Michel Fustier
THE LUMIERE BROTHERS’ CINEMA
In the beginning of the twentieth century many scientists and researchers tried
to photograph things in motion. In 1895, ahead of their competitors, the team
of Antoine Lumière and his two sons Auguste and Louis, manufacturers
in Lyon, won the race. They had been able not only to photograph moving objects,
but they had succeeded in projecting their images onto a screen, so as to allow
many spectators to enjoy the show.
CHARACTERS
Auguste Lumière, the father.
Louis Lumière, Antoine Lumière, his sons;
Mrs Louis Lumière, Annette, the maid.
1 - (in the Lumières’ living-room, in Lyons, France)
LOUIS LUMIERE - Now, Auguste, do you mean that there is still somebody else
who wants to represent motion by photographs?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Yes, one more, brother… And a important person, the
great Edison himself. And his invention works, nobody can say that it does not
work… But it is very complicated.
LOUIS LUMIERE - What is the name of his machine?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - The Kinetoscope… It looks like a big cupboard... I guess
that inside there is a circular strip of photographs turning over and over without
interruption. Then you have to put your eye on a little hole and look through…
Each image is lit a fraction of second… They pass very quickly! And it’s
true, you can catch a glimpse of two boxers fighting… But it's pretty
fuzzy, it shakes!
LOUIS LUMIERE - I'll have to go and see that myself… But, from what you
say, there is but one hole and the spectators have to look through it one after
another?
ANTOINE LUMIERE – Yes, that's correct. And in busy times, there is an
awfully long line.
LOUIS LUMIERE - As for myself, if I were to invent something of the kind, I
would on the contrary attempt to make the animated images burst out of the box
into the faces of the spectators.
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Ah, ah… I see this is already stirring in your brain.
LOUIS LUMIERE - No risk of that tonight. I can feel the flu festering in me.
ANTOINE LUMIERE - You should ask for a hot toddy.
LOUIS LUMIERE - Yes. Annette is going to bring me one… Here she is!
ANNETTE - Mister Louis, here is your toddy… with a lot of rum. It's going
to knock you out flat.
LOUIS LUMIERE - Thanks, Annette. That's good for what I have… (he drinks)
My goodness… (he is a bit tipsy). Do you see, Auguste, to make it burst
into the faces of the spectators, it would be necessary – Take my glass,
Annette, that was perfect – that instead of flowing evenly, the images
should stop… yes, stop… and then a ray of light would pierce them…
I am called Lumière, am I not?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Louis, you are delirious… That’s stupid!
LOUIS LUMIERE - No, it's not stupid. The image would come boldly in front of
a lamp, then it would stop and say: "Mister operator, pierce me with light!"
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Go to bed, and tomorrow you'll get clearer ideas.
LOUIS LUMIERE - They are very clear. The image would add: "I want to be
seen!" …Yes, I am going to bed… And then the image would leave.
2 - (a few minutes later in Louis' bedroom)
MADAME LOUIS LUMIERE - ( running cloth through a sewing-machine) …Is that
you, Louis?
LOUIS LUMIERE - (still tipsy) Yes. What are you doing with that sewing machine?
MADAME - I have asked Annette to teach me how to use it. I don't like having
others do what I am unable to do… Well, I’m learning! I am stitching
the trousers you tore yesterday. Look how quickly it runs!
LOUIS LUMIERE - Yes… sewing machines! Lyons can boast about sewing machines!
Do you know who invented them?
MADAME - What is the matter with you? Are you tipsy?
LOUIS LUMIERE - Yes, slightly. I've had a good toddy, for my flu… So you
don't know who invented them? It's Thimonnier, a local fellow. Oh, it's a long
time ago now! He invented them more than fifty years ago. But nobody has been
able to do better since… And Annette has lent you her machine, what a
sweetie!
MADAME - Oh! With a ton of advice. She will take it back tomorrow… As
soon as I feel I that I know how to do…
LOUIS LUMIERE - Let me see… Let me see for a moment how it works (he stares
at length) I find it fascinating… absolutely fascinating (he continues
looking) …the synthesis of motion and immobility! We, as mechanics, are
not afraid of contradictions… And with that nice little noise, listen!
Yes, it walks and yet it doesn't walk!
MADAME - Louis, you are out of your mind!
LOUIS LUMIERE - Completely… Come on, help me to undress. Fever has driven
my temperature to more than one hundred degrees.
3 - (in the offices of the Lumières’ factory)
LE PERE - I always told you that when Louis gets a hold of a problem, it is
solved. I am very proud of my sons. Well then, what did he find?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - He found… the sewing machine. He had a raging fever
and he made his discovery during the night. Father, do you know how a sewing
machine works?
LE PERE - Well... yes, son. There is a needle? which stitches the fabric by
itself … Apart from this, I have never tried to fiddle with it. But what
is its relation to…
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Just a minute… A needle that stitches the fabric, yes,
but also the fabric which… Which what?
LE PERE - I don't know… Which…
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Which stops at each stitch under the needle to be well stitched…
Don't you see?
LE PERE - Not yet… Though I presume…
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Suppose the needle is a ray of light from the magic lantern
and the fabric is a photograph… I mean many photographs, one after another…
LE PERE - I think I am about to… But in fact how does the fabric move
forward?
ANTOINE LUMIERE – That's the point… Well, before each stitch the
fabric is caught by little claws which push it forward and then bring it to
a standstill where the needle pierces it. Then the claws go back and so on…
Very quick small movements! According to this principle, Louis has already imagined
long strips of images which would stop to let light pass.
LE PERE - Well, then the problem is solved?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - As a matter of fact, yes. He has already shut himself up in
his workshop to make a prototype.
LE PERE - Very well. And his flu?
ANTOINE LUMIERE - Finished, evaporated… wiped out by a good dose of rum.
While he is working, we must find out how to make long transparent strips for
the photographs…
4 - (in the Lumières’ garden)
LOUIS LUMIERE - (turning the handle of his machine) Walk towards me, come on,
Annette, don't stop, walk towards me and lay the table…
ANNETTE - What are you doing now, sir?
LOUIS LUMIERE - I'm photographing you… come on, come on, act as if everything
was as usual… Sugar now, then milk… Now put the armchairs in order
around the table… Then look at me and make a small bow. Very good! (he
stops turning the handle)
ANNETTE – We are doing the same as yesterday?
LOUIS LUMIERE - Yes, I'm making tests. I can't show you the strip I've just
made, since I must develop it first (he unloads the box). But I'm going to show
you the one I made yesterday. Have a look!
ANNETTE - Goodness gracious, all these little photos…
LOUIS LUMIERE - I've taken 800 of them in less than one minute.
ANNETTE - That's a waste, mister Louis! Eight hundred photos of me… What
are you aiming at?
LOUIS LUMIERE - I'll tell you… 800, that is approximately 15 per second.
Which means that I have been able to record your fastest movement. And now,
in this box there is a mechanism which will project these photos onto the screen
one after another. Careful, I'm loading the box, turning on the lamp, and look,
now I'm turning the handle (they look at an imaginary screen beyond the stage)
ANNETTE - Oh! Oh! Say, that's me… really me… And I'm moving…
and it's my creased petticoat… and I had bumped against the table leg…
quite right… and I had spilt some cream on the napkin too… and I'm
making my little bow. How can you… (she lets herself fall into an armchair)
It sweeps me off my feet! Is that your invention?
LOUIS LUMIERE - Yes, it is. I don’t think that it could have the slightest
practical use but it's a nice invention, isn't it?
ANNETTE - I don't know all you know, but I think it's awfully clever . I'd be
very proud if I had done that…
LOUIS LUMIERE - Do you really think so?
ANNETTE - And can it be seen more than once?
LOUIS LUMIERE - Of course, as many times as you like, you just have to rewind
the strip.
ANNETTE - Do you know what you should do, mister Lumière. You should
photograph all my friends, for instance when they leave the factory. So they
could all enjoy it … and you would see how pleased they would be.
LOUIS LUMIERE - That is a good idea. We'll ask Auguste what he thinks of it
and if it pleases him, we'll do what you suggest. Thanks, Annette.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In the nineteenth century a lot of research was made on the imitation of movement
by photographed images. Among the main forerunners were Marey who used to photograph
man's movements and Edison whose kinetoscope is described in the above play.
But innumerable researchers in many countries had prepared the ground and proposed
devices more or less satisfactory. In their wake the Lumiere brothers were fortunate
enough to make an invention which was completely successful.
In the beginning of his career, Antoine Lumiere, the father, was a photographer
and, as such, had to prepare his photographic plates himself. These were short-lived
and consequently had to be used without delay… His two sons, Auguste and
Louis, who had just finished their studies, came to his rescue and together
they invented long-lasting photographic plates ready for use. They manufactured
them in great quantities and sold them all over the world. Thus they made lots
of money which they used to finance their numerous further inventions. The two
brothers had decided to register their patents in common, but in fact Auguste
was more interested in chemistry and medicine and Louis in photography and movies.
An "invention" is nothing more than a new combination of existing
elements. The "cinema" of the Lumiere brothers is nothing other than
a combination of the magic lantern (projecting images onto a screen), of photography
(recording images), of the kinetoscope (successive images), of the sewing machine
(successive stops of the film) and of the Jacquard card (perforations of the
film) … All these inventions were present in the minds of the Lumieres
when they invented their "cinema". (1894).
We lack precise details concerning the genesis of the discovery. We only know
that Louis had a bout of fever and that the IDEA of his invention appeared during
the following night. Six months after that, the moving picture device was operational,
able to take negative photos, turn them into positive copies and project them
onto a screen! The first public performance took place in Paris (1895) in the
billiard room of a well-known café. And, in fact, the first film shown
was, as is said in the play, the departure of the Lumiere's factory workers.
The city of Lyons commemorated the event by turning the house of the Lumieres
into a Cinema Institute and naming the street where it is located: Street of
the First Film.
The moving picture machine worked so well that the Lumiere brothers sent cameramen
all over the world, to Russia, Italy, United-States.. etc.. They photographed
the local news and projected them to interested people. These innumerable strips
bear now a very interesting witness of the life and customs of the time. Afterwards…
But is it necessary to say to what point cinema, with the help of television,
has invaded the world? Few inventions have so deeply marked our societies…
Non commercial use allowed. Reg. SACD - Michel Fustier, 4 Chambfort, 69 100
Villeurbanne, France. Tel: 00 33 (0)4 78 84 25 28.