ROMANCE OF LIVING PICTURES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10023, 20 April 1910, Page 4

ROMANCE OF LIVING PICTURES.

Living pictures, so-called, play such ' a large part in the amusement and

( edification of civilised people to-day j thac the time is most opportune to exploit original causes. A writer in I "Chambers' Journal" ascribes to Mr William Friese-Greene, who was at one time one of the most successful fashionable photographers in the West End of London, the honour of having invented not only the system of living picture projection by means of celluloid films, but of designing I the first apparatus by which such an ! accomplishment was made possible. I Contrary to the generally-accepted ] popular belief, neither Edison, "the wizard of Menlo Park," nor the I Lumiere Brothers, of Paris, originated the idea. They simply began where the ingenious young Englishman left off; but at the same time the world owes them much for the perfecting of the general principles upon which cinematography has latterly proceeded. It comes as somewhat of a surprise to learn that as I far back as 1885 Mr Friese-Greene ' was enabled to startle members of ! the British Photographic Society with I a demonstration of the beginnings of j auimated photography. He had prepared an enlarged magic lantern slide with a series of photographs of a moving Buhject, and upon the slide being passed through the lantern Jthe animation of the actual scene was faithfully reproduced. The whole thing, of course, lasted only a few seconds, but the germ of the idea was there, although none of those present could have had the faintest idea what a tremendously important place the invention was destined to take in the world subsequently. Mr Friese-Greene improved upon his original apparatus, but his task was rendered extraordinarily difficult by the fact that only "wet" photographic plates were available. However, persevered, although the appliances, at the best, were very crude and cumbrous. And then there was a difficulty in the way of securing long series of pictures, owing -to the weight of the glass plates. For a considerable time Mr Friese-Greene did li ttle but experiment,, but at last he stumbled upon the idea of celluloid films, and the first perfect machina for projecting pictures imposed upon this material was exhibited at the Photographic Jubilee at the Crystal Palace in 1889, when ~it created tremendous public excitement, It is interesting to note that the celluloid films used were each as large as a playing-caid. But Mr Friese-Greene'a enthusiasm led him into financial straits. In the course of eight years be -had expended £16,000 upon his invention, and finally everything he possessed was put up to auction and sold for a tithe of its value. But others followed the trail that had been blazed by the enterprising young Englishman, and today the animated picture stands almost supreme in the amusement world.