One of the first film stars, Annabelle made her debut at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. She was a featured performer on Broadway when she was filmed by Dickson in 1894. Her Serpentine and Butterfly Dances were so popular that Dickson filmed her again for the American Mutoscope in 1896. - Paul Spehr

Annabelle's skirt dances are among the earliest artistic works in film history. Looking directly at us, she turns, crouches,extends her arms, carves the space of the frame with the multi-hued drapes attached to wands in her hands. There are no edits, no camera movements, just a graceful kinetic invocation. - Robert A. Haller

Footage by: W.K.L. Dickson, William Heise, James White, and others for Edison Manufacturing Co. and American Mutoscope and Biograph Co. featuring Annabelle Whitford Moore and Crissie Sheridan.

Music by: Neal Kurz

I hold no specific rights to this film footage, but present it here for educational use by Art Akademie™ on Google Plus - https://plus.google.com/u/0/communiti... . This footage is held in the Paper Print Collection, Library of Congress, Anthology Film Archives, Institut Valencia de Cinematografia le Filmoteca.