THE VITASCOPE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5733, 28 November 1896, Page 2

THE VITASCOPE.

PLAYS WITHOUT PLAYERS. [From Our Correspondent.] " LONDON, Sept. 27. As everyone ,in your part of the world will shortly be talking of the Living Pictures show, which Mr James M'Mahon, of Sydney, is taking out for exploitation in the colonies, it may not be amiss to point out some of "the extraordinary possibilities, which this wonderful invention suggests. The subject has been , specially attractively deal with in the j current North American Eevkw, by Mr G. P. Lathrop. Say., the writer :— When Mr Edison first made his kinetoscope, and long before it was put generally on public exhibition, he foretold that he would enlarge the effects produced by it, and give life-sized pictures of people, all sorts of animals and mechanisms or other objects in action, with every detail of their movement and expression of their faces. These "living pictures" in anew sense — these illuminated shadows that have all the naturalness— and a nearly perfect semblance, of reality— could, he said, be I used in conjunction with the phonograph and be substituted for real persons and dialogue spoken by them in plays upon the stage * * * 'The vitascope is an elaborate machine, on a large scale, which, by means of electric power and light, magnifies and throws upon a screen images previously photographed by the kinetoscope apparatus on a long and narrow sensitised gelatine film, like a ribbon. Those small negatives on the gelatine ribbon are made at the rate of from 46 to 50 per second, while the ribbon is running swiftly along, driven by electricity, behind a photographic lens 'in the kinetoscope. The lens has a shutter, which opens just long enough to admit one impression of tho moving object ; then closes, while tho ribbon passes on for the space of perhaps a quarter of an inch, and open again to receive another impression. how it is worked. Every one of the impressions thus received, continues Mr Lathrop, becomes a perfect and sharply outlined photographic negative, stamped on the ribbon in a small fraction of a second, allowing for the pauses when the automatic shutter is closed and no impression at all is being recorded. In one minute about 3000 of these negatives are made. In the kinetoscope this ribbon afterward for the purpose of bringing together in the spectator's eye the blended images of all the negatives, and so creating for him ' the total impression of a moving form, is revolved behind a lens at a little higher speed than when the photographs were taken upon it. A small electric light placed under or behind, it gives 'illumination to the figures or other objects on the ribbon, and so makes them visible to the spectator. The vitascope, a far more complicated and powerful structure, takes this same ribbon which has been prepared by the kinetoscope, and coils it up on a disc at the top of the machine, from which it is passed over a system of wheels and through a narrow, upright clamp-like contrivance that brings it down to a strong magnifying lens, behind which there is an electric burner Of high capacity. The light from this carbon burner blazes fiercely through the translucent ribbon, and projects the images of the negatives there blended to a distant screen, with great clearness, for the benefit of the audience. In fifty feet of the photographic gelatine film or ribbon, adds Mr Lathrop, there are some 750 negatives. It takes about forty seconds to run fifty feet of this ribbon through the machine and by the magnifying lens. Photographic ribbons are now made for the vitascope, which are 1000 feet in length, and contain the pictures of three different subjects. In -this way, one subject may be shown on tho screen, and, after a very slight pause, during which the light is intercepted by an automatic swinging shutter, the next subject can be exhibited without stopping to adjust a new gelatine ribbon. PLAYS WITHOUT PLAYERS. Coming to the really interesting point, as to whether tho vitascope can be utilised to replace, in the future, the ordinary stage scenery, the writers says:— No serious attempt has so far, I believe, been made to uso the phonograph in direct cooperation with vitascopes. This may be partly for the reason that no entirely satisfactory transmitter has yet been made for sending out the recorded phonograph speech in a largo auditorium. Yet it seems almost inevitable that, in time, a successful combination of the two instruments will be made, so that a play may be given with the actors, the voices, and surroundings created wholly by mechanical means and run by electric motor, supervised by two or three trained assistants. That would be an exhibition copying the drama enacted by living beings, and although somewhat apart from it, yet very useful, no doubt, in private houses, or in places where a theatre and company of actors were lacking. But can the vitascope be so used as to make painted scenery unnecessary in plays performed by flesh and blood actors ? asks this interesting writer; or is it likely, at any rate, to replace that to some extent and to become a valuable adjunct in certain particulars of scenic effect upon the stage ? It may not for a long time hence be adequate for producing all the illusion needed in placing a scene upon the stage ; and as its chief attractiveness is in its representing "motion," it alone would hardly be called upon to supply the various parts .of a stage-setting that are without motion. There seems to be little doubt, jtwyeyer, ,fo^

take an important position in heightening theatrical verisimilitude. ■SOME POSSIBILITIES. Where, for instance, it is desired to show a waterfall in the background, or a seashore with waves rolling on the beach, or a storm at sea, thero can bo no question that the vitascope would represent these things, taken absolutely from life, with a thousandfold more effectiveness and pleasure to the audience than anything in the line of most skilful stage device with which we are now acquainted. Marine views, with sailiug vessels, steam yachts, and boats in motioii —the dimpling'and rippling of the water— and peoplo embarking or disembarking could be rendered with delicious and genuine vividness. Flags fluttering in tho wind; canvas awnings shaking over housewindows ; passing clouds, mist, and sunshine in the sky, and puffs of dust in the air could all be conveyed to us without a flaw. A crowd iv a background of stroet ; a busy scene in the markets ; the coming and.going of vehicles— all these could be shown to perfection. It is easy to sco, further, that spectacular effects of distant multitudes, of armies advancing, battling, and retreating, could be "placed before us as nothing else can place them now. Sir Henry Irving achieves a great stage point with his masqueraders trooping through the scene, in his production of "The Merchant of Venice." Imagine how much more brilliant and veracious the effect might be with vitascope figures for;auxiliaries f Then, too, in any out-door scene— in "As You Like It," for example, or " King Lear " or " Macbeth "-— , would it not be a great enhancement to have tlio tree-boughs waving, and sun-light andshadowiiickeringpreciselyas in nature. 9 In the matter of panoramic scenery, furthermore, where it is desired to givo tho impression that the actors are passing through a long stretch of landscape, either on foot or in boats, the vitascope offers facilities which tho next generation will probably enjoy to the full. Mr Lathrop has much more to say concerning the disposition *of light and the arrangement of colour, &c, and the whole article will be read with interest by all concerned in matters theatrical.