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Three jumping Tommies
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- MP4 (432x288, sd 23.4 MB): 99/99592.99577.Three_Jumping_Tommies.mp4
- MP4 (720x480, hd 46.5 MB): 99/99594.99577.Three_Jumping_Tommies.mp4
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- MOV (720x480, source 29.7 MB): 99/99577.Three_Jumping_Tommies.mov
Film from the AFI/Peters (S.E.) Collection of the Library of Congress.
Opening title introduces "Three jumping Tommies in their original acrobatic stunts," with "Tommies" apparently referring to the performers' British military uniform costumes of caps, shirts and ties, knickers to the knees, tights, and short boots. Cuts to a long shot of a stage with a painted backdrop of a garden with fountains. From stage right march three young men; a short boy flanked by two taller men. As they reach center stage, the three turn to the camera and salute, then toss off their caps. The three acrobats perform a variety of acrobatic and gymnastic stunts, including backflips from another's handhold, cartwheels and somersaults where no hands touch the floor, leaping spins similar to cartwheels but with the upper torso parallel to the floor, and a lively shuffle dance interspersed with cartwheels, spins, and twirls. One of the taller boys also performs a series of slow, somewhat comic backwards somersaults, then does a series of handsprings in place at center stage as the other two perform kicks from handstands on either side.
Cont.: Film cuts to another shot of the stage, which now features a tower made of four stacked tables and supported by two of the acrobats and a fourth man. On top of the tower in a chair sits one of the taller acrobats. This boy then does a backflip off the tower, at no time leaving the seat of his chair which lands upright on the stage. The three "Tommies" move downstage, the smaller boy takes a bow from center stage, and the camera lens closes in an iris effect.
Notes:
Filmed ca. 1919 in Chicago.
See also the entry for this film on the Library of Congress American Memory website
- Creator:
- Commonwealth Pictures Corp.; Spanuth, Hans A. (producer)
- Publication date:
- 11 March 1920
- Length:
- 02:43
- Contributions:
- Hans A. Spanuth (production)
- Type:
- video
- Original format:
- User:
- Library of Congress