ARENA | Archive of Emperor Norton in Art, Music & Film
Film
Still from The Story of Norton I (Columbia Pictures / Screen Classics, 1936).
At some point, the right script and actors will find the visionary funders necessary to bring an historically informed feature-length dramatic film treatment of the Emperor Norton story to the big screen.
It will have been a long time in coming. Starting shortly after the advent of sound film — and intermittently over the course of the next few decades — the Emperor was the subject of a number of dramatic short films and television episodes.
These sentimental — and often highly fictionalized — treatments reflect the oral tradition and folklore that grew up around Emperor Norton in the decades after his death in 1880.
These film documents are significant, in part, for this reason. But they also now are rarities that are rarely seen outside the domains of film screening societies and, occasionally, subscription cable television — and sometimes not even then.
The Emperor Norton Trust (previously The Emperor's Bridge Campaign) is partnering with the Internet Archive to make these films available for viewing by a broader audience — both via the Internet Archive and via the Trust’s own ARchive of Emperor Norton in Art, Music & Film (ARENA). A link to this Film section page is part of the Archive drop-down menu among the navigation tabs at far left.
Click on any of the titles below to be directed to a dedicated page where you can view the film. (Bonus cherry on top: An animated short from 2017.)
The first four films also are available at the Internet Archive here. *
1936
The Story of Norton I: Emperor of the United States (Columbia Pictures/Screen Classics) — b/w, 9 minutes
1956
Emperor Norton's Bridge — Season 1, Episode 8, of Telephone Time (CBS) — b/w, 30 minutes
Emperor Norton — Season 4, Episode 21, of Death Valley Days — b/w, 30 minutes
The Conspirators — Season 1, Episode 11, of Broken Arrow — b/w, 30 minutes
1966
The Emperor Norton — Season 7, Episode 23, of Bonanza — color, 60 minutes
2017
Emperor of America — animated short, 2 minutes
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* DISCLAIMER: One or more of these films may be under copyright. We present them here solely for non-commercial, educational purposes.