''Roosevelt in Africa'' is a film by

Cherry Kearton Richard Kearton Zoological Society of London, FZS, Royal Photographic Society, FRPS (2 January 1862 – 8 February 1928) and Cherry Kearton (8 July 1871 – 27 September 1940), brothers, were a pair of British naturalists and some of the worl ...

, released in

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

. It is a documentary about the

Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition The Smithsonian–Roosevelt African Expedition was an expedition to tropical Africa in 1909-1911 led by former United States president Theodore Roosevelt, funded by Andrew Carnegie and sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. Its purpose was to ...

, featuring

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It is shot in silent black and white. One of the biggest headline-grabbing stories of 1910 was former president

's safari into

. Landing in

Mombasa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

in 1909, Roosevelt spent months in the wilds of East Africa, hunting big game in parts of what are now

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. For some of this journey, he was accompanied by famed British bird-and-animal photographer

, who shot wildlife and native scenes with a hand-cranked motion picture camera. Among the scenes captured by Kearton's camera were a number of

Maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

gatherings and dances – although the Maasai were incorrectly identified in the film's slates as "

Zulus Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Na ...

." Quick to cash in on the media frenzy, the Selig Polyscope Company of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

released a fake documentary that it had shot at its own

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

game preserve, using a lookalike actor as a stand-in for Roosevelt when necessary. Motion Picture Patents Company, using Pathé as its distribution arm, responded by releasing the authentic Kearton footage under the title ''Roosevelt in Africa''. Kearton had dreamed of filming an African lion, but was unable to do so during the Roosevelt voyage. The fake Selig film did feature a lion – a tamed aged lion.

External links

* 1910 films Films about Theodore Roosevelt American silent short films Films directed by Cherry Kearton Black-and-white documentary films Documentary films about presidents of the United States American documentary films 1910 documentary films Films shot in Africa American black-and-white films 1910s American films {{hist-documentary-film-stub