History Edison's Black Maria
a drawing of interior (1894) annabelle whitford doing butterfly dance , recorded @ edison s black maria studio the first motion pictures made in black maria deposited copyright dickson @ library of congress in august, 1893. in january 1894, edison kinetoscopic record of sneeze (aka fred ott s sneeze) 1 of first series of short films made dickson kinetoscope in edison s black maria studio fellow assistant fred ott. short film made publicity purposes, series of still photographs accompany article in harper s weekly. earliest motion picture registered copyright — composed of optical record of ott sneezing comically camera. the first films shot @ black maria, tar-paper-covered, dark studio room retractable roof, included segments of magic shows, plays, vaudeville performances (with dancers , strongmen), acts buffalo bill s wild west show, various boxing matches , cockfights, , scantily-clad women. many of edison moving images released after 1895, however, non-fictional actualities f...