The looking glass. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1894-????, December 25, 1897, Image 6

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The looking glass., December 25, 1897, Page 6, Image 6

About The looking glass. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1894-???? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 1897)

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Newspaper Page Text6 HOW THE VITASCOPE PICTURES WERE MADE. A Curious Story of the Taking of the Record at Carson City. The Operators Ran Short of Film and Were Obliged to Cut Out the Intermissions Between 'the Rounds—Difficulty Experienced in Patch ing up the Pictures for Exhibition Purposes—The Fate of the Fake Views in an lowa Town. There are a number of curious and interesting details in connection with the vitascope panorama of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons mill, exhibited here last week, that have never yet been given to the public. Those who saw the pictures were surprised at the fact that the intermissions between the rounds were nearly all omittted. The shadowy forms of the pugilists would be seen to retire to their respective corners when time was called, and their seconds, rubbers and handlers instantly surrounded their chairs. Then would come a sudden jerk of the film, the picture would be blurred for a brief fraction of time, and the two fighters would be seen once more in the center of the ring. The general supposition was that these omissions had been made to reduce the time of the exhibition to the limits of an ordinary evening’s entertainment. There was, however, another and much more inter esting reason. According to the electrician who was with the show, and who had been present when the original negatives were taken at Carson City, the intermissionsjwere left out to save film. “We went to the fight very badly provided with film,” he said, “and were frightened half to death for fear it would give out before the mill was over. So after a few minutes we stopped the machine be tween rounds and only took the actual fighting. Each round under the Queensbury rules lasted three minutes and the intermission one minute each. In that way we saved one fourth of the film. If the fight had lasted eight more rounds we would have run out of it altogether.” The pictures are taken forty to the second and as they are exactly one inch deep the operation uses up 200 feet of film a minute. This film is a strip of transparent celluloid with a sensitized surface and it can be made any length desired. As a matter of fact nearly two miles of it were used at Carson City While the record of the great fight is a truly won derful affair the pictures are very defective compared to the views that have been exhibited here on the biograph and cimeomatograph. Os course all these machines are alike in principle ' but they vary slightly in mechanical construction. The defects in the pictures are largely due, however, to other causes, some very curious. Strange to say, after spending thousands of dollars to pull off the fight, the Veriscope Company, at the head of which is Dan Stuart, neglected to provide the necessary appliances at the ringside to take the pictures suc cessfully. The photographic machine was set up in a rickety shed' where it was impossible to get it entirely rigid, and instead of being operated by a motor it was turned by hand with a cog-wheel de vice. The result was that the pictures were not evenly “timed” and some are perfectly distinct while others are mere shadows. Another trouble was caused by freshly painting the frame work of the recording machine on the morning of the fight. The consequence of this was that the vibrations spattered the film with micro scopic drops of paint, and that is what caused the black spots which so greatly disfigured the repro ductions. * | ‘ /. , Mg • X ~ . -wi ’ WF Wf -S < ’ • ll® 1 m ’ XSt * I s. gM&BMMsi/Mr kmMMMMmbBIMmMMmmsIm I ■ I 11 >■. > Sir! rSlllr wrlg S&,IISsS ‘ ISs l|W s*/'hfc lllil . 3| life/WE »\ntL iisNnl - ■ z> wh * | J -Mr ■ J ®' T•■Wi >'i I ISHgpggM /a1.... I ' J c JF f I a. 'Sr SL slb 6 • _ Sk SB L I iMBu WPS Bi B -Y'-i '1 • .jg Il . 'W IB S MSta.- I *3i~ ip ■Fite h \ w . J - .Pf 1B S 1 "■MFj f*W • ♦ KL I 7 Tm ja ■HkW J ■ ? ■■-h ■ • piwfei- 4~.X- Sh ■ ' w w sf ® r f g SMMfISSr ? n ■■■■••-/ f •• i ”j- i T /h Br/n / BwSW' Z w -4. y..• <>•' I ? -f r ■ «.. . ~ < K'. i‘ ■''■.g/R ■ i. T - v *w. ■ ■'>■ - W l soi|Lf • . v- r-. X-r i ■■• / 9 ' tl i' f y ■' . SS I ■ f 1 ■Mte. •v.< s , k v , ’ - ■ j ¥ h . £j ; :.X > .mS WAITING FOR SANTA CL A Photographic Art Study Made so The [g>KiNG 1