Joshua Abraham Norton was an immigrant, tycoon, vagrant, and eventually monarch. This film explores his legend.
We will tell the Emperor’s story in his own time and ours. Following the progress of two extraordinary characters, we reveal both the twisted tale that carried Norton to imperial greatness, and the themes of his life that still resonate today.
This is a film about history, set in the modern day.
The Bay Area is a land of the future, but also has a dramatic past. We reveal how the two are intertwined. The city of the Barbary Coast still lives on in modern San Francisco; the struggles we face today were just as real in Norton’s life.
150 years ago a true visionary walked the streets of San Francisco…
An Emperor
Emperor Norton, Norton I, was America’s one and only monarch. He ruled from the Bay Area, conversed with monarchs and politicians, issued his own banknotes and addressed the California state senate. When he died, 20,000 people lined up to see his funeral cortege.
A Visionary
An immigrant himself, Norton spoke out against slavery and racism; he campaigned for rights and tolerance. He designed everything from a safer railroad brake toa bridge and tunnel connecting Oakland and San Francisco, six decades before we got around to building it.
A Penniless Bum
Norton was also a bankrupt failed businessman, who begged free meals and drinks. He wore a ludicrous and increasingly threadbare uniform. When he died, his pitiful belongings couldn’t even cover the cost of a pauper’s funeral.
Each of them could only exist because they were the same man.
An Astonishing Tale
The Gold Rush
Barbary Coast
Bankruptcy and Disapperance
Rebirth
A Mascot and Champion
A Legend
Resonant Themes
Sanity and our treatment of the ‘insane’.
Boom and Bust.
Acceptance
Progressivism
Fake News
Genius
The Past, Present and Future
In Norton’s story, we find so many of the themes and conflicts that still encapsulate the beloved San Francisco of today.
Half our film will be filmed in the past, telling his story. Half in the present and future Bay Area, showing how the themes of his life are still around us.