1895 : First commercial movie screened
On this day in 1895, the world's first commercial movie screening
takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and
Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector
called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their
invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing
workers leaving the Lumiere factory. On December 28, the
entrepreneurial siblings screened a series of short scenes from
everyday French life and charged admission for the first time.
Movie technology has its roots in the early 1830s, when Joseph Plateau
of Belgium and Simon Stampfer of Austria simultaneously developed a
device called the phenakistoscope, which incorporated a spinning disc
with slots through which a series of drawings could be viewed,
creating the effect of a single moving image. The phenakistoscope,
considered the precursor of modern motion pictures, was followed by
decades of advances and in 1890, Thomas Edison and his assistant
William Dickson developed the first motion-picture camera, called the
Kinetograph. The next year, 1891, Edison invented the Kinetoscope, a
machine with a peephole viewer that allowed one person to watch a
strip of film as it moved past a light.
In 1894, Antoine Lumiere, the father of Auguste (1862-1954) and Louis
(1864-1948), saw a demonstration of Edison's Kinetoscope. The elder
Lumiere was impressed, but reportedly told his sons, who ran a
successful photographic plate factory in Lyon, France, that they could
come up with something better. Louis Lumiere's Cinematographe, which
was patented in 1895, was a combination movie camera and projector
that could display moving images on a screen for an audience. The
Cinematographe was also smaller, lighter and used less film than
Edison's technology.
The Lumieres opened theaters (known as cinemas) in 1896 to show their
work and sent crews of cameramen around the world to screen films and
shoot new material. In America, the film industry quickly took off. In
1896, Vitascope Hall, believed to be the first theater in the U.S.
devoted to showing movies, opened in New Orleans. In 1909, The New
York Times published its first film review (of D.W. Griffith's "Pippa
Passes"), in 1911 the first Hollywood film studio opened and in 1914,
Charlie Chaplin made his big-screen debut.
In addition to the Cinematographe, the Lumieres also developed the
first practical color photography process, the Autochrome plate, which
debuted in 1907.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1895 : First commercial movie screened
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=5636
1832 : Calhoun resigns vice presidency
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5637
1869 : America's first Labor Day
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5638
1908 : Worst European earthquake
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7125
1989 : Dubcek returns to public office
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5639
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On this day in 1895, the world's first commercial movie screening
takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and
Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector
called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their
invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing
workers leaving the Lumiere factory. On December 28, the
entrepreneurial siblings screened a series of short scenes from
everyday French life and charged admission for the first time.
Movie technology has its roots in the early 1830s, when Joseph Plateau
of Belgium and Simon Stampfer of Austria simultaneously developed a
device called the phenakistoscope, which incorporated a spinning disc
with slots through which a series of drawings could be viewed,
creating the effect of a single moving image. The phenakistoscope,
considered the precursor of modern motion pictures, was followed by
decades of advances and in 1890, Thomas Edison and his assistant
William Dickson developed the first motion-picture camera, called the
Kinetograph. The next year, 1891, Edison invented the Kinetoscope, a
machine with a peephole viewer that allowed one person to watch a
strip of film as it moved past a light.
In 1894, Antoine Lumiere, the father of Auguste (1862-1954) and Louis
(1864-1948), saw a demonstration of Edison's Kinetoscope. The elder
Lumiere was impressed, but reportedly told his sons, who ran a
successful photographic plate factory in Lyon, France, that they could
come up with something better. Louis Lumiere's Cinematographe, which
was patented in 1895, was a combination movie camera and projector
that could display moving images on a screen for an audience. The
Cinematographe was also smaller, lighter and used less film than
Edison's technology.
The Lumieres opened theaters (known as cinemas) in 1896 to show their
work and sent crews of cameramen around the world to screen films and
shoot new material. In America, the film industry quickly took off. In
1896, Vitascope Hall, believed to be the first theater in the U.S.
devoted to showing movies, opened in New Orleans. In 1909, The New
York Times published its first film review (of D.W. Griffith's "Pippa
Passes"), in 1911 the first Hollywood film studio opened and in 1914,
Charlie Chaplin made his big-screen debut.
In addition to the Cinematographe, the Lumieres also developed the
first practical color photography process, the Autochrome plate, which
debuted in 1907.
history.com/tdih.do
General Interest
1895 : First commercial movie screened
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihVideoCategory&id=5636
1832 : Calhoun resigns vice presidency
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5637
1869 : America's first Labor Day
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5638
1908 : Worst European earthquake
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=7125
1989 : Dubcek returns to public office
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5639
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