5: Film, Edison Manufacturing Company’s "New York City ‘Ghetto’ Fish Market," 1903.
Thomas Edison’s studios produced this brief film in the era when movies were still in the phase referred to as the “cinema of attractions.” Very short films depicting familiar and unfamiliar landmarks, customs, activities, and creatures were common.
Suggested activity: Play the film, and while it plays, ask students: What do you notice about the people in the movie? How do they seem to be reacting to being filmed? Why would Jews have wanted to see a movie like this? Why would non-Jews have wanted to see it?
Source: “New York City ‘Ghetto’ Fish Market,” camera by James Blair Smith (Edison Manufacturing Company, 1903; Library of Congress <https://www.loc.gov/item/00694374>, accessed February 22, 2016), video.
