"Perils of Pauline", 1914 -- cliff-hanger or not?

[Joel S. Berson]

"Fantômas (1913 serial)" [see Wikipedia]
interests me for its parallel to the Thousand and
One Nights.  There were 5 films (episodes), each
having several (varying from 3 to 6)
chapters.   The chapters (tales) do not end in
cliffhangers; the episode 2 film (Night Two) certainly does, as Dan says below.

Joel

At 2/9/2014 05:17 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>I apologize to coming late to the discussion.
>
>The first American "hold-over" serial (is that in OED?) is considered to be
>"The Adventures of Kathlyn", although I don't know if any cliffs are
>involved.
>
>Preceding that, however, was a French series called Fantomas, in which, at
>the end of episode 2, a house is blown up with the good guys inside. At the
>end of the episode, a question appears on the screen, asking whether they
>are dead. This may be the first true cliffhanger.
>
>DanG
>
>
>On Sun, Feb 9, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: "Perils of Pauline", 1914 -- cliff-hanger or not?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Going back to the Arabian Nights, I just finished the reading of the 1990
> > Haddawy translation, which is based on the oldest extant manuscript from
> > the
> > fourteenth century. (There are various versions, containing different
> > tales,
> > and, presumably, different versions of the frame narrative.)
> >
> > I haven't looked at them systematically, but the story breaks seemingly
> > come
> > at random moments. Sometimes there is a some pending suspenseful action, at
> > other times the break will happen at moments of no import, as in the middle
> > of a conversation. And sometimes Shahrazad completes a tale just as dawn
> > comes.
> >
> > Haddawy's rendition of the repeated break is "But morning overtook
> > Shahrazad, and she lapsed into silence" and she promises to continue the
> > next night "if I stay alive." While she is deliberately trying to stave off
> > her death sentence, ultimately Shahrazad has no control over the pace of
> > the
> > tales as the dawn, like any event in one's life, "overtakes" her.
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> > Of
> > Joel S. Berson
> > Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 2:29 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: "Perils of Pauline", 1914 -- cliff-hanger or not?
> >
> > Thanks, Christopher.
> >
> > The first two links below provide conflicting opinions about the answer to
> > my question.  For example, one author's mother recalls one episode ending
> > with Pauline tied to railroad tracks, another with her dangling by her
> > fingernails from a cliff ledge.  Another posting, with alleged synopses of
> > the original 20 episodes, does not have either.  (It does describe two
> > episodes, 6 and 7, as ending with Pauline in peril, although the major
> > crisis of those episodes has been resolved.)
> >
> > The issue is compounded by the loss of the original negative and all
> > 35 mm prints.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 2/8/2014 02:57 PM, Christopher Philippo wrote:
> > >On Feb 8, 2014, at 2:17 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
> > > > Where might I find information (some movie email list?)
> > > documenting whether the 1914 "Perils of Pauline" film serial was or
> > > was not a
> > > > "cliff-hanger" -- that is, ended episodes with Pauline in peril,
> > > or resolved the peril before the end of the episode?
> > >
> > >Try http://www.serialsquadron.com/forums/ and
> > >http://www.nitrateville.com and
> > >http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000001/threads/
> > >
> > >Christopher K. Philippo
> > >
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