The Beginnings Of The Cinema In England,1894-1901: Volume 2 , livre ebook

The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894–1901
———
Volume Two: 1897
The University of Exeter Press edition of Volume 2 of The Beginnings of the Cinema in England, 1894–1901 is a re-issue of the first edition published in 1983. Volume 1 (revised and enlarged edition 1998), Volume 3 (1988), Volume 4 (1992) and Volume 5 (1997) are also published by University of Exeter Press.

The Beginnings of the Cinema in England 1894–1901
———
Volume Two: 1897
John Barnes
UNIVERSITY of EXETER PRESS
To my brother Bill
First published as
The Rise of the Cinema in Great Britain: Jubilee Year 1897
by Bishopsgate Press Ltd in 1983
Re-issued in 1996 by
University of Exeter Press
Reed Hall, Streatham Drive
Exeter, Devon EX4 4QR
UK
www.exeterpress.co.uk
Reprinted 2001
First paperback edition published 2014
© John Barnes 1983
ISBN 978 0 85989 955 0
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.
Printed in the UK by 4edge Limited
Contents
Foreword
1   Robert W. Paul and Birt Acres
2   Manufacturers and Dealers in London 1896–7
3   London Manufacturers and Dealers 1897
4   Brighton
5   Bradford and Leeds
6   The Foreign Influx
7   The Showmen
8   The Jubilee
Appendices
1  G. A. Smith’s Cash Book for 1897
2  M & B Catalogue of Lumière Films, September 1897
3  British Films 1897
4  Amendments & Additions to Volume One
Notes
Acknowledgements
Foreword
In the previous volume of this history I showed how the introduction of the Edison Kinetoscope in October 1894, led directly to the invention, by R. W. Paul and Birt Acres, of England’s first cinematograph camera and subsequently to the adoption of screen projection as the ideal method of exhibiting films, so that by the end of 1896, the film had found a place in the programmes of almost every major music hall in the country. The present volume continues the story to the end of 1897.
The year 1897 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign and practically the whole of the British film industry concentrated its attention on recording the celebrations connected with the occasion. The Queen’s procession through the streets of London on the 22nd of June provided a marvellous spectacle for the cinematograph cameras which were situated at various vantage points along the route. So keen was the interest shown in the event, that by the end of the year there could hardly have been a person in England who had not seen this historic scene on the screen.
In other respects too, the year can be regarded as a spectacular one in so far as the cinema was concerned. The size of the cinema screen was spectacularly increased, especially by the American Biograph whose 70mm film when projected at the Palace Theatre in London, completely filled the proscenium area of that large house. Spectacular too in another way, was the 1½ hour coverage of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight screened at the Royal Aquarium Theatre. Such highlights of the cinema year are certainly an indication that the new medium was beginning to widen its scope in the field of entertainment and perhaps even to expand its creative possibilities as a medium of expression. But on the whole, the year 1897 was a period of consolidation and expansion. This is borne out by the number of new manufacturers of cinematographic equipment which began to appear and by the increasing number of films being offered for sale. In the pages that follow, I have endeavoured to examine the year’s film production and methods of presentation, as well as to describe much of the cinematographic equipment that was produced; taking note also of any new development in film technique.
As in the former volume, particular attention is also paid to the cinema of other countries in so far as it effected the industry in England; thus by tackling the subject on an international plane rather than on a strictly nationalistic one, we are able to see the achievements of the English cinema in a truer perspective.
Further volumes of this history are planned to cover the period to the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, thus documenting an era in the cinema’s history which hitherto has been left almost untouched by the film historian.
John Barnes
Museum of Cinematography
St Ives, Cornwall
1979
1   Robert W. Paul and Birt Acres
The founder of the British film industry, Robert W. Paul (1), holds a unique position in the history of the cinema. His genius and talents were such that he combined not only the roles of inventor and manufacturer, but also those of exhibitor, producer and cinematographer. This in itself is a considerable achievement, but when one takes into account that he was also actively engaged at the same time, in the electrical trade as a scientific instrument maker, his versatility and industry appear formidable indeed.
Setting aside those activities concerned with the Kinetoscope and Kinetoscope films, which have been fully dealt with in the first volume of this history, Paul’s involvement with the cinema in its more modern form can be said to have begun in March 1896. From then on, for several years, he was to hold the dominant position in the industry in this country. So successful in fact were his first year’s operations that for the period 2 March 1896 to 17 March 1897, he was able to declare a net profit of £12,838.15s. 4d., of which £6,585. 8s. 6d. accrued from the manufacture and sale of cinematographic equipment alone. 1
For Paul, the cinema had become big business and in April 1897, he decided to form a limited liability company under the name of ‘Paul’s Animatographe, Ltd.’ For this purpose a prospectus was circulated in which the aims of the new company were set forth. The capital was to be £60,000in 15,000 ordinary shares of £1 each and 45,000 7 per cent cumulative preference shares of £1 each, the latter being offered for public subscription. The subscription list closed on 28 April, but the result was not disclosed. 2
The prospectus stated that the Company was to acquire the inventions and patent rights, together with Paul’s Animatographe or Theatrograph (‘which is causing such wide-spread sensation by the display of animated photographs in the principal places of amusement’) and to develop the resources of the invention and extend its present lucrative field of operations in various ways; these were to include: 1) The Manufacture and Sale of Animatographes and Accessories; 2) The Manufacture and Sale of Animated Portraits of Individuals; and 3) Animated Advertisements. 3
Animated Portraits, the subject of clause two, may sound somewhat fanciful, for it was intended to open studios in London and the principal provincial towns for the express purpose of taking these portraits of the general public and to license country photographers to take negatives to be printed in the Company’s factory. 4 A correspondent of The British Journal of Photography had reservations about the idea:
I find it difficult to understand how this idea is to be profitably carried out. The taking of these animated portraits is easy enough, but how are they to be utilised by the sitters? Are the latter expected to possess a projection system, limelight, screen, and all, for the purpose of showing their friends how they look when animated? If so, the idea is surely calculated to be a somewhat costly luxury. 5
Perhaps it was Paul’s intention to issue these portraits in book form, so that the leaves could be flicked over to give the illusion of movement, like the pictures in the common ‘flick book’. These pocket kinetoscopes were then coming into vogue and Paul’s friend Harry Short was already in the process of forming a company to market his Filoscope. * His plans may thus have included arrangements for issuing these portraits, as well as selected extracts from Paul’s regular films. In any case, the basic idea behind Paul’s scheme finally found realisation in the field of ‘home movies’, made practicable by the introduction of sub-standard film gauges, more especially in the 9.5mm and 16mm formats, which first became popular in the early 1920s.

The clause referring to Animated Advertisements, does not of course, imply the use of animation techniques such as cartoons, etc, but simply refers to regular films showing industrial processes or the use of basic commodities in ‘lifelike operation’ as the prospectus has it. There is no evidence to show that Paul made any such films for advertising purposes.
With the benefit of hindsight, one can say that Paul’s Animatographe Limited offered a very sound investment, but at the time this was not so apparent and The Optician for instance urged extreme caution on the part of those proposing to acquire shares. Whilst upholding the good intention of all those responsible for the formation of the company, the journal seems to have had reservations about the future prospects of the film industry itself. 6
However, Paul’s film-making activities during 1897, continued the pattern he had previously followed the year before. A few films featuring music hall turns were made and also two comedies and a drama. But his main output comprised non-fiction films. In the latter class were a series taken in Sweden and Egypt. The Swedish series were photographed by Paul himself. The King of Sweden and Norway * had despatched a courier to London to purchase one of Paul’s projectors, with a request that the maker accompany it and see it properly installed in the Palace at Stockholm. This Paul did to the apparent satisfaction of the King, who granted him special facilities during his stay, for taking Swedish pictures. 7 Paul was able to secure several subjects, of which one was of sufficient merit to be retained in circulation as late as 1903. His catalogue entry for that year, reads:
SWEDISH ELECTRIC RAILWAY. An electric trolley car coming through a Swedish pine forest. A very beautiful and clear picture.
Code word — TROLLEY