New Jersey is famous as the birthplace of such great contributions to society as the electric lightbulb, organized baseball and Frank Sinatra.

But it is now time to give New Jersey proper due as the wellspring of another unstoppable marvel of modern day life: the cat video.

The film in question is a grainy, 122-year-old film entitled "Boxing Cats" and it features just that -- two cats, miniature boxing gloves on their front paws, having at it inside a tiny ring.

Pure genius.

Filmed in 1894 at the world's first movie studio, Thomas Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, the short video was one of the earliest experiments -- and one of the first publicly distributed -- motion pictures.

It was one of a series of short, single scene films shown on a Kinetoscope, a peep-show like device developed by Edison assistant William K.L. Dickson that was a predecessor to motion picture projectors.

Customers would line up for a chance to pay a nickel, peer inside a keyhole-like eyepiece and watch short films often featuring women dancing, scenes from popular plays and yes, cats in a boxing ring.

"Boxing Cats" also plays a role in what may be the first instance of censorship of the film industry, which also took place in New Jersey.

In the summer of 1894, a short Kinetoscope film of Spanish dancer Carmencita was playing in Asbury Park, a town founded just a few decades earlier by James Bradley, a devout Methodist seeking to build a vice-free religious haven.

But Bradley, by then a state senator, thought the film of Carmencita was too risque and ordered it removed.

It was replaced with "Boxing Cats" (apparently a woman dancing was seen as less morally questionable than a guy holding two cats, pushing them together and forcing them to slug it out).

Besides proving early on viewers' desire for risque footage of women and ridiculous footage of cats, the Kinetoscope films foreshadowed other aspects of our current web video explosion.

Smithsonian Institute curator Ryan Lintelman told Smithsonian.com the short Kinetoscope films had more in common with viral on line videos than Hollywood feature-length films. They were short. Whimsical.

Many online video producers are now targeting an audience that have only a few minutes to spare and are watching on their phones -- not a far cry from people with a nickel to spend on a 20-second diversion.

Even the smartphone screen itself is not much bigger than the kinetoscope and also increasingly favors soundless clips.

"After enjoying a kinetoscope film, people would mingle in the parlor space, discussing their favorites," Lintelman told Smithsonian.com. "With a variety of quick options in one place, viewers could create their own movie lineup and experience. "When you think about it," Lintelman adds, "this is how we use the internet to view visual content today!"

And of course, even a century later, cats videos still rule.

Brian Donohue may be reached at bdonohue@njadvancemedia.com Follow him on Twitter @briandonohue. Find NJ.com on Facebook.