On Sun, 23 Jul 1995 15:09:09 -0700 Gene Stavis said:
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>I'd like to include the ea rliest case of a film being banned known to man.
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>The earliest I have heard of is the Edison "Fatima's Dance" (evidently NOT
>the real title) which was released in two versions, one with the dance (a
>kind of over-dressed belly dance) intact, and the other with a series of wide
>horizontal lines drawn over the offending parts of her anatomy.
 
According to my sometime fallible memory "Fatima's Dance" used to be
available from the Museum of Modern Art Film Library for rental in
both versions.  It may be that it is part of a compilation since it
is very short: less than 60 seconds.  It was originally a Kinetoscope
film.  As I remember the story, the Director of Public Safety of
Atlantic City (New Jersey), then a dignified vacation resort was
offended by the flash of an ankle (or maybe I'm confusing two
incidents).  I do know that "Fatima's Dance" existed as Gene describes
it and that it was a Kinetoscope film which would place the date earlier
than the 1897 date suggested by Gene.
 
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