Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-13
Second Of Two Articles.


Second Of Two Articles.
won the praise Of hundreds OF
visitors who have marveled at
the ponderous and primitive
methods used by photogra.
pliers Of former years.
In this article we also want
to relate the exhibits tie-in
with the science Of projection
and the relationships devel-
oped in the fields Of science
and arts.
Persistence Of Vision
The exhibition makes clear
that the entire secret Of the
movies lies in the phenomenon
Of the persistence Of vision"
The most classic statement
Of this theory came from DR..
Joseph Antoine Ferdinand
Plateau, who said In 1881:
when several objects differ
ing from each other, in grad.
uated form and position, pre-
sent themselves successfully to
the eye at very short intervals
Of time and close to each other.
the successive impressions
which they produce on the
retina will unite without con-
fusion and we think that we
see one object only which grad
ually changes both form and
position.
It may readily be seen that
without this ability of the eye
to retain momentarily success
sive impressions Of moving OBJ
jects there would be no basis
for the motion picture which
is, as we know. a succession OF
individual pictures that pass
before the eye with q stop
start motion. Proof Of the
persistence Of vision principle
came from DR.. John Ayrton
Paris in 1925 when he devised
o simple apparatus which he
called the Thaumatrope. This
was q cardboard disc with q
bird drawn on one side and o
cage on the other. When re-
volved on its axis the bird ap-
peared to be in the cage.
Complex Devices
More complex devices de-
pending upon the persistence
Of vision principle for their
illusion Of moving pictures are
part Of this Introductory ex-
hibit to motion picture history.
They include the zoetrope. the
Phenakistoscope and the Prax-
inoscope. All these little
movie machines worked with
out the benefit Of photogra-
ply. Their pictures were drawn
in various stages Of a complete
movement, such as a boy beat
ing on q drum or performing
Q very simple dance.
Then we see the first prac-
teal application Of photogra-
phy to the cinema in the work
of Muybridge. who in 1879 set
up a battery Of still cameras
20 obtain successive pictures OF
animal locomotion and pro-
jected them on the screen with
q sort of magic lantern which
he called the Zoopraxiscope.
The magic lantern is pre-
sented in the exhibition as
the forerunner of the motion
picture protector and it may
be seen that moving pictures
drawings were being shown
on the screen as early as 1854.
This was initially accomplished
by a paddle wheel device for
advancing individual slides ana
later by the use Of mechani-
cally operated slides.
Edison's Projecting KinetoseoPe
Moving through the gallery
one will see next the most
famous of all motion picture
devices-the Edison Printing
kaleidoscope from which all
other motion picture projectors
other motion picture projectors
may be traced. It was Edison
who recognized the potential
of roll Aim and adapted 1t TO
cinematography.
Another great American con-
tribution to the cinema is the
invention Of Thomas Armat. a
Washington inventor, who took
the flicker out of motion pic
ture projection by devising a
stop-start gear arrangement
that hats each frame OF MIN
momentarily as it passes the
projection lens.
Following the Armat exhibit
Is another which contains
some of the most notable OF
the earliest movie cameras.
Among them is the Edison
camera and its chief COMPETE
tor, the Autograph. which to-
gether with the Mutoscope
protector (also shown was
made by the famous Ameri-
can Biograph Co. Other
cameras shown are: the Levi
son camera which took q Sc
ries of pictures by means OF
q paddlewheel arrangement
which carried six glass plates.
each of which stopped mo-
mentarily as it passed the
camera lens; the Spiral cam
era which took a Snumber OF
pictures spirally on Q circular
glass plate; and the Jenkins
camera which has q number
Of lenses mounted on the peri
phery of o wheel that turned