“This delightful short from Edison Manufacturing Co. features the dancers Norma Gould and Ted Shawn (with troupe in tow) performing a range of “historical” dances, not upon the stage but, via the magic of special effects, miniaturised upon a banqueting table top. Flanking either side of the table-sized stage are a bevy of beer drinking men — one of whom is meant to be an old dancing master — making merry to the beat of the dances before them.

In order of appearance:

Stone Age. Dance of Primitive Man

Egypt 1200 BC. Dance of the Priest of Ra

Greece 400 BC. The Bacchanalia

Orient 200 AD

England 1760. The Minuet

France 1850. The Carnival

America 1898. The Cakewalk

America 1913. Ragtime …”

Excerpt from The Dances of the Ages, 1913. Public Domain Review.