A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DMax Skladanowsky : 1863 - 1939
Max Skladanowsky was born in Berlin on April 30, 1863 and trained as an artist in the Schoenhauserallee in Pankow. From 1879 he (and his brother Emil?) assisted his father Carl with Nebula Picturesin the Berlin Town Hall and later at the Apollo Theatre in Friedrichstrasse. Nebula pictures were projections of multiple images [accompanied by sound effects?] which reproduced the illusion of earthquakes, thunderstorms, fires and other disasters. These 'productions' were in some ways precursors of today's multimedia. In the summer of 1892 he made one of the first motion pictures using the then new Kodak [celluloid] film in his Bioscop camera/projector system. On November 1, 1895, some two months in advance of the Lumière Brothers show at the Salon Indienne, Skladanowsky projected moving pictures to a paying public using his Bioskop at the Berlin Wintergarten. The eight 'features' shown that night included circus acts 'The Milton Brothers', Juggler Paul Petras, 'Mister Delaware's Boxing Kangaroo', 'The Grunato Family' (Gymnasts), a boxing match between Grainer and Sandow plus scenes shot in and around Berlin itself. The 'show' ran a total of about 15 minutes and was enthusiastically reported in a Berlin newspaper several days later on November 5, 1895.
 Frames from Skladanowsky's Bioscop camera
Skladanowsky's Bioskop (Bioscope) worked by exposing and subsequently projecting two alternating and staggered film strips giving an effective frame rate of 16 pictures per second. It was a bulky and unwieldy device however and was soon outdated by the more common and mechanically simpler single lens, single film systems. Max Sklananowsky died in Belin on November 30, 1939 and was buried in the Pankower cemetery. In 1951 Skladanowskystrasse in Niederschoenhausen was named after him. Max had a brother Emil of which little seems to be documented. As the phrase the 'brothers' Skladanowsky is often used but without further qualification, one might assume that Emil did contribute to the development of the Bioskop but that Max played the dominant role. Sources: http://www.mwe.de/kino/personen/skladano.htm and http://www.german-way.com/cinema/ufachron.html
Max Skladanowsky and the beginning of the German Film Industry Berlin, November 1, 1895: Worldwide, for the first time, the brothers Max and Emil Skladanowsky projected short movie sequences for a paying audience. Thus they were pioneering and rightfully they should have gone down in film history as the inventors of the movie theater. On December 28, 1895, it was the french brothers Lumière who arranged the actual worldwide premiere of motion pictures. Obviously the date seems to have determined the fact that the two Germans did not get the credit as inventors of the movies. For 100 years a large number of myths and legends about the Skladanowsky brothers were widespread, some of them showing even traits of a film-political crime story. Which film did the Skladanowsky brothers really present on November 1, 1985 in Berlin? What were Max Skladanowsky's relations to Hitler's propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels? Join a trip through the history of motion pictures beginning with so far unknown origins of German movie history and ending in present days with a 100th anniversary of motion pictures. Castan, Joachim, Max Skladanowsky and the beginning of the German Film Industry Size 21 x 25 cm, hardcover, 264 pages with 41 b/w-illustrations, ISBN 3-9803451-3-0, price DM 74,- Fuesslin Verlag | Stubaier Strasse 20, 70327 Stuttgart, Germany | eMail fuesslin@rfl.de
Max Skladanowsky
Sammlung Max Skladanowsky: Aus dem Nachlass eines Film-Pioniers
Max Skladanowsky
Max Skladanowsky
Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (alt: 'Trick of the Light' by Wim Wender, 1994)
Back to the Top | Scientists and Engineers N - Z | Quit | eMail: Dr Russell Naughton |