Making movie history
TEXT OF STORY
MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Time to open the Marketplace Vault and take a peak at this week in the History of Business: Two brothers and the silver screen.
STACEY VANEK-SMITH: This week back in 1895, a group of Parisians became the first people in the world to buy movie tickets.
Louis and August Lumiere held the first commercial screening of a film at the Grand CafA© in Paris.
The year before, the brothers had invented a moving picture camera and projector. The first film featured short clips, including one of workers leaving a factory, a blacksmith working and a baby being fed.
The brothers made 2,000 short films over the next five years. They even took the camera and films on tour to Bombay, London and New York.
But they eventually abandoned film, thinking cinema was an invention without any future.
The brothers turned their attention to a more static medium. They became one of the top producers of still photography equipment in Europe.
I’m Stacey Vanek-Smith.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
