Video Details      

A wake in "Hell's Kitchen"



Takes place on a rather plain room set, with a single religious picture and a coat hanging from the plain, white walls. An open coffin sits in the center of the room, with its lid leaning against the back wall. An older, grey-haired woman--presumably the widow--stands holding a bunch of flowers to the left of the coffin, wailing and wiping away her tears with her apron. On the other side of the coffin sit two male mourners in three-piece suits, drinking beer. As the two men talk and light a pipe and the woman turns away in her grief, the occupant of the coffin--an older, balding man--sits up and looks around. He spies a large mug of beer to the side, picks it up, drinks all of the ale, and lies back down. When the woman places her flowers in the coffin, she notices the empty mug and questions the two mourners. The three engage in a heated argument, during which the "corpse" throws the flowers out of the coffin. Seeing this, the woman falls in a faint. In their hurry to get away, the two men knock over the coffin, spilling the supposed deceased on top of the woman.                                               
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Video Information
Year: 1903
Genre: Historical
Keywords: Wake services--New York (State)--New York--Drama; Dead--Drama; Death; Apparent--Drama; Hell's Kitchen (New York, N. Y. )--Drama; Coffins--New York (State)--New York--Drama; Mourning customs--New York (State)--New York--Drama; Drinking of alcoholic beverages--New York (State)--New York--Drama; Beer--New York (State)--New York--Drama; Silent films; Comedies; Vaudeville; Shorts;
Duration: 00:00:28
Color: No
Sound: No
Amount of Motion: Medium
Language: English
Sponsor: Thomas Edison
Contributing Organization: Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division
Transcript Available: No

Digitization Information
Digitization Date:
Digitizing Organization: Library of Congress

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