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21/4/1895: The Wizard and the Major Collide
Having parted from Thomas Edison, W.K.L. Dickson didn’t have to worry about finding work: as well as his involvement with Henry Norton Marvin and Herman Casler’s Mutoscope, he still had the offer of a quarter-share in the Latham operation in the offing. Initially, he lent his talents to the Lathams whose efforts to build a projection machine in the little workshop at 35 Frankfort Street were not going well.
As with most attempts at projection during this frenetic period of activity, the efforts of Eugene Lauste, the Lathams chief engineer, focused on projection of Edison’s Kinetoscope film; the problem was, Edison’s film ran in a fluid motion, but, as would later be discovered (although not by the Lathams), for successful projection each frame of the film had to be held in position in the projector for a fraction of a second before moving on to the next frame. Woodville Latham never hit on this idea, basing his efforts instead on the principles of the lantern slides. He believed a larger film than the 35mm used by Edison’s Kinetoscope film was the answer, reasoning that more light passing through the picture and onto the screen, would achieve the visual effect he desired.
Bigger film, however, meant dedicated production of the film by George Eastman in Rochester. That meant he would have to buy a whole table of film, which meant a large financial outlay. Nevertheless, Professor Latham was committed; he bit the bullet and ordered the film, which would be 70mm wide, exactly one-and-a-half times the width of Edison’s.
Meanwhile, Otway Latham approached Dickson (who was then unknowingly enjoying his final days in the employ of Mr. Edison) for advice. Dickson suggested they use a device similar to the old Geneva Cross used by Swiss watchmakers, which basically created an intermittent motion from a revolving shaft. Latham immediately relayed this information to Eugene Lauste, and things finally began to come together.
In January 1895 a prototype model was constructed. In the early hours of the 27th February, Otway Latham, Dickson and Lauste tried the camera out for the first time. Having inserted their specially-produced wide-gauge film into the camera, they aimed it at a hanging lamp which Otway Latham set swinging. Dickson turned the crank handle of the camera and they all, no doubt, prayed for success.
Their prayers were to be answered. Developing the film immediately, they were treated to a succession of clear images of the swinging lamp. While the three men were jubilant, the fact was they had achieved nothing that Edison hadn’t already achieved months before. In terms of their ultimate goal – of projecting a film onto a screen - they were only half way there.
Now that they finally had a functional camera, they wanted to be able to produce films that far exceeded the one minute films of Edison. However, the intermittent camera motion put immense strain on the film, and the perforations on longer lengths were invariably broken by this strain. Who actually devised the solution to this problem is another of those mysteries created by the passage of time, and a mass of conflicting claims. Some people believe Eugene Lauste, the clever little Frenchman who, like Dickson, had once worked for Thomas Edison, should take the credit. Terry Ramsaye, an early film historian, claimed back in the 1920s that Enoch Rector was the inventor. Only one thing is clear, the Lathams took the credit, because the device was named the Latham Loop. Like all great ideas, it is deceptively simple. Britannica Online describes it thus:
One limitation of early motion-picture filming was the tearing of sprocket holes. The eventual solution to this problem was the addition to the film path of a slack-forming loop that restrained the inertia of the take-up reel. When this so-called Latham Loop was applied to cameras and projectors with intermittent movement, the growth and shrinkage of the loops on either side of the shutter adjusted for the disparity between the stop-and-go motion at the aperture and the continuous movement of the reels.
Whoever the inventor was, their brainwave was – and still is – one of the most important inventions in motion picture history. Film-makers were liberated from confining their films to around sixty seconds, and could now load their camera with any length of film they desired.
Next item on the agenda was a projector. Compared to the camera, this provided few problems for the Latham team, and they had one built by the end of March. Professor Latham originally called it the Pantoptikon, but its named was subsequently changed to the Eidoloscope.
On the 21st April 1895, Woodville Latham was finally ready to give a demonstration of his projector to an assemblage of reporters at Frankfort Street. The film shown to them was of Lauste’s children playing in a park while Latham himself sat close by, smoking a pipe and taking a handkerchief from his pocket. The following day an account of the demonstration was given in the New York Sun:
The pictures shown yesterday portrayed the antics of some boys at play in a park. They wrestled, jumped, fought and tumbled over one another. Near where the boys were romping a man sat reading a paper and smoking a pipe. Even the puffs of smoke could be plainly seen, as could also the man’s movements when he took a handkerchief from his pocket. The whole picture on the screen yesterday was about the size of a standard window sash…”
While the report was largely complimentary, much of it was given over to an interview with Thomas Edison regarding the Latham’s invention. Edison, as can be expected, was not – or claimed not to be – particularly impressed:
“The throwing of pictures on a screen was the very first thing I did with the Kinetoscope. I didn’t think much of that because the pictures were crude, and there seemed to me to be no commercial value in that feature of the machine.”
Edison went on to claim:
“In two or three months, however, we will have the Kinetoscope perfected, and then we will show you screen pictures. The figures will be life-size, and the sound of the voice can be heard as the movements of the figures are seen.”
History tells us that Edison’s boast was an empty one. While he would market a projector in 1896, it was not his own invention – and he would never succeed in bringing sound to the moving picture.
During the interview, Edison described the Eidoloscope as “simply a portable Kinetograph”, and went on to issue the following warning:
“If they carry the machine around the country, calling it by some other name, that’s a fraud, and I shall prosecute whoever does it. I’ve applied for patents long ago.”
The following day, Latham would respond to Edison’s comments in a letter to the same newspaper. He concluded the letter by asking:
“If Mr. Edison can project pictures of moving objects on a screen, as he says he can, why does he not do it as publicly as I have done, and do it at once?”
This exchange was to mark the beginning of a bitter and protracted attempt by Edison to maintain a monopoly over the production, distribution and exhibition of movies.
Naturally undeterred by their competitor’s churlish lack of enthusiasm for their invention, the Lathams quickly set about filming a movie for projection to a paying public. On the 4th of May 1895, Otway Latham directed a staged fight between the Australian fighter, ‘Young Griffo’ and ‘Battling' Charles Barnett on the roof of Madison Square Garden. A little more than two weeks later, the four-minute film was ready for exhibition, and was shown to the public on the 20th May 1895 at 153 Broadway – more than six months before the Lumieres were to give their first exhibition to a paying public. The show caught the attention of the nation’s media, and the Lathams achievement effortlessly eclipsed Mr. Edison’s Kinetoscope – even though the quality of the image projected by their Eidoloscope was very dim and left much to be desired. “There is considerable room for improvement,” declared the Photographic Times, “and many drawbacks have yet to be overcome.”
Buoyed by their success, the Lathams quickly made more films, including a film version of the hit song The Sidewalks of New York, The Waves (filmed in Atlantic City, probably while the Eidoloscope was being exhibited at the Cotton States Exposition) and a film of the Nicholas Sister’s ‘split dance’. The Lambda Company also put into production the manufacture of their projector, and offered for sale state rights for the use of them. The Lathams, it seemed, had stolen the lead in the race to make a business out of the projection of movies to the public. Their lead, however, was to be short-lived… [ADD]
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