Santa Claus from 1898. 1 min. Made in Hove. One Christmas Eve, two excitable children go to sleep dreaming that Santa Claus will slide down their chimney.
Happily he does, and by dint of early cinema showmanship we see his arrival on the rooftop, and his night-time visit, bearing gifts and a tree.
The superimposition revealing that Santa is on his way is the first example of a film showing what is happening in two places at once – the circular projection betrays the fact that director George Albert Smith was once a magic lantern artist.The mother and infants in this film are played by Smith’s wife Laura Bayley and their two children, Harold and Dorothy.