William Heise Movies

"Firemen in working uniform, rubber coats, helmets, and boots. Thrilling rescue from burning building. Smoke effects are fine." - from the Edison...

"This scene shows almost the entire Fire Department led by the Chief, responding to an alarm. The horses, said to be the finest of their kind in the...

"Shows the beach at Long Branch, N.J. immediately after a heavy storm. The breaking waves dash over a row of spiles, throwing a spray high into the...

Hadji Cheriff, a performer known for a variety of unusual abilities, demonstrates part of his act in the Thomas Edison studio. He has a large knife...

Late 1800s cigarette advertisement produced by Thomas Edison Manufacturing.

The stars-and-stripes and the flag of Cuba Libre flutter in the breeze, one after the other. Very dramatic. Appeals to the popular sentiment....

"Beautiful water effects at Haines' Falls, a most picturesque and charming mountain cataract. The wild and rugged surroundings are very impressive.

The dancer Fatima, well-known for her dancing shows at the World's Exhibition in 1893, performs for the camera. She opens her act by twirling around...

A woman in a white gown performs a skirt dance, using her arms to produce circles and other patterns within the folds of her costume. Her legs and...

An athlete demonstrating various poses.

A preadolescent boy, dressed like a street urchin, performs acrobatic stunts for the camera.

Luis Martinetti, a contortionist suspended from acrobatic flying rings, contorts himself for about thirty seconds. This is one of the first films...

This picture was taken at one of the curves on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, along the beautiful Susquehanna River. The train is seen rapidly...

"Stable door opens and ambulance dashes out into the street. Policeman holds back a furniture van till ambulance passes by."

“A comic subject, clear, bright and characteristic. Shows four girls in their night dresses, engaged in an animated pillow fight. During the...

A short Edison Black Maria studio film featuring famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley, known as “Little Sure Shot.” Born Phoebe Ann Oakley...

Experimental film made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope and believed to be the first film shot in the United States. It shows...

“A file of Spanish soldiers line up the Cubans against a blank wall and fire a volley. The flash of rifles and drifting smoke make a very...

Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.

The famous army scout in an exhibition of rifle shooting. A fine picture of the principal, and beautiful smoke effects.