The Picture Show Annual (1937)

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waltzers had been posed carefully for each successive exposure. Transparencies, or lantern slides, were used, and these were inscribed in their proper order on a re- volving disc, each photo being held stationary for the fraction of a second. There was a big orchestra, and that waltzing couple kept absolute time with the band ! But the miracle of kinematography had not hap- pened yet. What the searchers were looking for was some flexible material that would go through rollers and could enable a photographer, with one lens, to take his shots fiom the one point of view and auto- matically in sequence. Both in Europe and in America chemists, inventors and engineers were tackling the problem. Unknown to each other, there were three prominent men working at it — Edison, Lumiere and Friese-Greene. Friese-Greene, a Bristol man, was the first to solve the problem. In 1889 he secured the world s first patent for the invention of kinematography, “ the complete process of being able to secure upon a band of celluloid film a perfect sequence of photographic images, taken in rapid succession by a single camera.” Unfortunately, destiny robbed him of the fruit of his labours, and it was left to Louis Lumiere to be the first man in Europe to show moving pictures to the paying public. Already Lumiere had discovered the use of cellu- loid as a base; his problem was to make the pictures ” move ” on a screen. After two years of experiment he presented “ Le Cinematographe ” to the public in the basement of a Paris cafe, admission prices being lOd. and 1/3. Two months later “ Le Cinemato- graphe’ was introduced at The Polytechnic, Regent Street (February 20th, 1896), where the public hastened to view this brand-new sensation. To the audiences it seemed uncanny to look at the screen and see a railway train leap right at you. Some women fainted — cautious ones made for the exit! In the year 1896 the motion picture really started. Music-halls decided to make “ the pictures ” a turn on the bill. Lumiere’s show was booked for the Empire, and the Alhambra, not to be behind, secured R. W. Paul’s Animatograph, which went into their programme in March, 1896. The pictures shown then were Topicals, such as the Derby, the Boat Race, etc., usually about 50 feet long, and each lasting about four seconds. The Alhambra wanted a greater variety of pictures, so Paul staged on the theatre roof the first British production, “ The Soldier’s Courtship,” in which were cast well-known players who did the job for the fun of the thing. Shortly all London music-halls were running “ Pictures ” as a ten-minute item on their bills, and in the ’90 s it was quite an ordinary sight to see a projectionist careering along in a hansom with his apparatus beside him. He had to — sometimes he covered four halls in an evening ! Meantime, the owners of Dioramas and Myriora- mas, which toured the country halls, decided to scrap their shows and substitute “ moving pictures,” eking out their two-hour show with the usual ninety minutes of variety turns. Cinema veterans will tell you how in those days live showmen toured the country, hiring the town halls and staging two-hour variety and picture shows. It became such a popular entertainment that Nestle s Milk and Sunlight Soap joined forces and presented this land of show all over the provinces, offering reduced admission in return for coupons. The demand for story pictures got so persistent— particularly as the Edison people would only deal with exhibitors using their projection machine—that R. W. Paul decided to produce his own. The first British studio was erected at New South- gate. It was built like a stage, 18 ft. wide by 13 ft. high, stood 8 ft. above the ground, and the front roof was glazed to let in the light. Of course, Paul could not “ produce ” all the time, he had his scientific instrument business to run, so he agreed to let it to all comers at one guinea per production. James A. Williamson (1896-1900), in view of the demand both from America and Germany for more pictures, decided to take a hand, and in his studio at Hove, near Brighton, managed to turn out some sixty to eighty productions a year. Cecil Hepworth and Will Barker joined in the fray. Apart from Continental and American demands, you may ask where did all these productions go ? I have already explained the music-hall demand throughout the country; the Moss and Thornton circuit of thirty-two halls made pictures a permanent tum in their programmes. The touring picture show demanded its supply. Vacant shops, corrugated iron buildings, bams and, indeed, all sorts of empty buildings were commandeered by speculators, who saw money in the “ movies.” Not till 1909 was any further effort made to stretch out the length of a picture. The most ambitious masterpiece so far confined itself to 1,000 ft. (one reel). “ Ben Hur ” had been made in sixteen scenes, but did not exceed 800 ft. in length, an eight-minute show. Then a young fellow who had been playing melo- drama in a stock company appeared on the scene. This was D. W. Griffith, who put forward new ideas and taught the value of pictorial emphasis by means of the “ close-up,” “ the cut-back, the fade-out,” and “ the dissolve." As stage players scorned the ' pictures the actors and actresses appearing therein preferred to remain anonymous. But the public were beginning to take notice of some of those unknowns, particularly a young girl called Mary Pickford. It was left to Adolf Zukor, a furrier, who had dabbled in this line of entertainment, to discover the value of the “ star ” system, and to help break down the prejudice about ” long pictures. In 1912 he tried out his experiment by securing and showing Queen Elizabeth,” with Sarah Bernhardt as star. Louis Mercanton directed it in the accepted stage style. It proved a winner, and must have encouraged Griffith