Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909)

A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy ... See full summary »

Stars:

Paul Panzer, Gladys Hulette

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Paul Panzer	...	The Smoker
Gladys Hulette	...	The Elder Fairy

Storyline

A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.

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Plot Keywords:

fairy | smoking | bottle | pipe | seltzer bottle | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1909 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Smoke Fairy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vitagraph Company of America

Technical Specs

Runtime:

5 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The shots of the tiny fairies alongside the smoker were not created by double exposure, but by using a mirror and a lens that could keep both the miniature fairies and the full-sized man in focus.

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Connections

Featured in These Amazing Shadows (2011)

User Reviews

Filled With Good Visual Effects

The special visual effects and camera tricks in this short comedy are easily among the best and most resourceful of its era. Both the variety and the quality are impressive, and most of them are also amusing to watch, in addition to their technical skill. There's no telling how much trouble they had to go to in order to make them look this good, but it was worth it.

The story is very slight, serving only to set up the camera tricks. It features a pipe smoker who comes face to face with a couple of high-spirited miniature female fairies and their antics. The tiny fairy characters are completely realistic, with the double exposures being done with care. There are also other special effects using stop-action and other such techniques.

It's very short, only a few minutes long, but none of it is wasted. It's funny, and it's quite a display of technical skill given the limited resources of its era.