From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Events
- March 22 - First display of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière (private screening).
- Gaumont Pictures founded by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont.
- In France, brothers named Auguste and Louis Lumière, designed and built a lightweight, hand-held motion picture camera called the Cinématographe. The Lumière brothers discovered that their machine could also be used to project images onto a large screen. The Lumière brothers created several short films at this time that are considered to be pivotal in the history of motion pictures.
- September or October - C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat demonstrate their Phantoscope, a motion picture projector, in Atlanta, Georgia.
- November - In Germany, Emil and Max Skladanowsky develop their own film projector.
- December 28 - The Lumière brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is sometimes considered the debut of the motion picture as an entertainment medium.
Births
- January 20 - George Burns
- February 8 - King Vidor
- March 17 - Shemp Howard
- May 6 - Rudolph Valentino
- October 2 - Bud Abbot
- October 4 - Buster Keaton
- October 21 - Edna Purviance
