Arnold Genthe - Scene in Chinatown / motion picture
Summary
This film was shot in an alley of San Francisco's Chinatown on Saturday, September 15, 1900, at midday. The topography of the site (sloping down to the far street), the width of the alley, the location of utility poles [Frame: 0255], and the location of buildings across the far street suggest that the view is north from Washington Street down Washington Place (today's Wentworth Street) to Jackson Street. Washington Place was known locally as Tuck Wo Gai ("Virtue and Harmony Street") and adjacent Washington Street was called Wa Sheng Dun Gai ("Waystation to Prosperity Street"). Washington Place was located in the northeast part of old Chinatown, just northwest of Portsmouth Square, around which gold rush San Francisco was built. Chinese provision stores lined the west (left) side of Washington Place, with fish and poultry stores on the east side. Three gambling houses were also located on the east side toward Jackson Street. The film features a group of white men ascending the alley [0625] before dispersing down Washington Street. Some Chinese residents are also seen. The group of men, one dressed as an inspector, may be members of the Health Department Committee on an inspection tour. A few Chinese men with characteristic queues are seen in the alley [1070] and several Chinese women in fashionable dress descend Washington Street near the end of the film.
H30730 U.S. Copyright Office
Copyright: American Mutoscope & Biograph Co.; 24Apr1903; H30730.
Camera, Raymond Ackerman.
Duration: 1:06 at 15 fps.
Photographed: September 15, 1900. Location: Chinatown, San Francisco.
Biograph production no. 1640.
Paper print shelf number (LC 0375) was changed when the paper prints were re-housed.
Additional holdings for this title may be available. Contact reference librarian.
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
Sources used: Niver, K. Early motion pictures, p. 288; AFI catalog: film beginnings, 1893-1910, p. 947; Biograph production logs.
Early motion pictures : the Paper Print Collection in the Library of Congress / by Kemp R. Niver. Library of Congress. 1985.
Arnold Genthe was born in Berlin. His father was a professor of Latin and Greek. Genthe followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a classically trained scholar; he received a doctorate in philology in 1894 from the University of Jena. After emigrating to San Francisco in 1895 to work as a tutor for the son of Baron and Baroness J. Henrich von Schroeder, he taught himself photography. He was intrigued by the Chinatown part of the city and photographed, often secretly, its inhabitants. About 200 of his Chinatown pictures survive, and these comprise the only known photographic depictions of the area before the 1906 earthquake. The San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed Genthe's studio, but he rebuilt. He was a friend of George Sterling, Jack London, Harry Leon Wilson, Ambrose Bierce, and Mary Austin. He was appointed in 1907 to the Board of Directors of the Art Gallery in Monterey’s luxury Hotel Del Monte, where he ensured that the work of important regional art photographers, such as Laura Adams Armer and Anne Brigman, was displayed with his own prints. In 1911 he moved to New York City, where he remained until his death of a heart attack in 1942. He worked primarily in portraiture, and Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and John D. Rockefeller all sat for him. His photos of Greta Garbo were credited with boosting her career. He also photographed dancers, including Anna Pavlova, Isadora Duncan, Audrey Munson, and Ruth St. Denis, and his photos were featured in the 1916 book, The Book of the Dance.
Tags
Date
Contributors
Location
Source
Copyright info
