Cinematographic annual : 1930 (1930)

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WIDE FILM DEVELOPMENT 185 the hundreds of such coined trade names only a few are remembered today; such as Kinetoscope, Vitagraph, Biograph and Mutoscope. "Subjects were confined almost entirely to news events, prizefights, short scenic shots and theatrical or spectacular bits, many of which were considered very risque in those conservative days. The May Irwin Kiss, Little Egypt, Loie Fuller's fire dance, Bridget Serves Salad Undressed and many others brought gasps of amazement at their audacity. "On November 3, 1899, the Jeffries-Sharkey fight was held at Coney Island at night. Wm. A. Brady, now well known in the theatrical and motion picture world, and a promoter named O'Rourke sponsored the bout and induced the American Mutuscope and Biograph Company to film the fight. "The film used was 2^4 inches wide and each frame was 2J4 inches high. Three hundred and twenty feet of this wide film was used per minute, the perforations being made in the camera at the instant of taking. "The fight lasted for twenty-five rounds of three minutes each and more than seven miles of film were exposed. Four cameras were on the job so as to obtain a continuous record. Buckling of the film in the cameras was frequent although the film could be watched through a red glass peep-hole by the light of a small ruby lamp inside the camera box. "The perforations in the large Biograph film were used in printing but not in projecting. The projector pulled the film down by means of a set of mutilated rubber rollers and the projectionist had to watch the frame continuously to prevent creeping of the frame line on the screen. "Oscar B. De Pue, partner of Burton Holmes, in 1897, purchased a machine in Paris from Leon Gaumont for taking 60 mm. wide film then put up in one hundred foot lengths, unwinding and rewinding inside the camera on aluminum spools; not a daylight proposition, but a dark room model. This machine he took to Italy and the first motion picture turned out on the machine was of St. Peter's Cathedral with the fountain playing in the foreground and a flock of goats passing by the machine. He then took other pictures of Rome and from there visited Venice, where pictures of the canal and Doges Palace and the waterfront along the canal with views of feeding the pigeons at St. Marks with the great cathedral in the background. From there to Milan for a scene of the Plaza in front of the Milan Cathedral; thence to Paris where pictures of the Place de la Concord with its interesting traffic and horse-drawn busses, fountains, obelisks, statues, bicycles, wagons, trucks and carriages were made. All the life of that day, after thirty-two years, is in striking contrast to the present. "These negatives are still in his possession although the prints for them have long since been lost track of on account of our having changed from that size of picture to the standard size. "This Gaumont wide film camera was used for five years by Mr. De Pue and most of the negatives, many of which are of great