Romantics

Some historical data on the first celluloid kiss. That was way back in 1896 and called...well, The Kiss [aka The May Irwin Kiss, The Rice-Irwin Kiss, and The Widow Jones]. It was the final scene of a stage musical [The Widow Jones] and featured May Irwin and John Rice. The film was directed by William Heise for Thomas Edison and had the Edison catalog copy: "They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time." According to Edison film historian C. Musser, the actors staged their kiss for the camera at the request of the New York World newspaper, and the resulting film was the most popular Edison Vitascope film in 1896. Quite racy--huh? It does possess a certain charm.

The Kiss

1896