1. Thomas Armat, testimony, 10 October 1901, Armat Moving Picture Company v. American Mutoscope Company and Benjamin Keith , no. 7130, C.C.S.D.N.Y., filed 31 December 1897, printed record, p. 87, NjBaFAR.

2. Raft & Gammon to Daniel and Armat, 15 January 1896, letter books, vol. 3, p. 197, MH-BA.

3. Armat-Raft & Gammon contract, exhibit, Armat Moving Picture Co. v. American Mutoscope Co .

4. Raft & Gammon to Thomas Cushing Daniel and Thomas Armat, n.d. [ca. 26 December 1895], 3:179-81, MH-BA.

5. Ibid.; and Raff & Gammon to Armat, 17 March 1896, 3:367, MH-BA.

6. Raft & Gammon to Thomas Armat, 10 February 1896, exhibit, Armat Moving Picture Co. v. American Mutoscope Co ., p. 142.

7. As Raft & Gammon wrote to Armat, ''We have heard from it [the phantoscope] two or three times to-day, and some people seem to think that he has a machine which is an improvement of the 'Vitascope,' or are afraid that it will develop into one. Can you not choke him off, or take the machine from him?'' (Raft & Gammon to Thomas Armat, 4 March 1896, 3:279, MH-BA.)

8. Raft & Gammon to Armat, 5 March 1896, 3:289-90, MH-BA.

9. In film studies, the idea of a biographical legend has been developed in David Bordwell, The Films of Carl-Theodor Dreyer (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981); see also Conot, Streak of Luck .

10. As preparations for the vitascope were getting under way, Edison had once again demonstrated his powerful hold on the press. At the beginning of March, his "perfection" of Wilhem Roentgen's recently discovered x-rays had made front-page news.

11. Raff & Gammon to Armat, 5 March 1896, 3:289, MH-BA.

12. "Magic Lantern Kinetoscope," New York Sun , 22 April 1895, p. 2.

13. Norman C. Raff to Thomas Armat, 21 March 1896, 3:390, MH-BA.

14. P. W. Kiefaber to Raft & Gammon, ca. 28 May 1896, MH-BA.

15. "Lifeless Skirt Dancers," New York Journal , 4 April 1896, p. 9.

16. Raft & Gammon to E. Kuhn, 18 April 1896, 2:258, MH-BA.

17. Raft & Gammon to J. H. White, 10 April 1896, 2:135, MH-BA.

18. Raft & Gammon to Albert Bial, 7 April 1896, 2:108, MH-BA.

19. James White, testimony, 9 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co .

20. "Edwin S. Porter," MPW , 7 December 1912, p. 961; Niver, First Twenty Years , p. 16.

21. "Wonderful is the Vitascope," New York Herald , 24 April 1896, p. 11.

22. "Edison's Vitascope Cheered," NYT , 24 April 1896, p. 5.

23. "Amusements," New York Daily News , 24 April 1896, clipping, MH-BA.

24. "Edison's Vitascope Seen," New York Journal , 24 April 1896.

25. New York Herald , 24 April 1896, p. 11.

26. Ibid.

27. Raff & Gammon, The Vitascope (New York: n.d. [March 1896]).

28. "The Vitascope at Keith's," Boston Herald , 19 May 1896, p. 9.

29. Saengerfest Hall, programme, 30 August 1896, clipping, MH-BA.

30. Robert C. Allen, "Vitascope/Cinématographe: Initial Patterns of American Film Practice," in Fell, ed., Film Before Griffith , pp. 144-52.

31. Raff & Gammon to W. E. Gilmore, 25 March 1896, 3:408, MH-BA.

32. New York World , 26 April 1896, p. 21.

33. New York Herald , 10 May 1896, p. 6F.

34. Raft & Gammon to P. W. Kiefaber, 6 May 1896, 2:474, MH-BA.

35. "Herald Square 'Vitascoped,'" New York Herald , 12 May 1896, p. 9.

36. Boston Herald , 26 May 1896, p. 7.

37. Boston Herald , 23 June 1896, p. 9.

38. "Navarre's Great Race," Brooklyn Eagle , 24 June 1896, p. 5.

39. Brooklyn Eagle , 28 June 1896, p. 5.

40. John F. Kasson, Amusing the Millions: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century (New York: Hill & Wang, 1978).

41. "Bergen Beach," Brooklyn Eagle , 21 June 1896, p. 23.

42. "The Theatrical World," Philadelphia Record , 19 July 1896, p. 11.

43. Boston Herald , 4 August 1896, p. 7.

44. Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , p. 257; New York World , 12 September 1896, p. 14. Ramsaye claims that several films, such as The May Irwin Kiss were filmed at this studio when they were, in fact, photographed at the Black Maria. On the other hand, Blackton's claim to have visited the Orange studio when appearing in these three films (meeting Edison, etc.) is almost certainly myth. Our knowledge about this studio is, for the moment, very limited.

45. New York Mail and Express (henceforth Marl and Express ), 15 September 1896, p. 5, and 19 September 1896, p. 10.

46. Edison Films , March 1900, p. 36; New York World , 11 October 1896, p. 14.

47. Vitascope Company, certificate of incorporation, 5 May 1896, NNNCC-Ar.

48. Raft & Gammon to Thomas Armat, 17 March 1896, 3:368, MH-BA. While using some of the same research, my conclusions again differ from those of Robert C. Allen ("Vitascope/Cinématographe," pp. 146-52). Allen suggests that Raft & Gammon's states rights approach to marketing was antiquated and that vaudeville circuits such as Keith's were discouraged from using the vitascope because they operated in different states and were therefore forced to deal with different entrepreneurs while the Lumière Agency with its cinématographe serviced their needs from a centralized source. Yet Keith's acquired the vitascope for its Boston and Philadelphia theaters. In each case, this acquisition was done by the local theater manager, who was responsible for booking his own acts until the spring of 1898 ( NYDM , 12 March 1898, p. 19). In other words, Keith's did not have a centralized system as Allen assumes. Allen also asserts that the reasons for Raft & Gammon's choice of a states rights system were never clearly thought out or articulated. Yet Raft & Gammon further elaborated on the advantages of this system in other parts of this letter. Allen's Vaudeville and Film, 1895-1915 , however, does not impose this interpretation on his data to the same extent and is often perceptive in articulating the problems faced by Raft & Gammon and the owners of vitascope exhibition rights.

49. Norman Raft to William Gilmore, 10 April 1896, 2:137-38 and 140-54, MH-BA.

50. Conot, Streak of Luck , p. 317.

51. For a broad overview, see Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , pp. 251-80; Allen, Vaudeville and Film, 1895-1915 , pp. 81-109; and Musser, Emergence of Cinema , pp. 109-32.

52. Raft & Gammon to Charles Balsley, 1 April, 3:471, MH-BA.

53. Raft & Gammon to J. R. Balsley, 4 April 1896, 2:42, MH-BA; Raff & Gammon to A. F. Rieser, 4 April 1896, MH-BA.

54. Not only is this trip referred to in the following news article, but the lack of correspondence suggests that this deal was closed in person.

55. Connellsville Courier , 20 March 1896.

56. R. G. Dun and Company, credit ledgers, 66:187, MH-BA; McClenathan et al., Centennial History , p. 417.

57. McClenathan et al., Centennial History , pp. 248-50.

58. Connellsville Courier , 10 April 1896.

59. Raff & Gammon to Thomas L. Tally, 4 April 1896, 2:58, MH-BA.

60. Raff & Gammon to Charles Balsley, 11 April 1896, 2:161, MH-BA.

61. Raff & Gammon to R. S. Paine, 22 April 1896, 2:272, MH-BA.

62. Raff & Gammon to J. R. Balsley, 18 April 1896, 2:320, MH-BA. The mention of clear stock refers to a persistent problem at this time. Edison needed to switch from a semi-opaque stock suitable for peep-show kinetoscopes to a clear base needed for projection. This was a major concern to Thomas Armat, but was not treated with much urgency at the Edison factory. Many of the early subjects, presumably including those the Connellsville group saw in New York, were on the old-type stock.

63. New York World , 19 April 1896, p. 14.

64. Raft & Gammon to R. S. Paine, 28 April 1896, 2:331-2, MH-BA.

65. Raft & Gammon to J. R. Balsley, 30 April 1896, 2:391, MH-BA.

66. P. W. Kiefaber to Raff & Gammon, 8 and 9 May 1896, MH-BA.

67. Connellsville Courier , 22 May 1896.

68. San Francisco Examiner , 24 May 1896, p. 33.

69. "Edison's Wizard Wand on the Stage," San Francisco Examiner , 12 May 1896, p. 6.

70. Charles H. Balsley to George Beck, 9 July 1915. Courtesy Lorraine Balsley.

71. New York Clipper (henceforth Clipper ), 6 June 1896, p. 212.

72. "With the Actor Folks," San Francisco Examiner , 7 June 1896, p. 34. See also San Francisco Chronicle , 7 June 1896, p. 6.

73. Orpheum Theater, programme, week of 8 June 1896, CU-BANC.

74. San Francisco Chronicle , 9 June 1896, p. 7.

75. San Francisco Chronicle , 14 June 1896, p. 5.

76. San Francisco Examiner , 9 June 1896, p. 3.

77. San Francisco Call , 7 June 1896.

78. San Francisco Call , 9 June 1896.

79. "The Camera Made to Tell a Story," San Francisco Chronicle , 9 June 1896, p. 14.

80. "The Illustrated Song Is Now the Latest Novelty of the Stage," San Francisco Examiner , 7 June 1896, p. 33.

81. San Francisco Examiner , 1 March 1896, p. 31, and 15 March 1896, p. 1.

82. San Francisco Chronicle , 14 June 1896, p. 5.

83. San Francisco Chronicle , 21 June 1896, p. 8.

84. San Francisco Chronicle , 16 June 1896, p. 8.

85. Charles Balsley to E. V. Durling, 22 June 1922. Courtesy Lorraine Balsley.

86. San Francisco Examiner , 21 June 1896, p. 20.

87. Boston Herald , 19 May 1896, p. 9.

88. San Francisco Chronicle , 25 June 1896, p. 14.

89. "Local Theater Bills," San Francisco Chronicle , 26 July 1896, p. 5.

90. Los Angeles Herald , 12 July 1896, p. 12.

91. Albert F. McLean, Jr., American Vaudeville as Ritual (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1965).

92. Navy Department, "Enlistment Record of Edwin Stanton Porter."

93. MPW , 27 October 1917, p. 587.

94. NYDM , 15 March 1911, p. 34; Edwin S. Porter, testimony, 20 June 1907, Armat Moving Picture Company v. Edison Manufacturing Company , no. 8303, C.C.S.D.N.Y., Court, NjBaFAR.

95. Los Angeles Times , 5 July 1896, p. 8.

96. Los Angeles Herald , 5 July 1896, p. 14.

97. Ibid.

98. Los Angeles Herald , 5 July 1896, p. 15.

99. Los Angeles Herald , 12 July 1896, p. 12.

100. Julius Cahn's Official Theatrical Guide (New York, 1896), p. 181.

101. Los Angeles Herald , 7 July 1896, p. 4.

102. Los Angeles Times , 7 July 1896, p. 6.

103. Clipper , 25 July 1896, p. 325.

104. Worcester [Mass.] Telegraph , August 1896, clipping, NjWOE.

105. Los Angeles Herald , 8 July 1896.

106. Los Angeles Times , 10 July 1896, p. 6.

107. Los Angeles Herald , 14 July 1896; Los Angeles Times , 12 July 1896, p. 1.

108. Los Angeles Times , 12 July 1896, p. 21.

109. Tom Gunning, "The Cinema of Attraction[s]," Wide Angle 8, no. 3/4 (1986): pp. 63-70.

110. Los Angeles Times , 14 July 1896.

111. Holland to Norman Raff, 23 September 1896, MH-BA.

112. Los Angeles Herald , 25 July 1896, p. 10; and Los Angeles Times , 25 July 1896, p. 12.

113. Los Angeles Times , 26 July 1896, p. 12.

114. Charles Balsley to MPW, 30 October 1911, courtesy Lorraine Balsley.

115. Thomas Armat, testimony, 11 August 1911, Motion Picture Patents Co. v. Carl Laemmle , no. 5-167, D.C.S.D.N.Y., filed 10 February 1910, p. 602, NjBaFAR.

116. George Pratt, "Firsting the Firsts," in Marshall Deutelbaum, ed., "Image": On the Art and Evolution of the Film (New York: Dover, 1979), p. 21.

117. Purdy and Kiefaber to Vitascope Company, 6 July 1896, MH-BA.

118. Clipper , 11 July 1896, p. 296.

119. "The Cinematographe," Mail and Express , 25 July 1896, p. 8; Pittsburgh Dispatch , 13 September 1896, p. 21.

120. New York World , 23 August 1896, p. 15.

121. Raft suffered from nervous collapse in August and was unable to work for some time. Holland to Frank Gammon, 11 and 18 August 1896, MH-BA.

122. Holland to Raff, 14 and 26 September 1896, MH-BA.

123. Raff & Gammon to C. W. Walters, 26 March 1897, 4:102, MH-BA; see also Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 3, 1895-97, NjWOE.

124. Holland to Raff, 3 September 1896, MH-BA.

125. Edmund McLoughlin to Raff & Gammon, 4 August 1896, MH-BA.

126. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 3, 24 September 1896, p. 199.

127. Purdy and Kiefaber to Vitascope Company, 6 July 1896, MH-BA.

128. E. F. Albee to Kiefaber, 29 July 1896, incoming letters, 1896—P. W. Kiefaber, MH-BA.

129. Connellsville Courier , 17 July 1896. Unfortunately Terre Haute newspapers do not survive from this era.

130. Rieser to Vitascope Company, 19 October 1896, MH-BA.

131. Charles Balsley to MPW , 30 October 1911. The general chronology of this chapter as it relates to the Connellsville group is outlined in this letter.

132. Indianapolis Sentinel , 13 September 1896, p. 5.

133. Indianapolis Journal , 13 and 15 September 1896.

134. Indianapolis Journal , 18 October 1896, p. 10.

135. Indianapolis Sentinel , 18 October 1896, p. 13.

136. Indianapolis Sentinel , 20 October 1896.

137. Indianapolis Sentinel , 25 October 1896, p. 6.

138. Clipper , 31 October 1896, p. 559.

139. Charles Balsley to MPW , 30 October 1911.

140. "Out of the Past," Connellsville Courier , 5 November 1965. Courtesy Tony Keefer.

141. "Amusements," New York World , 11 October 1896, p. 15.

142. Clipper , 17 October 1896, p. 522.

143. Gordon Hendricks, The Beginnings of the Biograph: The Story of the Invention of the Mutoscope and the Biograph and Their Supply Camera (New York: Beginnings of the American Film, 1966), pp. 39-49.

144. Phonoscope , November 1896, p. 16.

145. McLoughlin to Raft & Gammon, 10 October 1896.

146. Clipper , 19 September 1896, p. 462.

147. Clipper , 7 November 1896, p. 595. Phonoscope , January—February 1897, p. 3. Ramsaye ( Million and One Nights , p. 342) incorrectly refers to the International Film Company's machine as a projectoscope.

148. Clipper , 26 September 1896, p. 480; 31 October 1896, p. 554; 14 November 1896, p. 595; Phonoscope , December 1896, p. 13.

149. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 3, 26 September 1896, p. 200.

150. Rieser to Vitascope Company, 9 November 1896, MH-BA. See also Clipper , 28 November 1896, p. 624, for Edison advertisement offering to sell films directly to customers. Vitascope entrepreneurs were contractually obligated to acquire their films and supplies from Raff & Gammon.

151. James White, testimony, 9 February 1900, Edison v. American Mutoscope Co. , p. 174.

152. "The Projectoscope Will Do," Harrisburg Daily Telegraph , 30 November 1896, p. 1.

153. "A Great Attraction," Harrisburg Daily Telegraph , 5 December 1896, p. 4.

154. Maguire & Baucus, Preliminary Circular , 16 February 1897.

155. Edison Manufacturing Company, statement of profit and loss, 1 March 1896 to 1 March 1897, NjWOE.

156. Ibid.

157. Edison Manufacturing Company, cash book no. 3, October 1896—February 1897.

158. Phonoscope , December 1896, p. 16.

159. "Pictures Taken at a Gallop," Newark Daily Advertiser , 14 November 1896, p. 2.

160. Wilkes-Barre Leader , 3 December 1896, p. 2.

161. "Hammerstein's Olympia," Marl and Express , 20 October 1896, p. 4.

162. "Vitascopic Pictures," Orange Chronicle , 26 December 1896, p. 7.

163. Harrisburg Daily Telegraph , 16 December 1896, p. 4.

164. "Local Projectoscope Views," Harrisburg Daily Telegraph , 24 December 1896, p. 1.

165. Harrisburg Patriot , 13 January 1897, p. 5.

166. Ibid.

167. "Injunction Refused," Harrisburg Daily Telegraph , 13 January 1897, p. 1.

168. Although the Lumière cinématographe was able to act as a camera, printer, and projector, negatives taken by local operators were not developed in the United States as commonly assumed.

169. Maguire & Baucus, Fall Catalogue , 1897, p. 10.

170. F. M. Prescott, Catalogue of New Films , p. 12.

171. Ibid.

172. Maguire & Baucus, Fall Catalogue , 1897, p. 13.

173. Ibid., p. 10.

174. Edwin S. Porter, testimony, 20 June 1907, Armat Moving Picture Company v. Edison Manufacturing Company , no. 8303, C. C. S. D. N.Y., filed 28 November 1902, NjBaFAR. Porter states he was running a machine by Kuhn and Webster. If so it was a projectograph, not a projectoscope as he states in his testimony.

175. Phonoscope , March 1897, p. 7.

176. Ramsaye, Million and One Nights , pp. 342-46.