1896 in film
Encyclopedia

Events

  • January - In the United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

    , the Vitascope
    Vitascope
    Vitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...

     film projector
    Movie projector
    A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...

     is designed by Charles Francis Jenkins
    Charles Francis Jenkins
    Charles Francis Jenkins was an American pioneer of early cinema and one of the inventors of television, though he used mechanical rather than electronic technologies...

     and Thomas Armat
    Thomas Armat
    Thomas J. Armat was an American mechanic and inventor, a pioneer of cinema best known through the co-invention of the Edison Vitascope.-Biography:...

    . Armat begins working with Thomas Edison
    Thomas Edison
    Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

     to manufacture it.
  • January 14 - Birt Acres
    Birt Acres
    Birt Acres was a photographer and film pioneer.Born in Richmond, Virginia to English parents, he invented the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movie camera and projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history and...

     demonstrates his film projector, the Kineopticon, the first in Britain, to the Royal Photographic Society
    Royal Photographic Society
    The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...

     at the Queen's Hall
    Queen's Hall
    The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...

     in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

    . This is the first film show to an audience in the U.K.
  • February 20 - In London:
    • Robert W. Paul
      Robert W. Paul
      Robert W. Paul was a British electrician, scientific instrument maker and early pioneer of British film.-Early career:...

       demonstrates his film projector, the Theatrograph (later known as the Animatograph), at the Alhambra Theatre
      Alhambra Theatre
      The Alhambra was a popular theatre and music hall located on the east side of Leicester Square, in the West End of London. It was built originally as The Royal Panopticon of Science and Arts opening on 18 March 1854. It was closed after two years and reopened as the Alhambra. The building was...

      .
    • The Lumiere Brothers first project their films in Britain, at the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square.

  • April - Edison and Armat's Vitascope
    Vitascope
    Vitascope was an early film projector first demonstrated in 1895 by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. They had made modifications to Jenkins patented "Phantoscope", which cast images via film & electric light onto a wall or screen...

     is used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

    .
  • May 14 - Tsar Nicholas II
    Nicholas II of Russia
    Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

     of Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

     is crowned in Moscow
    Moscow
    Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

    , the first coronation
    Coronation
    A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

     ever recorded in film.
  • July 26 - "Vitascope Hall" opens on Canal Street, New Orleans
    Canal Street, New Orleans
    Canal Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter , it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District.The...

    , the first business devoted exclusively to showing motion pictures at a fixed location http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/where-was-the-first-permanent-movie-theater-in-the-united-states-located/Content?oid=1278809
  • October 19 - "Edisonia Hall
    Edisonia Hall
    Edisonia Hall was a generic name for exhibition halls that displayed the various inventions of Thomas Alva Edison's company. These included the phonograph, the Vitascope, the Kinetoscope and other such devices....

    " in Buffalo, New York
    Buffalo, New York
    Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

    , the first building constructed specifically for showing motion pictures. http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/where-was-the-first-permanent-movie-theater-in-the-united-states-located/Content?oid=1278809
  • In France
    France
    The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

    , magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès
    Georges Méliès
    Georges Méliès , full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. He was very innovative in the use of special effects...

     begins experimenting with the new motion picture technology, developing early special effect techniques, including stop motion
    Stop motion
    Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

    .
  • The Pathé Frères film company is founded.
  • William Selig
    William Selig
    William Nicholas Selig was a pioneer of the American motion picture industry.-Biography:Selig was raised in Chicago. He worked as a vaudeville performer and produced a traveling minstrel show in San Francisco while still in his late teens. One of the actors was Bert Williams, who went on to become...

     founds the Selig Polyscope Company
    Selig Polyscope Company
    The Selig Polyscope Company was an American motion picture company founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, Illinois. Selig Polyscope is noted for establishing Southern California's first permanent movie studio, in the historic Edendale district of Los Angeles...

     in Chicago
    Chicago
    Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

    .
  • Demeny-Gaumont work on a 60 mm format, first known as Biographe (unperforated), then Chronophotographe (perforated).
  • Casimir Sivan and E. Dalphin create a 38 mm format.


Films released in 1896

  • Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
    L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la Ciotat
    L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed...

  • Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincennes
    Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincennes
    Arrivée d'un train gare de Vincennes is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by French magician Georges Méliès. It was a Théâtre Robert-Houdin production. No surviving footage of this film is known to exist and it is therefore presumed to be lost....

  • L'Arroseur
    L'Arroseur
    L'Arroseur is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent comedy film directed and produced by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Awakening of Rip
    Awakening of Rip
    Awakening of Rip is an 1896 American short black-and-white silent drama film starring Joseph Jefferson. It is based upon the story of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving....

  • Baignade en mer
    Baignade en mer
    Baignade en mer is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent film directed and produced by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Barnet Horse Fair
  • Bataille de boules de neige
    Bataille de boules de neige
    Bataille de boules de neige is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière.-Plot:...

  • Bateau-mouche sur la Seine
    Bateau-mouche sur la Seine
    Bateau-mouche sur la Seine is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès. No surviving footage of this film is known to exist and it is therefore presumed to be lost....

  • Batteuse à vapeur
    Batteuse à vapeur
    Batteuse à vapeur is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès. No surviving footage of this film is known to exist and it is therefore presumed to be lost....

  • Bébé et fillettes
    Bébé et fillettes
    Bébé et fillettes is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès. This film is now classified as lost and no surviving footage is known to exist....

  • Le Bivouac
    Le Bivouac
    Le Bivouac is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Les Blanchisseuses
    Les Blanchisseuses
    Les Blanchisseuses is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Bois de Boulogne
    Bois de Boulogne (film)
    Bois de Boulogne is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Boulevard des Italiens
    Boulevard des Italiens (film)
    Boulevard des Italiens is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès. The film consists of a short sequence recording life on the streets of Paris....

  • The Boxing Kangaroo
    The Boxing Kangaroo
    The Boxing Kangaroo is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, produced and directed by Birt Acres for exhibition on Robert W. Paul's peep show Kinetoscopes, featuring a young boy boxing with a kangaroo...

  • Boxing Match; or, Glove Contest
    Boxing Match; or, Glove Contest
    Boxing Match; or, Glove Contest is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, produced and directed by Birt Acres for exhibition on Robert W. Paul's peep show Kinetoscopes, featuring a staged boxing match between Sergeant-Instructor Barrett and Sergeant Pope with a round, an...

  • Campement de bohémiens
    The Bohemian Encampment
    The Bohemian Encampment, also known as Campement de bohémiens, and El Campamento bohemio is an 1896 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed by French magician Georges Méliès....

  • Démolition d'un mur
    Démolition d'un mur
    Démolition d'un mur is a 1896 French short black-and-white silent film directed and produced by Louis Lumière and starring his brother Auguste Lumiére, along with two other men.-Production:...

  • La Fée aux Choux
    La Fée aux Choux
    La Fée aux Choux is one of the earliest narrative fiction films ever made. It was probably made before the first Méliès fiction film, but after the Lumière brothers' L'Arroseur Arrosé. The confusion stems from the uncertainty in the dating of these three films...

  • The Horse Trough
  • The Kiss
  • Le Manoir du diable
    Le Manoir du diable
    The Haunted Castle is a 1896 three-minute-long French film and directorial debut of Georges Méliès and number 78-80 on the Star Films catalog. The film contained many traditional pantomime elements and was intentionally meant to amuse people, rather than frighten them...

  • Rip Van Winkle
    Rip Van Winkle
    "Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...

    (series)
  • The Vanishing Lady

Births

  • January 20 - Isabel Withers
    Isabel Withers
    Isabel Withers was an American actress, who worked in theatre, film and television.-Theater:As a youth, Withers lived in Coffeyville, Kansas and Illinois. She attended school in Kansas City, Missouri....

    , actress (d. 1968
    1968 in film
    The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...

    )
  • June 28 - Constance Binney
    Constance Binney
    Constance Binney was an American stage and film actress and dancer.Born in New York City, Constance Binney was educated at Westover School, a private college preparatory boarding school for girls in Middlebury, Connecticut and in Paris, France...

    , actress, singer, dancer (d. 1989
    1989 in film
    -Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...

    )
  • July 16 - Evelyn Preer
    Evelyn Preer
    Evelyn Preer, born Evelyn Jarvis , was a pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and blues singer of the 1910s through the early 1930s. Evelyn was known within the black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."She was the first black actress to earn celebrity and popularity...

    , actress, singer (d. 1932
    1932 in film
    -Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....

    )
  • July 25 - Jack Perrin
    Jack Perrin
    Jack Perrin was an American actor specializing in westerns.-Biography:He was born Lyman Wakefield Perrin in Three Rivers, Michigan; his father worked in real estate and relocated the family to Los Angeles, California shortly after the turn of the century.Perrin served in the United States Navy...

    , actor (d. 1967
    1967 in film
    The year 1967 in film involved some significant events. It is widely considered as one of the most ground-breaking years in film.-Events:* December 26 - The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour airs on British television....

    )
  • August 18 - Jack Pickford
    Jack Pickford
    Jack Pickford was a Canadian-born American actor. He was best known for his tabloid lifestyle, marriage to the top starlets of his day, and being of the famous Pickford acting family.-Early life:...

    , actor (d. 1933
    1933 in film
    -Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....

    )
  • August 30 - Raymond Massey
    Raymond Massey
    Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...

    , actor (d. 1983
    1983 in film
    -Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...

    )
  • November 25 - Ruth Etting, actress, singer (d. 1978
    1978 in film
    The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....

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