COMMONSCUT

Commons Cut Stories

The strange stories behind familiar classics

True stories of classic films, books, and characters. Public-domain context where it matters.

  1. 15 stories

    Monsters and Gothic Horror

    Dracula, Frankenstein, Nosferatu, Poe, the books and early films behind them.

    Max Schreck as Count Orlok in Nosferatu (1922), directed by F. W. Murnau. Public domain in the US.
  2. 9 stories

    Dark Fairy Tales

    Original Grimm, Perrault, Andersen versions before they were softened.

    Harry Clarke, The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault (Harrap, 1922). Public domain.
  3. 5 stories

    Folklore and Old Customs

    Holiday traditions, superstitions, rituals (Thanksgiving Maskers, turnip lanterns, Krampus).

    Stirring the Christmas pudding, Harper’s Weekly, December 30, 1876. Library of Congress.
  4. 21 stories

    True History

    Real people and events that sound invented (Houdini, Mary Celeste, Agatha Christie’s eleven days).

    John Leech, Ignorance and Want, from A Christmas Carol, 1843. Public domain.
  5. 5 stories

    Silent and Early Film

    How the first movies were made, lost and found (Häxan, City Lights, Edison’s Frankenstein).

    Justus D. Barnes in The Great Train Robbery (1903). Library of Congress.
  6. 5 stories

    Hoaxes, Mysteries and the Unexplained

    Spiritualists, fake survivors, invented authors, Cottingley fairies.

    Frances and the Leaping Fairy, Cottingley, 1920, from Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies (1922). Public domain in the US.
  7. 6 stories

    Myths and Legends

    Greek, Norse, Arthurian and other ancient stories creators still borrow.

    Erasmus, Adagia, Venice, 1520, via Internet Archive. Public Domain Mark.
  8. 7 stories

    Pulp, Adventure and Early Sci-Fi

    Verne, Wells, Burroughs, dime novels, early comic characters.

    Nellie Bly, photographed by H. J. Myers, New York, February 21, 1890. Library of Congress.
  9. 11 stories

    Copyright Tales

    How works enter the public domain, ownership fights over characters, each January 1’s new arrivals.

    W. K. L. Dickson, Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze, 1894. Library of Congress.

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from Half-In Productions