The Sausage Machine (1897)

Comedy | February 1897

Production Company:

American Mutoscope Co.
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HISTORY

The Biograph catalog summarized this film as follows: “Dogs and cats are fed in at one end of the machine, and come out at the other as linked sausages. One of the most laughable scenes in the list.”
       The U.S. Library of Congress catalog gives the following description: “The subject of this comedy is a mechanical contrivance that converts dogs into sausages. As the film begins, one sees a set with a sign in large letters reading ‘Sausage Factory.’ A machine with belts, wheels, entrance apertures and exit pipes, with a sign on it ‘Sausage Machine,’ is between the back of the set and the camera. The action of the film shows derby hatted sausage manufacturers transforming little dogs into sausages by putting them into one side of the machine and taking the sausages out of the other. See also Dog Factory [1904] and Fun in a Butcher Shop [1901]. The Mutoscope was used as an illustration in Magic, by Albert E. Hopkins, first copyrighted in 1897.”
       This film was shot at American Mutoscope's rooftop studio at 841 Broadway in New York City.
       See also companion films both named Sausage Machine (1897). All three films were based on a vaudeville routine about “Catchem and Stuffem's Sausage Factory.”
       The film was used as an illustration of trick photography in Albert A. Hopkins's Magic; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions Including Trick Photography (New York, 1897).
       The American Mutoscope Company was co-founded in Dec 1895 by former Edison Manufacturing Company inventor William K. L. Dickson (who left Edison in Apr of that year), fellow inventors Herman Casler and Harry Marvin, and businessman ...

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The Biograph catalog summarized this film as follows: “Dogs and cats are fed in at one end of the machine, and come out at the other as linked sausages. One of the most laughable scenes in the list.”
       The U.S. Library of Congress catalog gives the following description: “The subject of this comedy is a mechanical contrivance that converts dogs into sausages. As the film begins, one sees a set with a sign in large letters reading ‘Sausage Factory.’ A machine with belts, wheels, entrance apertures and exit pipes, with a sign on it ‘Sausage Machine,’ is between the back of the set and the camera. The action of the film shows derby hatted sausage manufacturers transforming little dogs into sausages by putting them into one side of the machine and taking the sausages out of the other. See also Dog Factory [1904] and Fun in a Butcher Shop [1901]. The Mutoscope was used as an illustration in Magic, by Albert E. Hopkins, first copyrighted in 1897.”
       This film was shot at American Mutoscope's rooftop studio at 841 Broadway in New York City.
       See also companion films both named Sausage Machine (1897). All three films were based on a vaudeville routine about “Catchem and Stuffem's Sausage Factory.”
       The film was used as an illustration of trick photography in Albert A. Hopkins's Magic; Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions Including Trick Photography (New York, 1897).
       The American Mutoscope Company was co-founded in Dec 1895 by former Edison Manufacturing Company inventor William K. L. Dickson (who left Edison in Apr of that year), fellow inventors Herman Casler and Harry Marvin, and businessman Elias Koopman. Their Mutoscope, which originally made flip-card peep show movies, soon rivaled Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope (see Edison Kinetoscopic Records for 1893). In the summer of 1896, when Edison introduced the Vitascope 35mm projector, American Mutoscope immediately came out with its own 68mm projector that offered a superior image. In 1899, the company changed its name to the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, then shortened it nine years later to the Biograph Company.
        The Sausage Machine is extant. A copy exists in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

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GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
LCMP
p. 53, column 3
LCPP
p. 85, 122
EMP
p. 287
AMB Picture Catalogue
Nov 1902
p. 10
BIOB1
p. 49, 448
PRODUCTION CREDITS
NAME
PARENT COMPANY
PRODUCTION COMPANY
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
DETAILS
Release Date:
February 1897
Production Date:

Copyright Info
Claimant
Date
Copyright Number
American Mutoscope and Biograph Co.
11 November 1902
H23772
Physical Properties:
Silent
Black and White
Length(in feet):
27 , 150
Country:
United States
Language:
English
SYNOPSIS

At Catchem and Stuffem's Sausage Factory, dogs and cats enter one end of the sausage machine and come out at the other as linked ...

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At Catchem and Stuffem's Sausage Factory, dogs and cats enter one end of the sausage machine and come out at the other as linked sausages.

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GENRE
Genre:


Subject
Subject (Major):

Legend
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement Award

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Sausages, Cats, Dogs
The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.