November 2, 2025
Slap, glide, repeat: Paris goes viral
Paris Had a Moving Sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison Film Captured It
Edison’s 1900 Paris “moving sidewalk” film drops—and the comments are wild
TLDR: Edison’s team filmed Paris’ 1900 moving sidewalk, a three-speed “endless floor” that wowed crowds. The comments fixated on a surprise on-camera slap, praised the moving fence design, name-dropped Heinlein and Chicago’s 1893 expo, and argued over reviving fun, city-scale people movers versus modern safety and upkeep realities.
A century-old clip of Paris’ 1900 moving sidewalk just resurfaced, and the comment section is sprinting faster than the walkway itself. Shot by Thomas Edison’s producer James Henry White, the film shows Parisians gliding on a three-speed “endless floor”—and, yes, a kid catching a surprise slap, which immediately became the thread’s chaos centerpiece. “What did he do?” one viewer gasped, as others debated whether we just witnessed vintage parenting or silent-film slapstick.
Design nerds are swooning over the moving fence that glides with riders, calling it a more complete vision than today’s airport strips. One commenter’s typo—“food and hand speed”—turned into a running joke about modern walkways being out of sync with, well, everything. Meanwhile, sci‑fi fans flexed with Heinlein’s “The Roads Must Roll”, imagining mega-highways of people movers, while history buffs dropped receipts from Chicago’s 1893 version (hello, Devil in the White City).
The big split: romantics want cities to bring back this elevated wooden serpent—thirty feet up, six miles an hour, all vibes—as a “moving High Line.” Cynics counter with “have you met modern liability?” and “we can’t even maintain escalators.” Even Treehugger gets a shout, arguing people movers shine when the walk is just a bit too long. One-word mood from the gallery: “Megalopolis.”
Key Points
- •A moving sidewalk (trottoir roulant) was showcased at the 1900 Paris Exposition and filmed by Edison’s producer James Henry White.
- •White shot at least 16 films at the fair using a new panning-head tripod, improving motion and flow in the footage.
- •Contemporary reports described a three-platform system: stationary boarding, a moderate-speed belt, and an inner belt at about six miles per hour.
- •Earlier precedents include Alfred Speer’s 1871 patent and the first built walkway at Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, which was unreliable and cost five cents to ride.
- •Modern commentary suggests moving walkways are most effective for distances slightly too long to walk, though Paris’s installation was not preserved.