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"Living subjects portrayed in a manner to excite wonderment" proclaimed the Brooklyn Eagle Newspaper.
An anonymous
reporter had just witnessed the first public showing of a commercial length 35mm motion picture.
This short film had not been shown in a theater or even projected on a screen but viewed through peepholes in a wooden box
called a kinetoscope.
The device had been the result of a three-year collaboration between Thomas Edison and lab assistant
William Dickson; most film historians leaning towards Dickson as the actual inventor.
The kinetoscope made its public debut at the monthly meeting of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on the
evening of May 9, 1893. After a lecture-demonstration, members of the audience stood in line to peer into the oak cabinet.
It would take over three hours for everyone to see Blacksmith Scene, featuring three men hammering on an anvil while passing
around a bottle of beer.
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| Edison's Black Maria Film Studio |
To meet the anticipated demand for kinetoscope subjects, Edison built the Black Maria film studio in West Orange, New Jersey.
It was fully fitted by May 1893 with the company moving into serious film production.
Edison hoped to have a battery of kinetoscopes on display at the Chicago Worlds Fair but failed to deliver. The motion
picture industry finally getting underway in April 1894 with the shipment of ten machines to 1155 Broadway in New York City.
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| Kinetoscope Parlor |
The Holland Brothers Kinetoscope Parlor became a Broadway sensation, attracting long lines of patrons eager to see the living
pictures. Other parlors were soon thriving in the major cities of the United States and Europe.
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