The Original Marilyn Monroe: Restored to Life in Amazing Film
54 years before Marilyn Monroe, there was Florence Georgie! Here’s the original 1901 film which inspired that white dress moment from The Seven Year Itch 1955. This is my second attempt at restoring this early Edison movie directed by Edwin S. Porter. Archive footage enhanced using machine learning AI . “What Happened on 23rd Street” starred actress Florence Georgie and actor A.C. Abadie. The original print was all of 77 seconds in duration and in extremely poor condition. Preserved by the Library of Congress. Shown at fairgrounds, musical halls etc as an ‘actuality film’ or a true event, (dedicated “movie theater” were yet to be built.) Audiences of the day were no doubt convinced it was authentic and thought the ribald ending to be hilarious, or the men at least. It was of course staged. The plot, such as it was, entailed a young man escorting a young lady down a busy New York street in Manhattan. Both talking earnestly, the couple walk over an air shaft, causing the young lady’s skirts to suddenly billow out. At first the young woman is mortified but then bursts out laughing. Her laugh is a brief genuine moment, which I hope this restoration does some justice to. The film offers another glimpse of what New York’s Manhattan looked like at the turn of the 20th century. The Edwardian era dresses, early electric trams and horse and carts galore. The film heralds both the end of an era and the dawn of a new era of locomotion. Credit to : Glamourdaze