historique

The Modern Marvel Company, créée en 1897, exploite un appareil cinématographique, le Zoegraph. Parmi les animateurs des séances en février, on compte Ross Scott, J. William et C. P. Robertson :

Mr Ross Scott kept the audience in good humour by his clever sketches, while Mr J. William was excellent lecturer. Much credit is also due to Mr C. P. Robertson, who acted electrician. This excellent performance will repeated to-night, when no doubt the hall will again well filled.

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Dundee Courier, Dundee, vendredi 26 février 1897, p. 4.

D'autres séances ont lieu à Grangemouth, Alloa, Brechin, Montrose, Dundee, Inverness, Dingwall... Dès le mois de mars, cependant, on apprend que Thomas James West semble avoir repris ces projections que The Modern Marvel Co. organise à Cupar :

This, the gentleman himself explained, was due to a joint enlargement. Interesting and instructive as all these illustrations were, the benefit derived from them was greatly enhanced by the remarks of the lecturer-Mr. T. J. West. this gentleman, who is not altogether a stranger to Cupar (having visited the town previously in connection with other touring companies), has lectured twenty-nine times before Royalty, and shewed by his intelligent observation and graceful delivery that his reputation as a lecturer is based on no meretricious claims. The Modern Marvel Company, it may be added, is organized by one of the largest Syndicates going, with great wealth at its back. Its mission is to buy up every noteworthy invention or discovery capable of exhibition, and to tour round the country giving representations of them along with oral explanations. The entertainment thus becomes not merely a pleasure for sight seers, but a positive instruction to all interested in modern developments in every field of labour.

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St Andrews Citizen, Cupar, samedi 27 mars 1897, p. 5.

The Modern Marvel Co. et son principal animateur,Thomas James West vont continuer à présente le zoegraph jusqu'en avril 1897. Dès lors ce nom disparaît pour laisser place à un "cinematograph" dont on ne connaît pas l'origine exacte. En réalité,Thomas James West s'engage dans une nouvelle étape au cours de laquelle il va faire équipe avec George, Hastings Philp. Ils commencent leur tournée à Silloth, le 2 août 1897, comme le raconte West lui-même :

Then came the cinematograph, and I quickly recognised the possibilities of this wonderful invention, and was one of the first in, as a touring exhibitor of the same. I started on a tour in Scotland, and, in response to an advertisement for an operator, I had an application from Mr. George Hastings Philp, and he was at once engaged, and seeing that he is still with me at the present day in the responsible post of my principal buyer is eloquent of a mutual appreciation.
And now I come to the whiskers. At that early stage, of course, a touring show was always worked by limelight, and the first place Mr. Philp joined me at was the first time I brought the show into England, at Silloth, in Cumberland. The executive of the show was limited to myself and Mr. Philp; I did the lecturing, and Mr. Philp did the operating. On the day of his arrival he said to me, "I always make a practice, when gauging the contents of the cylinders, to test the regulators for any leaks." I said, "Good ! " and he requested me to assist him in this matter. He desired me to place my thumb over the coal-gas outlet, whilst he turned it on and then applied a lighted match to the bellows vent on the regulator, and sure enough he found a leak. A very small one it was, but it showed the tiniest point of blue flame. I was  taken by surprise, and unguardedly removed my thumb from the outlet, with the instantaneous result that the larger volume of escaping gas immediately caught alight, and struck me on the beard. Mr. Philp, cool as he always is, as quickly shut off the supply, and proceeded to extinguish my singeing beard. I raised his salary on the spot, for I at once recognised that, if I could be surprised at a moment of danger, it was impossible to upset the coolness of Mr. Philp, and I knew that in him I should have a man who would be equal to any emergency with respect to gas cylinders and projection in general. I reluctantly had to shave off the singed beard, and up to the present have not cultivated a further growth.

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WEST, 1912: 817.