Leonard-Cushing Fight

Leonard-Cushing Fight (1894)

In the background, five fans lean on the ropes looking into the ring. The referee is to the left; like the fans, he hardly moves as two fighters swing roundhouse blows at each other. Mike Leonard, in white trunks, is the aggressor; in black, Jack Cushing stands near the edge of the ring, warily pawing the air as Leonard comes at him. A couple of punches land, but the fighters maintain their upright postures.

Date of release
1894-06-14
TMDB
5.3 / 10 (28)
Runtime
1m
Genres
Documentary
Director
William K.L. Dickson, William Heise

Casting

Interesting facts

The Leonard–Cushing Fight is an 1894 American short black-and-white silent film produced by William K.L. Dickson, starring Mike Leonard and Jack Cushing. Leonard and Cushing participated in a six-round boxing match under special conditions that allowed for it to be filmed and displayed on a Kinetoscope. The film was shot on an uncertain date between May 24 and June 14, 1894, in a specially configured ring at Edison's Black Maria film studio in West Orange, New Jersey, New Jersey. Premiering on August 4, 1894, in Manhattan, the film is considered the first sports film ever released. As of 2023, no full print of the film is known to have survived, making it partially lost.

Background and production

In 1888, Thomas Edison became interested in developing motion-picture devices. Edison appointed his company's photographer William K.L. Dickson to develop such a device. Dickson, alongside his assistant Charles Brown, began working on different concepts the following year. Alongside William Heise, the company experimented with recording boxing matches in the spring of 1891.

The Kinetoscope had its world premiere on May 9, 1893, at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. Further development of motion picture devices led to the first private Kinetoscope parlor opening in April of the following year. Edison's business partners, Otway and Grey Latham, Enoch J. Rector, and Samuel J. Tilden Jr., sought to capitalize on the device's popularity.

According to film historian Gordon Hendricks, preparations for filming may have begun as early as May 24, 1894. Heise and Dickson experimented with various New York-based boxers, including Kid Lavigne, Young Griffo, and Jack McAuliffe, all of whom dropped out of the project. Leonard initially rejected the proposal due to the US$35 (US$1,096 in 2021) payment, which he deemed low.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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