the FIRST gymnastics movie?

Amateur Gymnast (1894)

Thomas Edison, was the “inventor” behind some of the earliest films.

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…By the beginning of March, Dickson and assistant William Heise had shot The Barbershop and Amateur Gymnast, both full-length subjects. As with most films made during the coming year, these were slightly less than fifty feet long, shot at approximately forty frames per second, and lasted less than twenty seconds. …

Amateur Gymnast shows a young man performing a somersault: it was probably one of several films taken of members of the Newark Turnverein, a nearby athletic club. Others show two men on parallel bars and a brief boxing match. …

Before the Nickelodeon

Leave a comment if you know of any earlier “moving pictures” of gymnasts.

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Rick Mc

Career gymnastics coach who loves the outdoors, and the internet.

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