Theatrograph
The term Theatrograph comes from the term animatograph which was the word used to characterize film. We use the term Theatrograph to describe real-time hybrid performance that put together film and theatre. The Theatrograph is the first commercially produced 35mm film projector in Britain. It was first demonstrated by R.W. Paul at Finsbury Technical College on February 20, 1896. Many people wondered why it took Paul so long to produce the projector when he invented the camera used for filming in 1895, but what they do not realize is that he was also in the business of kinetoscopes. With kinetoscopes and camera filming he did not think he needs to go into something else[1]. On March 21, Paul and Harris started hosting daily screenings, with tickets priced at sixpence for five.They agreed to split the profit fifty fifty[2]. The use of Paul's Theatrograph in music halls up and down the country popularised early cinema in Britain. It was first revealed to the public at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London.
Carl Hertz sailed from England on 28 March 1896 aboard the Royal Mail Ship RMS Norman and during the voyage exhibited Paul's Theatrograph to the passengers. He also exhibited films in South Africa and Australia. The screenings in South Africa were the first public screenings of moving pictures in that country. After Australia, Hertz took the Theatrograph to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, China, Japan, the Fiji Islands, and Hawaii.
Georges Méliès purchased one of Paul's theatrographs in 1896.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ↑ Christie, Ian (9 December 2019), Christie, Ian (ed.), ""Adding Interest to Wonder": The First Year in Film", Robert Paul and the Origins of British Cinema, University of Chicago Press, p. 0, doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226610115.003.0003, ISBN 978-0-226-10562-8, retrieved 20 October 2026
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) - ↑ Christie, Ian (9 December 2019), Christie, Ian (ed.), ""Adding Interest to Wonder": The First Year in Film", Robert Paul and the Origins of British Cinema, University of Chicago Press, p. 0, doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226610115.003.0003, ISBN 978-0-226-10562-8, retrieved 20 October 2026
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) - ↑ Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 1. The H. W. Wilson Company. 1987. pp. 747–765.
References
[edit]- "Who's who of victorian cinema: RW Paul". Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- "Who's who of victorian cinema: Carl Hertz". Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- "Science&Society Picture Library". Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- "Designlab:Theatrograph". Retrieved 4 February 2012.
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