Page 10 - RD_2015_12

Cinema Facts Supplied by Alan Vogt

1894: Birth of cinema in Australia
The first screening of film in Australia took place in a shop at 148 Pitt St, Sydney. The
public paid a shilling to view images of American circus and vaudeville performers on the
Edison Kinetoscope. Unlike the later movie projection of the Lumière Brothers, the
Kinetoscope was a box containing a 50-foot loop of film watched through an eyepiece
by a single viewer. Twenty-five thousand people paid to watch the Kinetoscope in the
first month of exhibition.
Source:
Sabine, J (Ed) 1995, , Mandarin, Melbourne, p 2.

1895: First paying audience watches Australian boxer
The first motion picture to be displayed before a paying audience featured Australian
boxer Albert Griffiths, AKA Young Griffo, in . The
bout was filmed at Madison Square Garden and projected at 153 Broadway in New York
City. Although the Lumière Brothers first projected film in Paris on 22 March 1895, their
public exhibitions did not commence until 28 December 1895.

Source:
The Internet Movie Database

1895: 'Talkies' arrive in Australia
In the Queensland mining town of Charters Towers, the Edison Kinetophone made its
first Australian appearance. A combination of the Edison Kinetoscope and the phono-
graph Edison had invented, it synchronised images with sound delivered to an earpiece
from a wax cylinder. Despite the noting 'indeed every word can
be heard with the utmost distinctness’, the Kinetophone was not a commercial success.
Source:
Sabine, J (Ed) 1995, , Mandarin, Melbourne, pp 12–13.

1896: First film projected in Australia
Calling himself “The Premier Prestidigateur”, American magician Carl Hertz projected the
first motion pictures in Australia at Harry Rickard’s Melbourne Opera House. Running no
longer than 50 seconds each, Hertz’s films were mostly Edison shorts filmed at 30 frames
per second, but projected at 16 frames per second on Hertz’s equipment. Despite such
technical flaws, Hertz’s show was a major success.
Source:
Sabine, J (Ed) 1995, , Mandarin, Melbourne, pp 10–15.

10 REEL DEALS December 2018