Robbed of Her All

01/09/1905

The formal name of the peep show machine was the Mutoscope -- at least when it was manufactured by the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company, which later became simply "Biograph" and is best remembered for the films directed by D.W. Griffith with G.W. "Billy" Bitzer as him cameraman. At this point, however, Griffith was a struggling stage actor and Bitzer was a leading cameraman for Biograph. This meant that he did all sorts of movies, including peep shows, and this is one of them. The title tells all and the show shows a lot as a woman exposes a shapely limb and is punished for her flouting of decent behavior.