Look Who it Was Random video

Tom Tinker's Pony Patter

4,781 views · Published 10 July 2009 · 2:19 · Indexed 25 October 2026

Channel: Library of Congress · 2009 · Film & Animation

Watch on YouTube

SUMMARY
Camera iris opens to six ponies with decorated harnesses and plumed halters, standing in the center of a stage with a painted backdrop of mountains. Cuts to two ponies on a seesaw, with a moustached man in a white uniform with dark piping and a white cap holding their leads. A second trainer in a dark suit can also be seen occasionally with the ponies. Individual ponies perform a variety of tricks, including rolling a slatted barrel across the stage with front legs and then with a nose, knocking over the barrel, "limping" across the stage with one front leg held off the ground, and pushing the trainer over with a nose-butt. Cuts to the six ponies lined up at the back of the stage, with each pony's head lying over the neck of the pony in front of him. Cuts to the ponies circling the trainer in a straight radial line and then in various combinations, including three by three, pairs, and singly. The ponies finish their circling by walking in a straight line to the front of the stage and then bowing on their knees. Cuts to a closeup of the six ponies in a line, facing the camera, which closes in an iris effect to black.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
United States: [Commonwealth Pictures Corp., 1919 or 1920?]
NOTES
Copyright: reg. unknown. 

No copyright registration or production and distribution information could be found for an act under this name, but the film appears to be an uncopyrighted Spanuth's original vod-a-vil movie given the similarities in title graphics and camera technique to identified Spanuths. 

Probably filmed ca. 1918-19 in Chicago. 

SUBJECTS
Ponies--United States.
Circus animals--United States.
Silent films.
Vaudeville.
Animal films and programs.
Shorts.

RELATED NAMES
Spanuth, Hans A., production.
Commonwealth Pictures Corporation. 
AFI/Zouary (Maurice) Collection (Library of Congress) 

DIGITAL ID
(m) varsmp http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/varstg:@field(NUMBER+@band(varsmp+4001))

More from this channel