Abstract
pictures are a pleasant form of entertainment the world over; even television cannot dim their luster. Yet originally they were not developed for amusement purposes and have been and are increasingly being used in more serious ways. earliest use of motion pictures was for scientific purposes. As late as 1895 August Lumiere, the French inventor of the cinematograph, thought of them only as an aid to science. When Georges Melies, the director of a Paris theater, saw the practical entertainment values of Lumiere's projection apparatus and wanted to buy it, the inventor replied with one of the prize understatements of all time: Young man, my invention is not for sale; for you it would represent ruin. Possibly sometime in the future it may be used as a scientific curiosity, but otherwise it has no economic significance. 2 In that same year Alfred Clark, head of the Electrical and Musical Industries, Ltd., produced Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, 8 and 3 years earlier Edison, in his mobile studio the Black Maria, had produced The Big Sneeze with Fred Ott.4 Lumiere's statement is historically important, however, because it highlights an interesting aspect of motion-picture development.
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