The Kissing Couple

This sequence of increasingly enthusiastic smooches was hot stuff in 1899

This saucy, if slightly self-conscious kissing film is probably based on the famous May Irwin kiss, made by William Heise for Thomas Edison in 1896. Early audiences reportedly loved these titillating films - they were certainly very popular. The man in this couple is the colourful Walter Gibbons who made several of these close-up films.