'Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince' (
28 August 1841, vanished
16 September 1890) was an inventor who is generally recognized as the first person to record motion images on film.
In October 1888, Le Prince filmed ''
Roundhay Garden Scene'', which is thought to be the world's first successful attempt to record moving images, and hence the very first motion picture film.
[1] He followed this with a film of a ''Leeds Bridge'' street scene. These were several years before the work of competing inventors such as
Thomas Edison and
Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Le Prince was a
Frenchman who divided his adult life among
France,
Britain and the
United States. His ground-breaking work in 1888 was conducted in the city of
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
England.
He was never able to perform a planned public demonstration in the United States because he mysteriously vanished from a train in 1890. His body and luggage were never found, but, over a century later, a police archive was found to contain a photograph of a drowned man who could be him.
Forgotten inventor of motion pictures
The early history of motion pictures in the United States and Europe is marked by battles over patents of cameras. In 1886 Le Prince was granted an American dual-
patent on a 16-lens device that combined a motion picture
camera with a projector. A patent for a ''single''-lens type (
MkI) was refused in America because of an interfering patent, but a few years later the same patent was not opposed when the American
Edison applied for one!
On October 14, 1888, Le Prince used an updated version (
MkII) of his single-lens camera to film ''
Roundhay Garden Scene''. He exhibited his first films in the Whitley factory in
Hunslet, Leeds and in ''Oakwood Grange'', the Whitley home in
Roundhay, Leeds, but they were not distributed to the general public.
The following year, he took French-American dual citizenship in order to establish himself with his family in
New York City and to follow up his research. However, he was never able to perform his planned public exhibition at Jumel Mansion, New York, in September 1890, due to his mysterious disappearance. Consequently, Le Prince's contribution to the birth of the cinema has often been overlooked.
Life
Childhood and school
Le Prince was born in the fortress at
Metz,
France, on
28 August 1841. His father was a major of artillery in the
French Army[2] and an officer of the
Légion d'honneur. He grew up spending time in the studio of his father's friend, the
photography pioneer
Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, from whom the young Le Prince received lessons relating to photography and
chemistry and for whom he was the subject of a
Daguerrotype, an early type of photograph. His education went on to include the study of
painting in
Paris and post-graduate chemistry at
Leipzig University, which provided him with the academic knowledge he was to utilise in the future.
Adulthood
He moved to
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
England in 1866, after being invited to join John Whitley, a friend from college, in Whitley Partners of
Hunslet, a firm of brass founders making valves and components. In 1869 he married Elizabeth Whitley, John's sister and a talented artist. The couple started a school of applied art, the
Leeds Technical School of Art, in 1871, and became well renowned for their work in fixing colour photography on to metal and pottery, leading to them being commissioned for portraits of
Queen Victoria and the long-serving Prime Minister
William Gladstone produced in this way, that were included alongside other mementos of the time in a
time capsule - manufactured by Whitley Partners of Hunslet - which was placed in the foundations of
Cleopatra's Needle on the embankment of the
River Thames.
In 1881 Le Prince went to the
United States as an agent for Whitley Partners, staying in the country along with his family once his contract had ended. He became the manager for a small group of French artists who produced large
panoramas, usually of famous battles, that were exhibited in
New York City,
Washington DC and
Chicago. During this time he continued the experiments he had begun, relating to the production of 'moving' photographs and to find the best material for
film stock.
During his time in the United States, Le Prince built a camera that utilised sixteen lenses and was his first invention to be patented. Although the camera was capable of 'capturing' motion, it wasn't a complete success because each lens photographed the subject from a slightly different viewpoint and thus the
projected image jumped about.
After his return to Leeds in 1886, Le Prince built and then patented, a one lens camera. It was first used on 14 October 1888 to shoot what would become known as ''
Roundhay Garden Scene'', presumably the world's first motion picture. Le Prince later used it to shoot
trams and the horse-drawn and pedestrian traffic on ''Leeds Bridge'' (the movie was shot from a building on the south east side of the bridge, a blue plaque marks the spot). These pictures were soon projected on a screen in Leeds, making it the first motion picture exhibition.
Suspicious disappearance
In September 1890, Le Prince boarded a train on a Friday, promising friends he would rejoin them in Paris on the following Monday for the return journey to England, to be followed by a trip to the US to promote his new camera. However, Le Prince did not arrive at the appointed time and he was never seen again by his family or friends. All that could be established about his last whereabouts was that he was seen boarding a train at
Dijon for his return to
Paris on
16 September 1890.
The French police,
Scotland Yard and the family undertook exhaustive searches but never found his body or luggage. This mysterious disappearance case was never solved. However, five main theories have been proposed.
#'Missing person (1890):'
#:No luggage, nor corpse was found in the Dijon-Paris express nor along the railway. No one saw Le Prince at the Dijon station on September 16, 1890, except his brother. No one saw Le Prince in the Dijon-Paris express after he was seen boarding it. No one noticed strange behavior, nor aggression in the Dijon-Paris express. The French police report conclusion: a missing person. (
[1])
#'Perfect suicide (1890):'
#:According to a police report, Louis Le Prince wanted to commit suicide because he was on the verge of bankruptcy. Le Prince had already set his suicide and he managed for his own body and belongings to never be found. This theory was reported in 1928, by Georges Potoniée, quoting the son of the architect in ''Les Origines Du Cinématographe''. (
[2])
#'Patent Wars assassination, "Equity 6928" (1900):'
#:Christopher Rawlence pursues the assassination theory, along with other theories, and discusses the Le Prince family's suspicions of Edison over patents (the Equity 6928) in his 1990 ''Missing Reel''. At the time that he vanished, Le Prince was about to patent his 1889 projector in England and then leave Europe for his scheduled New York official exhibition. His widow assumed foul play though no concrete evidence has ever emerged and Rawlence prefers the suicide theory. In 1898, Le Prince's elder son Adolphe, who had assisted his father in many of his experiments, was called as a witness for the American Mutoscope Company in their litigation with Edison [Equity 6928]. By citing Le Prince's achievements Mutuscope hoped to annul Edison's subsequent claims to have invented the moving picture camera. Le Prince's widow Lizzie and Adolphe hoped that this would gain recognition for Le Prince's achievement but when the case went against Mutoscope their hopes were dashed. Two years later Adolphe Le Prince was found dead while out duck shooting on Fire Island near New York. Suicide was presumed.
[3]
#'Disappearance ordered by the family (1966):'
#:In 1966, Jacques Deslandes proposed a theory in ''Histoire comparée du cinéma'': "Le Prince's disappearance was voluntary and was caused by reasons of financial order and familial conveniences".
[4] In his 1985 ''L'affaire Lumière: Du mythe à l'histoire, enquête sur les origines du cinéma'' ("Lumière affair: From myth to History, report on the origins of cinema"), journalist Léo Sauvage quotes a note from Pierre Gras, director of the Dijon municipal library, "Le Prince is dead in Chicago in 1898, voluntary disappearance at the family's request. Homosexuality." This statement was made by a famous historian visiting the Dijon library, but kept secret. Gras showed this note to Sauvage in 1977.
[5]
#'Fratricide, murder for money (1967):'
#:In 1967, Jean Mitry proposed, in ''Histoire du cinéma'', a murder for money theory. Since the architect was sure his brother wanted to commit suicide, why didn't he try to stop him, and why didn't he report this to the police before it was too late?
[6]
A photograph of a drowning victim from 1890 resembling Le Prince was discovered in 2003 during research in the Paris police archives.
Career
Decisive meetings
★
Louis Daguerre
★
Eadweard Muybridge
★
Jean Le Roy
Late recognition
Even though Le Prince's solo achievement is unchallenged, his work has been long forgotten since he disappeared on the eve of the first public demonstration of the result of years of toil in his Leeds workshop and test conducted at the New York Institute for the Deaf. His pursuit of trademarks over in the United States, the dominance and influence of his countryman rival Thomas Edison, founder of the
oligopolistic Edison Trust, became unstoppable.
For the April 1894 commercial exploitation of his personal
kinetoscope Parlor, Thomas Edison is credited as the inventor of
cinema in the United States, while in France, the
Lumière Brothers, are coined inventors of the ''
Cinématographe'' device and inventor of cinema for the first, collective, commercial exploitation of motion picture films in Paris. Like Le Prince, another untold proto-cinema figure is, the French inventor,
Léon Bouly, who created the first "''Cinématographe''" device and patented it in 1892 (Patent Nº219,350). He was never credited, and two years later, his left unpaid patent was bought by the Lumière Brothers (Patent N°245,032).
However, at Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, Le Prince is celebrated as a local hero. On December 12, 1930, the Lord Mayor of Leeds unveiled a bronze memorial tablet on #160 Woodhouse Lane (now Auto Express Engineering Company), Le Prince's workshop. In 2003, the
University's "Centre for Cinema, Photography and Television" was named in his honour. Le Prince's workshop in Woodhouse Lane was till recently the site of the
BBC in Leeds.
In France, an appreciation society was created as "Association des Amis de Le Prince" ("Association of LePrince's friends") which still exists in
Lyon.
In 1992, the
Japanese filmmaker
Mamoru Oshii (''
Ghost in the Shell'') directed ''
Talking Head'' an ''
avant-garde'' feature film paying tribute to the cinematography history's tragic ending figures such as
George Eastman,
George Méliès and Louis Le Prince who is credited as "the true inventor of ''eiga''", Japanese for "motion picture film".
LePrince Cine Camera-Projector types
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THE CENTER ALIGN THIS TIME, THANKS...
| Model | Specs | Design | Manufacture | Patents |
|---|
 Courtesy of the "National Museum of Photography, Film & Television", Bradford
'LPCC Type-16' | 'Patent:' "Method of, and apparatus for,
producing animated pictures."
'Designation:' LePrince 16-lens camera, designated by him as "receiver"
'Framerate:' 16fps
'Film:' Eastman Kodak paper film 1885 | 1886, New York | Made in Paris, 1887 | US Patent No.376,247/217,809
Issued
Washington
November 2, 1886
Accepted
January 10, 1888 |
| 'LPCCP Type-1 MkI' | 'Patent:' "Method and Apparatus for
the projection of Animated Pictures in view of the adaptation to Operatic Scenes"
'Designation:' LePrince single-lens camera MkI, designated by him as "receiver"
'Framerate:' 10~12fps | 1886, New York | Made in Leeds, 1887 | UK Patents
No.423/425
Issued
Washington
November 2, 1886
Rejected
January 10, 1888
Issued
London
January 10, 1888
Accepted
November 16, 1888
Issued
Paris
January 11, 1888
Accepted
June, 1890 |
'LPCCP Type-1 MkII' | 'Patent:' "Method and Apparatus for
the projection of Animated Pictures in view of the adaptation to Operatic Scenes"
'Designation:' LePrince single-lens camera MkII, designated by him as "receiver"
'Framerate:' 20fps (adjustable)
'Lenses:' Viewfinder (upper) & Photograph (lower)
'Film:' sensitised paper film & gelatin stripping film (2½"-60mm)
'Focus:' lever (backward/forward) | 1888 |
★ Frederic Mason
(chassis)
★ James W. Langley (metal parts)
Made in Leeds, 1888 | FR Patent No.188,089
Issued
London
January 10, 1888
Accepted
November 16, 1888
Issued
Paris
January 11, 1888
Accepted
June, 1890 |
| 'LPP Type-3' | 3-lens projector, designated by him as "deliverer" | | | |
Le Prince's legacy
Remaining material & production
Le Prince developed his single-lens type camera in a workshop at 160 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds. An updated version of this model was used to direct his motion-picture films. Remaining production consists of a scene in the garden at ''Oakwood Grange'' (his wife's family home, in Roundhay), another at ''Leeds Bridge'' and an ''Accordion Player''.
These world's first motion picture films do not exist anymore and Le Prince disappeared body and effects two years later, but parts of the original paper film strips remaining in the camera (Mark II) were found and exploited later.
Half a century later, Le Prince's widow gave the remaining apparatus to the
National Science Museum,
London (it's now in the
National Museum of Photography, Film and Television (NMPFT),
Bradford, which opened in 1983 and in 2006 was renamed the
National Media Museum). In October 1930, photographic copies of these original fragments were produced by workers of the Science Museum. In the 2000's, the copies weres restored, remastered and re-animated to produce a digital version which was uploaded on to the NMPFT website as public resources (
"Roundhay" &
"Leeds"). These versions are running at the modern ''
cinématographe'' 24 frames per second (
fps) rate (Roundhay Garden at 24.64fps and Leeds Bridge at 23.50fps), but Le Prince used the frame-rate adjust device built into his apparatus to test various speeds. According to Alphonse Le Prince who assisted his father at Leeds, ''Roundhay Garden'' is believed to have been shot at 12fps and ''Leeds Bridge'' at 20fps.
Since the NMPFT release, various names are used to designate the untitled films, such as "Leeds Bridge" or "Roundhay Garden Scene". Actually, all current online versions (e. g.,
GIF,
FLV,
SWF,
OGG,
WMV, etc.) are derived from the NMPFT files, and these tentative titles are not canon to Le Prince whose mother tongue was French. However "Leeds Bridge" is believed to be the original title, as the traffic sequence was referred as such by Frederic Mason, Le Prince's mechanic.
Man Walking Around A Corner (LPCC Type-16)
The last remaining production of Le Prince's 16-lens camera is a frame sequence of a man walking around a corner. It is believed to have been shot with the 16-lens type but this is unsure as it appears as if it has been made with a single glass plate not an Eastman American film.
Roundhay Garden Scene (LPCCP Type-1 MkII)
The 1930 National Science Museum copy of the remaining film sequence shot in Roundhay garden features 20 frames (run time 1.66 seconds at 12fps). The digital version produced by the NMPFT has 52 frames (run time 2.11 seconds at 24.64fps) and switches the left side and the right side, since the house is actually incorrectly shown on the right-hand side of the scene in the 1930 copy. It is believed to had been mirrored because of paper parts stuck on the left side of the film that would reduce the visibility. The reason is both
physiologic and
cultural, a Western viewer's eyes are used to automatically watch from top left to right, this reflex action comes from the childhood taught reading direction. The garden sequence film's damaged side results in distortion and deformation on the, inverted, right side of the digital movie. The scene was shot in Le Prince's father-in-law's garden at ''Oakwood Grange'', Roundhay on October 14 1888.
Leeds Bridge (LPCCP Type-1 MkII)
The earliest frames copy belongs to the 1923 NMPFT inventory, though a different sequence is coming from the 1931 inventory. Digital footage produced by the NMPFT has 65 frames (run time 2.76 seconds at 23.50fps) although the original Leeds Bridge film of 20 frames was shot by Le Prince's camera at 20fps on a 60mm film according to Alphonse Le Prince who assisted his father when this film was shot in late October 1888. The Leeds Bridge film found in the single-lens camera (MkII) actually contains three scenes, first the Rounday Garden scene at ''Oakwood Grange'' (20 frames), then the Leeds Bridge traffic scene (20 frames) and lastly a sequence of an accordion player (19 frames plus a damaged 20th) which has not yet been restored nor remastered by the NMPFT. The third sequence suffers from the same problem as the garden sequence.
Accordion Player (LPCCP Type-1 MkII)
The last remaining film of Le Prince's single-lens camera is a sequence of frames of an accordion player. The location of its recording is uncertain; it could be Leeds or Paris. The recording date is probably 1888. The NMPFT has not remastered this film, probably because of its uncertain recording time and location.
Notes
1. ''National Museum of Photography, Film & Television''
2. Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince
Sources
★ ''
NMPFT Pioneers of Early Cinema : 1. Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince (1842-1890?)'' by Michael Harvey
★
Insight Collections & Research Centre
★ ''Guinness Book of Movie Facts & Feats''
★ ''
Who's Who of Victorian Cinema''
★ ''
The Career of Louis Aimée Augustin Le Prince'' by E. Kilburn Scott (July 1931)
★ ''
La naissance du cinéma : cent sept ans et un crime...'' by Irénée Dembowski (in ''Kino'' 1989, translated from Polish to French in ''Cahiers de l'AFIS, numero 182, nov.-déc.'' by Michel Rouzé, quoted by ''Alliage numéro 22'' 1995)
★ ''The Missing Reel'', by Christopher Rawlence (Athenum Publishers, New York, 1990)
★ ''Le Prince's Early Film Cameras'', by Simon Popple (in ''Photographica World'', September 1993)
★ ''Le Prince and the Lumières'', by Rod Varley (in ''Making of the Modern World'', Science Museum, UK, 1992)
★ ''Career of Louis Aimée Augustin Le Prince'', by E. Kilburn Scott, (in ''Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers'', USA, July 1931)
★ ''Burns, Paul
The History of the Discovery of Cinematography An Illustrated Chronology
★ ''The Pioneer Work of Le Prince in Kinematography'', by E. Kilburn Scott (in ''The Photographic Journal #63'', August 1923, p.373~8)
★ ''Louis Aimée Augustin Le Prince'' by Merritt Crawford (in ''Cinema, 1'' Dec., 1930, p.28~31)
★ ''L'affaire Lumière. Du mythe à l'histoire, enquête sur les origines du cinéma'' by Léo Sauvage, 1985 ISBN 2-86244-045-0
★ ''
Ingenious Le Prince 16-lens camera
★ ''
Louis Le Prince: the body of evidence'' by Richard Howells (in ''Screen vol.47 #2'', Oxford University Press, 2006)
★ ''Le Prince, inventeur et artiste, précurseur du cinéma'' by Jean-Jacques Aulas and Jacques Pfend (in ''Revue d'Histoire du Cinéma N°32'', Dec. 2000, p.9) ISSN 0769-0959
★ ''
New research centre honours father of film''
★ ''
Essential Films chapter 2, Culture Wars'' by Ion Martea
★ ''
Roundhay Garden Scene (1888), Culture Wars'' by Ion Martea
★ ''
Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888), Culture Wars'' by Ion Martea
See also
★
Roundhay Garden Scene
External links
★
★
Adventures In Cybersound an extended biography
★
''Roundhay Garden Scene'' Video
★
''Leeds Bridge'' Video
★
Louis Le Prince Centre for Cinema, Photography, and Television
★
The Legend of Louis Le Prince
★
Leodis - a Photographic Archive of Leedssearch key terms such as Louis Le Prince or Leeds Bridge or Bridge End or Hick Brothers or Auto Express (workshop site), etc
★
National Science Museum, London
★
National Media Museum, Bradford
★
''Armley Mills''-Leeds Industrial Museum
★
Le Prince single-lens camera 1888, Science & Society Picture Library
★
Chronomedia year 1888 (Terramedia)
★
The History of the Discovery of Cinematography 1885~1889 An Illustrated Chronological History
★
Local films for local people (BBC Bradford & West Yorkshire)
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