USA 1901-1905: Movie Movie - The History of World Cinema

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			1901-1905


	1901
		10/1 -	The licence agreement between Edison and Vitagraph is terminated by Edison when Vitagraph fail to pay a 10% royalty on exhibition income. [MORE]

		Feb -	Edison’s new studio at 41 East 21st Street, New York is ready for use. [MORE]






		15/7 -	Thomas Edison wins his legal battle with Biograph over patent infringements. Henry Marvin of Biograph immediately appeals Judge Hoyt Henry Wheeler’s ruling and wins an injunction. [MORE]



			– Fearing that he is next in the firing line, Siegmund Lubin flees to Germany following Edison’s legal victory over Biograph. [MORE]

			– Vaudeville managers turn to filmmakers to provide entertainment when the White Rats, the theatrical performers union, organise a strike of their members. [MORE]


			Other Films of Note



			Execution of Czolgosz (Edwin S. Porter) [MORE] [ADD]

			The Finish of Bridget McKeen (Edwin S. Porter) [MORE] [ADD]

			Kansas Saloon Smashers (Edwin S. Porter) [MORE] [ADD]

			Mrs Nation and her Hatchet Brigade [MORE] [ADD]

			Stockyards Series (Lubin) [MORE] [ADD]




	1902

		16/4 -	The 200-seat Electric Theater, the first purpose-built cinema in Los Angeles opens for business. [MORE] [ADD]

		2/5 -	Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton's Vitagraph wins its legal fight with Edison meaning it can resume film production immediately. [MORE] [ADD]

		26/8 -	Patent No. 707934 is awarded to Woodville Latham for the Latham Loop. [MORE] [ADD]

			- Edwin S. Porter films The Life of an American Fireman. [MORE] [ADD]


			Other Films of Note

			Fun in a Bakery Shop (Edwin S. Porter) [MORE] [ADD]




	1903


		21/1 -	Life of an American Fireman lodged for copyright in Washington. [MORE] [ADD]

	Jan -	Gaston Melies opens US distribution office and printing laboratory for brother George's Star Films at 204 East 38^th Street in New York with the aid of his son Paul. [MORE] [ADD]



	Feb-	Hungarian immigrant furrier Adolph Zukor opens a penny arcade called 'The Bazaar' in New York. [MORE]

	May -	The Biograph studios, the first in the country to use artificial light, go into full operation at 11 East 14^th Street in New York. [MORE]



	May -	Siegmund Lubin appears in his version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin and opens his first film exchange. [MORE]

	22/8 -	Gaston Melies releases Reliance: Shamrock III. [MORE] [ADD]

	21/9 -	The first two known Westerns – Kit Carson and The Pioneers – are copyrighted. [MORE] [ADD]

	Sept -	Biograph switches to the industry standard 35mm film gauge and introduces a three-blade shutter that greatly enhances projection quality. [MORE] [ADD]



	Nov -	Marcus Loew opens a number of penny arcades in New York and Cincinatti. [MORE] [ADD]

	Nov -	Biograph’s The Escaped Lunatic is the first US film to be structured around a chase. [MORE] [ADD]



	1/12 -	Edwin S Porter’s 12-minute long The Great Train Robbery is released. [MORE]

		– The four Warner brothers open a penny arcade in Pittsburgh. [MORE]

		– Harry Chandler and Moses Sherman buy Harvey Wilcox’s Hollywood real estate development for $3 million. [MORE]

		– The courts rule that each frame of a film no longer has to be copyrighted to be protected, but that the entire film can be covered by one copyright submission. [MORE]

		– The film rental business expands, with the pioneering Miles Brothers facing competition from the likes of Percival Waters’ Kinetograph Co. in New York, Eugene Cline & Co. and George Kleine in Chicago. [MORE]


		Other Films of Note




		The American Soldier in Love and War (Biograph)

		East Lynne (Vitagraph)

		The Gay Shoe Clerk (Edwin S. Porter)

		Pied Piper of Hamelin (Selig)

		Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Edwin S. Porter)



1904

	13/1 -	Photographing a Female Crook, Wallace McCutcheon’s 40-second film for American Mutoscope & Biograph, makes use of a shot that tracks into a close-up. [MORE]

	May -	George Hale of the Kansas City Fire Brigade introduces ‘Hale’s Touring Car,’ a new novelty, at the St. Louis Fair. Sitting in a mock-up of a train carriage, the audience watches the passing scenery of locations from around the world. [MORE]

	10/7 -	Oskar Messter shoots films with a synchronised soundtrack at the St. Louis Olympics. [MORE] [ADD]



		– William Fox purchases a Brooklyn penny arcade called The Automat from J. Stuart Blackton, while Adolph Zukor forms The Automatic Vaudeville Co. with Mitchell Mark. [MORE]



		– Eugene Lauste builds a sound-on-film system using separate films for picture and sound. [MORE]

		– Siegmund Lubin unsuccessfully attempts to market sound movies. [MORE]

		– Biograph's The Moonshiner is one of the first films to make consistent use of intertitles. [MORE] [ADD]



		Other Films of Note

		The Ex-Convict (Edwin S. Porter)

		Personal (Biograph) [MORE] [ADD]

		The Suburbanite (Biograph) [MORE] [ADD]

		Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son (Biograph) [MORE] [ADD]



1905



	1/6 -	Adolph Zukor opens a ‘Hale’s Tour’ show in Union Square, New York. [MORE]

	Jun -	John P. Harris and Harry Davis open a permanent storefront cinema on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh. Charging 5 cents admission fee, the cinema earns the name ‘Nickelodeon.’ [MORE] [ADD]

	16/12 -	Sime Silverman publishes the first 16-page issue of the trade entertainment paper Variety. [MORE] [ADD]



		– Adolph Zukor and Marcus Loew form Loew's consolidated theater chain. [MORE] [ADD]

		– Edison causes disruption at Biograph by luring away some of their most creative talent. Biograph also lose their contract for the Keith Vaudeville Circuit to the Kinetograph Film Exchange, a company with links to Edison. [MORE] [ADD]

		– Vitagraph begin renting films to exchanges instead of selling them and commits to making story films. [MORE] [ADD]

		– Massachusetts introduces a law setting safety standards in motion picture theatres. [MORE] [ADD]



		– Edison’s Black Maria studio is demolished. [MORE] [ADD]

		- Biograph become the first studio to use Peter Cooper-Hewitt's mercury lamps to enable filming indoors. The 4ft tubular lamps emit a distinctive blue-green colour. [MORE] [ADD]



		Other Films of Note



		The Green Goods Man (Vitagraph)

		The Kleptomaniac (Edwin S. Porter) [MORE] [ADD]

		The Miller’s Daughter (Porter and McCutcheon) [MORE] [ADD]

		Monsieur Beaucaire (Vitagraph) [MORE] [ADD]

		Raffles the Amateur Cracksman (Vitagraph) [MORE] [ADD]