Bob's Short Attention Span Theater

A shot of people walking on The Leeds Bridge.

A man opens the big gates to the Lumière factory. Through the gateway and a smaller doorway beside it, workers are streaming out, turning either left or right. Most of them are women in long dresses and big hats, but some are men. Suddenly a man with a long apron rushes out through the crowd, followed by a big dog. At last some men on bikes leave the gateway. When all workers have left the factory, the doorkeeper starts closing the gates again.

A group of people are standing in a straight line along the platform of a railway station, waiting for a train, which is seen coming at some distance. When the train stops at the platform, the line dissolves. The doors of the railway-cars open, and people on the platform help passengers to get off.

In a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, actors May Irwin and John C. Rice perform the controversial final scene of the stage musical play "The Widow Jones." Sometimes referred to as "The May Irwin Kiss" or "The Rice/Irwin Kiss", this tantalizing re-enactment depicts two fervent lovers cuddle, talk passionately at hair's breadth--and just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to go in--he swiftly brushes his well-groomed mustache to give his chosen one an innocent peck, rather than a hot-blooded kiss. Of course, things have significantly changed since 1896, and what is now viewed as innocuous, it was punishable back then.

An elegantly dress woman and her maid servant enter a room which has a large basin on the floor. The maid immediately helps the woman disrobe giving modern viewers an idea of how many layers of clothing women wore in 1897. When the woman is down to her last garment she steps into the tub and the maid pours what appears to be black powder onto her back. She then covers the woman with a robe, pats her dry and the film ends.

A simple scene of two rather flamboyantly-dressed Edwardian children attempting to feed a spoonful of medicine to a sick kitten. The film is important for being one of the earliest films to cut to a close-up, then back again to the same medium shot as before

A man and a woman, talking over their relationship.