Seven Ages of an Alligator

Seven Ages of an Alligator

(One reel split with His Uncle’s Wives, 315 feet, February 2, 1913)
Print source: Library of Congress, 4 minutes 20 seconds.
Photographed by Carl Louis Gregory
Original music composed and performed by Ben Model.

Documentary footage showing the alligator in several stages of growth, from babyhood to a ripe old age; a film taken at an alligator farm in California.

In early 1913 as Thanhouser staff and crews were setting up a facility in Los Angeles, cameraman Carl Louis Gregory was taking documentary footage, from which four “split reel” short subjects were created: A Million Birds, filmed at California pigeon and ostrich farms; Los Angeles the Beautiful (two different version with the same title), showing scenic attractions; and Seven Ages of an Alligator, filmed at an alligator farm. Released together, His Uncle’s Wives and Seven Ages of an Alligator filled up one 1,000-foot “split reel.”