Peter BACIGALUPI

(New York, 1855-San Francisco, 22/02/1925)

bacugalupi peter portrait 02

Jean-Claude SEGUIN

1

Joseph Bacigalupi. Descendance:

  • Peter Bacigalupi (New York, 06/01/1855-San Francisco, 21/02/1925)
    • épouse (Oakland, 01/11/1877) Sarah Idalia "Ida" Lusseur (Illinois, 1859-San Jose, 01/1896). Descendance:
    • épouse (Lima) Rosaura Victoria de Fournier Cubillas (Lima, 10/1859-San Francisco, 10/01/1926). Descendance:
      • Sophie Bacigalupi Williams (Pérou, 12/1881-) épouse Williams.
      • Peter Thomas Bacigalupi (Pérou, 07/05/1883-San Francisco, 14/06/1960)
      • Rosie Bacigalupi (Pérou, 06/1884-San Francisco, 14/05/1904)
      • Maria, Luisa Bacigalupi (Pérou, 10/10/1885-San Francisco, 03/08/1942) épouse William Bernett Ackerman (Belleville, 02/07/1886-San Mateo, 23/02/1949). Descendance:
        • Estelle Mary Ackerman (San Rafael, 1910-[Palm Beach], >2008) épouse Henry Lee ([1886]-Floride)
        • Victoria Beatriz Ackerman (San Rafael, 26/11/1912-San Mateo, 10/01/1988) épouse Salvatore Angelo Vincent Germano (Pozzecco, 03/11/1905-Summit County, 19/03/2002). Descendance:
          • un fils
          • un fils
          • un fils
          • un fils
      • Joseph Victor Bacigalupi (Lima, 18/06/1887-San Rafael, 1966) épouse Marion [Bacigalupi]. Descendance:
        • un fils.

 

2

 

D'ascendance italienne, Peter Bacigalupi va à l'école jusqu'à l'âge de 13 ans, puis trouve un emploi à la New York Equitable Life Insurance Company :

He was born In New York city in 1855, and consequently is now 35 years old. Though he never went to school after the age of 13, he speaks French, Spanish, German, Italian and English equally well. When thirteen years old he was employed by the New York Equitable Life Insurance Company in some humble capacity, where he remained six years.


Sacramento Daily Union, Sacremento, samedi 27 décembre 1890, p. 2.

Encore jeune, il quitte New York pour Oakland où il s'installe en 1875 et épouse, en 1877, Miss Lesseur. Des déboires conjugaux le conduisent à tout quitter et à partir pour le Pérou:

In 1875 Peter Bacigalupi, a young Italian, became a resident of Oakland. In 1877 he wedded a Miss Lesseur. Her mother took too much interest in their affaire and Peter grew disgruntled. Eventually there was a separation. In course of time Peter went to Callao, Peru. His wife got a divorce from him, and ultimately married Andrew Duffy. The Duffys are now conducting a cigar stand on Seventh street, near the Broadway depot. Bacigalupi became confidential clerk of E. D. Adams, a merchant at Callao. Adams died. Bacigalupi married the widow. To-day be is one of the wealthiest and most enterprising men in Peru.


Daily Alta California, San Francisco, dimanche 1er février 1891, p. 5.

Un autre journal donne quelques information complémentaires :

Ida Bacigalupi vs. Peter Bacigalupi— For divorce—Plaintiff alleges that she and dsisndant were maried at Oakland about the 1st of November, 1877; that about the 11th of January, 1878, defendant deserted plaintiff. Wherefore plaintiff prays judgment for divorce and for the custody of the minor child. 


San Jose Mercury, San Jose, jeudi 31 juillet 1879, p. 3.

Quant à Peter Bacigalupi, il arrive au Callao, en avril 1878, puis épouse la veuve de son employeur :

Landing at Callao early in April 1878, he had exactly four dollars left in his pocket, and that was stolen before night. He found employment immediately, and before many months became the confidential clerk of Mr. E. D. Adams, a prominent merchant of Lima. Mr. Adams was so accommodating as to die soon afterwards, leaving Mr. Bacigalupi in charge of the business, and within a year he married his late employer's widow, a Peruvian lady who then had five children. They now have a beautiful home, and the number of olive branches ha 3 increased to nine. 


Sacramento Daily Union, Sacremento, samedi 27 décembre 1890, p. 2.

En 1881, il fonde l'imprimerie "Peter Bacigalupi y Compañía" (237 Espaderos) à Lima. Outre les nombreux livres qu'elle imprime, l'entreprise dispose également d'un atelier de lithographie et d'une boutique proposant des articles photographiques Kodak, des machines à coudre, des téléphones... Le 13 janvier 1884, l'établissement est la proie des flammes, mais Bacigalupi va parvenir à relancer ses affaires. En 1887, Peter Bacigalupi fonde El Perú ilustrado. On peut y découvrir la variété de ses affaires, mais également son talent de photographe.

bacugalupi peter 1887 peru ilustrado photographie
Desarrollo de Cacray-Línea del Ferro-carril de la Oroya.
Foto. Bacigalupi & Cabieses
El Perú ilustrado, Lima, samedi 8 octobre 1887, p. 4.

En 1889, il diversifie ses activités et ouvre un nouveau théâtre :

ANTIGUO TEATRO PRINCIPAL
LIMA
Empresa-Bacigalupi & Parrinello
CAPACIDAD 2,000 ASIENTOS
Nuestro nuevo Teatro portátil está concluido y se extrenará en estemes con la Compañía de Zarzuela Dalmau y un cuerpo de Baile de 8 señoritas italianas de la Empresa Opera Savalli de Santiago de Chile en el mes de Noviembre, a precios populares.
El abono por palcos está abierto y la mitad de ellos están tomados.
Estamos listos a contratat con Empresas teatrales y solicitamos correspondencias en cualquier idioma.
PETER BACIGALUPI
Administradores.


El Perú ilustrado, Lima, samedi 23 novembre 1889, p. 1011.

bacugalupi peter 1889 peru ilustrado photographieTEATRO PRINCIPAL
"Niña Pancha," Fotografía tomada por Barcigalupi la noche del estreno.
El Perú Ilustrado, Lima, samedi 4 janvier 1890, p. 1200.

bacugalupi peter portrait bacugalupi peter portrait 01
W. I. Taylor, Peter Bacigalupi, Editor Propietario de "El Perú Ilustrado"
El Perú ilustrado, 2e année, nº 53, Lima, samedi 12 mai 1888, p. 1.
Peter Bacigalupi
Fototeca de la inmigración italiana en Perú

Le journal Sacramento Daily Union dresse un long portrait avec force détails de Peter Bacigalupi :

In1884 the old place of business was destroyed by fire, but nowise disheartened Mr. Bacigalupi set up again in a better location and since then the amount of his sales has been something phenomenal. His goods are mostly from the United States and comprise the greatest conglomeration ever collected under one roof. For instance he has a large stock of books and stationery, drugs, soups, lamps, clocks, silverware, jewelry, sewing machines, typewriters, photographic outfits, agricultural implements; in short, almost everything imaginable except dress goods. Sandwiched among these are Peruvian curios, from mummies to ancient pots and idols. Besides his enormous trade as a forwarding and commission merchant, whose ramifications extend, in some shape or other, to almost every part of South America, the United States and Europe, he is himself a photographer of no mean ability and his agents are everywhere making those scenic views that travelers delight to purchase. He has long had the Peruvian agency of the Domestic sewing-machine company and commenced business the first day by selling 150 machines to the President of the Republic, who distributed them among the poor widows of soldiers who fell during the last war. Since then he has sold thousands of machines. He is also agent for the Remington type-writer and has sold a good many of them in Lima. He introduced the first telephones into Peru and they are now in general use. He also introduced the first amateur photographic outfits and in his place one may buy the Kodak, the Hawkeye, Scovill's, or almost any other.
During the late war Mr. Bacigalupi purchased two vessels, one of American make called Young America, the other English, named Union, and fitted them up as men-of-war. Through their agency and by the help of the Monitor he managed to make another fortune in coal and pickled pork. Last year he built an opera house on the spot where the old theater was burned. It is capable of seating two thousand persons, and is one of the neatest, daintest and most complete little theaters on the continent. Its builder loves to boast that he put it up in sixty days, employing seventy-five workmen, and personally superintending the use of every inch of 150,000 feet of lumber. Mr. Bacigalupi's main business, however, the others being mere outgrowths and side issues, is that of a printer and lithographer. In his establishment ten Gordon presses, two large Campe presses, and a lithographic press, all moved by the only gas in Lima, are kept constantly going. Sixty-five men and boys are employed in the printing department, (six of them being Americans from San Francisco), and Mr. Bacigalupi is expert in every detail of the business from typesetting to lithographing. His "Peru Ulustrato" has been a greet hit, being the only periodical of the kind in South America. It is a thirty-six page paper something the size and shape of Judge, but not at all inclined to the comic. It is profusely and well illustrated, published every Saturday, and goes to every part of Peru, even to the village of Mayo-Bauba, to reach which requires a thirty days' journey on mule back. To conclude, in Mr. Bacigalupi's own words : "In my office may be found all the newspapers published in South America, and many from the United States and Europe. Strangers are welcome to look at them whenever they like, and my doors are always open to Americans, residents or tourists, whether they come for business or 'to kill time," and we are glad to furnish them with any information in our power respecting the country and its resources. I consider Peru a very promising field for energetic Americans, and would advise any with small capital to invest it somewhere in this continent. Of course some capital is necessary to establish any business anywhere ; but a little goes much farther here than in the over-crowded United States."
I may add that Mr. Bacigalupi looks much more like the typical Spaniard than an Anglo-Saxon, being rather small and very dark, with intensely black eyes, set in so handsome a face that is no wonder the wealthy widow Adams married him offhand. [...] Fannie B. Ward.


Sacramento Daily Union, Sacramento, samedi 27 décembre 1890, p. 2.

En 1893, Peter Bacigalupi se rend à l'Exposition Internationale de Chicago (1er mai-30 octobre 1893) où il va établir des contacts avec Thomas A. Edison et Leon F. Douglass.

douglass leon
Leon Forrest Douglass (Nebraska, 12/03/1869-San Francisco, 07/09/1940)

Ce dernier a acquis la concession des machines à sous de la Chicago Central Phonographe Co., reprise dans un premier temps par Henry Babson qui a ouvert un salon sur Market Street à San Francisco. Lorsqu'il quitte la côte ouest, en 1893, Babson revend, pour 6000 $, la concession de phonographes Miedwinter Fair à Peter Bacigalupi  qui est alors de passage à San Francisco :

Bacigalupi of Peru.
Peter Bacigalupi, editor and proprietor of El Peru Ilustrado, arrived in the city yesterday from his South American home, via New York.
Besides making his trip one of pleasure Mr. Bacigalupi intends to assist in introducing American inventions into Peru, where he claims a large field is open, and with but a little capital a company could be formed with that object in view, which would undoubtedly prove to be a successful venture. [...]
Mr. Bacigalupi was raised in this city, and seventeen years ago moved to South America, where he has since resided. He is at present visiting his aged mother at her residence, 1805 Mason street.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, samedi 25 novembre 1893, p. 3.

Dans ses mémoires, Leon Forrest Douglass évoque cet épisode de la vie:

Peter Bacigalupi of Lima, Peru visited the Chicago  Fair and I sold him several phonographs and shipped them to Peru. Don, as always called him, was to play a great part in my life.
I purchased all the slot machines used at the Fair from the Chicago Central Phonograph Co., which company was bought in by the North Arnerican Phonograph Co., the parent company. Mr. Edison owned half of the stock of the state companies and bought the rest. He then sold the phonographs to dealers all over the United States. The slot machines I bought that had been used at the Chicago Fair I sent to the Midwinter Fair in San Francisco, where I had received a concession from M.H . de Young, its president. Henry Babson took charge of this concession. The opening of the Fair was late as all of them are. (The Chicago Fair delayed opening for a year and they were still building three months after opening for a year and they were still building three months after the Fair opened.)
I decided to go to San Francisco as Babson had rented a store on Market Street and opened a slot machine parlor which was doing a good business. Soon after my arrival in San Francisco I met Don Bacigalupi on Market Street one day. He had been visiting his Mother and rather who lived there. He asked me to go to lunch with him and told me that he was sailing the next day for Peru and that he was sorry to leave. As Babson was homesick for Chicago I suggested to Don that he buy the Phonograph Concession at the Midwinter Fair. He was pleased with the idea and we closed a deal for $6,000.00. He gave me a draft for $2, 500.00 and I accepted a note for the balance. Don sent for his family and Henry and I went home. The Chicago business was doing very well at this time.


Leon Forrest Douglass, Autobiography, c. 1940 (Digital version by R Carlton Seitz, 2021), p. 42-43..

Au début de l'année 1894, il écrit un courrier à Thomas A. Edison afin de s'informer sur la possibilité d'acheter des phonographes pour une exploitation au Pérou. La réponse de l'inventeur est sans appel et il rappelle que les droits d'exploitation sont gérés par The Edison United Phonograph Company.

bacigalupi peter 1894 edison 1a bacigalupi peter 1894 edison 1b bacigalupi peter 1894 edison
Peter Bacigalupi, Thomas Edison, San Francisco, 6 mars 1894
The Tomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition
Thomas A. Edison, P. Bacigalupi, Orange, 29 mars 1894
Source: http://www.edisontinfoil.com/baci.htm

Malgré cet échange peu encourageant, Peter Bacigalupi va insister et obtenir gain de cause peu après.

Le kinetoscope (juin 1894-[septembre] 1895)

Après New York et Chicago, un troisième kinetoscope parlor ouvre à San Francisco. Ce sont les frères Holland qui ont obtenu les droits de distribution du kinetoscope. Peter Bacigalupi va directement traiter avec eux et ouvre son salon, au 644 Market street, en juin 1894 :

san francisco 1894 kinetoscope parlor
Kinetoscope Parlor, 644 Market street, San Francisco, 1894. [D.R.]

The Edison Kinetoscope.
A marveolus reproduction of movable objects. Nothing more vivid or more natural than these changing forms with their familiar tricks of gesture and action. Headers of the June number of the Century Magazine c»n have an opportunity to practically appreciate the Importance of the article on the Klnetoscope. Holland Bros have live of these machines bow on exhibition at 644 Market street.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mardi 5 juin 1894, p. 10.

Sur la photographie qui a été conservée, on reconnaît Peter Bacigalupi (le premier). Quelques jours plus tard, un entrefilet indique que sous peu le kinetoscope parlor va présenter le combat entre Leonard et Cushing :

The Fight at Edison's Laboratory.
We have telegraphed for kinetograph pictures or the Leonard-Cushing fight at Edison's Laboratory, and will have them at the kinetoscope exhibition at 644 Market street next week. HOLLAND BROS.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, 17 juin 1894, p. 10.

Le propriétaire du local, Peter Bacigalupi, semble changer de local à partir de la fin du mois d'août, au 946 Market St où il continue de fonctionner à la fin du mois de septembre :

EDISON KINETOSCOPE.-On exhibition at 946 Market street (Baldwin Hotel).


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, vendredi 28 septembre 1894, p. 6.

bacigalupi peter 1898 946 market
Peter Bacigalupi. 946 Market St. San Francisco (1894-)

L'exploitation du local se prolonge jusqu'à la fin du mois de septembre avant la mise en vente des appareils :

KINETOSCOPE PARLOR FOR SALE: $3000 will buy a complete Edison kinetoscope, phonograph and graphophone arcade situated on Spring str., Los Angeles; producing $25 daily. Apply PETER BACIGALUPE, 946 Market, S. F. 37t.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, dimanche 7 octobre 1894, p. 4.

Des annonces sont encore publiées en janvier 1895 :

KINETOSCOPE OUTFITS COMPLETE: ADvertising matter, personal instruction, etc., supplies and machines for sale: plenty good territory work. P. BACIGALUPI, 946 Market. 23 1m.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, 1er janvier 1895, p. 7.

De fait, Peter Bacigalupi renouvelle son stock d'appareils pour des kinetoscopes d'une nouvelle génération pour présenter le combat entre Corbett et Courtney :

Corbett-Courtney Prize-Fight.
The reproduction of this fight has just arrived, and can now be seen at 946 Market street, Baldwin building. This, the champion's latest battle, took place at Edison's laboratory, and was a stiff fight to a finish. Corbett, the winner, received a purse of $5000. Courtney was awarded $1000, though, had he stayed the six rounds, he would have had $2000. Jim's work from beginning to knockout was clean cut and scientific. Courtney fought strongly, and in the fourth round landed a right-hander on Corbett's neck; had he reached Jim's jaw Corbett would now be a defeated man. but he was not caught napping. A faithful reproduction of this fight made it necessary to remodel and enlarge the kinetescope. It takes six of these new klnetescopes to show the rounds, giving the actual movements of the fighters, seconds, timekeepers and referee. This fight is a great sensation in the East. Mr. Peter Bacigalupi has procured the new machines at a cost of over $6000, and has now the sole right for this State. He has the phonograph and kinetescope concession for the Mexican Exposition in 1896.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mercredi 13 mars 1895, p. 12.

Il se rend ensuite à Healdsburg (mai 1895), Los Angeles (septembre)... pour présenter le même match. Grâce la correspondance avec Enoch J. Rector, l'un des promotteurs des films de boxe, il apparaît que Peter Bacigalupi continue à présenter des vues avec ses kinetoscopes. Dans l'en-tête, on peut voir qu'il se dit "Exclusive Concessionaire for Kinetoscopes, Phonographs, Graphonones and Weighinh Scales of the Mexican Exposition, 1896", mais il ne s'agit pas pour autant d'une agence Edison. L'essentiel du courrier conservé  porter sur quelques films pour kinetoscope: une "fake corrida", El Paso Bull Fight  et le combat de boxe Corbett Courtney. Bacigalupi semble par ailleurs préoccupé par le nouvel appareil, le vistascope:

How does the Vitascope take in New York ?? (lettre du 28 avril 1896).

 I undestand the vitascope is making money, and also the Eidoloscope. (lettre du 8 juin 1896).

Le magniscope (octobre 1896-[novembre] 1897)

Le magniscope est un appareil construit par George Spoor et Edward H. Amet (1896) et commercialisé par George Klein. À San Francisco, Peter Bacigalupi va commencer à vendre des magniscopes à partir du mois d'octobre :  

MAGNISCOPE-NEW PROJECTING Machine; uses the kinetoscope films; price $250. BACIGALUPI, 946 Market st.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, vendredi 30 octobre 1896, p. 13.

Un magniscope fonctionne également dans le local de Market Street et présente le célèbre combat entre les deux boxeurs Corbett et Fitzsimmons :

SECOND DAY FEAST ON THE BIG FIGHT
[...]
By how much Fitzsimmons is richer and Corbett poorer by what happened on St. Patrick's day will not be known for a good while, because it all depends on the kinetoscope business. Fitzsimmons has the $15,000 purse and whatever he may have won on himself, and he and Corbett have an interest in the kinetoscope enterprise. The figures and terms of the deal are not public property, but some people, who say they know, say that Fitzsimmons and Corbett are each to get 15 per cent of the kinetoscope earnings, Dan Stuart another percentage and the company the rest.
The kinetoscope enterprise promises to be a brilliant financial success and to make a mint of money for somebody.
The day was perfect and the pictures will be so, and the world will be filled with their exhibitions. Many are curious to know when they will be along and how much it will cost to see the fight.
It was learned yesterday that it will probably be a month before the panorama will be ready for the public. The long negatives are now being rushed to New York for development and then for reproduction in a great quantity. They will not at first be shown in the ordinary kinetoscope, but will be displayed everywhere by the magniscope, which will project the moving scene of battle on screens on a life-size scale.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, 19 mars 1897, p. 16.

Cette annonce est publiée jusqu'en avril 1897. S'il commercialise cet appareil, Peter Bacigalupi diversifie aussi ses activités commerciales et maintient ses relations commerciales avec le Pérou :

GOLD FIELDS OF PERU.
DIRECT TO MOLLENDO. IF A SUFFIcient number of passengers can be obtained the mail streamer ZALANDIA will be dispatched on or about August 15. Fare, $200 fist-class; $100 steerage. For particulars apply P. BACIGALUPI, 946 Market st. 


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, samedi 14 août 1897, p. 2.

Il propose également divers appareils dont certains directement en relation avec les rayons X :

12-INCH X-RAY OUTFIT (QUEEN'S): 6 cells, storage batteries, fluoroscope, screentube; price $250. BACIGALUPI, 946 Market.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mercredi 15 septembre 1897, p. 11.

En novembre, une séance privée est à également organisée pour présenter des vues locales probablement avec le magniscope :

Kinetoscopic Exhibition.
A private kinetoscopic exhibition was given last evening in the parlors of Peter Bacigalupi from views taken by the representative of the wizard Edison but a few weeks ago. Scenes were shown of views taken of Ocean Beach and Bakers beach, as well as of a rescue of a drowning man, supposed to have been shipwrecked Scenes were also shown of a storm on the Pacific and the attending breakers. The scenes were but recently received from the East and the exhibition was given in honor of Major Blakeney, the veteran representative of the life-saving stations. The major was evidently pleased with the honor snowed him. The views may be again shown in the near future.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, 21 novembre 1897, p. 15.

Il semble que ce soit vers janvier 1898 que Peter Bacigalupi ouvre un nouveau local:

WANTED-MISCELLANEOUS.
MOTOR, 2/4 horse power, for direct current. BACIGALUPI, 933 Market st.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mardi 20 janvier 1898, p. 12.

L'affaire des mutoscopes (novembre 1898-avril 1899)

En novembre 1898, Peter Bacigalupi installe des mutoscopes dans son établissement :

The Mutoscope.
"Wonders never cease" is a saying old as it is apt. One of the newest "wonders" assuredly is the "Mutoscope," meaning "changing-views;" now for the first time exhibited in San Francisco, and to be seen only at Bacigalupi's Mutoscope Parlors, under the Baldwin Hotel, Market street.
The Mutoscope is virtually the Biograph diminutized to the size of a cabinet photograph, and is "worked" by the familiar "nickel-in-the-slot" mechanism. It presents to the eye photographic views of objects in motion in manner so lifelike as to border on the marvelous. Every "reel" contains about one thousand views. It portrays scenes from plays, animals in action, athletic games and sports, conflagrations, the falls of Niagara, moving ships, war scenes, naval engagements. All are produced with perfect fidelity to nature.
Twenty machines, all different and amusing views, are now at Bacigalupi's, and the parlors are crowded day and night with sightseers.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, dimanche 6 novembre 1898, p. 16.

Le succès des mutoscopes au cours de ces années fait qu'ils se multiplient comme c'est le cas à San Francisco. Ce qui rend d'autant plus attrayant le spectacle, c'est bien entendu le type de vues qui est proposé au spectateur. La présentation de photographies érotiques attire le public. C'est ce que dénonce le journal San Francisco Call dans son article "Establishments Licensed to Debauch the Young and Pander to the Depraved". L'un des établissements concernés est celui de Peter Bacigalupi :

THE attention of pedestrians was attracted last night by an unusual scene on Market street above Powell. A crowd of boys, just liberated from their duties at an evening school, were thronging into an establishment which for months has been an affront and an insult to those whose necessity or inclination prompts them to use the main thoroughfare of the city. The place. Into which the children thronged, was brilliantly lighted. The discordant, inharmonious sounds of a phonograph attracted attention and solicited a patronage that meant moral pollution in its satisfaction. Two boys in the place told the story of a new evil which has grown with inconceivable rapidity in the city.
These boys stood before a "mutoscope" above which was the alluring sign "for men only." The elder of the two had dropped a nickel into the machine and, quickly grasping his younger and smaller companion, he lifted him until the little fellow's eyes could follow the moving scenes that inflamed his imagination with corrupting thought. The incident meant a profit of 5 cents to the proprietor of the place and a lasting lesson in Immorality to the child.
[...]
For the benefit of the police and for the officers of the local society, whose aim is to suppress vice, it should be stated that the head and front of th evil is located in the establishment of Peter Bacigalupi at 1030 Market street. Bacigalupi is the pioneer in phonographic filth and through him the other local retail sellers of this commodity receive their supplies.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, 31 mars 1899, p. 12.

Grâce à un dessin qui accompagne l'article, on découvre la devanture du magasin de Peter Bacigalupi.

bacigalupi peter 1899 immorality

L'affaire ne va pas s'arrêter là puisque Peter Bacigalupi est arrêté pour ses activités illicites. L'article du San Francisco  Call offre de nombreux sur l'affaire et la responsabilité du propriétaire des mutoscopes. Un échange porte en particulier sur le caractère artistique des vues proposées :

Peter Bacigalupi and his immoral pictures were up before Judge Barry yesterday. Bacigalupi was under arrest for violating the ordinance forbidding the exhibition of indecent photographs, and the evidence against him consisted chiefly of some samples of his wares.
In the basement of the City Hall the police had put one of the captured slot machines in working order and had filled it with pictures taken from Bacigalupi's place of business. They were not all taken from one machine, but represented the principal attractions of several. The pictures were vulgar and suggestive; there was nothing artistic in any of them and from their character it was plain that art was not the object of their existence or exhibition. A painted woman in more or less suggestive pose, with clothes enough to bring her within the law, but so disposed as to put her without the law again, was the subject of each. They were cheap and tawdry and not worth a nickel from either standpoint, decent or indecent, but there was no mistaking their corrupt intent.
Policeman Tyrrell was the first witness for the prosecution. He told how, on April 1, he and his brother officers had raided the Bacigalupi place and had confiscated certain of the pictures he had found there exposed to view. He described how the pictures were in slot machines and for the convenience of those who were not tall enough to properly peer through the eye-piece there was provided for each machine a little box for the boy or girl to stand on. It was evident that the machines were for the edification of young as well as old.
Tyrrell was asked what he had done with these pictures and he said he had them downstairs, whereupon the court adjourned to the basement and court, clerk, bailiff and counsel for both sides inspected the evidence. Returning to the courtroom Tyrrell identified the pictures he had taken from the machine in evidence, and the pictures themselves were made part of the case against Bacigalupi.
The ordinance claimed to have been violated was then introduced and after the defense had admitted the other officers would testify as Tyrrell had done the case for the prosecution closed.
The defense opened with a motion to dismiss, but the motion was denied and Bacigalupi was called. Great stress was laid by his counsel on the fact that Bacigalupi pays a license to protect his business. Counsel argued that the defendant conducted a legitimate business, under proper license and "in the open day." He declared the pictures were photographs of actual persons in actual poses that may be seen at any time in any part of the country. Prosecuting Attorney Carpenter argued that while the law allowed and his license protected the defendant in the sale and exhibition of decent pictures, he could not plead that as an excuse for indecency.
Bacigalupi testified that he had purchased the pictures in Paris and they had been brought into the country through the Custom-house; no customs officer had found fault with them, he said, and he had no trouble in getting them in. He said these in court he had had on exhibition for three years, and he did not consider them at all out of the way. Carpenter asked him if the place was open to anybody.
"Anybody, man, woman or child can see them if they drop a nickel."' was the answer.
"Minor or adult?" asked the court.
"Anybody," again was the reply.
As an expert on morality, Thomas G. Dunn, who keeps the Art saloon, was 
called. He said he had been buying works of art for years, and he thought himself qualified to pass upon the morality of the photographs in evidence. Carpenter objected on the ground that while he might be a critic on art. it certainly had not been shown he was an expert on morality, but he was allowed to say he thought the pictures were not indecent or immoral.
On cross-examination he was asked if he had "works of art" in his own place, and he said he had.
"Pictures of naked women?" queried Carpenter.
"Yes."
"Would you exhibit them to your children?" was the next question.
"Yes," said Dunn, "to my children, or my wife, or my grandchildren."
That was enough for the prosecution, and Mr. Dunn, expert on pictorial morality, was allowed to depart.
That ended the proceedings for the day. The case had progressed farther than the defense expected, and they were not ready to go on immediately, so the trial went over until Thursday next.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, samedi 8 avril 1899, p. 5.

L'article est accompagné d'un dessin représentant Peter Bacigalupi.

bacigalupi peter 1899 immorality 02San Francisco Call, San Francisco, samedi 8 avril 1899, p. 5.

Finalement Peter Bacigalupi est condamné:

The fight for decency made by The Call again the exhibition of indecent pictures In phonograph parlors has met with another victory. Peter Bacigalupi, proprietor of parlors on Market street, having been convicted and fined by Acting Police Judge Barry yesterday morning.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mercredi 19 avril 1899, p. 12.

The Edison Phonograph Agency ([1898]-1904)

On fait remonter la collaboration de Peter Bacigalupi avec la société Edison à 1895, mais on ne retrouve des traces dans la presse qu'en 1898 :

THE GRAPHOPHONES SANG "A HOT TIME"
All day Peter Bacigalupl of the Edison Phonograph Agency. 946 Market street, dug amid the charred ruins of his electric machines for the scorched nickels and metal checks.
"Just $12,000," said Peter, "lies in that wreck and not a nickel— not even a little round check-is insured."
Then he emptied the contents or a blnckened tin coin till into his coat pocket.
"I intended to put a little fire risk on those machines, but put it off instead, and so you see I had machines to burn."
And the battered graphophones lying in the muddy ashes softly sang. "A Hot Time," etc., in unison to Bacigalupi's melancholy joke.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, novembre 24 novembre 1898, p. 3.

Dans The Tomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition, la correspondance relative à l'agence de San Francisco ne commence qu'à partir de l'année 1900. C'est William Edgar Gilmore, éminence grise de Thomas A. Edison, qui est à la manœuvre. Dans un courrier daté du 13 septembre, et envoyé à Howard W. Hayes, il se demande s'il ne faudrait pas contacter Peter Bacigalupi dès lors que F. Levy renonce à utiliser le nom d'Edison pour ses affaires. Peu après, il utilise du papier à en-tête avec le nom d'"Edison" et rend compte de ses activités commerciales.

bacigalupi peter 1900 gilmore 1a bacigalupi peter 1900 gilmore 1b 
 Peter Bacigalupi, My dear Mr. Gilmore, San Francisco, 6 décembre 1900
The Tomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

Dès lors, Peter Bacigalupi va utiliser officiellement, dans ses divers documents, le nom de la société Edison.

bacigalupi phonograph edison bacigalupi peter portrait phonographe

Peter Bacigalupi - Phonograph Marketing Pioneer, http://www.edisontinfoil.com/baci.htm

Peter Bacigalupi. Phonographs 
 bacigalupi peter phonograph cylindre 
Peter Bacigalupi - Phonograph Marketing Pioneer, http://www.edisontinfoil.com/baci.htm  

La presse a gardé la trace de certains enregistrements prévus par le commerçant :

WANTED-A first-class Portuguese singer. PETER BACIGALUPI. Edison Phonograph Agency, 933 Market st.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, mardi 17 avril 1900, p. 10.

L'essentiel des échanges entre Bacigalupi et Gilmore porte sur des questions financières, ce dernier s'inquiétant de la rentabilité de l'agence de San Francisco, en particulier dans un échange de janvier 1901. En 1902, c'est Thomas A. Edison lui-même qui se préoccupe de la santé financière de l'affaire. Pendant ce temps, Bacgalupi essaie de développer ses activités sur Los Angeles :

CALIFORNIA KINETOSCOPE SLIDES MAKE A HIT
The Pasadena Rose Tournament Parade and Jeffrles-Ruhlln Fight Are Depicted on the Screen
P. Bacigalupi. who is the western representative of the Edison Kinetiscope company, yesterday gave an exhibition at the Unique theater of his work done on this coast. The magic lantern reproduction of Callfornian scenes and events is something new for Los Angeles, and Mr. Bacigalupi has been unusually successful in obtaining perfect and continuous negatives. A large audience witnessed the exhibition last evening the Unique. Some of the familiar slides were the "Pigeon. Farm." "Mount Lowe Railway." "Jeffries and Ruhlin Training and Fighting." and "The Pasadena Rose Tournament." Some of these slides are of enormous length. The Jeffries-Ruhlin fight occupies 1100 feet, with twenty-two pictures to the foot. The reproduction on the screen if most realistic and vivid, and bespeaks a high degree of skill in all the various mechanical processes from which the moving picture is evolved.


Los Angeles Herald, Los Angeles, samedi 11 janvier 1902, p. 9.

En 1904, il dispose toujours d'un établissement à Los Angeles (431 S. Spring Street), d'un autre à San Francisco (933 Market Street) et de deux "exhibition parlors" (840 Market St. et 805 Kearny St.)

bacigalupi peter 1904 edison agency
Edison Phonograph Agency-Peter Bacigalupi (30 mars 1904)
The Tomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

En mai 1904, il annonce le déménagement de son agence:

EDISON Phonograph Agency, Peter Bacigalupi, moved to 786 Misson st.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, jeudi  5 mai 1904, p.  13.

C'est à cette époque que le passé va ressurgir dan la vie de Peter Bacigalupi. Son fils Lucien Peter, né de son premier mariage, aveugle de naissance, intente un procès contre son père qu'il accuse de ne pas s'être occupé de lui. Voici comment la presse rapporte l'affaire :

Unfortunate Accuses His Parent of Neglect.
In the Superior Court a complaint was filed yesterday by Lucien Peter Bacigalupi against his father, Peter Bacigalupi, asking for maintenance. The complainant is 21 years of age. He is totally blind and has been so almost from birth. The complaint asks that the father be compelled to pay the blind son sufficient money every month to maintain him decently, according to his station in life. It also asks that a sufficient sum be paid for skillful surgical and medical treatment for his eyes, which he has been informed by competent medical authority may be cured, wholly or at least partially, by proper treatment. Another demand is for funds to pay for an education that will render the plaintiff self-supporting.
The attorney for the son is ex-Judge A. F. St. Sure, who said in an interview yesterday that since his client's birth the father had utterly failed to provide for his helpless son, except to give him a watch some years ago and contribute small sums at various times that amounted in the aggregate to less than $25 during the twenty-one years of the unfortunate boy's life.
The complaint alleges that the elder Bacigalupi owns city property valued at $50,000 or more and is in receipt of an income approximating $1000 a month. Since his birth the boy has been cared for by his aunt, a sister of his mother, living at 144 Devisadero street. What opportunities he has had in the way of education and medical treatment have been paid for solely by her. Now she is in straitened circumstances and can no longer provide him with the assistance he needs. Hence this suit.
The father and the mother of the plaintiff separated shortly after their marriage, the husband leaving his wife and baby to provide for themselves as best they could. Poverty and privation soon caused the death of the mother, and her sister took charge of the afflicted and helpless boy. She has managed to have him partially educated in a school for the blind and has also given him some rudiments of a business education, but the lack of sight prevents him from earning his support. He is said to have remarkable musical talent, which with proper instruction might be developed into a means of making a living.
Bacigalupi senior claims that his son is amply able to make a livelihood for himself. He also denies that he is in receipt of an income greater than is necessary for the support of his present wife and their nine children. He is proprietor of a penny phonograph and picture establishment on Market street.


San Francisco Call, San Francisco, vendredi 22 juillet 1904, p. 7.

 Le jeune homme décède peu après.

Et après... (1906-1925)

C'est à partir du mois de mai 1906 que le nom de l'établissement change pour devenir "Peter Bacigalupi & Sons" qui est situé au 1113-1115 Fillmore St. D'autres locaux fonctionnent à la même époque comme celui du 1021 Gol. Gat Ave ou celui toujours ouvert à 786 Mission st. Bacigalupi continue à commercialiser les appareils Edison et des Zonophone.

bacigalupi peter 1907 phonographes

En janvier 1909, l'établissement situé Golden Gate av. s'installe sur la Market Street, nº 941. Peter Bacigalupi va poursuivre ses activités avec ses fils jusqu'à son décès en 1925.

Sources

DENEGRI ÁLVAREZ CALDERÓN, Francesca (2017). "Semblanza de Peter Bacigalupi (1855-1925)", Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes - Portal Editores y Editoriales Iberoamericanos (siglos XIX-XXI) - EDI-RED: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/peter-bacigalupinueva-york-1855--san-francisco-1925-semblanza/

GRACYK Leon, F. Douglass: Inventor and Victor's First Vice-President, Tim's Photographs & Old Records.

DOUGLASS Leon Forrest, Autobiography, c. 1940 (Digital version by R Carlton Seitz, 2021).

El Perú ilustrado (1887-1890) est disponible sur le site Internet Archive.

Peter Bacigalupi - Phonograph Marketing Pioneer, http://www.edisontinfoil.com/baci.htm

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