Early ‘Fairy’ Caught on Film

April 13th, 2007

The Serpentine Dance

You can now view clips of some of Thomas Edison’s early Kinetoscope films online. ‘Serpentine Dance’ features a young lady twirling and dancing in what are clearly fairy wings. The film dates from 1894. The dancer, Annabelle Whitford performed the Serpentine for William Heise, another filmmaker, in 1895. This time she appeared in somewhat psychedelic hand-tinted colour but without the wings.