CHINESE SHADOW-SHOWS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 91, 14 October 1922, Page 12

CHINESE SHADOW-SHOWS

MOVING PICTURES IN EARLY

AGES,

'' Cinema, goers who fancy that the*;'cinematograph ie the product' of this ;.generation alone are likely to be surprised if" they visit Mr. Will Day's .exhibition of film appliances in London, Pays the "Daily Mail." Mr. Day, .who,.possesses what is virtually the' whole history of motion-picture ■ portrayal, bar. among'his remarkable col- ■ lection the wax figures used in the Ohin--1 63e shadow-shows thousands of years before Christ. A parchment made from : bullocks' hide, thin as paper, was apparently stretched before a brightly ' burning... lamp. .The. wax figurer were ; .manipulated after-'the fashion of pup- ■ petsy-ffieir shadows* being cast upon the '. the pat-di'menE screen. ' y~ ' Sir John Heischeil's spinning disc, the 'Thaumatrope, invented,in, 1826,,i5., another exhibit. On one cide' of the disc is a draw'ug of an empty kennel and on the other a dog. 'Nhen the disc revolves ■the dog apnears to jump out of the ken- : nei. Thie scientir.c toy was commercial- ■ dseri by Dr. ""arL, who sold it at the • Tate of 14 fci 7s 6d. . ' There fol'qwM what. 19 .much the same , ■ as the Wheel o' Life," the fascinating old ■ 'toy vhich W6"-S6sc: to'give to our child? '< Ten before .they became sophisticated ana ' modern, rfw they enjoy only the most lurid cinematograph dramas. . To an "Englishman, Friese-Greene, is due the credit for the real kinematograph aB we know : :ii to-day—an invention which he patented in 1889. Edison reaped the world's applause ; • Friese-Greene died a year.ago comparatively unknown and impoverished. His orphaned sons are beine cared ior.by.Mr. Will Day.. ._ Frifise-'Greene invented the first' film "%itK''perforated-sides,' the first coloured ■- film, the first steroscopic film, and em- " ployed the first film camera. In 1896 R. W. Paul-went far towards perfect-. ing a inechariical projector.