Westinghouse 1904 -- Night Dance

Return to the days of the Industrial Revolution, where the aim of a company was monopoly and a single factory complex could be its own city.

Westinghouse, 1904, contracted out little to nothing. They forged, welded, wound, assembled everything on site.

Work days were long and hard, safety was something you had to depend on luck and good sense for, and tools were primitive.

This film is a compilation of a series of fascinating strips taken from the Library of Congress's American Memory Collection. American Mutoscope and Biograph did the filming, and after all those Edison reels, you might wonder why not them?

Westinghouse and Edison were not friends at all. You can see why as the girls wind coils for the Alternating Current Westinghouse adopted from Tesla instead of Edison's pet Direct Current.

As accompaniment, 'Night Dance', neo classical or steam punk? A driving rhythm undertone pushes an elaborate and occasionally fractured melody, weaving together what is constant and what is emphermal.

This was a time when the humans were the machines. Yet they're still human. Notice the pretty shawls on the work tables of a few of the girls, the surprised looks up at the camera and cameraman on the overhead trolley -- and for the point when the camera knocks down boards and sparks down on the workers below.

Welcome to Route 66.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Neo
• Classical
• Steam
• Punk
• Alternative
• Westinghouse
• Tedd
• Smith
• 1904
• Mutoscope
• Biograph
• Night
• Dance

[Commiton]

These were the inhumane conditions that fueled the labor movement. Not the pusillanimous unions of today, where workers sheepishly stand by with signs while scabs take their jobs. The original unions: Where the workers understood the stomach robbing rich they were up against. When they struck they closed down their plants by force and would fight for their rights. But hey, the boss is cracking down on us again, when we're beat down enough we'll re-learn what our great grandparents knew.

[2xchrome]

Wow. Nobody's texting!!!

Great video!!

[basileaux]

the hell's that music? but yah def. a good movie

[Venexilio]

OMG at 1:29, that was like not safe at all! :-P But we can clearly see that there was not yet industrial security plans, the main interest was in faster production rather than in human resources and safety! It's very interesting how the corporation's word has evolved.

[19florydory00]

Back when we actually made stuff.

[beowulf342000]

Let's get back to the good old days of 12 to 16 hour days, 6 days a week for a dollar a day, no health package nor retirement.

[NipkowDisk]

You're forgiven- we're all human.

[rosrychaplet]

i'm sorry i accidentily gave you a thumbs down when i meant thumbs up.

[sw8741]

lmao! poor guy! i didn't see that. the gods weren't smiling at him that day! hope he didn't go to the track to relax and place a bet after work!

[desertblbuesman]

right after getting hit in the back by swinging chain.

[TheWidowsSonTemplar]

This was America and western world before we went back to the idea of The Confederate States of America's Free World Trade! They always said the Aristocratic South would rise again! It has our jobs are in China and the Southern Aristocrat chains like Walmart Etc sell it to their working poor! Help create jobs buy from your own country! Not the Confederates who swapped one slave for another!