Detail

Title ID 8396Collection ID1188
TitleFlying the Foam and Fancy Diving
Date1906
CollectionEarly Films
Genre/TypeProfessionalNon-fiction
ThemeEarly film in the South East Seaside
KeywordsBicycles Beaches Piers [West Pier, Brighton] Entertainment Seaside Resorts Performing Arts Piers
Location
RegionalBrighton and Hove
NationalEngland United Kingdom
Credits
ProductionJames Williamson
DirectorJames Williamson
Copyright & AccessCopyright restrictions apply, contact Screen Archive South East for details

Summary

A sequence of stunts is performed by Professor Reddish in 1906 at the West Pier for a crowd of onlookers in this footage by James Williamson.

Description

A sequence of stunts by "Professor" Reddish shot from the crowds on the West Pier and shore [?]. Reddish flies off the pier on a bicycle before shooting back out of the sea. Further footage of dives off the pier follow. Divers leap and somersault into the water from the pier, only to hop back up onto the diving board.

Related resources

Books

Sopocy, Martin. James Williamson: Studies and Documents of a Pioneer of the Film Narrative n.p. Madison/Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Date: 1998

Barnes, John. The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894-1901. Five Volumes, n.p. University of Exeter Press

Date: 1996-1998 All five volumes of John Barnes’s archaeological study of early cinema charts its development between 1894 and 1901. Barnes founded the Barnes Museum of Cinematography with his brother William in the 1960s. The collection provided primary material for Barnes’s study of early cinema.

Low, Rachael. The History of the British Film 1896-1906 n.p. George Allen & Unwin

Date: 1949

McKernan, Luke. “The Brighton School and the Quest for Natural Colour” in Simon Popple and Vanessa Toulmin (eds.) Visual Delights – two: Exhibition and Reception. n.p. Eastleigh: John Libbey

Date: 2005

Gray, Frank (ed.) Hove Pioneers and the Arrival of Cinema. n.p. University of Brighton

Date: 1996 Published on the occasion of the 1995 University of Brighton exhibition concerning the work of George Albert Smith and James Williamson. Essays included are by John Barnes, Ine van Dooren, Frank Gray and Martin Sopocy.

Gray, Frank. “James Williamson's 'Composed Picture': Attack on a China Mission - Bluejackets to the Rescue” in Fullerton, John (ed.) Celebrating 1895. n.p. Sydney: John Libbey & Co.

Date: 1998

Collections

The Barnes Collection

Location: Hove Museum and Art Gallery Twins John and William Barnes founded the Barnes Museum of Cinematography in the 1960s. After the closure, the early part of the collection moved to Hove. The collection includes cameras, projectors and material relating to the Brighton School of film pioneers.
http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/discover/2015/02/26/the-barnes-brothers-collection/

Films

Location: BFI National Archive, British Film Institute, London Holds many films made by George Albert Smith between 1897 and 1905.

Further Information on File at Screen Archive South East

NFTVA copies kept on file SASE 950000.

Websites

Screenonline: James Williamson

British Film Institute site containing biographical information and film synopses.
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/519902/

Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema: James Williamson

Biographical overview and further reading.
http://www.victorian-cinema.net/williamson.htm