Alfred C. Abadie

Alfred Camille Abadie (December 9, 1878 – January 1, 1950) was an American photographer and pioneer filmmaker who worked for Thomas Edison, specializing in actuality films, a predecessor to the standard form of documentary.

Biography

A New York City native, Abadie began as camera assistant to James H. White at the Edison Studio around 1898. In 1903, Edison sent Abadie to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa to make actuality films, possibly as an attempt to keep up with similar subjects popularized by the Lumières. Abadie returned to the United States and kept making similar films for Edison through at least 1904. After leaving Edison, Abadie continued to work as a freelance filmmaker and photographer, making educational and industrial films, including Birth (1917), the first film of the birth of a baby.

Selected filmography

As a cinematographer

• Railroad Smashup (1904)
• Annual Baby Parade, 1904, Asbury Park, N.J. (1904)
• Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island (1903)
• Move On (1903)
• Market Scene in Cairo, Egypt (1903)

As a director

• Annual Baby Parade, 1904, Asbury Park, N.J. (1904)
• Move On (1903)

As a writer

• Birth (1917)

As a producer

• Turning the Tables (1903)

As an actor

• The Great Train Robbery (1903)
• What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901)

See also

• Actuality films

External links

• Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island a film by Abadie via the World Digital Library