Edison Studios, Unknown Date

"Here the stage,the dressing and property rooms are as elaborate as those of a well equipped theatre.

The points of difference from the theatrical stage are, however, striking.

All of the scenery--a different set for each series of pictures--is painted in black, white and gray, to make the films clear cut.

The stage, 60 feet wide and 40 feet deep, has a roof and walls of glass with screens of white cloth to soften the daylight.

Forty stage calciums or arc lamps, with a special violet ray, focused on a narrow area, supplement the daylight and make night photography possible.

The stage is in movable sections. Under it is a tank of water 60 feet long and
40 feet wide for aquatic scenes and climaxes of films, in which the unpopular characters have a ducking.

In another wing of the building is the developing apparatus including porcelain tanks and reels each made to receive film 200 feet long."

Above photo: U.S.Dept. of Interior, National Park ServiceEdison National Historic Site.