International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

sprocket holes per foot along each edge. There were 16 frames per -linear foot, hence each frame was allotted 4 sprocket holes on each side. It is clear from this description ■ that the Edison film of 1891 forms the basis of our present-day standard film. The main difference— a difference which would make an original Edison print unusable on a modern projector — was the adoption of 46 frames per second as the normal rate of speed. The photographic aspect of Edison's films was orthodox. The film exposed in the Kinetograph was the negative from which any desired number of positives could be printed at any time. Edison Not Projector Inventor Although Edison invented the standard motion picture camera, he did not invent the projector. In a letter to the editor of The New York Times, dated June 8, 1921, Edison wrote: "The main invention was the Kinetograph, which was an instrument for recording ('taking') motion pictures, as now used. It was not the apparatus for the reproduction of the pictures, enlarged, on the screen. It is on the projecting machine only that the claims of others can be based." But he goes on to say that he should be honored as the inventor of the modern motion picture because the projector "is the same as the recording instrument with several attachments to adapt it for screen purposes." Does Edison deserve this honor? Edison's motion picture positives were used in the form of continuous loops in his motor-driven peephole "reproducers" which were called Kinetoscopes to distinguish them from the Kinetograph which photographed the pictures. The development of the projection art in America was all but nipped in the bud by the unfortunate fact that Edison had no interest in projecting pictures so long as he was able to capitalize on his peepshow concessions, In fact, he strenuously opposed the building of projectors, considering them an infringement of his lucrative peephole patents, and he threatened many times to bring suit against all who constructed or even used projection machines. Early European Developments One American projection pioneer challenged Edison by publishing a letter which ended: "If Mr. Edison can project pictures of moving objects on a screen, as he says he can, why does he not do so publicly as I have done, and do this at once?"1 We must therefore look to Europe for the first significant developments in pro 1 From a letter written by Woodville Latham to The New York Sun, dated April 22, 1895. jection, including the inception of projection-film standards which were to prevail universally until sound pictures were introduced in 1928. Nevertheless, Edison's 35-mm film with 16 frames to the foot is apparent in all but a few of these developments. The principles of optical projection were probably known in the Far East many thousands of years ago; but as far as we are concerned, the optical projector appeared in diverse forms in sixteenth-century Europe. The. pro jection of "views" (slides) by means of the "magic lantern," or stereopticon, was a favorite parlor amusement in the Victorian era. It was only natural that Edison's motion picture inventions should spur many inventors beyond the range of Edison's continual threats of lawsuit to devise "cinematographs" for the projection of films. Auguste and Louis Lumiere of France examined a few of Edison's films and began at once to build cameras and produce films of their own. Moreover, the idea of a projector was uppermost in their minds at the outset. They completed their projector, called the Cinematographe, in 1894. Because this was the first film projector ever built, we credit the Lumieres with the invention of the motion picture projector, just as we credit Edison with the invention of the motion picture camera. The Lumieres adopted Edison's film width (35 mm), but they perforated their films with only one circular sprocket hole per frame on each edge of the film. The most noteworthy departure from Edison's standards, however, was the adoption of 16 frames per second instead of 46 for the rate of film travel. Lumieres' Advanced Design The Lumiere Cinematographe utilized a claw intermittent movement and an arclamp with a water-cooled condenser. The arrangement of the whole apparatus was exactly the same as now prevails with modern theatre machines. The camera made by the Lumiere brothers was much more like the modern movie camera than was the bulky and practically stationary Edison Kinetograph. Small and portable, the Lumiere camera could be carried anywhere to film topical events. And what is of supreme importance, the photographic quality of the Lumiere films was vastly superior to that of the Edison films. Credit for the first exhibition of motion picture films projected for a large audience also goes to the Lumieres, for on March 22, 1895 they exhibited a number of films before members of the Societe pour l'encouragement a l'industrie in Paris. But in the meantime Max Skladanowsky of Germany devised a motion picture camera, and also a unique type of projector, called the Bioskop. He produced a number of short films which could be used only in his "Doppelprojektor." Projectionists outside of Europe hear very little about Skladanowsky because his system was so radical and, according to today's standards, impractical. Although Skladanowsky contributed nothing to the development of the motion picture art, he must be mentioned because, so far as we know, he was the very first person to give a public exhibition of movies for the purpose of entertainment. (The Lumieres' first exhibition was given only as a demonstration for a group of French industrialists) . Skladanowsky presented his "living photographs" for the first time on November 1, 1895, in the famed Wintergarten of Berlin. Skladanowsky a Real Pioneer Skladanowsky's camera was constructed to take 8 rather large "frames" per second on unperforated snapshot film. The individual frames were not perfectly registered, of course, so they were cut from the print (also snapshot film) , placed in registration by visual judgment, bound together with metal edge bands, perforated by means of a metal punch, and the perforations fitted with metal shoe eyelets! This, in itself, is amazing enough; but what is even more astonishing is the double-projection system Skladanowsky used. Each scene, or film-subject, was made into two separate continuous loops of metal-bound film, one band containing the alternate frames 1, 3, 5, 7, etc., and the other band the alternate frames 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. The two loops were shown with a special double-projector to give a (Continued on page 29) Muybridge photographs like these, produced by multiple cameras operated by strings attached to electric switches which controlled the shutters, proved that a horse lifts all feet off the ground at once in a gallop. These pictures are a milestone in motion picture history. INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • April 1950