My oldest artifact is a Lumiere short film in it's original container. The Lumiere Brothers were the first to produce and project films for an admission fee starting in 1895. Most were of actual events like a train coming into a station or people leaving a large factory. This 1897 film is a staged production that shows three hobos fighting for a cigar butt in "Le Cigare Introuvable".
My oldest costume is Erich Von Stroheim's military jodhpurs and silk undershirt from THE WEDDING MARCH (1928) which he also directed. Billed as "the man you love to hate", he was removed from nearly every film he directed for cost and footage excesses. This is actually his most complete effort, in spite of the film being cut in half with only the first part released in this country.
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