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Motion pictures were first seen in 1894, when Thomas Edison introduced the Kinetoscope, a device for individually looking at film through a viewer. Over the next three years, Edison manufactured almost 1,000 Kinetoscopes and produced some 250 films to show in them. A million people worldwide first saw motion pictures through these devices.
This book describes in detail how Kinetoscopes worked and how they were sold, and describes the parlors to which the public flocked, fascinated by the novelty of moving images. It examines how the machines were copied by others and later eclipsed by the advent of projection. It also indicates where surviving machines can be found in the United States and Europe. The book concludes with an index to Edison's films between 1892 and 1896, and presents titles, filming dates, subject descriptions, and information on the location of surviving copies. Copiously illustrated, the book is a vital research tool for all students of motion picture history.
List of contents
Introduction
The Invention of the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope
The All-Important Film
The Kinetograph (motion-picture camera)
The Kinetoscope
The "Black Maria," the World's First Motion Picture Studio
Selling the Merchandise: A Rare Surviving Catalogue
The Kinetoscope Goes Public: Kinetoscope Parlours
Sound Is Added: The Kinetophone
The Kinetoscope in Australia
Competition Kills the Kinetoscope
Surviving Kinetoscopes
Resurrecting Buffalo Bill
Index of Edison Kinetoscope Films, 1892-1896: Key to Style and Abbreviations, Key to Sources of Film Titles, Key to Film Locations
Bibliography
Useful Addresses
Index
