The record-union., 1897-06-02
EDIsoN,S NEXT WONDER.
The Wizard Says We Will Sit in a
New York Theater and Enjoy
London Play.

LONDON pay.
Edison, the wizard, has said it, and
it will be. The day is coming when we
will sit in a New York theater and en-
joy play or an opera at London, Paris
or Vienna Edison has predicted
stranger things, and they have come to
pass. 4 am certainly not going TO
give up till / am successful" he says of
this. and every experiment I make
brings me appreciably nearer the
mark" So we may look forward with
some confidence to the realization of
this wonderful scientific dream.
Such a development of the combined
powers of the kinetoscope and ohono-
graDh is indeed far from improbable.
Both these mechanisms have produced
marvels familiar to us all. 1t requires
little imagination to foresee a combina
ton of the kinetoscope on tremen
dous scale, with a multiplicity of great
ly improved monographs, capable of
transferring an entire play to a big
screen of a city theater.
Let us project ourselves for few
minutes into the future and see what,
according to Mr. Edison, We will some
day enjoy
There is a play, we will say, running
in London that a New York manager
thinks would be a splendid attraction
here. The players have a long en-
gagement there. The metropolitan pub
lie want to see the play,w while it is new
and creating a sensation, so the New
York manager reDroduces it by the
means of Edisons mechanical devices
The stage of a New York theater is
entirely cleared, even the scenery being
removed. A huge white sheet is
stretched from the flies to the stage
1t covers the stage completely, like an
immense white curtain. The regular
drop curtain rolls down over it.
Behind the white curtain are placed a
number of monographs, with immense
vibrating horns, capable of multiplying
sound 100 times. One of these phono-
graphs is for each actor. If there be
graphs are arranged behind the cur
tain. Each is loaded with the dialogue
of that particular player.
In the gallery, out of sight from the
audience is a huge kinetoscope, con-
tanning hundreds of yards of film. upon
which is the whole play. actors, cos
TUNES, scenery and everything. The
theater is then darkened.
Suddenly there is a flash of electric
light and the curtain goes uD on the
first act. There it is, as perfect as life.
You don't realize that you are looking
at a white curtain. You see what looks
like real stage. 1t is the picture of a
stage of London theater. There are
the scenery, the houses, trees and
pathways. The chairs look so real that
you would almost dare to sit in them,
and even natural colors are reproduced.
The orchestra is playing softly and
from the wings walks out an actress,
not by the jerky fits and starts of the
kaleidoscope, but with a slow, easy, life
like stride. She walks over to table
and picks up a bunch of flowers-fow-
ers' full of life and color. She turns
toward the audience and speaks. Her
voice is as clear as a bell You hear
every word as distinctly as if you were
listening to the living woman.
The hero then comes on the stage.
You can hear his footsteps as he walks
along. He greets his sweetheart. The
moment his lips begin to move you
hear his voice.
The monographs and kinetoscope
are timed to the fraction of a second.
The characters on the stage are life
size and their voices are natural You
are looking at the pictures of the real
players; you recognize them at once,
and you are listening to their own
voices, as natural as if it We're them
selves, instead of their pictures, actu-
ally before You.
no t11a 10 4ha Of he
first act, when a climax is reached and
| the curtain goes down in the regular
way. The theater is instantly illumin-
ated again and the next act proceeds.
| But up in the gallery the two kineto-
scope operators are working with great
rapidity, keeping track of the film
| that is running through the apparatus
at lightning speed. On this film there
will be over $4,000 separate and dis
tinct photographs, each one of which
will in turn be thrown upon the white
sheet at the rate of forty eight a Sec
ond-so fast that they appear to the
eye as one moving, realistic scene, with
out break or blemish.
| The monographs are operated by
electricity, being connected on the same
circuit that works the MICROSCOPE thus
making the timing of a players mo-
| tions and his voice correspond per-
| fectly.
| When Bellamy wrote Looking Back
ward some years ago he probably lit
| tie dreamed that his idea of reproduc-
| ing the leading theatrical performances
| in the homes of the wealthy would evei
| be realized
| Yet with this apparatus, on a smaller
and less elaborate scale any citizen
| of New York may sit in his parlor and
| enjoy the whole performance of any
| play or opera his fancy may select
He can hear the warblings of Melba
| and Calve and Patti and the De
| Reszkes, or if he wants a night OF
! Faust" Lucia" or Carmen he will
simply have the Faust" Lucia OIL
| Carmen box brought out In few
minutes the white curtain and the outer
| drop curtain can be rugged up, and by
merely pressing a button he can have
| the singers before him and enjoy the
opera.
| A play running in London, Paris OF
any part of the world may be repro
duced at will, and the talent and grace
| of the great actors and actresses OF
to-day may be seen over again, years
after they have passed away.
| The only memory left of Edwin
Booth, Edmund Kean Edwin Forrest
and all the great players who are dead
1 4la+ rxr1.s sa1~ rr,I-