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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 01.3
Dead Medium: the Magic Lantern
From: bruces_AT_well.com (Bruce Sterling)
Source: THE HISTORY OF MOVIE PHOTOGRAPHY by Brian Coe,
Eastview Editions, Westfield NJ, 1981, ISBN 0-89860-067-0
Brian Coe was (is?) the Curator of the Kodak Museum in
Harrow, Middlesex. He was also narrator of an 8-part BBC
television series, "Pioneers of Photography." Coe's
HISTORY OF MOVIE PHOTOGRAPHY boasts many high-quality
color illustrations of museum-quality hardware. It has a
great deal of highly detailed dead-mediana concerning
"the bewildering diversity of optical toys which flooded
the laboratories and drawing rooms of the early
nineteenth century." Truly a wonderful book.
The following, reproduced from Coe's book, is the complete
text of a playbill for a travelling American magic lantern
show, circa 1880. The playbill is apparently designed for
poles, columns or door lintels,.as it is very long and
narrow. It has a wide, spreadeagle variety of lavish
circus fonts in different sizes. Empresario, Mr.
B. A. Bamber. Price of the show, ten cents.
(((my remarks in triple parens)))
5th ANNUAL TOUR
================
B. A. BAMBER'S
---GREAT----
DIME SHOW
New Attractions and Better Than Ever Before
Travels, Art, History.
Astronomy, Fun, Electricity.
(((a dashing woodcut of the balding, heavily mustached B.
A. Bamber)))
GRAND STEREOPTICAL
DISSOLVING VIEWS
SCENES IN MANY LANDS
FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNT, TO INDIA'S CORAL STRAND
THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD.
THE BEAUTIES OF THE WORLD.
Read Carefully Every Word of the Following Programme
PART I.
THE PLANETARIUM
Will be exhibited and explained. This is an instrument
(lately invented) for showing the Planets of the Solar
System in their annual motion around the Sun; it also
shows their relative size and distance from the Sun, the
cause of Tides, Eclipses, Change of Seasons and Signs of
the Zodiac. This part will be a lasting benefit to all
who desire to know more about the wandering stars that
reflect the Sun's light upon us by night. After this
instrument has been exhibited Telescopic Views of the
larger Planets will be reflected upon the canvas.
PART II.
NATURAL SCENERY
Comprises Views of the most Prominent Objects of Interest
in both the Old and New World. All cannot travel and see
these places, but whoever attends this Entertainment will
see them reflected on canvas with a glow of beauty never
to be forgotten.
PART III.
THE ILL-FATED SHIP
Comprises a series of Paintings, showing the sunshine and
shadow of a Sailor's life.
SCENE 1. -- Ship at dock in Liverpool Harbor, passengers
leaving their native country.
SCENE 2. -- Just out of the harbor, sailing on the blue
waters of the Irish Sea.
SCENE 3. -- A Storm arises, which rapidly increases the
furling and reefing of sails.
SCENE 4. -- Height of the Storm, rolling on the boundless
deep and struck by lightning.
SCENE 5. -- Horrible calamity at sea; ship on fire; most
on board perish in the flames.
SCENE 6. -- The few who make their escape on a raft are
now afloat on the wide Ocean.
PART IV.
The Highland Lover's Courtship for Marriage
Showing how it is done, also the result which usually
follows; a caution to those about to embark on this kind
of a ship.
PART V.
STATUARY
A Magnificent Collection of Statuary from the Centennial
Art Gallery will be exhibited, besides other noted works
of Sculpture, the beauty of which cannot be described;
they must be seen to form any idea of their real beauty
and grandeur. Among the many we mention "Flight of
Mercury," "Ophelia," "Evening," "Forced Prayer," Council
of War," &c, &c.
PART VI.
MISCELLANEOUS
These embrace a large collection of Paintings, Artistic
Gems, Dissolving Views and Transformation Scenes, which
have been procured at great expense, and for faithfulness
in perspective and beauty in design, they stand
unrivalled. The whole will be enlivened with
NUMEROUS COMIC SCENES
Electricity Without Extra Charge
A very fine Galvanic Battery is provided for any who
may wish to try it. This is an excellent remedy for
Rheumatism, Neuralgia and Headache. Be sure to come
before the show begins if you want to try it.
Positively Everything Advertised on this Bill will be
Shown
REMEMBER, THE PRICE OF ADMISSION IS
ONLY *10* CENTS FOR ANYBODY AND EVERYBODY
Doors Open at 7 O'Clock. Begins at 8 O'Clock.
(((Travels, Art, History, Astronomy, Fun & Electricity --
Bamber's Dime Show was entertainment shovelware to rival
CD-ROM. First a weird gizmo (the so-called planetarium,
presumably an orrery). Then astronomical slides, no doubt
accompanied by a proto-Saganesque cosmic narrative from
Bamber. Then telepresence -- "all cannot travel," but a
virtuality is beautiful and cheap. Then a
melodramatic disaster -- the repeated mentions of
"rolling," "sailing" and "reefing" strongly suggests these
so-called "paintings" were partially animated. Magic
lantern slides were often quite mechanically complex.
(((A bit of mild bawdry and ethnic humor in part
four. Then the statuary -- their placement in the show
seems odd and anticlimactic, unless the statuary included
female nudes, which might make sense as the children have
probably left by this time. Then, "miscellaneous" or
basically the leftover contents of the professor's trunk
from the previous four tours, with a bang-up ending of
eye-boggling "dissolving views.")))
(((Bamber also boasts an interesting sideline in
voltaic placebo snake-oil -- "Electricity Without Extra
Charge." People can be impressed by gadgets, entertained
by gadgets, forced to laugh or weep by gadgets. The truly
daring charlatan can even cure the sick by gadgets. The
"magic" of the magic lantern was closer to the healing
magic of the witch doctor than we might credit today.)))
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| 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 |
08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |