Motion Pictures

By Keren G.

  • Inventing motion pictures

    1890: Thomas Edison assistant, W.K.L Dickson, begins the “motion picture project.” He developed a horizontal-feed motion picture camera.

  • Edison biulds film studio

    1893: Edison builds a film studio on the grounds of his laboratories in New Jersey to produce films using the kinetoscope machines.

  • First Kinetescope

    1894: The holland brothers open the first kinetoscope parlor in New York. In this year, senator Bradley forbids one of Edison’s films because the show show’s one of the dancers undergarments were showing. This was the first case of censorship in the moving picture industry.

  • Cinematographe

    1895: The Lumiere brothers from France invented a motion picture camera/projector that they called a Cinèmatographe. This is the first projector to advance beyond the experimental stage and the first to be offered for sale.

  • The first movie theatre

    1902: In Los Angeles Thomas L. Tally's Electric Theatre becomes the first permanent movie theatre in the U.S.

  • Largest Cinema in Paris

    1911:The French motion picture company, Gaumont, opens the largest cinema in the world in Paris. The "Gaumont-Palace" has 3,400 seats.

  • The Deppression

    1930: The “Depression” causes movie attendance to drop dramatically.

  • Death of Thomas Edison

    1931: Thomas Edison, whose company invented the motion picture camera, dies at the age of 84.

  • Estimates of movie theathers

    1940: In the United States there are 17,500 movie theaters in operation, one for every 8,000 people. Out of a total U.S. population of 130 million, it is estimated that 55–60 million Americans go to the movies every week.

  • Walt Disney gets involved

    1942: Walt Disney abandons commercial operations to concentrate exclusively on war–related films.