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1/11/1895 - Skladanowsky Charges
While the Lumieres were perfecting their projector in France, and the Lathams were showing their boxing movies in America, Max Skladanowsky and his brother, Emil, were putting the finishing touches to their projector, the Bioskop. The projector had two lenses and two arc lamps for illuminating two loops of 54mm wide film that were alternately projected to achieve a running speed of 16 frames per second. The Bioskop was demonstrated in July 1895 at the Gasthaus Sello in the Pankow district of Berlin to Franz Dorn and Julius Baron, directors of the Wintergarten theatre located in the city’s Martin Luther Strasse, who immediately agreed a contract with the brothers for public screenings to take place at their theatre for one month, from the 1st November 1895. On the same day of the first performance, Max would apply for a patent for the Bioskop
These performances were undeniably the first to take place in Europe, beating the Lumiere Brothers more famous projections by nearly two months. It is curious that the Skladanowsky’s projections never achieved as much fame as those of the Lumieres, but it may be due to the relatively poor quality of their images. The nine six-second films screened on that first night in November were repeated several times. Rear projection was used, and the screen was kept wet to maximise its transparency. A score was especially written for the films by Hermann Kruger. The films shown included Italienischer Bauerntanz (Italian Folk Dance), Serpentine Tanz (Dance Serpentine, performed by Miss Ancion), Der Jongleur Paul Petras, Das Boxende Kanguruh (The Boxing Kangaroo, in which a kangaroo fought a man called Delaware), Akrobatisches Potpourri, Kamarinskaja (Kammarintsky Russian National Dance), Ringkampf, and Apotheose (in which Max and third brother Eugen appeared).
Following their successful engagement at the Wintergarten, the Skladanowskys moved on to Hamburg to present a screening on the 21st December. They were then due to present a further screening at the Folies Bergere in Paris in January 1896 but somebody, historically, stole their thunder…[ADD]
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