The skyscrapers of New York (1906)

Apropos alte Filme. Ich habe noch einen alten Stummfilm der American Mutoscope and Biograph Company aus dem Jahr 1906 gefunden, der an authentischen Orten in New York gefilmt wurde und neben anderem auch die damalige Arbeit der Bauarbeiter zum Thema hat. Einmal mehr ein Fenster, um in die Vergangenheit zu blicken, die in diesem Fall auch schon fast 104 Jahre zurückliegt.

On November 8, 1906, cameraman Fred A. Dobson began filming The Skyscrapers of New York atop an uncompleted skyscraper at Broadway and 12th Street. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company melodrama tells the story of a construction foreman who fires a crew member for fighting, leading the disgruntled employee to steal. The storyline weaves in and around actual construction of a New York skyscraper. A fascinating record of early twentieth-century building techniques, Skyscrapers captures brick masons in action, workers maneuvering a steel girder into place, and a group of men descending a crane line.

(Today in History)

This melodrama was filmed during the actual construction of a skyscraper in New York City, and includes several scenes of real work crews: a line of bricklayers, a man heating rivets in a forge, riveters assembling steel girders, men astride the steel framework maneuvering and setting a girder in place, and a group of men descending on a crane line. The story involves a construction foreman who fires one of his crew for fighting, which leads the disgruntled employee to steal. He causes the blame to be put on the foreman, who is finally exonerated when the thief is exposed. All of this conflict is woven in and around the actual construction of the building as the work is in progress. There is even one scene of a hand-to-hand fight between the foreman and the villain that takes place on the unprotected ledge of the steel framework of the building. Some New York City landmarks seen in the film include Union Square (between Broadway and 4th Avenue, 14th-17th Street), and the Everett House, opposite the northeast corner of the square at 17th St. and 4th Avenue. The film includes the original AM&B title frames at head of film.

(Begleittext bei youtube)