Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy
Encyclopedia
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy is a 1909
five minute silent film
directed by J. Stuart Blackton
.
In the film, a smoker (Paul Panzer
) falls asleep and is visited by two fairies
(one of which is played by Gladys Hulette
). Audiences marveled at the primitive special effects featuring the fairies interacting with objects much larger than themselves.
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy was the first instance of tobacco product placement (for Sweet Corporal cigarettes and cigars) in the movies.
In 2003, the Library of Congress
deemed it "significant" and preserved it in the National Film Registry
.
1909 in film
The year 1909 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*Matsunosuke Onoe, who would become the first superstar of Japanese cinema, appears in his first film, Goban Tadanobu.*James Joyce opens the Volta, the first cinema in Dublin....
five minute silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
directed by J. Stuart Blackton
J. Stuart Blackton
James Stuart Blackton , usually known as J. Stuart Blackton, was an Anglo-American film producer of the Silent Era, the founder of Vitagraph Studios and among the first filmmakers to use the techniques of stop-motion and drawn animation...
.
In the film, a smoker (Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer
Paul Panzer was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in 333 films between 1905 and 1952. Panzer was best known for playing Koerner/Raymond Owen in The Perils of Pauline....
) falls asleep and is visited by two fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
(one of which is played by Gladys Hulette
Gladys Hulette
Gladys Hulette was a silent film actress from Arcade, New York. Her career began in the early years of silent movies and continued until the mid-1930s. She first performed on stage at the age of three and on screen when she was seven years old. Hulette was also a talented artist...
). Audiences marveled at the primitive special effects featuring the fairies interacting with objects much larger than themselves.
Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy was the first instance of tobacco product placement (for Sweet Corporal cigarettes and cigars) in the movies.
In 2003, the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
deemed it "significant" and preserved it in the National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
.