[Rarebooks] FS: 1901 Theater Handbill for Edison’s Film of President McKinley’s Funeral

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

1901 Tacoma Washington Theater Handbill for Edison’s Film of President 
McKinley’s Funeral.

An interesting handbill advertising the showing of the Edison Company’s 
“moving picture” depiction of scenes from the funeral of President 
William McKinley at the Searchlight theater, 744 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma 
Washington. “When President McKinley went to the Pan-American Exposition 
early in September 1901, James White and an Edison camera crew were 
present to take advantage of their special photographic concession. When 
President McKinley died a week after the shooting, Edison employees 
filmed the funeral ceremonies as they moved from Buffalo to Washington 
to McKinley's hometown of Canton, Ohio. Eleven films were offered for 
sale. These were no longer simple, single-shot subjects comparable to 
those the Edison Company had sold during the Spanish-American War. Most 
scenes, such as Taking President McKinley's Body from Train at Canton, 
Ohio, consisted of several shots that were too brief to be easily sold 
or exhibited individually. With the Edison Company anxious to get these 
groupings of moving snapshots on the market, they released unedited 
camera rushes that included flash frames. When purchasing the McKinley 
films, exhibitors had two basic choices: they could either acquire 
single subjects for their programs or purchase a prearranged selection 
of subjects joined together by dissolving effects” [Musser, Charles. 
Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing 
Company. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991]. The 
Searchlight Theater in Tacoma, Washington was owned by James MacConahey, 
and run as a storefront in the Donnelly Hotel, managed by Mrs. Sally C. 
Sloan. It had opened in November 1900 and closed on June 1, 1902. An 
interesting and uncommon piece of presidential funeral ephemera.

Single sheet. 5.75”x7”. Minor soil. [43247]  $175

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