THE MAN WITH THE RUBBER HEAD (1901)
Article #371 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing date: 3-21-2002
Posting date: 8-7-2002

Yes, it’s true! The man in this Melies short does indeed have a rubber head. It’s not his own, mind you; well, actually it is, but it’s not the one he keeps perched on his neck, if you get my drift. He keeps this one in a box.

So what can you do with a rubber head? Well, you can inflate it with your trusty bellows, just like the monster’s head in THE BRAINIAC. And that is exactly what the man does. Once it’s full, he shows how you can deflate it by releasing the pressure, and it returns to its original size.

Having demonstrated how the head works, our hero than puts some clown in charge of this job (and when I say some clown, I mean some clown). And then…

Well, you don’t want me to give away the ending, do you?

Incidentally, this is the earliest movie I’ve covered to date.