Many know Thomas Edison for inventing the electric light bulb, one of the most important inventions ever to be built by man. Thomas Edison wanted to expand the way entertainment reached people especially the middle class. By doing so, he had his own plan. The Kinetoscope, better known as Edison’s “peep show” was a viewing machine which showed short motion pictures for the length of one minute. It became widely popular between 1893 and 1896. Edison’s vision for the Kinetoscope was to connect his talking machine to projected photographs. As the Kinetoscope business grew popular, competition seemed to grow stronger.
Edison’s view on the kinetoscope and the kinetograph were similar but yet different they served different purpose, the kinetograph was a fast motion camera, which took about 46 shots in a second or so which when you play it would look as if the pictures were moving, almost like a flipbook. Which this “picture movie would play for up to 30 minutes or just about, plus you were about to add sound to the film. The American Mutoscope and Biography company introduced to the public a competing machine, the Mutoscope Viewing Machine. This machine used postcard-size flip cards unlike the kinetoscope which used strip film. Mutoscopes became very popular in amusement parks and are still used now. The mastermind behind this new competing machine was Thomas Edison’s old assistant William K.L. Dickon. He stopped working with Thomas Edison in 1895.
Dickson and Edison were both very hard working. They were “busy men, preoccupied with the complex task of making movies.” They made sure to have total control over their projects. Because Dickson was more hands on then Edison, Dickson discovered which themes for peep shows were more popular than the rest.Edison and Dickson were able to collaborate their visions. As a result they both came up with motion picture projections at a large scale. This of course drew the public and audience in drastically. Due to all the hype
, Edison soon became his own obstacle to his progress. He lied to the public by telling them he was so ahead of his time that many greater inventions were on their way, he was even credited for inventions which he didn’t create. Since it was an early age, mostly everyone believed in Edison especially after winning so many patent wars thus causing other film companies to feel uncompetitive.
