The motion picture of Jack Johnson in training

The boxer Jack Johnson,¹ who was Heavyweight Champion of the World from 26 December 1908 until 5 April 1915, appears in many motion pictures. At least two of these show him doing training exercises, and title number 20297 in the collection of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) is one such. In it there are four scenes, all taken at the same place on bare ground outside an unidentified building:

1. Johnson and two young African-Americans run towards camera. Johnson is wearing a cap and jumper, probably indicating that it is cold. There are a few people behind them. (Duration: about 3½ seconds.)
2. Johnson is seen doing shadow sparring, ungloved and holding small weights, in front of several tens of people, including several African-Americans and a few women. The 2 other runners from the first scene are nearby. (Duration: about 39½ seconds.)
3. Johnson, ungloved, is shown with another man who is holding him around the neck, apparently trying to pull his head down. (Duration: about 22½ seconds.)
4. Johnson, wearing boxing gloves, spars with the man (also gloved) from the previous scene. (Duration: about 20½ seconds.)

The australian screen Website (ASO) has a video of this film but with the first scene missing. There is also a copy of the film on YouTube²: this has all four scenes and is of much better image quality than the ASO version, though slightly cropped along the top and bottom.

It was once claimed that this film was shot at Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on 16 December 1908 (and thus a week and a half before Johnson won the championship title from Tommy Burns), and that the promoter of the championship fight, Hugh D. McIntosh, was to be seen in the film. However, the prominent character supposedly assumed to be McIntosh (and seen through most of the film) is in fact George Little, who was Johnson's manager from mid-March 1909 to early June 1910, during which time Johnson was in the USA and (briefly) in south-eastern Canada.³ So where and when was the film photographed?

To begin with, both the NFSA and the australian screen copies of the film are laterally reversed (i.e. mirror imaged) (though the YouTube version is correct). Compare the two images below: in the one on the left, which is correctly oriented, George Little's hair parting is to the left of centre of his head; in the right-hand view, which is a detail of a mirror-image of a framegrab from the ASO video, Little – in the pale suit on the right – has his parting again on his left, and he has a thumb hooked in the outside top pocket of his jacket, which is on his left side. (He is seen in the film to remove and replace a watch from this pocket.) Furthermore, close examination of the (correctly oriented) YouTube copy shows that the men's jackets and vests are buttoned left over right.

Jack Johnson, Sam Berger, Alfred L. Meyerstein, and George Little on 3 May 1910 at San Francisco4 Image courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection

Jack Johnson, shadow sparring; George Little on the right (Framegrab, laterally reversed, from about 5 seconds into the australian screen video) Image courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

The location of filming was between Ocean Beach Pavilion and Seal Rock House at Ocean Beach on the Pacific coast west of San Francisco, California, where Johnson set up his training quarters both prior to his fight with Stanley Ketchel (on 16 October 1909) and prior to his fight with James J. Jeffries (on 4 July 1910). In the image on the left below the building on the left is Ocean Beach Pavilion and the (foreground) centre and right buildings are parts of Seal Rock House. A set of steps is visible leading to a landing with two bench seats outside the nearest wall of Seal Rock House. The steps and landing, wall and windows, paling fence, and landform visible here are seen in the framegrab on the right below from the first scene in the YouTube video, as well as during the film as the camera pans over the scene.

There are also differences between the photograph and the film: the L-shaped windowed partition seen throughout the film is not seen in the photo; and in the film the middle window is bricked in. It is reasonable to assume that the photo (the date of which is not known) predates the film and that these were later changes to the building.

Ocean Beach Pavilion. Back of Pavilion from Balboa St5 Image courtesy of Western Neighborhoods Project, San Francisco

At start of training film: Jack Johnson and companions (Johnson is on the right) Image courtesy of Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas

While under the management of George Little, Jack Johnson's two stays at Seal Rock House were from 17 September 1909 through 20 October 1909 while training for his match with Stanley Ketchel⁶; and from 30 April 1910 through 23 June 1910 in preparation for his fight with James Jeffries,⁷ although as Little was dismissed as manager on 5 June,⁸ after this date he would almost certainly not have watched over Johnson as he is seen to do in the film.

The clue to the date of filming is the identity of Johnson's wrestling and sparring partner in the third and fourth scenes, because Johnson had different white partners for the two training periods. This person appears to have been Ed "Gunboat" Smith, who made his reputation principally by acting as sparring partner to Jack Johnson when the latter was training for his fight with Ketchel two months ago,⁹ and of whom a contemporary photograph is shown on the left below; compare this with a detail from a framegrab from the YouTube video on the right.

Ed "Gunboat" Smith, c. December 190910 Image courtesy of California Digital Newspaper Collection

Jack Johnson's sparring partner Image courtesy of Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas

Unfortunately, there are very few times in the film when Johnson's partner's full face is seen, and the two images above can't be called a decisive match. Smith's left ear protruded more than his right ear, and this is noticeable with the person in the film. Also, Smith was about 4½ cm taller than Johnson¹¹, and such a difference in height is evident at the start of the sparring scene.

Motion pictures were taken at Seal Rock House on 14 October 1909, when Smith was present:

    Ketchel and Johnson spent most of their time yesterday posing for the moving picture men. They each boxed a bit for the benefit of the camera men, did road work and gym stunts and smiled and looked pleasant.
    [...] Johnson went seven rounds, four with Gunboat Smith, two each with Jack O'Keefe and Joe Lanum and one with Comedian Dave Anslinger which furnished the fun of the afternoon.[sic] [...]¹²

At the time there was a boxer and wrestler named Charles (or Charley or Charlie) Anslinger, but no Dave Anslinger has otherwise been found, so it appears that the "Dave" is an error. The left and centre pictures below are of Charley Anslinger, while the image on the right, taken from the video, shows a person with the physique of a fighter who is seen in the background throughout most of the film. This person in the film bears a strong resemblance to Charley Anslinger, especially with regard to his hairstyle, but, as with "Gunboat" Smith above, the confirmation of identity is not certain.

Charley Anslinger, 191213

Charley Anslinger, 190914

Probably Anslinger and George Little Image courtesy of Boxing Hall of Fame Las Vegas

No other mention has been found of films being taken at Seal Rock House in the time Johnson and company were there before his match with Ketchel. So, although the identifications of Smith and Anslinger are not 100 %, there is nonetheless a high probability that both of them are seen in the film, and that it was shot on 14 October 1909. (And on this date the weather in the San Francisco area was cool: there was fog along the coast and the temperature range was 11·1 °C – 14·4 °C (52 °F – 58 °F)¹⁵: this would account for the runners seen at the start of the film wearing warm clothing.)

It is now impossible to say how complete the film is. Certainly the first scene, with Johnson and companions running to the camera, is very brief, but they appear to cover the little space available; whether there was more of them before they reached the film's setting is not known.

Production and exhibition of the film

The following is relevant if, as is almost certainly the case, the film of Johnson training was made prior to his fight with Stanley Ketchel.

The film taken on 14 October was shot by Miles Brothers:

[Johnson and Ketchel] will pose for the benefit of Miles brothers and their moving picture machines this afternoon. They will each do a little boxing with their sparring partners, but it will not be of the slambang order.¹⁶

One of the cinematographers of the Johnson-Ketchel fight on 16 October was Earle C. Miles, one of the brothers, who acted on behalf of the Kalem company. The (probably developed) negative of the fight film was sent to New York (by rail) where it arrived on 23 October¹⁷; presumably the training film was sent with it.

As the Johnson-Ketchel fight itself was more important than the boxers' training sessions, reviews of the film deal mostly with the scenes of the fight; little detail is given about the training films. But there are occasional mentions, e.g.:

Along with the fight scenes a number of views are shown of the fighters preparing for the battle. There are some particularly good pictures of Johnson training at the beach.¹⁸

The fight film was first shown in Australia on 4 June 1910 at the Stadium, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney.

It was later shown in Queensland:

OLYMPIC STADIUM.
BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP PICTURES.
The boxing contest for the championship of the world between Jack Johnson and Stanley Ketchel, which was fought at San Francisco in October last year, was illustrated in moving picture form at the new Olympic Stadium last night. The enterprise of the management in securing the films for Brisbane was rewarded by a large attendance of spectators, who witnessed a very interesting contest. The series opened with views of Johnson's training quarters, in which the champion was seen at work, at running, skipping, and sparring, and then followed illustration of Ketchel undergoing his preparation for the match. [...] The pictures will be exhibited again this evening.¹⁹

If this is correct, what became of the scene with Johnson skipping?