Something Good – Negro Kiss

Something Good – Negro Kiss is a short film from 1898, that was added to the American National Film Registry in 2018.[1][2] It is believed to be the earliest on-screen kiss involving African Americans and is known for departing from the prevalent and purely stereotypical presentation of racist caricature in popular culture at the time it was made.[3][4]

Something Good – Negro Kiss
Directed byWilliam Selig
StarringSaint Suttle
Gertie Brown
Distributed bySelig Polyscope through Sears & Roebuck
Release date
  • 1898 (1898)
Running time
29 seconds
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Production

In Something Good, a well-dressed African American couple exchanges several kisses. Between kisses they hold and swing each other's hands and laugh together. The chemistry in the performances is described as "palpable,"[1] conveying an "unmistakable sense of naturalness, pleasure, and amusement."[4]

When it was produced, it was likely presented with other shorts as a comedy vignette, a take-off on the 1896 film The Kiss. Something Good starred stage entertainers Saint Suttle and Gertie Brown. Suttle was a composer for popular theater and Brown a vaudeville circuit actress. The two also performed as dance partners.[3] They were part of a group known as the Rag-time Four, who performed variations on the popular cakewalk dance. They may have been at the film studio to perform in a cakewalk vignette.[5]

The film was made in Chicago by director and producer William Selig, a film pioneer, who also had prior experience with staged minstrel shows.[3] He used his own version of a Lumière cinématographe camera to shoot Something Good.[4] Selig distributed the Selig Polyscope Company film through the Sears & Roebuck mail order catalog.[1][3]

Rediscovery

Something Good's nitrate film negative was rediscovered at an estate sale in Louisiana by an archivist from the University of Southern California.[3] Reviewing the technical details of the film, catalogs and sales material, scholars at USC and the University of Chicago were able to identify the film's production history.[4] The USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive claims the copyright to the restored version of the film, which it published on Vimeo.[6]

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References
  1. "Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles". Film Registry – National Film Preservation Board – Library of Congress. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  2. "2018 additions to the National Film Registry". CBS News. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  3. Bowean, Lolly (December 22, 2018). "Tracing Chicago origins of 'Something Good,' a recently discovered film clip depicting first onscreen kiss between two African-Americans". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
  4. Wang, Jack (December 12, 2018). "Silent film of black couple's kiss discovered, added to National Film Registry". UChicago News. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  5. Garcia-Navarro, Lulu (December 16, 2018). "Library Of Congress Honors Groundbreaking 1898 Film Depicting Black Joy". NPR – Weekend Edition Sunday. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
  6. "Something Good Negro Kiss 1898 Restored". Vimeo. December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
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