09/03/2026
in Clark County History: Sept. 3, 1897 — Clark County packed into Vancouver’s Standard Theatre for its very first motion picture. 🎥✨
The feature was the Corbett–Fitzsimmons heavyweight fight, filmed in Carson City, Nevada, on St. Patrick’s Day earlier that year. James J. “Gentleman Jim” Corbett (1866-1933) was recognized as the legitimate heavyweight champion, having taken the crown from the legendary John L. Sullivan (1858-1918) in 1892. Bob Fitzsimmons (1863-1917), a lighter, scrappier blacksmith-turned-boxer, entered as the opponent and was considered the underdog.
Corbett controlled much of the fight and even scored a knockdown in the sixth round. But Fitzsimmons kept pressing forward, and in the 14th round he landed his famous “solar plexus punch.” Corbett went down, and Fitzsimmons claimed the heavyweight title in what was remembered as Nevada’s first world championship prizefight.
The entire contest was captured by cinematographer Enoch J. Rector (1863-1957) on a two-and-a-third-mile reel, billed as “143,000 distinct pictures.” It became the world’s first feature-length film — the first time a full sporting event was recorded start to finish. Portland hosted the Northwest premiere of this in July; just over five weeks later, Clark County audiences watched the same flickering images, marking the dawn of cinema in Southwest Washington.
Photo Description: Courtesy of the Library of Congress, this image shows a frame of the Corbett–Fitzsimmons fight in Carson City, Nevada, on March 17, 1897. Thousands crowd around the raised ring with the stars in the center... the very scene Vancouver audiences saw come alive on the screen that fall.
