1 00:00:01,200 --> 00:00:04,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to steph you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frying and I'm Tracy Wilson. Tracy, we're finally 4 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: doing it, I know. Today we're finally going to talk 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,239 Speaker 1: about a pair of brothers who have literally been on 6 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: my List Brother podcast since the day that Tracy and 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: I started working on it, so that's more than four years. 8 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: But I've just been hanging onto this one. I similarly 9 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: have things that have been on the list for that long. 10 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, And sometimes part of it, I don't do 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 1: those because I'm like, no, that's really self serving and like, um, 12 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: you know, it will just be like my hobby, fun things. 13 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: But at the same time, life is short, and they 14 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: have a fun story. So the reason that I have 15 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: always wanted to cover the Lumier brothers is that they 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 1: were really prolific inventors, and we're going to talk about 17 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: the innovations in developing motion picture for which they are 18 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: most well known. I think if you ask most people, 19 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: they can tell you that they were involved in early 20 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,760 Speaker 1: motion pictures. But we're also going to talk about other 21 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: inventions that legitimately changed human culture. In really significant ways, 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: and there is so much here that we're actually going 23 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: to give them a two parter. So in the first episode, 24 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the family business that their 25 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,840 Speaker 1: father started and how one of them came up with 26 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 1: an invention when he was still a teenager that basically 27 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: set up their family for life financially and enabled them 28 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: to experiment and invent without worrying about money. And in 29 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: the second part will cover some of the massive success 30 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: that the Loomier family experienced in an industry that they 31 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: never really meant to get into in the first place. 32 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: We'll talk about a lot of that in the first 33 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 1: part too, but um we will kind of discuss then 34 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: how they diversified their interests and went in other directions. 35 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,600 Speaker 1: August Lumier was born on October eighteen sixty two, and 36 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: his brother Louis was born two years later, both of 37 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: them October babies. His brother was born October five, eighteen 38 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: sixty four. They weren't the only two children in the family. 39 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: There was also a sister named Jin and a brother 40 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: named Eduard, and their father, Antoine Lumier, was in his 41 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: early twenties when the boys were born, and after marrying 42 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: Jeanne Josephine Costillo at nineteen. Antoine had first started working 43 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: painting signs and then as a painter of portraits, but 44 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: eventually he who was a very curious man about the world, 45 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: became interested in photography, and combining his painting experience with 46 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,119 Speaker 1: this new medium, he opened his own photography studio where 47 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: he specialized in portrait photography. In eighteen seventy, when Auguste 48 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: and Louis were eight and six, Antoine moved the family 49 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: to Leon, France, as the Franco Prussian War threatened to 50 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: push into their hometown of Besson Sant and the eastern 51 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: side of France, which is near the border with Switzerland. 52 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: So Leon is south of there, farther away from the 53 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: Swiss border, roughly across from where Switzerland's southern border meets 54 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: Italy's northern order. Yeah, that's just kind of a triangulation. 55 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: Note it's not terribly important if you're having trouble getting 56 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: the visual there. Uh. Both of the Lumier boys went 57 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,760 Speaker 1: to a technical school in Lyon known as La Martiniere, 58 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: and as teenagers they joined their father in the family business, 59 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: and while he was working for the company. After graduating 60 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,799 Speaker 1: from lou Lis s which is the French word for 61 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: high school. Louis also attended some college classes at Conservative 62 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: de Lyon. Louis proved himself to be an innovator right 63 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: out of the gate by inventing a new type of 64 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: photographic plate when he was only seventeen. This plate, which 65 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: is sometimes called the Etiquette blue the Lumier's name for it, 66 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,080 Speaker 1: it's a blue label plate or a dry plate. It 67 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: reduced the need for dark room development of images. Antoine, 68 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:51,240 Speaker 1: their father, anticipating the potential success of Louise Invention, purchased 69 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: a large tract of land in Lyon's suburb of Montplaisier 70 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: to set up a much larger operation for their factory, 71 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: and his foresight was entirely correct, because demand for this product, 72 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: which made photography much more accessible to a great many 73 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: more people, was through the roof the Loumier company, which 74 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: was at that point named Antoine. Lumier and Sons. Company 75 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: began producing these plates, which were very high quality, in 76 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: massive numbers, literally millions every year during the busiest years. 77 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: Louise Invention turned into the primary profit driver for the company, 78 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,120 Speaker 1: and it made the Loumiers very wealthy and also made 79 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: their name synonymous with photography at the time. Yeah. I 80 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: read in one source that they were making as many 81 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: as fifteen million plates a year, and they were barely 82 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 1: keeping up with demand at that point. Uh So, when 83 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: Louis was twenty eight, he got married to a woman 84 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: named genre Rose Leonie Winkler on February two of eight three, 85 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: and on August thirty one of that same year, Auguste 86 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:56,520 Speaker 1: Lumier also got married to Jon's sister, Marie Euchreisive Margarite Twinkler. 87 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: So two brothers married two sisters. For their father part, 88 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: he knew that to stay successful in a field like 89 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,799 Speaker 1: There's meant that the company had to be constantly researching 90 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: and developing new technology, So he used a portion of 91 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: the millions of francs and profit that Louise Invention had 92 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: brought in to fund ongoing research projects. Yeah this really, 93 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: I mean, I cannot stress enough how much this one 94 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: thing that Louis invented as a teenager completely enabled them 95 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 1: to do and achieve basically everything else they achieved in 96 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: their lives. Because they didn't have to worry about money, 97 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,159 Speaker 1: they could just spend as much time as they needed 98 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: researching and developing things because their factory was still churning 99 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 1: out plates and they were still bringing in profits. So 100 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:43,680 Speaker 1: in eighteen ninety one, Thomas Edison and William Dixon invented 101 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,599 Speaker 1: the kinetoscope. There's a whole big story around that and 102 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: who deserves more credit, but that's a little outside the 103 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,919 Speaker 1: scope of our podcast today. But the kinetoscope was a 104 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: device that had a peep hole for a viewer to 105 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: look through, and then a strip of film was run 106 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: through the machine behind the lens with a light bulb 107 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:02,239 Speaker 1: behind it, and so the frames of the film strip 108 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: passing through the machine in this way created a moving picture. 109 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: That's a concept that's probably pretty easy to access for 110 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: most of our listeners. Yeah. Initially Edison believed this project 111 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: of Dixon's was basically a toy or a diversion. But 112 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: when they displayed a bunch of kinetoscopes in New York 113 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: City in eighteen ninety four, this technology was a huge hit. 114 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: Spectators happily paid twenty five cents a piece to watch 115 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: five of the short films, which you could only look 116 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,040 Speaker 1: at one person at a time by looking through each 117 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: cabinets people. Yeah, so they would have basically like a 118 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: parlor full of kinetoscopes and a person would stand there 119 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,839 Speaker 1: and just look in one by themselves. Uh. And Antoine 120 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:44,799 Speaker 1: Lumier again their father took notice of this new technology. 121 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: Several months after Edison and Dixon kinetoscopes had made their 122 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: public debut, Antoine, who had seen one of these machines 123 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,159 Speaker 1: on display in Paris, approached his son Louis and another 124 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: employee at their photography company with a small piece of 125 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: kinetoscope film and his and he explained that Edison was 126 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: making the film in the US and selling it for 127 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: a lot of money, and that they should start making 128 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: it too, so that they could become the French manufacturers 129 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: of it. So this meant that not only did they 130 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: have to manufacture the film itself with its spruck at 131 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: holes along the edge, they also had to make a 132 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: camera that could make use of it. So it was 133 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: initially August and not Louis, who took a stab at 134 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: building this camera but successfully eluded him. And then Louis 135 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 1: also started tinkering it, but his attempt fell short. They 136 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: just couldn't figure it out. Uh. And they knew plenty 137 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,840 Speaker 1: about still photography cameras. I mean, that was their family business. 138 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: They were not only making a lot of money at it, 139 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: they were very good at it. They were really astute 140 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: um and they knew how to capture images. But getting 141 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: the film to advance one frame at a time to 142 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: capture a series of still images that would convey movement 143 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: when shown in sequence was a huge leap in terms 144 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,040 Speaker 1: of technology, and they just couldn't figure out for a 145 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: while how to make it happen. So in just a moment, 146 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: we will tell you what other invention finally gave Louis 147 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: Lumier the idea that would solve this camera dilemma. But 148 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: first we will pause for a word from one of 149 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: our sponsors. So in the end, it was one of 150 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: my favorite inventions, the sewing machine that gave Louis a 151 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: bolt of inspiration. The story goes that he had chronic insomnia. 152 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: That was true, but the story part is that he 153 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: had this revelation late one night when he couldn't sleep, 154 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,599 Speaker 1: and as he sat there sleepless, he was thinking, and 155 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: in that way that sometimes your brain will put together 156 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: great ideas when it's not occupied doing other things. Uh, 157 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: he thought about the way a sewing machine makes a 158 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: stitch in a piece of fabric and then advances the 159 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: fabric to make the next stitch. It occurred to Louis 160 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 1: that he could build a similar mechanism to advance film 161 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: In a camera. The shutter would open to capture an image, 162 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: and then as it closed, a little claw like mechanism 163 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: would grab the perforations on the side the film, then 164 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: pull it down to the next frame. The claws would 165 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: release just as the shutter opened for the next image, 166 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,560 Speaker 1: and then grab the perforations again when the shutter closed, 167 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: and so on. Yeah. I had really never thought about 168 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: it until um learning this little tidbit how similar they 169 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:19,840 Speaker 1: actually are, and I was like, oh, they made little 170 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: feed dogs. Yeah. Basically, so, Louis based his camera for 171 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 1: capturing motion on the cameras that the Lumiers had been 172 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: using in their business to take still photos. He had 173 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: to attach a crank to run the film advancement system. 174 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: But even so, this apparatus was far smaller and lighter 175 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: than the kinetograph that Edison and Dixon were using to 176 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: make films. It came in at just sixteen pounds, which 177 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: is seven point three kilograms. That's still heavy if you 178 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: handed someone a sixteen pound camera today, but it was 179 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 1: suddenly way portable in a way that cameras were not 180 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: up to that point. But Louis knew that the family, 181 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,440 Speaker 1: if the family business really wanted to corner the European 182 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: market for moving photog for you, they could not just 183 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: make the film and the camera to use it. They 184 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 1: also needed to figure out how to print film from negatives, 185 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: and then a way to show these films two observers. 186 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: It was a whole system, not just camera and film, right, 187 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: And while Louis had really kind of taken a much 188 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: smaller approach to building his camera in comparison to Edison 189 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: and Dixon, he really thought much bigger than they did 190 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: when it came to showing films. So instead of creating 191 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: another machine like the kinetoscope that could only offer viewings 192 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: to one person at a time, Louis really wanted groups 193 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: of people to be able to experience watching moving pictures together. 194 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,800 Speaker 1: It was this idea that led to their development of 195 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: film projection. Louis Loumier basically devised a very similar idea 196 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: for advancing a piece of film frame by frame, sixteen frames, 197 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: a second opening and closing a shutter as it went 198 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: with a light source from behind the film projecting it 199 00:10:57,120 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: onto a screen or a wall, so not surprising, just 200 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: the same way they were taking it was also kind 201 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: of how they were showing it. Uh. And if you've 202 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: ever wondered how films got the nickname flicks, you can't 203 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,839 Speaker 1: thank this early technology. Louise Shutter apparatus meant that the 204 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: light was cut off for the briefest fraction of a 205 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: second in between frames as the shutter was closing, giving 206 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: it a flickering effect, and eventually movies shown with this 207 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: system got the nickname flickers, which of course got shortened 208 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: over time to flix. So today, whenever someone calls the 209 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: film a flick, they're actually referencing the earliest parts of 210 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: film history, although I doubt many think about it that way. 211 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 1: But what's really fantastic about all this work that Louis 212 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: Lumier was doing was that all of these functions he 213 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: was inventing, the film advancement, processing of the film, the projection, 214 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:46,080 Speaker 1: all of that together was all integrated into one machine 215 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:52,199 Speaker 1: called the cinematograph. So it was kind of a wonder Yeah. Um, 216 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: in my head, I like to imagine him going, no, 217 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: just keep cramming it into that one because it is 218 00:11:57,559 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: a lot to put into one thing, and I still 219 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:04,080 Speaker 1: kept it fairly small. So in the patent for the cinematograph, 220 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: filed jointly by Louis and August on February, it was 221 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: described as follows, and of course this is a translation quote. 222 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: The mechanism of this apparatus has the essential character of 223 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: acting intermittently on a ribbon regularly perforated so as to 224 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: print successive displacements, separated by the rest periods during which 225 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: occurs either the impression or the viewings of the images. 226 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: So basically, it's just saying we've invented this thing that 227 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: pulls filmed through and it opens one frame at a time, 228 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 1: and you will either be capturing movies on it or 229 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: watching movies on it through this this function. And that 230 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: patent was actually amended on March thirty to reflect some 231 00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: updates that they had made to the mechanism that slightly 232 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,920 Speaker 1: elongated the time that the shutter remained open for both 233 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:52,640 Speaker 1: capturing images and for viewing. Just to be clear, as 234 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,560 Speaker 1: is true of pretty much any invention we could be 235 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: talking about on show, the Lumier's cinematograph did not just 236 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: happen in They obviously didn't have the idea in a vacuum, 237 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: because we already mentioned their father wanting to get in 238 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 1: on the market of film that Edison's lab had started up. 239 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,720 Speaker 1: But in addition to Edison and to the kinetoscope he 240 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: and Dixon created, there were so many other inventors all 241 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: looking into ways that motion pictures could be made. And 242 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: we're gonna just touch on a couple because these are 243 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 1: some that are often referenced as being influential in terms 244 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: of giving Louise some ideas as he was going. One 245 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: of these was Charles Emil Renaud, who had been working 246 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: on a technology to create and show animated film so 247 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: hand drawn not captured photographic films since the eighteen seventies, 248 00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: when he invented a device called a prexinoscope that improved 249 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: on the zoa trope. So this allowed for characters in 250 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: an animated scene to be drawn on a strip and 251 00:13:48,559 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: then set into differing backgrounds. His His system is sometimes 252 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,200 Speaker 1: referred to with a magic lantern involved, and in the 253 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,839 Speaker 1: eighteen eighties Reno worked on an animated Moving Picture projections 254 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: STEM was based on this prexinoscope called the Tao Uptique, 255 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: and this device was as we said, a complicated expansion 256 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: on the Precini scope. It was much bigger and it 257 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:13,920 Speaker 1: used the system of mirrors and lights to project the 258 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: animation onto a screen or a wall life size. In 259 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: addition to rey No, another Frenchman, Louis Laprosse, had made 260 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: strides and developing his own motion picture camera, which used 261 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: a single roll of film that unfurled from one spool 262 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: as it was used and then was wound onto another 263 00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:35,400 Speaker 1: school after exposure. A documentary was produced two years ago 264 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: promoting the belief that he had actually beaten Edison to 265 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: inventing a technology that could capture moving pictures. La Princes 266 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: may have emerged as a dominant name in the world 267 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: of motion picture technology had he not suddenly vanished in 268 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: eight Yeah, he is absolutely also on my list of 269 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: episodes to do, because his disappearance is a great history 270 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: mystery to talk about. But the point is, uh, the 271 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: Lumiers knew that other people were working in this field, 272 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: and they understood completely that they were going to race 273 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: to establish their name as the one that was linked 274 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:12,120 Speaker 1: to this new technology. But what's really fortunate for them 275 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: is that they were not just unknown visionaries that were 276 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,720 Speaker 1: like tinkering in a garage or their lab. They already 277 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: had a steady and impressive income to help fund their 278 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: research and development, as we said, but they also had 279 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: brand recognition as the portrait photographers in Europe. The cinematograph 280 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: was patented on February. They made their first film a 281 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: little more than a month later, on March nineteen. That 282 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:42,880 Speaker 1: initial effort featured the employees of the Loomier factory leaving 283 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:45,680 Speaker 1: their jobs for the day. It was given a rather 284 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:50,400 Speaker 1: unimaginative title in English, it was workers Leaving the Loomier Factory. 285 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: You can see it online. The title definitely gives you 286 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: the truth of what you'll see, people walking out of 287 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 1: a factory and then a car driving out. Is also 288 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: a large dog their runs in and out of the 289 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: frame several times. Yeah, that dog is the star of 290 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 1: the show as far as concerned. But it is truth 291 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: and advertising. You'll get exactly what they tell you the 292 00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: title is. They were not really big on crazy titles 293 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: the loom years. Over the next several months, the brothers 294 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: showed their work in private screenings for professional interest organizations 295 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,320 Speaker 1: and hobby organizations, including the Society for the Encouragement of 296 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 1: National industry and the Congress of the French Photographic Society 297 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: and in the case of the Photographic Society, and we'll 298 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 1: talk about this a little bit later. Uh. They actually 299 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: captured members of that group on film one day to 300 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: be part of the screening that they showed them as 301 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: a demonstration the following day, and this definitely made a 302 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: strong impression for those people to sit there and watch 303 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: themselves on screen. Uh. As part of this whole debut 304 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: of this new technology. At the end of the year, 305 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: on December, at the Salon Indiana Grand Cafe in Paris, 306 00:16:56,320 --> 00:17:00,240 Speaker 1: August and Louise screened their films for a paying audiences 307 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: for the first time. They ran ten films, each of 308 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,480 Speaker 1: which ran about fifty seconds long, and it's the first 309 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: known instance of films being showed to a paying audience. 310 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: That also represented a shift and how the brothers saw 311 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: their work. And coming up, we're gonna delve into the 312 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: Lumier's transition into film exhibition as a business, but we're 313 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:27,880 Speaker 1: first going to have a little sponsor break. So when 314 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: Louis was doing all of his development of the cinematograph 315 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,479 Speaker 1: and August was was working on it with him, the 316 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: idea was that they were going to show what all 317 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: could be done with this new camera that they were 318 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 1: making so they could sell it. Uh. But as they 319 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: toured around showing colleagues with this camera was capable of, 320 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: leading up to that public screening, they actually started to 321 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,919 Speaker 1: realize that there was money to be made in the 322 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 1: entertainment industry. That first audience, which consisted of thirty five people, 323 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: had paid one front each to watch the program in 324 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: the Cafes basement. That was an arrange mint which Antoine 325 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:05,200 Speaker 1: Loumier had managed. Those thirty five were quick to describe 326 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 1: the amazing films they had seen projected onto a sheet 327 00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: while they sat in the dark. And soon the Loumiers 328 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: are making more than ten thousand francs each week. They're 329 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,719 Speaker 1: running multiple shows every day to try to keep up 330 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: with demand, and there were still hours long waits for 331 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: the audiences. Yeah those Uh. The first three dozen people 332 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: basically walked out, We're like, you guys gotta see this, uh, 333 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: And everybody agreed that they should. And the brothers also 334 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 1: made new films to keep audiences coming back. So they 335 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,640 Speaker 1: branched out from their documentary style reels to telling some 336 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: sort of narrative fictional stories with their short films. We'll 337 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: talk about some of the specifics in a moment. One 338 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: of their films which gained a lot of attention early on, 339 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:48,159 Speaker 1: was the Arrival of a Train at Stas Station. Uh. 340 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:51,360 Speaker 1: This particular film runs about fifty seconds and features, as 341 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: the title suggests, a train pulling into the station, and 342 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 1: it's filmed from the station, so the audience gets the 343 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: perspective of seeing the train coming down the tracks to them. 344 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 1: The initial audience reaction to this film is one of 345 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: those items in history that has become the matter of discussion. 346 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:10,959 Speaker 1: There are accounts that claim that the audience was terrified 347 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: by the experience of watching a train coming at them, 348 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: and that they screamed and even fled. Others say this 349 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: is squarely in the realm of urban legend, that the 350 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 1: reaction was a lot more subdued. So exactly how the 351 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: prisons of the day responded to this probably never going 352 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,879 Speaker 1: to be known. This whole panicked reaction version that has 353 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:37,679 Speaker 1: gained traction over the years. Uh, that probably is just 354 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 1: because it's a two sier story. Yeah, there is. I 355 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,920 Speaker 1: haven't looked at the primary source, but I saw it 356 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,920 Speaker 1: reported several places. There was apparently a contemporary newspaper report 357 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: that said that people were terrified, and I kind of 358 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,439 Speaker 1: get the vibe that that was very much a sensationalized story, 359 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 1: like but because it is one of the few conver descriptions, 360 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: that's why this sort of hangs on forever. It seems 361 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: more likely that people maybe gasped in astonishment and then 362 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: some was like screams of terror at cinema right or 363 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,240 Speaker 1: I could even see one person leaning back and then 364 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: it suddenly ballooning into everyone was petrified. So you'll somehow 365 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: see it reported that way. Odds are that's not how 366 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: it went down at all. The Lumier's early films also 367 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,919 Speaker 1: featured another movie first, and this is really interesting to 368 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,840 Speaker 1: me product placement, which we just often discuss, you know, 369 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: if you're into movies at all. People talk about how 370 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: more modern film era movies have been victimized by product placement, 371 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,159 Speaker 1: but they was done from the very beginning. In a 372 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: film titled The Card Game, beer from Their father in 373 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,880 Speaker 1: Law's brewery was actually featured as their father, their father 374 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 1: in law, and another man play a game of cards together. 375 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: In the film, a waiter is summoned and asked to 376 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: bring refreshments, and he brings beer this is from their brewery, 377 00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,959 Speaker 1: and he the uh, and then viewers get to watches 378 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: the bottle is poor into three glasses. It kind of 379 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,879 Speaker 1: takes its time getting poured beautifully, and then all the 380 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: men drink together, and that's pretty much the whole movie. Obviously, 381 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: these films were largely documentary in nature. The brothers were 382 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:15,439 Speaker 1: generally using their technology to capture what life was like 383 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:20,680 Speaker 1: in Leon. They weren't really developing some kind of narrative fiction. Uh. Yeah, 384 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: we'll talk about how they did some fiction here in 385 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: a moment, but not really like full stories. One movie 386 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: that they made, called Feeding the Baby was simply August 387 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,439 Speaker 1: Lumier and his wife feeding their infant child. Again, there's 388 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:39,120 Speaker 1: truth in advertising, um. The also unimaginatively named The Photographical Congress, 389 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 1: arrives in Leon just shows dozens of people getting off 390 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: of a boat. You would never know that they were 391 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 1: interested in photography if it weren't the title. Uh. The 392 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: film Fishing for Goldfish features a very young child, I'm 393 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: not sure if it's the same child as the one 394 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,480 Speaker 1: that gets fed and feeding the Baby um unsuccessfully attempting 395 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,400 Speaker 1: to try to catch fish in a large bowl. It's 396 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 1: basically a tiny child stick in its hand in a 397 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: big fish bowl. And then another one called The Sea 398 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: shows five men jumping off of the dock into choppy water, 399 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: and then they make their way back up to the 400 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: shore and get on the dock and run to the 401 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:11,399 Speaker 1: end and jump in again, and they kind of just 402 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,840 Speaker 1: play out that cycle. So these are all pretty straightforward, 403 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: but that initial group of motion pictures wasn't without bits 404 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:23,119 Speaker 1: of comedy. The film titled The Sprinkled Sprinkler shows a 405 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: garden a gardener watering plants with a hose when a 406 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:28,960 Speaker 1: boy sneaks up behind him and steps on the hose, 407 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: which stops the flow of water. When they're perplexed, gardener 408 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,240 Speaker 1: points the novel and himself to see what the trouble is. 409 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: The boy steps off of the hose and the gardener 410 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,440 Speaker 1: gets a dowsing and then chases the boy down, uh 411 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: and not quite as funny spanks him. Yeah, there's actually 412 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: a lot of people getting spanked in these movies. It 413 00:22:49,320 --> 00:22:52,879 Speaker 1: doesn't look particularly violent, but I was like, really again 414 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,159 Speaker 1: with the spanking as I was looking at them the 415 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,719 Speaker 1: other night, Like, oh again, spanking used to be a 416 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: lot less controversial old than it is now. Yeah, and 417 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: some of it is definitely um more of what you 418 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: would It's kind of like the comedy swat on the 419 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: tail end, it's not really like a forceful thing um, 420 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: which happens in our next film we're going to talk about, 421 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: called Jumping the Blanket, which is also kind of a 422 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,120 Speaker 1: light comedy. Uh. It features four men holding the corners 423 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: of a blanket while a fifth man attempts to jump 424 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,440 Speaker 1: into it, and his initial efforts fall short, for which 425 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: he is banks, this time by a man who is 426 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: perhaps a soldier or a policeman. He's just a man 427 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: standing by and what looks like a uniform. The jumper 428 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,919 Speaker 1: eventually manages a successful jump onto the blanket, which results 429 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: in some rather graceful acrobatics as the four men that 430 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,520 Speaker 1: are holding the corners flip him out of the blanket again, 431 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: and he completes several more jump and flip combinations with 432 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: varying degrees of success. It definitely looks like he is 433 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: a trained performer. Horse trick riders a similar in tone 434 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,639 Speaker 1: to the Blanket movie. A man tries several times to 435 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:58,720 Speaker 1: mount a very patient horse while another man stands by 436 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: Alternatively either how helps or chastises that would be rider. 437 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,440 Speaker 1: It becomes very obvious that the unsuccessful horse rider really 438 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: is a skilled gymnast because he falls him the most 439 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 1: graceful ways imaginable. And again this horse is extremely patient. 440 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: There is also spanking in this movie. It's like every 441 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 1: time he fails, the guy gets him and swats him 442 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: on the behind and tries to lift him back on 443 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,920 Speaker 1: the horse. See now, it's just weird. It's a theme 444 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: for their films. I don't know. Um. So, these earliest 445 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: films were actually shot on the second prototype camera that 446 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,360 Speaker 1: Louis had built, although the brothers soon made more of them. 447 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: Louis actually collaborated with a Parisian engineer named Jules Carpentier 448 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,159 Speaker 1: uh to refine the camera and make it suitable for 449 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,439 Speaker 1: mass production. Like at that point they had been basically 450 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 1: been using things that could not just be duplicated um. 451 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: Carpentier had actually attended one of the Lumier's private screenings 452 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,320 Speaker 1: in March, and he immediately had reached out to them 453 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,359 Speaker 1: to offer his assistance on future iterations of their work. 454 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: They did not sell all the mass produced cameras as 455 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 1: they had originally planned, though, instead they trained a large 456 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: staff of men to make films. Once the training was complete, 457 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: they sent them in to travel throughout Europe under the 458 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: Loomi Air banner, making new movies and showing them in 459 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: the same town where they were shot. From a business perspective, 460 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,719 Speaker 1: this was incredibly astute. It spread the business name around 461 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,840 Speaker 1: and it got it associated with this new technology, and 462 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 1: it obviously showed the amazing capabilities of the cinematograph to 463 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,639 Speaker 1: make movies on the go. And it immensely increased the 464 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: company's catalog of films as this small army of filmmakers 465 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 1: created more and more content everywhere they went. And of course, 466 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:40,880 Speaker 1: when you hand a new piece of technology to somebody, 467 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: they will figure out new ways to use it. This 468 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: new group of filmmakers tried new things. One of them 469 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 1: created the first moving shot when he attached to the 470 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: camera to a gondola and venice. Soon all the cameramen 471 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: were told to include similar shots in their films per 472 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,520 Speaker 1: the Loomi Airs. So at this point, the Loomis Airs 473 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 1: successful photography business, successful manufacturers, got into motion pictures and 474 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,719 Speaker 1: they're now wildly successful. And that is actually where we're 475 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: gonna end this episode. Um and we're actually going to 476 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: talk in the next one about how the Lumiers gained 477 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: international acclaim and then left Motion Pictures to pursue other interests. 478 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,159 Speaker 1: Do you have listener mail for us also? I do. 479 00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: I figured I would link this one to a listener 480 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: mail about another film podcast we did recently, which was 481 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: the murder of William Desmond Taylor. This is from our listener, Catherine. 482 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,159 Speaker 1: She says, Hi, ladies, I was just listening to your 483 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: podcast on the William Desmond Taylor case mere moments ago, 484 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: and all of the several highly plausible suspects, I personally 485 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: think Charlotte Selby. Shelby is the most likely of the bunch. 486 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: I know that someone was seeing near Taylor's home that 487 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,840 Speaker 1: didn't match her description at all, But a thought occurred 488 00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: to me to explain this that turns this case into 489 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 1: more of a weird detective novel. She hired a killer 490 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: to do the deed for her. I have zero serious 491 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,240 Speaker 1: evidence for this, and it's mostly a joke explanation, but 492 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 1: she strikes me as being shrewd enough and crazy stage 493 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:09,600 Speaker 1: mom enough to pull something like this if she wanted 494 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: him out of the picture. It seems to me that 495 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,680 Speaker 1: she would want to distance herself and her daughter from 496 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: the case as much as possible, therefore enter the hit man. Obviously, 497 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,160 Speaker 1: if that was her goal, it didn't work that well, 498 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: since she's still got heavily investigated for the murder and 499 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:26,199 Speaker 1: her daughter's career kind of tanked. Anyway, I personally do 500 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: not like the blackmailers did it theory, unless we also 501 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: assume that the murder was accidental. It seems to me that, 502 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 1: as menacing as they can be, any serious blackmailers would 503 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: want to keep him alive. How else are you going 504 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: to get anything out of him. Maybe I'm just not 505 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,520 Speaker 1: nefarious enough to imagine a reasonable explanation for killing your 506 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:46,080 Speaker 1: target on purpose. There's such a wide range of suspects 507 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: that Akham's razor doesn't really work super well for this case. 508 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: There are simply too many simple answers available. Since the 509 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 1: case is so cold by now, we might as well 510 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,640 Speaker 1: say that ghosts did it. I'm fine with that. Cases 511 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: like this are particularly why I love your podcast. It's 512 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,879 Speaker 1: always fun to hear a cool historical story or learn 513 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: about people who did amazing things for better or worse. 514 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: But it's especially fantastic when we get episodes that are 515 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: stimulating to the imagination. I can't count how many times 516 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: I thought that someone should work this or that mystery 517 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: or scenario, or a particular historical tidbit into a novel 518 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: or TV show while listening to your podcast and end 519 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,159 Speaker 1: up spending a lot of time thinking of all the 520 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: ways that that could play out. That always makes the 521 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:25,920 Speaker 1: work day go by a little faster. Your podcast is 522 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: truly a gift. Thank you so much, Catherine. That was 523 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: lovely You kind of point out exactly why I really 524 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: like that particular story, which is that there are too 525 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,959 Speaker 1: many explanations, all of which would make sense. Uh, so 526 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: we'll never ever know there may have been a cover up. 527 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: Um Yeah, William Desmond Taylor remains fascinating to me. Even 528 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: after we finished that episode, I found myself thinking about 529 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:48,720 Speaker 1: it a lot. Uh. If you would like to write 530 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: to us your series on who Killed William Desmond Taylor 531 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,880 Speaker 1: or anything else, you can do so at History Podcast 532 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: at house to Works dot com. We are also available 533 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: across the spectrum of social media as Missed in History, 534 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,360 Speaker 1: and you can also visit us on our website, which 535 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: is Missed in History dot com, where you will find 536 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:06,560 Speaker 1: me back catalog of every episode of the show ever, 537 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:09,320 Speaker 1: show notes and sources for any of the shows that 538 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:11,239 Speaker 1: Tracy and I have worked on together, as well as 539 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,040 Speaker 1: occasional other fun tidbits. So come and visit us and 540 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,360 Speaker 1: missed in history dot com and we'll run through history together. 541 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 542 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: hostof works dot com.