THE BIRTH OF THE MOVIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16539, 24 September 1921, Page 3

THE BIRTH OF THE MOVIES.

FIRST ATTEMPT To PHOTOGRAPH MOVING OBJECT.

Incredible as it may sound, nevertheloss it is a fnot that moving pictures were first attempted in nn effort to decide a ton thousand, dollar bet over a trotting horse (says a writer in the "Motion Picture Magazine **). A generation and a- half ago, in California, near the little town or Palo Alto, was a wonderful stock breeding farm, and attached to the farm vuas the Stanford stable of racers, owned by Leland Stanford, then Governor of California. Governor Stanford bred marvellous horsee. He spent a fortune in breeding, raising and racing horses. His horses won most of the races wherever they were entered. Even now, there i-c a museum building on the campus at the Stanford University, where mounted skeletons of some of the famous racers stand as monuments of the love which he had for his favourites. It was Leland Stanford’s understanding of and attention to his horses that bred the first germ of moving pictures.

During a discussion with a friend as to the merits and habits of horses, he said that he had always claimed that a perfect trotting horse, iri full action, had all four feet off of the ground most of the time-

His friend ridiculed the idea, and 6aid that it was preposterous; an argument gave rise to the ten thousand dollar bet. Witnesses were called; and the contention explained. A horse was brought out and trotted, hut, watch ujs they would, it was impossible to agree. No one could be convinced beyond the doubting point. Not being able to get satisfaction in this way, each one set about to find some way to settle the bet definitely. The manager of the Stanford Stables at this time was a man namd Monroe Salisbury, and he suggested photographs to prove or disprove the point.

At that time, there was a very clever commercial photographer, Edward Muybridge, in San Francisco, whose interest in tho scientific side of photography had given him quite a widespread reputation, and so they sent for him to come’ to Palo Alto, and the bet tv as explained to him. Muybridge consulted with several others of his profession, and they finally worked out a plan which eventually proved successful, and by which he made a series of prints that was tho Pxrst moving pictures ever attempted. The plan was to photograph the crack trotter Arion in action. To do this, he placed-? several dozen cameras in certain positions around the trotting track, each with a segment of a circle within the radius of it 9 lens. As the horse passed certain portions cf tho track which had previously been carefully marked, lie broke strings attached to the different cameras which automatically snapped a picture. Time after time the horse was trotted, and each time failure was the result, but at last • a clear series of prints were gotten, .and placed together.

That method, compared with the elaborate cameras of to-day's moving picture companies, was exceedingly crude, but it proved the point, and won a ten thousand dollar bet for Governor Stanford.

The general public took very little, if any, interest in the experiment, and soon forgot all about it; but to certain enthusiastic photographers it was the birth of an idea, which has been worked out, improved upon, and perfected until our present-day “ Movies,” with their elaborate settings, wonderful lighting effects, and perfect detail bear absolutely no resemblance to the crude moving picture of the trotting horse Arion taken nearly thirty years ago by Edward Muybridge.