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Home Movies 100 Years Old This Month

Pathé Baby 1922 – 2012

Mike Trickett

In today’s world of instant entertainment – The other problem was that nearly all
where at the flick of a switch, we can watch systems were based on cutting down the
high definition, wide screen color television professional 35mm film to a smaller and
or we can have high quality portable music more economic size for home use – at that
with us at all times, it is sometimes difficult time most film was the highly flammable
to imagine what “home entertainment” nitrate – fine in the hands of a professional
would have been like back in the early part projectionist, but in the home……!
of the last century.
In the Home:
A piano or maybe a The first company to
radio was generally produce and market
the only forms of a successful home
home entertainment movie projector was
available to most the French company
people. So, the - Pathé, which
possibility of being introduced their
able to watch a movie 9.5mm Pathé Baby *
in the home would in December 1922.
have been a big
attraction, and indeed What Pathé offered,
home film screenings and up until that time
became very popular no one else did, was
from the 1930s. to sell the projector
with a range of
History: professionally made
Following the films available
introduction of
professional movies in The Films:
th
the late 19 Century, Pathé at that time
numerous enterprising was the largest
companies attempted producer of cinema
to introduce low cost films in the world,
movies for in-home entertainment. they had an enormous catalogue of films
which they could call on, and of course they
These efforts met with varying degrees of owned the copyright on all their releases, so
success, but in general most were failures. they were able cut and re-edit them for
The problem was that most involved the home use, generally leaving out the slower
selling of both a camera and a projector or more boring bits! They ended up being
(sometimes as a combined unit) – the able to offer a large catalogue of films,
drawback being that one had to actually initially for outright sale, but eventually for
make a movie before there was anything to hire.
show.