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first motion picture camera
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, commissioned by Thomas Alva Edison, builds the first motion-picture camera and names it the Kinetograph. -
first motion picture studio
The Edison Corporation establishes the first motion-picture studio, a Kinetograph production center nicknamed the Black Maria (slang for a police van).The first Kinetoscope parlor opens at 1155 Broadway in New York City. Spectators can watch films for 25 cents -
first private screening
In France, Auguste and Louis Lumière hold the first private screening. The brothers invent the Cinématograph, a combination camera and projector. The image of an oncoming train is said to have caused a stampede -
Great Train Robbery
Edison Corporation mechanic Edwin S. Porter turns cameraman, director and producer to make The Great Train Robbery. With 14 shots cutting between simultaneous events, this 12-minute short establishes the shot as film's basic element and editing as a central narrative device. It is also the first Western -
first movie theatre
The first movie theater opens in Pittsburgh -
first movie review
The New York Times publishes the first movie review, a report on D. W. Griffith's Pippa Passes. -
kinetophone
Thomas Edison introduces his kinetophone, which makes talkies a reality -
first feature film released
The first feature film is released when the two reels of D. W. Griffith's Enoch Arden are screened together -
first magazine for movie fans
Photoplay debuts as the first magazine for movie fans -
Little tramp
In his second big-screen appearance, Charlie Chaplin plays the Little Tramp, his most famous character.Winsor McCay unleashes Gertie the Dinosaur, the first animated cartoon