Solar Eclipse
- 1900
The Donkey Derby
The simple hilarity of donkey racing escalates with the rapid arrival of clowns - and a very loose-limbed jackass
For producer Cecil Hepworth, the popularity of this deathless reel of Donkey Derby shenanigans proved nothing more than that "the interest in mere movement in screen pictures had not yet completely faded out", five years after the medium's birth. But over a century later, the abrupt entrance of a shock-headed clown still jumps the line between silly and sinister. The humour of a jockey in a dress and bonnet may have faded, but the acrobatics of the pantomime donkey are solid silent comedy.
Hepworth described the short films he made in the area around his Walton-on-Thames office as "simple little things obtainable locally at no cost save that of the film-stock, and of very little interest to anybody". The passing of time has contradicted his assessment of their worth - many of his "actuality" films are rich in sociological interest and some, like this one, provide timeless entertainment.
Tags
Topicals
The distant ancestors of today's TV news, 'topical' films captured news of their day - though typically that meant public events like parades, royal occasions or sporting fixtures rather than, say, politics.
It was a lucky filmmaker who managed to be on hand to capture real 'hard news', as in the disastrous launch of HMS Albion. The second Boer War, the biggest international story of the late-Victorian era, lured several cameramen to South Africa. Others responded to audience demand for moving pictures of such events by dramatising them for the camera.
96 videos in this collection
1
Solar Eclipse
2
The Launch of H.M.S. Albion
3
W.G. Grace Celebrates at Lord's on His 50th Birthday
4
Factory Chimney Fire
5
Blackburn Rovers V. West Bromwich 1898
6
Me and My Two Friends
7
Bumping Race (Cambridge May Races)
8
Charity Costume Parade - Manchester or Salford, C.1900 -no.2
9
Children's Procession
10
County Gathering
11
Savage South Africa - Savage Attack and Repulse
12
Dewsbury Fire Brigade C. 1900
13
Football Final - Entry of Teams
14
Football Final - Play in Progress
15
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Coming Ashore
16
Launch of the Worthing Lifeboat Emerging from the Boathouse
17
Morecambe Parade
18
Obstacle Race
19
Hyde Park Bicycle Scene
20
Rugby Football Match
21
Stockton Races
22
The Donkey Derby
23
A Corner of Barnet Fair
24
AAA Championships at Fartown, Huddersfield (1901)
25
Country Sports
26
Drill of the Kansas City Fire Department
27
The Derby 1895
28
Algie's Circus in Carlisle (1901)
29
The Derby 1900
30
Cycle Corps Exercise
31
Practising for the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race
32
Royal Photographic Convention - Glasgow
33
Street Scenes and Salvation Army Meeting
34
Turn-out at Metropolitan Fire Brigade Headquarters
35
Accrington Parade (1901)
36
Bailey's Royal Buxton Punch and Judy Show (1901)
37
Birmingham University Procession on Degree Day (1901)
38
Bolton Football 1 (c.1900)
39
Bolton Football 2 (c.1900)
40
E. H. Williams's Merrie Men: Double Dance and 'The School' sketch
41
Fire Brigade Turn Out
42
Fire Brigade turn-out in the Country
43
Fire Drill: Crystal Palace
44
Fire Turn Out
45
Gosport: Camper and Nicholson Boatyard
46
Liverpool Church Parade and Inspection (1901)
47
Liverpool Street Scenes (1901)
48
Liverpool v Small Heath (1901)
49
Lord Durham at Sunderland (1901)
50
Loreburn School, Dumfries (c.1901)
51
Magnificent Reproductions of the Great Yorkshire Show in Bradford (1901)
52
Manchester and Salford's Harriers Procession (1901)
53
Manchester Catholic Orphanage Boys (1901)
54
Manchester Spiritualists Procession (1901)
55
Metropolitan Fire Brigade Turn Out
56
Morecambe Church Lads Parade at Drill (1901)
57
Newcastle United v Liverpool (1901)
58
Preston Egg Rolling (c.1901)
59
Oddfellows Procession in St Helens (c.1901)
60
Old Poulton Parish Church, Morecambe (c.1901)
61
Oldham v Swinton (1901)
62
Parade of Widnes Schoolchildren (1901)
63
Parade on West End Pier Morecambe (1901)
64
Park V. Fernie at Musselburgh, 1898
65
Police Annual Inspection at Birchfields Park (1901)
66
Procession in Accrington Park (1900)
67
North Sea Fisheries, North Shields (1901)
68
Public School in Annan (c.1901)
69
Salford v Batley (1901)
70
Race for the Muratti Cup at Manchester Wheelers' Annual Meet (1901)
71
Prince of Siam in Liverpool (1901)
72
Runcorn v St Helens (1901)
73
Scholars Leaving St Andrew's Roman Catholic School, Dumfries (c.1901)
74
Schoolchildren at Dalbeattie Public School (c.1901)
75
Show Jumping
76
St George's Day Procession in Liverpool (1901)
77
St Helens v Swinton (1901)
78
Procession of Children at Tyldesley Church School (1901)
79
Turn Out of the Leeds Fire Brigade (1901)
80
Turn Out of the Newcastle Fire Brigade (1901)
81
Launch of H.M.S. Albion at Blackwall
82
Turn Out of the Rochdale Fire Brigade (1901)
83
Foundling Hospital Sports Day
84
Tynemouth Swimming Gala in the Haven, North Shields (1901)
85
The Derby
86
Warrington v St.Helens (1901)
87
Water Polo Match (c.1901)
88
York Road Board School, Leeds (1901)
89
West End Pier, Morecambe (1901)
90
Peter Papworth Collection No. 6
91
Turn Out of the Winsford Fire Brigade (1901)
92
Football Match at Preston C.1900
93
Turn Out of the Preston Fire Brigade (c.1901)
94
Fire Brigade Turn Out
95
Turn Out of the Dundee Fire Brigade (1901)
96