Name: Glenroy Brothers (Comic Boxing)
Genre: Documentary, Short, Comedy
Released: 1894-10-05
Duration: 1 min 25 s
Rating: 5.3
Cast: The Glenroy Brothers

This 25-second long Edison Company kinetoscope short features vaudeville performers "The Glenroy Brothers" performing their "comic boxing" in a ring. There is a referee attending and frequently breaking up the action, and there are five people sitting in the ring, along the "back" rope. In some accounts, these five spectators are Edison Company employees. Note that this is often referred to as "The Glenroy Brothers (No. 2)", so there appears to be some confusion over which short is No.1 and which is No. 2.

I haven't been able to locate much information on The Glenroy Brothers, but for me, the most interesting thing about this short is the staging. The contrast of the constant motion of the boxers and referee against the almost immobile spectators flanked by two chairs is enthralling aesthetically. This staging isn't just an accident, because it's unusual for there to be spectators in the ring.

It has all the effect of a George Bellows boxing painting, such as Stag at Sharkey's, come to life. Bellows would have been about 12 when The Glenroy Brothers would have been showing on the kinetoscope in New York City, and he's unlikely to have seen it then, but Bellows did come to New York City in the early 1900s to study. Stag at Sharkey's was painted in 1909.

Being this far removed in time from The Glenroy Brothers, it's difficult to say what exactly makes this boxing "comic", but the fighting style is certainly humorous now. It consists primarily of each combatant swaying towards his opponent with both hands held high, only to basically bounce off of the same motion. They're mostly aiming for the head, and a couple good jabs are scored, one resulting in a brief knockdown. That the spectators are so statuesque makes this more comic, and a large part of the intriguing aesthetic effect is that the staging looks almost surreal in retrospect.

It's also interesting to note the camera motion, which seems to indicate that this was shot with hand-held camera, but I think that may be historically impossible. The kinetoscope cameras, which were the only ones extant at the time, were supposed to be very big and heavy.

At any rate, this is a fabulous short that is far ahead of its time. It's too bad the technology didn't exist for longer reels, as this one deserves it.

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The Glenroy Brothers perform a portion of their vaudeville act, "The Comic View of Boxing: The Tramp & the Athlete", which depicts a boxer with a classic style trying to contend with an opponent who uses a very unorthodox approach.

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Glenroy Brothers (Comic Boxing)

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