Here, the infamous high-wire walker Juan (A.) Caicedo performs his basic routine for the camera. He appears to be quite at home with his flips and bounces, and seems perfectly relaxed. If you've ever seen any Edison shorts from 1894, then you'll know that many of them featured an athlete or dancer performing for the camera, and then when released to the public Edison would make money off these performers. In this case, Edison decided to film a high-wire walker. No story, nothing, but it's simply a video of a performer long dead. Not a great film but one which will no doubt interest historians and film buffs.(Note: Caicedo also appeared in another Edison film from the same year--"Caicedo (with spurs)". Presumably, this film is considered lost).

. . . with his seemingly effortless 10 bounces (mostly off his rump) filmed in someone's backyard in what may be the first location shot in American film history. Wearing a costume not unlike something you would see at a bullfight, Juan Caicedo was a star attraction at a New York City performance hall for 17 weeks at the time of filming CAICEDO WITH A POLE July 25, 1894. Working with a slack wire and a balance pole about eight feet long, the mustached wire artist seems as if he could bounce back and forth forever on the narrow filament of which he's made a second home. While it's true one of the easiest ways to watch CAICEDO WITH A POLE is at the United States Library of Congress web site, the original score written for this 24.47-second short by theater organist Clark Wilson would be missing there. To approximate the experience users of the Edison Manufacturing Company's short-lived "kinetophone" product experienced, get your hands on disc one of the 4-dvd set entitled EDISON: THE INVENTION OF THE MOVIES from the Kino Company.

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.

This short Edison feature does a good job of filming its subject, which in this case is high-wire specialist Juan Caicedo. It is one of many very early movies that, in addition to their value as historical examples in the development of cinema, have also preserved for later generations the memory of some of the era's popular performers who otherwise have long since been forgotten.This one is notable in that it was the first of the Edison movies to be filmed outdoors, since it was felt (no doubt correctly) that filming the act in Edison's 'Black Maria' studio would not have worked as well. Therefore, you get to see Caicedo use his balancing pole to perform a number of feats of skill in a more natural setting. One interesting and (presumably) unintentional feature is that whenever the wire is straight, it is aligned with a fence rail in the background, making the wire seem temporarily invisible.Most likely, Caicedo had to make some changes in his routine to keep all the action within the fixed camera field. But he and the Edison film crew seem to have worked together pretty well, since almost everything stays in view. Between that and the outdoor photography, this movie does a good job at what it set out to do.