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BALTIMORE
Jean-Claude SEGUIN
1896
Le Biograph (Ford's Opera House, <2> novembre 1986)
Au Ford's Opera House, le Biograph, en novembre, propose des vues animées :
Ford's Opera House.
At Ford's Opera House the attraction will be the Cleveland and Haverly Double Minstrels. There will be two '"first parts," running alternately with the two sections. The second part is described as "an ollo of comedy, song and music." For the little folks there will be a troop of trained ponies and a school of educated dogs.
As a special feature there will be a series of "animated pictures" shown by the biograph, an invention similar to the vltascope. The scenes to be presented include Major McKinley reviewing the parade of the Baltimore wage-earners who visited his home, Joseph Jefferson giving his famous toast from "Rip Van Winkle," the Royal Blue express picking up water from a track tank as it thunders along at sixty miles an hour, two views of Niagara, a party of colored boys bathing in a Louisiana bayou and the destruction of a stable by fire.
The Baltimore Sun, lundi 2 novembre 1896, p. 9.
Le lendemain un compte rendu complète les informations :
Ford's Opera House.
W. S. Cleveland's "Greater Massive Minstrelsy" opened a week's engagement last night at Ford's Opera House and entertained a large audience with the usual medley of black faces, high collars and songs and jokes. In addition there were several innovations, notably variations of a musical character and more especially "The Biograph."
This "Biograph" was a genuine surprise and so popular was it that a repetition of each picture was called for. The "Biograph" is the kinetoscope upon an enlarged scale. The pictures are thrown upon the main curtain. Niagara Falls is shown. Then Trilby and Little Billee kiss each other realistically. Joseph Jefferson shows himself in Rip Van Winkle when he says "May you live long and prosper." Then the Royal Blue Line express rounds a curve at 60 miles an hour. So rapturous was the applause that the express had to be brought out again with its whistle, its puffing steam, its whirling wheels. The climax came, however, when Major McKinley gracefully stepped upon the lawn of his home at Canton and greeted a messenger.
There are trained ponies and dogs in the show. Several campaign hits were made, those on the republican presidential candidates eliciting great applause.
Seats have been secured at Ford's tonight for 250 students of the Baltimore Medical College.
The Baltimore sun, Baltimore, mardi 3 novembre 1896, p. 3.
1897
Le Cinématographe *Lumière (Mathodist Trades Bazar, 20 janvier-février 1897)
L'arrivée du cinématographe Lumière à Baltimore est bien plus tardive qu'à New York, Philadelphie ou Boston et d'ailleurs elle se fait de façon bien discrète. En réalité, il subsiste un doute sur l'appareil qui est présenté, à partir du 20 janvier 1897, à l'occasion du Methodist Trades Bazar sous le nom de "cinématographe" :
Methodist Trades Bazar
A feature of the trades bazar, which opens at the Hamilton Easter building on January 20, will be an exhibition by the cinematographe. This is a noew invention which produces life-size pictures with starling naturalness. The people in charge of the bazar have closed a contract with he Cinematographe Company to give an exhibition daily during the bazar.
The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 15 janvier 1897, p. 8.
L'inauguration du Bazar donne lieu à un long article dans The Baltimore Sun où l'on détaille en particulier le cinématographe et le lieu des projections. Il est également question des films projetés dont on peut raisonnablement penser qu'ils font partie du catalogue Lumière :
In the rear of the first floor, beneath the broad rotunda, was an electric clock upon which miniature lampas were grouped into the Roman figures showing the different hours.
Near the clock "electricphotographs" were taken. The likeness was a tintype and it was taken and developed on the inside of a drop-a-nickel-in-the-slot machine. The subject sat in front of the machine, with a strong arc light but a few feet away.
Cinematographe and X Ray.
A large room in the rear of the seconde floor was given up to the cinematographe, a French invention of the style of the vitascope and the biograph, in which photographs taken at the rate of fifteen a second are thrown, upon a curtain with such rapidity as to cause no break in the action of the scene which is being represented.
The scenes which were shown included Niagara Falls, a prairie on fire, a lion, colored street-cleaners at work, Czar Nicholas II entering the Place de la Concorde during his visit to Paris last summer, a company of cavalry fording the Saone river at Lyons, a children's quarrel, the interruption of a game of cards by a practical joker, and the arrival of a French train at a station.
The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 21 janvier 1897, p. 8.
Il en est de même pour d'autres films annoncés : The Czar Receives Ambassadors, Unveiling Statue of Emperor William, Waves Breaking on the Rocks (The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 16 janvier 1897, p. 1). S'il s'agit bien de films Lumière nous ignorons en revanche l'opérateur qui est en charge de ces présentations. Félix Mesguich évoque bien une installation à Baltimore :
Je procède encore à des installations à Washington au Willards Hall, à Philadelphie, à Baltimore dans une église, et à Chicago.
Mesguich, 1933, 12.
Le Methodist Trades Bazar n'est pas à proprement parler une église... mais l'opérateur n'en est pas à une exagération près. Les annonces dans la presse disparaissent dès le début du mois de février, mais les séances ont pu continuer encore quelque temps.
Le Cinematograph (Kernan's Monumental Theatre, <17> avril 1897)
En avril, un nouveau "cinematograph" s'annonce au Kernan's Monumental Theatre (The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 17 avril 1897, p. 6), mais il reste à peine quelques jours et nous n'en savons pas plus.
Le Cinématographe Lumière (Ford's Opera House, [3]->11 mai 1897)
Ford's Opera House
En revanche, quelques jours plus tard, au Ford's Opera House, c'est bien le cinématographe Lumière qui est discrètement annoncé dans The Baltimore Sun, dans son édition du 3 mai 1897, à la première page. Là encore, la presse est bien avare d'informations. Il faut dire que l'appareil sert d'annexe là des spectacles théâtraux :
"Girofle-Girofla"
The weaving in of light opera with "moving pictures" on the cinematograph made things attractive to the audience at Ford's Opera House. The pictures were shown between the second and third acts of "Girofle-Girofla," Lecocq's opera bouffe, which is one of the lightest, most sparkling and most airy of pieces of the sort.
The cinematograph worked better and showed clearer than any one of the many similar displays which have been given in Baltimore. There seemed less vibration to the machine and less breaks in the rapidly moving film, and watching the pictures was consequently less of a strain upon the eyes than usual. Some of the subjects were decidedly humorous, as, for instance, a snow-ball fight, a scene in which two antagonists are stopped by a steady stream from a garden hose, or another in which a lot of boys, having jumped from a high diving board into a pool, proceed to jump back from the water to the bourd. This is done by running the film backward.
The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 11 mai 1897, p. 6.
Le cinématographe reste à peine trois semaines, mais la presse ne semble guère intéressée par l'appareil des frères Lumière.
Répertoire (autres titres) : The Charge of the French Cavalry, German Dragoons Jumping Hurdies, When the Carolina Governors Met, African Natives Bathing, A Troop of Cavalry Crossing a River, A Baby at Breakfast, A Battle of Snow (The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 17 mai 1897, p. 1), The Greek Artillery in Action, The Zoological Gardens Parade (London), Charge of the 96th Infantry, Surf Bathing, The Metropolitan Ballet, A Swiss Waterfall, A Sack Race, The Falling of a House (the crash and dust) (The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, 24 mai 1897, p. 1).
