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{{short description|Film production company}}
{{short description|Film production company}}
{{Coord|40.78451|-74.23388|display=title}}
{{Coord|40.7843|-74.2337|display=title}}
[[File:Black Maria.jpg|thumb|Edison's Black Maria Studio]]
[[File:Black Maria.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Edison's Black Maria Studio]]
[[File:Black Maria exterior Meeker.jpg|thumb|A drawing of the exterior from 1894]]
[[File:Black Maria exterior Meeker.jpg|thumb|A drawing of the exterior from 1894]]


The '''Black Maria''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|r|aɪ|.|ə}} {{respell|mə|RY|ə}}) was [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[movie studio|movie production studio]] in [[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]], [[New Jersey]]. It is widely referred to as America's First Movie Studio.
The '''Black Maria''' ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|r|aɪ|.|ə}} {{respell|mə|RY|ə}}) was [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[film studio|film production studio]] in [[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]], [[New Jersey]]. It was the world's first film studio.


== History ==
== History ==
In 1893, the world's first film production studio,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/345136%7C0/The-Films-of-Thomas-Edison.html |title=The Films of Thomas Edison |last1=Wood |first1=Bret |date= |website=Turner Classic Movies |publisher= |accessdate=20 February 2014 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6NX9Sio9F?url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/345136%7C0/The-Films-of-Thomas-Edison.html |archivedate=20 February 2014 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html |title=Early Cinematic Origins and the Infancy of Film |last1=Dirks |first1=Tim |date= |website=filmsite.org |publisher= |accessdate=20 February 2014 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6NX9QJaMj?url=http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html |archivedate=20 February 2014 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> the Black Maria, or the cinematographic Theater, was completed on the grounds of Edison's laboratories at West Orange, New Jersey, for the purpose of making film strips for the [[Kinetoscope]]. Construction began in December 1892<ref>Robinson (1997). p. 23.</ref> and was completed the following year at a cost of $637.67 (approx. $15,272.99 in 2010 dollars). In early May 1893 at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Edison conducted the world's first public demonstration of films shot using the Kinetograph in the Black Maria, with a Kinetoscope viewer. The exhibited film showed three people pretending to be blacksmiths.
In 1893, the world's first film production studio,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/345136%7C0/The-Films-of-Thomas-Edison.html |title=The Films of Thomas Edison |last1=Wood |first1=Bret |website=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140217111215/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/345136%7C0/The-Films-of-Thomas-Edison.html |archive-date=17 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html |title=Early Cinematic Origins and the Infancy of Film |last1=Dirks |first1=Tim |website=filmsite.org |access-date=20 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219133828/http://www.filmsite.org/pre20sintro.html |archive-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the Black Maria, or the cinematographic Theater, was completed on the grounds of Edison's laboratories (now [[Thomas Edison National Historical Park]]), at [[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]], [[New Jersey]], for the purpose of making film strips for the [[Kinetoscope]]. Construction of the building, which included a tar-paper-covered dark studio room with a retractable roof, began in December 1892<ref>Robinson (1997). p. 23.</ref> and was completed the following year at a cost of $637.67 (${{inflation|US|637.67|1893|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars). In early May 1893 at the [[Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences]], Edison conducted the world's first public demonstration of films shot using the Kinetograph in the Black Maria, with a Kinetoscope viewer. The exhibited film showed [[Blacksmith Scene|three people pretending to be blacksmiths]].


[[File:Black Maria Meeker.jpg|thumb|left|A drawing of the interior (1894)]]
[[File:Annabelle Moore (née Annabella Whitford) in 1894.jpg|thumb|[[Annabelle Whitford]] doing her "butterfly dance", recorded at the Edison's Black Maria studio]]
[[File:Annabelle Moore (née Annabella Whitford) in 1894.jpg|thumb|[[Annabelle Whitford]] doing her "butterfly dance", recorded at the Edison's Black Maria studio]]


The first motion pictures made in the Black Maria were deposited for [[copyright]] by Dickson at the Library of Congress in August, 1893. In early January 1894, ''The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'' (aka ''[[Fred Ott's Sneeze]]'') was one of the first series of short films made by Dickson for the Kinetoscope in Edison's Black Maria studio with fellow assistant Fred Ott. The short film was made for [[publicity]] purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''. It was the earliest motion picture to be registered for copyright&nbsp;— composed of an optical record of Ott sneezing comically for the camera.
The first motion pictures made in the Black Maria were deposited for [[copyright]] by [[W. K. Dickson]] at the Library of Congress in August, 1893. In early January 1894, ''The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'' (aka ''[[Fred Ott's Sneeze]]'') was one of the first series of short films made by Dickson for the Kinetoscope in Edison's Black Maria studio with fellow assistant Fred Ott. The short film was made for [[publicity]] purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''. It was the earliest motion picture to be registered for copyright&nbsp;– composed of an optical record of Ott sneezing comically for the camera.


The first films shot at the Black Maria, a tar-paper-covered, dark studio room with a retractable roof, included segments of magic shows, plays, [[vaudeville]] performances (with dancers and strongmen), acts from [[Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]], various [[boxing]] matches and [[cockfights]], and scantily-clad women. Many of the early Edison moving images released after 1895, however, were non-fictional "actualities" filmed on location: views of ordinary slices of life&nbsp;— street scenes, the activities of police or firemen, or shots of a passing train.
The first films shot at the Black Maria included segments of magic shows, plays, [[vaudeville]] performances (with dancers and strongmen), acts from [[Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]], various [[boxing]] matches and [[cockfights]], and scantily-clad women. Many of the early Edison moving images released after 1895, however, were non-fictional "actualities" filmed on location: views of ordinary slices of life&nbsp;– street scenes, the activities of police or firemen, or shots of a passing train.


On Saturday, April 14, 1894, Edison's Kinetoscope began commercial operation. The [[Holland Brothers]] opened the first Kinetoscope Parlor at 1155 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[New York City]] and for the first time, they commercially exhibited movies, as we know them today, in their amusement arcade. Patrons paid 25 cents as the admission charge to view films in five kinetoscope machines placed in two rows. Nearly 500 people became cinema's first major audience during the showings of films with titles such as ''Barber Shop'', ''Blacksmiths'', ''Cock Fight'', ''Wrestling'', and ''Trapeze''. Edison's film studio was used to supply films for this sensational new form of entertainment. More Kinetoscope parlors soon opened in other cities ([[San Francisco]], [[Atlantic City]], and [[Chicago]]). In 1901, the first public film was screened in [[Oberlin, Ohio]], starting the transition from kinetoscope to screen.
On Saturday, April 14, 1894, Edison's Kinetoscope began commercial operation. The Holland Brothers (Andrew M. Holland and George C. Holland) opened the first Kinetoscope Parlor at 1155 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] in [[New York City]] and for the first time, they commercially exhibited movies, as we know them today, in their amusement arcade. Patrons paid ¢25 (${{inflation|US|0.25|1894}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars) as the admission charge to view films in five kinetoscope machines placed in two rows. Nearly 500 people became cinema's first major audience during the showings of films with titles such as ''Barber Shop'', ''Blacksmiths'', ''Cock Fight'', ''Wrestling'', and ''Trapeze''. Edison's film studio was used to supply films for this sensational new form of entertainment. More Kinetoscope parlors soon opened in other cities ([[San Francisco]], [[Atlantic City]], and [[Chicago]]). In 1901, the first public film was screened in [[Oberlin, Ohio]], starting the transition from kinetoscope to screen.


When Edison built a glass-enclosed rooftop movie studio in New York City, the Black Maria was closed in January 1901, and Edison demolished the building in 1903.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist1.html "Early Edison Motion Picture Production (1892-1895) in Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies"], retrieved April 15th, 2012.</ref> The U. S. [[National Park Service]] maintains a reproduction of the Black Maria, built in 1954 at what is now the [[Edison National Historic Site]] in West Orange. A previous reconstruction had been built and dedicated in May 1940 when [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] held the world premiere of ''[[Edison, the Man]]'' starring [[Spencer Tracy]] in theaters throughout [[The Oranges]] ([[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]], [[East Orange]], [[South Orange]], and [[Orange, New Jersey|Orange]]).<ref>A replica of the 'Black Maria' studio appeared in Universal-International's comedy ''[[Abbott and Costello]] Meet the [[Keystone Cops]]'' (1955).</ref>
When Edison built a glass-enclosed rooftop movie studio in New York City, the Black Maria was closed in January 1901, and Edison demolished the building in 1903.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist1.html "Early Edison Motion Picture Production (1892–1895) in Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies"], retrieved April 15, 2012.</ref> The U. S. [[National Park Service]] maintains a reproduction of the Black Maria, built in 1954 at what is now the [[Edison National Historic Site]] in West Orange. A previous reconstruction had been built and dedicated in May 1940 when [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] held the world premiere of ''[[Edison, the Man]]'' starring [[Spencer Tracy]] in theaters throughout [[The Oranges]] ([[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]], [[East Orange]], [[South Orange]], and [[Orange, New Jersey|Orange]]).<ref>A replica of the 'Black Maria' studio appeared in Universal-International's comedy ''[[Abbott and Costello]] Meet the [[Keystone Cops]]'' (1955).</ref>


The Black Maria was, according to the staff who worked there, a small and uncomfortable place to work. Edison employees [[W. K. Dickson]] and Jonathan Campbell coined the name—it reminded them of police [[Police van|Black Marias]], (police vans, also known as "paddywagons") of the time because they were also cramped, stuffy and a similar black color. Edison himself called it "The Doghouse", but that name never took hold.
The Black Maria was, according to the staff who worked there, a small and uncomfortable place to work. Edison employees [[W. K. Dickson]] and Jonathan Campbell coined the name{{snd}}it reminded them of police [[Police van|Black Marias]], (police vans, also known as "paddywagons") of the time because they were also cramped, stuffy and a similar black color. Edison himself called it "The Doghouse", but that name never took hold.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}


The Black Maria was covered in black tarpaper and had a huge window in the ceiling that opened up to let in sunlight because early films required a tremendous amount of bright light. It was built on a turntable so the window could rotate toward the sun throughout the day, supplying natural light for hundreds of Edison movie productions over its eight-year lifespan.
The Black Maria was covered in black tarpaper and had a huge window in the ceiling that opened up to let in sunlight because early films required a tremendous amount of bright light. It was built on a turntable so the window could rotate toward the sun throughout the day, supplying natural light for hundreds of Edison movie productions over its eight-year lifespan.


When word spread about the new invention, performers flocked to the Black Maria from all over the country in order to be in the films. These [[silent movies]] featured dancers, pugilists, magicians and vaudeville performers. Their appearances at the studio were used as publicity opportunities by Edison, who would often pose with the performers for newspaper articles.
When word spread about the new invention, performers flocked to the Black Maria from all over the country in order to be in the films. These [[silent movies]] featured dancers, [[pugilist]]s, magicians and vaudeville performers. Their appearances at the studio were used as publicity opportunities by Edison, who would often pose with the performers for newspaper articles.


==Reconstruction==
⚫
== Selected films shot at the Black Maria ==
The Black Maria fell into disuse when film productions moved to New York, and the Edison company dismantled the studio in 1903.<ref name="BM-reopening" /> The Thomas Alva Edison Foundation built a replica Black Maria on the original site in 1954.<ref name="BM-reopening" /> The rebuilt studio was used to exhibit films to the public until it closed in the 1980s.<ref name="BM-reopening" /> In 2022 the National Park Service embarked on a two-year rehabilitation of the structure, involving extensive repairs, a new exterior, and an accessible ramp.<ref name="BM-reopening" /> The Black Maria opened again to the public in April 2024 with new exhibits, interpretive panels, a replica film backdrop, and a supply of period clothing that allows visitors to make their own films and selfies.<ref name="BM-reopening" />
⚫
[[File:Sioux ghost dance, 1894.ogv|thumb|''Sioux [[Ghost Dance]]'']]

⚫
[[File:Sioux Ghost Dance (1894).webm|thumb|''Sioux [[Ghost Dance]]'']]
[[File:The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's).ogv|thumb|The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's)]]
[[File:The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's).ogv|thumb|The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's)]]


⚫
== Selected films shot at the Black Maria ==
⚫
* ''Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'', also known as ''[[Fred Ott's Sneeze]]''
* ''[[Blacksmith Scene]]'' (1893)
* ''[[Blacksmith Scene]]'' (1893)
* ''Washing the Baby'' (1893)
⚫
* ''Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze'', also known as ''[[Fred Ott's Sneeze]]'' (1894)
* ''[[The Boxing Cats (Prof. Welton's)]]'' (1894)
* ''[[The Dickson Experimental Sound Film]]'' (1894/95)
* ''[[The Dickson Experimental Sound Film]]'' (1894/95)
* ''Fun in a Chinese Laundry'' (1896)
* ''Prof. Welton's Boxing Cats''
* ''Sioux Ghost Dance''
* ''Sioux Ghost Dance''
* ''Buffalo Bill's Shooting Skill''
* ''Buffalo Bill's Shooting Skill''
Line 39: Line 43:


== In popular culture ==
== In popular culture ==
⚫
*The Black Maria Film and Video Festival, established in 1981, was named for Edison's creation; since 2021 the event has been known as the [[Thomas Edison Film Festival]].<ref>[http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/index.php Black Maria Film Festival website]</ref>
* [[Todd Rundgren]] wrote and performed a song called "Black Maria" on the album ''[[Something/Anything?]]'' (1972). Though he borrowed the title, Rundgren's lyrics do not appear to have any connection to Edison or to film.
⚫
*Edison's Black Maria studio is used in [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]]'s movie ''[[Hitler: A Film from Germany]]'' in which it appears as a décor for some scenes.<ref>Adams, John. [http://www.moviehabit.com/reviews/hit_jj07.shtml "Hitler, a Film from Germany, DVD review"] in Movie Habit. Retrieved March 11, 2008.</ref>
* The lyrics to the song "Edison Museum" by [[They Might Be Giants]] include the line '"see the Black Maria revolving slowly on its platform."
⚫
*Edison's Black Maria studio is used in [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]]'s movie ''[[Hitler: A Film from Germany]]'' in which it appears as a décor for some scenes.<ref>Adams, John. [http://www.moviehabit.com/reviews/hit_jj07.shtml "Hitler, a Film from Germany, DVD review"] in Movie Habit. Retrieved March 11, 2008.</ref> It also appears contained in a glass paperweight filled with snow as a representation of the [[Grail]].
⚫
*The Black Maria Film and Video Festival, established in 1981, is named after Edison's creation.<ref>[http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/index.php Black Maria Film Festival website]</ref>
*In the [[Adult Swim]] series ''[[The Venture Bros.]]'', there is a supervillain called "Black Maria" who is an amalgam of [[DC Comics]]' [[Black Manta]] and an old 8mm camera. The namesake of the villain most likely comes from Edison's studio.


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=
'''Notes'''
<ref name="BM-reopening">{{cite news |title=Grand Re- Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Black Maria, the World's First Motion Picture Studio |url=https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/news/black-maria-reopening.htm |access-date=9 July 2024 |publisher=National Park Service |date=10 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240627183719/https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/news/black-maria-reopening.htm |archive-date=27 June 2024 |location=West Orange, New Jersey}}</ref>}}
{{reflist}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2011}}


'''Bibliography'''
== Bibliography ==
* Robinson, David (1997). ''From Peepshow to Palace: The Birth of American Film''. New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-10338-7}}
* Robinson, David (1997). ''From Peepshow to Palace: The Birth of American Film''. New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-10338-7}}


Line 57: Line 57:
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist1.html History of Edison Motion Pictures]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist1.html History of Edison Motion Pictures]
* [http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/ Black Maria Film Festival]
* [http://www.blackmariafilmfestival.org/ Black Maria Film Festival]
* [http://www.kino.com/edison/hp.html EDISON: The Invention of the Movies]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050830073711/http://www.kino.com/edison/hp.html Edison: The Invention of the Movies]


{{Thomas Edison}}
{{Thomas Edison}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Media companies established in 1893]]
[[Category:Mass media companies established in 1893]]
[[Category:Media companies disestablished in 1901]]
[[Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1901]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1893]]
[[Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1893]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1903]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1903]]
[[Category:1890s in American cinema]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Essex County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Essex County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
[[Category:Defunct American film studios]]
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[[Category:West Orange, New Jersey]]
[[Category:West Orange, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Thomas Edison]]
[[Category:Thomas Edison]]
[[Category:New Jersey media]]
[[Category:Mass media in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Film production companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Film production companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Film production companies established in the 1890s]]
[[Category:Film studios and soundstages in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Demolished buildings and structures in New Jersey]]

Latest revision as of 19:03, 20 November 2024

40°47′03″N 74°14′01″W / 40.7843°N 74.2337°W / 40.7843; -74.2337

Edison's Black Maria Studio
A drawing of the exterior from 1894

The Black Maria (/məˈraɪ.ə/ mə-RY-ə) was Thomas Edison's film production studio in West Orange, New Jersey. It was the world's first film studio.

History

[edit]

In 1893, the world's first film production studio,[1][2] the Black Maria, or the cinematographic Theater, was completed on the grounds of Edison's laboratories (now Thomas Edison National Historical Park), at West Orange, New Jersey, for the purpose of making film strips for the Kinetoscope. Construction of the building, which included a tar-paper-covered dark studio room with a retractable roof, began in December 1892[3] and was completed the following year at a cost of $637.67 ($21,624 in 2023 dollars). In early May 1893 at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Edison conducted the world's first public demonstration of films shot using the Kinetograph in the Black Maria, with a Kinetoscope viewer. The exhibited film showed three people pretending to be blacksmiths.

Annabelle Whitford doing her "butterfly dance", recorded at the Edison's Black Maria studio

The first motion pictures made in the Black Maria were deposited for copyright by W. K. Dickson at the Library of Congress in August, 1893. In early January 1894, The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (aka Fred Ott's Sneeze) was one of the first series of short films made by Dickson for the Kinetoscope in Edison's Black Maria studio with fellow assistant Fred Ott. The short film was made for publicity purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in Harper's Weekly. It was the earliest motion picture to be registered for copyright – composed of an optical record of Ott sneezing comically for the camera.

The first films shot at the Black Maria included segments of magic shows, plays, vaudeville performances (with dancers and strongmen), acts from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, various boxing matches and cockfights, and scantily-clad women. Many of the early Edison moving images released after 1895, however, were non-fictional "actualities" filmed on location: views of ordinary slices of life – street scenes, the activities of police or firemen, or shots of a passing train.

On Saturday, April 14, 1894, Edison's Kinetoscope began commercial operation. The Holland Brothers (Andrew M. Holland and George C. Holland) opened the first Kinetoscope Parlor at 1155 Broadway in New York City and for the first time, they commercially exhibited movies, as we know them today, in their amusement arcade. Patrons paid ¢25 ($9 in 2023 dollars) as the admission charge to view films in five kinetoscope machines placed in two rows. Nearly 500 people became cinema's first major audience during the showings of films with titles such as Barber Shop, Blacksmiths, Cock Fight, Wrestling, and Trapeze. Edison's film studio was used to supply films for this sensational new form of entertainment. More Kinetoscope parlors soon opened in other cities (San Francisco, Atlantic City, and Chicago). In 1901, the first public film was screened in Oberlin, Ohio, starting the transition from kinetoscope to screen.

When Edison built a glass-enclosed rooftop movie studio in New York City, the Black Maria was closed in January 1901, and Edison demolished the building in 1903.[4] The U. S. National Park Service maintains a reproduction of the Black Maria, built in 1954 at what is now the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange. A previous reconstruction had been built and dedicated in May 1940 when MGM held the world premiere of Edison, the Man starring Spencer Tracy in theaters throughout The Oranges (West Orange, East Orange, South Orange, and Orange).[5]

The Black Maria was, according to the staff who worked there, a small and uncomfortable place to work. Edison employees W. K. Dickson and Jonathan Campbell coined the name – it reminded them of police Black Marias, (police vans, also known as "paddywagons") of the time because they were also cramped, stuffy and a similar black color. Edison himself called it "The Doghouse", but that name never took hold.[citation needed]

The Black Maria was covered in black tarpaper and had a huge window in the ceiling that opened up to let in sunlight because early films required a tremendous amount of bright light. It was built on a turntable so the window could rotate toward the sun throughout the day, supplying natural light for hundreds of Edison movie productions over its eight-year lifespan.

When word spread about the new invention, performers flocked to the Black Maria from all over the country in order to be in the films. These silent movies featured dancers, pugilists, magicians and vaudeville performers. Their appearances at the studio were used as publicity opportunities by Edison, who would often pose with the performers for newspaper articles.

Reconstruction

[edit]

The Black Maria fell into disuse when film productions moved to New York, and the Edison company dismantled the studio in 1903.[6] The Thomas Alva Edison Foundation built a replica Black Maria on the original site in 1954.[6] The rebuilt studio was used to exhibit films to the public until it closed in the 1980s.[6] In 2022 the National Park Service embarked on a two-year rehabilitation of the structure, involving extensive repairs, a new exterior, and an accessible ramp.[6] The Black Maria opened again to the public in April 2024 with new exhibits, interpretive panels, a replica film backdrop, and a supply of period clothing that allows visitors to make their own films and selfies.[6]

Sioux Ghost Dance
The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's)

Selected films shot at the Black Maria

[edit]
[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Wood, Bret. "The Films of Thomas Edison". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. ^ Dirks, Tim. "Early Cinematic Origins and the Infancy of Film". filmsite.org. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. ^ Robinson (1997). p. 23.
  4. ^ "Early Edison Motion Picture Production (1892–1895) in Inventing Entertainment: The Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies", retrieved April 15, 2012.
  5. ^ A replica of the 'Black Maria' studio appeared in Universal-International's comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops (1955).
  6. ^ a b c d e "Grand Re- Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Black Maria, the World's First Motion Picture Studio". West Orange, New Jersey: National Park Service. 10 April 2024. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  7. ^ Black Maria Film Festival website
  8. ^ Adams, John. "Hitler, a Film from Germany, DVD review" in Movie Habit. Retrieved March 11, 2008.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Robinson, David (1997). From Peepshow to Palace: The Birth of American Film. New York and Chichester, West Sussex: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-10338-7
[edit]

Media related to Edison's Black Maria at Wikimedia Commons

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