ANNIVERSARY OF FILMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 5

ANNIVERSARY OF FILMS

THE FIRST PERFORMANCE. Charlie Chaplin celebrated his fiftieth birthday on April 16, and the fiftieth anniversary of films was made to coincide with the occasion. Actually this can hardly be called the fiftieth year of films, although in 1888 Emile Reynaud patented his praxinoscope and perfected the perforation of film.

According to Maurice Bardeche and Robert Brasillach authors of “The History of Motion Pictures,” Reynaud gave shows at his Theatre Optique, which, for a time, were merely animated paintings, and, later, photographs. They state: “The first film, ‘Lunch Hour at the Lumiere' Factory,’ was shown on March 28. 1895, before the Societie d’Encouragement de L’lndustrie Nationale. It was fifty feet long. “The first public or paying performance was given on December 28, 1895, at the Grand Cafe, Boulevard des Capucines, in a basement christened the Salon Indien . . . Admission was one franc. For this sum, audiences saw ten films, each fifty feet long and lasting one or two minutes.” It is singular that Mr Chaplin, who probably deserves as much credit as anybody for the development of the American film, is just now preparing to make his first talking picture, “The Dictator.” While the industry as a whole has been making great technical strides in the medium of the sound film, Chaplin, in his few appearances, has been content to rely on his established excellence of pantomime, consenting only to a musical background to accentuate the poignancy of his acting appeal. Now, in his fiftieth year, the comedian is ready to show the industry something new.