The following is an overview of the events of 1897 in film, including a list of films released and notable births.
David Tynan O'Mahony, known professionally as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, satirist, and actor. He was best known for his observational comedy. Allen regularly provoked indignation by highlighting political hypocrisy and showing disdain for religious authority. His technique and style have influenced young British comedians.
Kool-Aid Man is the official mascot for Kool-Aid, a brand of flavored drink mix. The character has appeared on television and in print advertising as a fun-loving, gigantic, and joyful anthropomorphic pitcher filled with "The Original Flavor" Cherry Kool-Aid. He is typically featured answering the call of children by smashing through walls or furnishings and then holding a pitcher filled with Kool-Aid while saying his catchphrase, "Oh yeah!" He had a comic series produced by Marvel Entertainment where he fought villains called "Thirsties" and even fought a man engulfed in fire named Scorch. He can also come in many different colors such as red, blue, green, and purple.
Kevin Prindiville Farley is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and director. He is a brother of late American comedian and actor Chris Farley.
George Albert Smith was an English stage hypnotist, psychic, magic lantern lecturer, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, inventor and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. He is best known for his controversial work with Edmund Gurney at the Society for Psychical Research, his short films from 1897 to 1903, which pioneered film editing and close-ups, and his development of the first successful colour film process, Kinemacolor.
Edward Francis Jemison, Jr. is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as Livingston Dell in the Ocean's film trilogy and Mickey Duka in The Punisher, as well as the television series Hung, iZombie and Chicago Med.
The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933) is an American pre-Code short film starring W. C. Fields, produced by Mack Sennett, and released theatrically by Paramount Pictures. Written by Fields and directed by Clyde Bruckman, the film is a parody of rugged stage melodramas set in the Yukon.
The Enchanted Drawing is a 1900 silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton. It is best known for containing the first animated sequences recorded on standard picture film, which has led Blackton to be considered the father of American animation.
Guinness is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is now owned by the British-based multinational alcoholic beverage maker Diageo. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to 850,000,000 liters. In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually.
Grandma Threading her Needle is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a grandma trying to get a thread though a needle. The sole purpose of the single-shot film, like the director's earlier Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer (1898), according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "is to record changing facial expressions for the purposes of entertainment."
Oliver Gregory Pike, FZS, FRPS. was a British naturalist, wildlife photographer, author and early nature documentary pioneer, specialising in the study of bird life. "His claim to significance," according to Bryony Dixon of BFI Screenonline, "lies in the groundbreaking techniques he developed to capture animals in their natural habitats and in the fact that he passed this knowledge on."
The Old Maid's Valentine is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the titular Miss Pimple receiving an unpleasant surprise on 14 February. The film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, "is essentially a facial - a medium close-up shot of a single performer whose changing expression constitutes virtually all the film's dramatic action." David Fisher points out that, "the flapping of the sheet of paper and the movement of the calendar betray the open-air set," which, "makes it difficult to read the message: Just like Mama," whilst, "the remarkably well-behaved cat," which, "sits patently licking its paws," "suggests that Smith may have already learned the trick of smearing the cat's fur with food."
To Demonstrate How Spiders Fly is a 1909 British short silent animated documentary film, directed by F. Percy Smith, featuring a close-up of an animated model spider throwing its silken thread to take to the air. The film features "the first of several animated creatures to appear in Smith's films", and according to Jenny Hammerton of BFI Screenonline was made in the belief, "that he could cure people of their fear of spiders by showing them blown up images of their eight legged foes on the cinema screen."
The Acrobatic Fly is a 1910 British short silent documentary film, directed by F. Percy Smith, featuring close-ups of a housefly secured to the head of a match and juggling objects with its feet. The film, "is one of a series of Smith films on similar subjects around this time," and according to Mark Duguid of the BFI is, "near identical to, though briefer than, a sequence in his 1911 release The Strength and Agility of Insects."
Yarmouth Fishing Boats Leaving Harbour is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, directed by Birt Acres, featuring a fleet of fishing smacks leaving the harbour at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK.
The Death of Poor Joe is a 1901 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the director's wife Laura Bayley as Joe, a child street-sweeper who dies of disease on the street in the arms of a policeman. The film, which went on release in March 1901, takes its name from a famous photograph posed by Oscar Rejlander after an episode in Charles Dickens' 1853 novel Bleak House, and is the oldest known surviving film featuring a Dickens character. The film was discovered in 2012 by British Film Institute curator Bryony Dixon, after it was believed to have been lost since 1954. Until the discovery, the previous oldest known Dickens film was Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost, released in November 1901.
Bryony Kimmings is a British live artist based in London and Cambridgeshire. She is an associate artist of the Soho Theatre, and, in 2016, was commissioned to write The Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer for Complicite Associates.
Kevin Thomas Strahle, better known as the L.A. Beast, is an American professional competitive eater who hosts a challenge-based channel on YouTube. Strahle started making videos in his hometown of Ridgewood, New Jersey, before moving to Los Angeles, California. After several years at his home in California, he moved back to his hometown of Ridgewood. As of 2023, his channel has over 2.9 million subscribers. He has 500 million total views as of 2023. In addition to his online presence, he has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show Australia and Tosh.0.
Silver & Black is an unproduced American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters Silver Sable and Black Cat. It was to be produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was intended to be an installment of Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), with Gina Prince-Bythewood directing from a screenplay she co-wrote with Lisa Joy, Chris Yost, and the writing team of Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.
The Dream of an Opium Fiend is a 1908 French short silent film credited to and featuring Georges Méliès. It was sold by Méliès's Star Film Company and is numbered 1081–1085 in its catalogues.
