Ali" and "Amy Muller") but it was the Annabelle films in particular that saw rapid profit. Often, due to how the original negatives of a film would wear out from having copies made, the same film would have to be replicated over and over again; such was the case of the Annabelle films. Already this says something about how popular they were, if demands for copies couldn't be met after awhile. Other Annabelle dances filmed for Edison include "Annabelle Sun Dance" of the same year and "Annabelle Serpentine Dance" of 1895, colorized by hand to add an additional artistic touch to the short.

In the butterfly dance film (of which one of its several remakes is included on Kino's "The Great Train Robbery and Other Primary Works" disc) we see a 20 second performance of the dance by Moore, complete with butterfly wings and the white flowing skirts which have become her trademark. Just by watching it anyone could see how the dance was so popular in the day, and I'm not talking just about the almost hypnotic dance itself; a lot of male viewers would no doubt have been sexually aroused, shall we say, to see the frequent glimpses of leg and ankle. This can be considered one of the major reasons as to why the company earned its reputation as the dirtiest source of motion picture production in the whole US. Such display was considered naughty at the the time and it was not very moral for the studio to promote these fads further than they already were.

It wasn't just Edison that created dance films, either. After the start of the genre progressed, other filmmakers too began shooting their own versions, none quite as popular as the Annabelle performances. Loie Fuller, the originator of the dance, appeared in several shorts by the Lumière Brothers and Segundo de Chomòn (who created his own variation on the genre with his 1908 film "The Beginning of the Serpentine Dance"). Even Georges Méliès expanded the genre with his own version of the dance in 1896, "Serpentine Dance" (now lost to history) and a dance film of his own: "Miss de Vère (English Jig)" (also 1896). Edison himself would continue to promote the "Annabelle" dance fad until 1897, with his remakes of the serpentine, sun, and butterfly dances and additional recordings of Moore's flag and tambourine dances. All told, it wasn't until the late 1890's that the well-known genre would go into decline. But here it is, in its full glory.