Hadj Cheriff, (aka Hadji Cheriff), both an acrobat and knife juggler, was one of the many performers filmed in Edison's Black Maria studio in 1894. Unlike some of Edison's more famous performers (like Annie Oakley) Cheriff's person is one of those instances who's appearance in film alone is the only reason his name would be familiar today. No doubt one of the reasons his act itself isn't even as remembered as Annabelle Moore's serpentine dances or Sandow's flexing is probably due to the fact it was neither remade nor shows any particularly interesting feats of skill to today's audience.
The performance itself is nothing overly impressive and appears to be only a brief selection from the entire act, which was probably a lot more interesting in its entirety. The 20-second short consists of Cheriff hurling a dagger out of his hand before beginning a series of tinsicas--I would have written 'cartwheels' had I not read F. Gywnplaine MacIntyre review correcting this assumption. No doubt most reviewers have made the same mistake countless times to where the act itself seems unimpressive, and is the reason why it is not as recognized. The moves may not seem impressive or interesting to the average viewer's eye, but there obviously had to have been some publicity attracted if the studio bothered making a movie of it. After all, W. K. L. Dickson probably would never have filmed Cheriff if his act wasn't successful.
Even despite the fact the material selected was probably from a more unimpressive bit of the performance, there's still plenty of watchability making these 20 seconds worth viewing. While only a small section of an act that can't be put in context, the clip still illustrates an example of what people would pay to see during the period and helps record a little-known performer that otherwise wouldn't be remembered. Fortunately, Edison actually did film more of Cheriff's act about five years following this, with "Arabian Gun Twirler" of 1899, which preserves further evidence of a more interesting bit from Cheriff's act.
