In 1889 Thomas Edison and his staff developed the kinetograph,
a camera using rolls of coated celluloid film, and the Kinetoscope,
a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flipped
in sequence.
Marketed in 1893, the Kinetoscope gained popularity in penny arcades,
and experimentation turned to ways in which moving images might
be shown to more than one person at a time. In France the Lumière
brothers created the first projection device, the Cinématographe
(1895). In the United States, similar machines, notably the Pantopticon
and the Vitascope, were developed and first used in New York City
in 1896.
At first the screenings formed part of vaudeville shows and arcades,
but in 1902 a Los Angeles shop that showed only moving pictures
had great success; soon "movie houses" (converted shoprooms)
sprang up all over the country. The first movie theater, complete
with luxurious accessories and a piano, was built in Pittsburgh
in 1905. A nickel was charged for admission, and the theater was
called the nickelodeon. An industry developed to produce new material
and the medium's potential for expressive ends began to assert
itself. |
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