1. Although this chapter disagrees with some of Gordon Hendricks's conclusions, it is deeply indebted to his detailed research. The process and framework for the invention of Edison's motion picture system is not dealt with extensively in this volume, but is explored in greater depth in The Emergence of Cinema , chapter 2. [BACK]

2. "Animal Locomotion," Orange [N.J.] Chronicle , 3 March 1888, p. 5; "Edison's Talking Baby," New York World , 3 June 1888, p. 16. [BACK]

3. Thomas A. Edison, caveat 110, 8 October 1888, filed 17 October 1888, NjWOE. Hendricks, Edison Motion Picture Myth , p. 15, provides a useful definition of caveat from Webster's Dictionary (1888): "A description of some invention, designed to be patented, lodged in the office before the patent right is taken out, operating as a bar to applications respecting the same invention from any other quarter." [BACK]

4. Edison, caveat 110. [BACK]

5. "Complainant's Exhibit Work on Kinetoscope Experiment from February 1, 1889, to February 1, 1890," Thomas A. Edison v. American Mutoscope Co. and Benjamin Keith , no. 6928, C.C.S.D.N.Y., filed 13 May 1898, printed record, pp. 360-62, NjBaFAR. [BACK]

6. Charles A. Brown, deposition, 31 January 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 141. [BACK]

7. Orange Chronicle , 23 May 1891. [BACK]

8. "The Kinetograph," New York Sun , 28 May 1891, p. 1. [BACK]

9. Charles Batchelor notebook, 18 June 1891, p. 153, NjWOE. [BACK]

10. "The Kinetograph," Phonogram , October 1892, pp. 217-18. [BACK]

11. J. F. Randolph, deposition, 3 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 159. [BACK]

12. "Sandow at the Edison Laboratory," Orange Chronicle , 10 March 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

13. Rosenzweig, Eight Hours for What We Will , p. 37. [BACK]

14. "Edison and the Kinetoscope," Photographic Times , p. 210. [BACK]

15. Ramsaye claims, after interviewing Norman Raft, that no Edison peep-hole kinetoscope was shown at the Columbian fair ( Million and One Nights , p. 85). Hendricks suggests that at least one machine—the model shown at the Brooklyn Institute—was part of the Edison phonograph exhibit ( Kinetoscope , pp. 40-45). This was advance publicity,

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however, and the increasing body of evidence makes Ramsaye's statement more and more compelling. [BACK]

16. Gordon Hendricks, "A New Look at an 'Old Sneeze,'" Film Culture no. 22-23 (1961), pp. 90-95. [BACK]

17. "Wizard Edison's Kinetograph," New York World , 18 March 1894, pp. 21-22. [BACK]

18. "Sandow at the Edison Laboratory," Orange Chronicle , 10 March 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

19. "A New Bill at Koster & Bial's," NYT , 6 November 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

20. "The Vaudeville Fad," New York Dramatic Mirror (henceforth NYDM ), 27 June 1896, p. 11. [BACK]

21. Kinetoscope Company, Bulletin No. 1 [December 1894]. [BACK]

22. "Indians Before the Kinetograph," Orange Journal , 27 September 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

23. Kinetoscope Company to Kansas Phonograph Company, 29 December 1894, vol. 1, p. 172, Raff & Gammon Collection, MH-BA. [BACK]

24. Kinetoscope Company, Bulletin No. 1 . [BACK]

25. Antonia and W. K. L. Dickson, "Edison's Invention of the Kineto-Phonograph," Century Magazine 48, no. 2 (June 1894): 212. [BACK]

26. The Glenroy Brothers being domestic in both appearance and kinship. [BACK]

27. Newark Evening News , 17 July 1894, in Hendricks, Kinetoscope , pp. 77-78. [BACK]

28. J. F. Randolph, deposition, 3 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 161. [BACK]

29. Alfred O. Tate to Thomas Edison, 13 February 1894, NjWOE; Hendricks, Kinetoscope , pp. 50-51 and 132-33. [BACK]

30. MPW , 15 July 1916, p. 399. [BACK]

31. W. J. Holland to N. C. Raff, 4 July 1894, Bills 1894-96, MH-BA. [BACK]

32. James H. White, testimony, 9 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 165. [BACK]

33. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 2, pp. 72 and 102, NjWOE. [BACK]

34. Thomas A. Edison and Norman Raft and Frank Gammon, agreement, 18 August 1894, NjWOE; Raft & Gammon Collection, invoices, vol. 1, pp. 10, 14, 23, 40, 60, etc., MH-BA. [BACK]

35. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 2, pp. 74 and 114. [BACK]

36. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 2, 11 July 1894, received $1275. [BACK]

37. Thomas Edison to Maguire & Baucus, 3 September 1894, NjWOE. [BACK]

38. Some Raff & Gammon and Commercial Commerce Company customers may occasionally have paid the Edison Company directly. Moreover, Raff & Gammon reimbursed Colonel George E. Gourand for a large order of kinetoscopes for which they later assumed commercial responsibility. [BACK]

39. In any case, these payments were much higher than their former salaries. Since Dickson left Edison's employ in April 1895, these figures were more than simple weekly paychecks. This extension of royalties to Dickson and Heise contradicts Hendricks's portrayal of Edison as a parsimonious egomaniac ( Kinetoscope , p. 30). In fact, Edison routinely extended royalties to his co-inventors and collaborators. [BACK]

40. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 2, November 1893-December 1895. [BACK]

41. "Jack Cushing's Waterloo," New York World , 16 June 1894, p. 1. [BACK]

42. Thomas A. Edison to Otway Latham, 18 August 1894, NjWOE. Hendricks ( Ki-

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netoscope , pp. 97-99) argues that the exhibition of The Leonard-Cushing Fight was not financially remunerative, but a more ambitious undertaking would seem unlikely if this had been the case. Some level of success must have encouraged the Lathams and induced Tilden to join the group. [BACK]

43. "Corbett Before the Kinetoscope," New York Herald , 8 September 1894, p. 11; Phonoscope , March 1898, p. 9.

44. Like many pugilists of the period, Corbett made his living principally on the stage. [BACK]

43. "Corbett Before the Kinetoscope," New York Herald , 8 September 1894, p. 11; Phonoscope , March 1898, p. 9.

44. Like many pugilists of the period, Corbett made his living principally on the stage. [BACK]

45. "Knocked Out by Corbett," New York Sun , 8 September 1894, pp. 1-2. [BACK]

46. Ibid. [BACK]

47. Orange Chronicle , 26 January 1895, p. 5. [BACK]

48. "In the Kinetographic Theatre," Orange Chronicle , 20 October 1894, p. 4. [BACK]

49. "Miscellaneous Entertainments," New York World , 7 June 1894, p. 21. [BACK]

50. Terrace Garden advertisement, New York Tribune , 22 July 1894, p. 11. [BACK]

51. "In the Breezy Roof Gardens," New York Tribune , 24 June 1894, p. 22. [BACK]

52. For example: "The Wild West," New York Tribune , 1 July 1894, p. 14; "Day with the Wild West," New York Tribune , 22 July 1894, p. 15. [BACK]

53. Kinetoscope Company, Price List of Films , [May—June 1895], p. 3; Edison Manufacturing Company, Edison Films , March 1900, p. 19. [BACK]

54. "Before the Kinetograph," Orange Chronicle , 13 October 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

55. "Before the Kinetograph," Orange Journal , 18 October 1894, p. 5. [BACK]

56. "In the Kinetograph Theatre," Orange Chronicle , 3 November 1894, p. 7. [BACK]

57. Kinetoscope Company, Price List of Films , p. 4. [BACK]

58. Kinetoscope Company, Bulletin No. 1 . [BACK]

59. "Mr. Dickson to Leave the Laboratory," Orange Chronicle , 27 April 1895, p. 7. [BACK]

60. "The Barnum and Bailey Show," Orange Chronicle , 11 May 1895, p. 6; Kinetoscope Company, Price List of Films , p. 4. [BACK]

61. "'Trilby' Is a Triumph," New York World , 16 April 1895, p. 7. [BACK]

62. "Trilby Visits the Eden Musee," New York World , 9 April 1895, p. 3; "Tableaux from 'Trilby,'" New York World , 16 April 1895, p. 7. [BACK]

63. "Kinetoscope Scenes," Asbury Park Daily Press , 2 August 1895, p. 1. [BACK]

64. "Distress Warrant Issued," Asbury Park Daily Press , 3 August 1895, p. 1. [BACK]

65. Hendricks, Kinetoscope , pp. 161-69. [BACK]

66. "Magic Lantern Kinetoscope," New York Sun , 22 April 1895, p. 2. [BACK]

67. Edison Manufacturing Company, labor and materials sub-ledger no. 6, 31 May 1895, p. 252; Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , p. 120. [BACK]

68. "Combining the Phonograph and the Kinetoscope," Orange Chronicle , 16 March 1895, p. 7. [BACK]

69. Kinetoscope Company, Price List of Films , p. 1. [BACK]

70. Ibid.; Kinetoscope Company, invoices, MH-BA. [BACK]

71. James H. White, deposition, 9 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 175. [BACK]

72. A connection pointed out to me by Pat Loughney in regard to The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots . [BACK]

73. Alfred Clark, oral history, ca. 1944, NjWOE. [BACK]

74. James H. White, deposition, 9 February 1900, and Charles H. Webster, deposition, 9 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co. [BACK]

75. Charles Webster, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co . [BACK]