The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-07-01

hole, and the young man. with an air OF triumph
urged the older man to peer into the small
opening
Inside an arc light sputtered. There was noise
of machinery, and there came into view trans
parent strip of celluloid bearing the prints OF
many photographs AS the strip began to move,
the Photographs came to life. 1t was moving
picture of the younger man, walking, smiling, hat
In hand approaching as If to extend greeting.
AS he came nearer there was heard the phono-
graphic reproduction of the young mans voice,
saying:
Good morning Mr.. Edison. Glad to see you
back. l hope you satisfied with the kineto-
monograph"
This the remarkable demonstration which
greeted Edison upon his return from the Paris
exposition. The proud young man was William
Il. L. Dickson, an Englishman who five years be-
fore had comesto study under the tutelage Of the
Wizard of Menlo Park Edison had entrusted
Dickson with the development of certain ideas,
and this what the young man had to show
for his labors
The Motion Picture Is Born
The birth of the motion picture is marked Off
cially by this demonstration. From this crude be-
ginning, in less than thirty-seven years it has
attained the Importance of major industry, pro
yidng employment for more than million per
sons throughout the world and giving entertain
ment to than 1O0,000000 persons weekly in
every civilized and many uncivilized lands.
Following the formula that the time to write
history is while it is happening, an American,
intimately acquainted with the film Industry, has
produced, after five years of careful intelligent
research a twO-vOlume history which bears the
title, "a Million and One Nights the History of
the Motion Picture" He is Terry Ramsaye, for
mer newspaper man, screen editor and executive.
The original edition, of which there only 327
sets, each bearing the autograph of Thomas A.
Edison, and selling for $50, was launched by
Simon & Schuster those two young whose
success with the cross-word-puzzle books startled
the publishing world in 1924.
Mr.. Ramsaye set out about six years ago In
search of his material The pursuit took him to
all sections of the United States and many parts
of Europe Dickson was found living in retire
ment In France. He interviewed the real inventor
of instantaneous photography on Cape Cod. In
all he talked with more than 400 individuals who
contributed to the growth and development of the
art. Court and corporation records were made to
give up their stories, while letters and original
papers still available, they may not be
TO a later historian.
Starting as far back as he could CO. Mr.. Ram
sage traces his picture history from Aristotle to
Edison He shows the camera obscura, the
magic lantern Stamfer's whirling disks, the spin
ming coin of Herschel, but the two most impor-
tant developments, he says, were the camera by
Daguerre the Frenchman, in 1929, and the incep-
tion of wet-plate photography in 1860.
To Settle SIS, 900 Wager
The credit for the discovery of instantaneous
photography Is given to John D. Isaacs civil
engineer, working for Leland Stanford in 1872
Stanford maintained that artists were all wrong
in their pictures of horses in action Their legs
were shown in unnatural positions he declared
and made bet of $4,000 that he was right He
engaged San Francisco photographer, Eadweard
Muybridge, who later received the glory, to catch
a trotting horse In action by employing battery
of cameras Muybridge failed. Isaacs, knowing
something about photography, realized that the
lens shutters then in too slow for the job
and so he attached rubber bands with hundred
pound pull to the shutters This gave an exposure
of one two-thousandth Of second and ''caught"
the motion of the horse. Muybridge, who the
photographer gained the fame.
Tsaacs went about his own business, attain
ing success, and rarely referred to the incident
Later the task performed by the battery Of cam
eras was done much more efficiently with single
camera, a spring taking the place of the rubber
bands. In 1886 LePrnce Frenchman living in
the United States used sensltized strips Of paper
in place of the old-fashioned wet plate, and soon
after Carbutt substituted celluIoid for the paper
George Eastman, photograph supply man Of
Rochester, N. Y, produced much thinner celluloid
strips and put them on the market in the form of
dry plates for his kodaks Dickson. in September,
1889. bought small supply for use in the kineto
scope, as Edison called his new device.
Edison sold the exploitation rights to this device
to a firm consisting of Norman G. Raft, a west
ern capitalist; Frank Lombard, president of the
North American Photograph company. and Frank
Cannon high-powered young business man. In
turn, they marketed state and foreign rights to
their toy Edison at his West Orange laboratory,
agreed to produce the pictures.
Edison obtained patent on his kaleidoscope in
1891. Learning that foreign patents would cost
about $3.50, he told his attorney that they were
not worth it. patent more or less meant moth
ing to Edison He failed also to protect his inven-
ton for disk record for his photograph, pre-
ferring the cylinder type. How many millions
were lost because of this neglect only be
guessed at.
The first motion-plcture actor In the world, ac-
cording to Mr.. Ramsaye's findings, one Fred
Ott mechanic in Edison's laboratory. He
dressed in absurd clothing and made funny