Sandow

0026

1

Sandow

The strongest man in the world, in his act, showing muscular movement, development, etc.


The Kinetoscope Company, Edison's Latest Wonders: The Kinetograph, The Kinetoscope [octobre 1894].

2

1 Edison (MU 26).  
2 W.K.L. DicksonWilliam Heise. Eugen Sandow
 
Sandow at the Edison Laboratory
A remarkable test of the kinetoscope was made on Wednesday at the Edison Laboratory, when the world-renowned Sandow, the strong man, came out from New York, and was photographed in a number of poses. He also went through various of his characteristic motions. Mr. Sandow was accompanied by Mr. Koster, of Koster & Bial's; C.B. Cline, the business manager of Koster & Bial, and Richard T. Haines, of the North American Phonograph Company. The party arrived at the Phonograph Works about 11 o'clock and were there met by William K.L. Dickson, head of the photo-kinetographic department of the laboratory, and head of the electric ore milling department as well. Extensive preparations had been made for the visit.
The exhibitions were all made in the new building which Mr. Dickson invented and built for the kinetoscopic experiments. This is a building 50x13, entirely lined with black tarred paper, giving the effect of a dead black tunnel behind the subject to be photographed. The building is poised on a graphite center so skillfully that it can be rotated on a turntable and keep the full sunlight turned on the subject. Mr. Edison was not present when the party arrived, having worked all night and Iain down at 7:30 in the morning for needed rest. He reached the building soon after 12 o'clock and was introduced to Mr. Sandow. Sandow had previously stated that he would charge $250 for coming out to give the exhibition, but would gladly come for nothing for the privilege of shaking the hand of Edison, the greatest man of the age. Sandow was stripped to the waist so as to show the wonderful play of his muscles and his marvelous chest expansion. This was fourteen inches.
ln addition to the kinetoscope, with which over three thousand pictures were taken in less than a minute and a half, an average of nearly forty-six a second, there was a battery of cameras on each side of the kinetoscope, with which special pictures of various poses were taken. These pictures varied from 4x5 to 14x17. One of the large pictures was one of Mr. Edison feeling Sandow's muscles with a curiously comical expression on his face. A funny scene was when Sandow asked Mr. Cline if he would mind being "chucked" out of the door for the benefit of the kinetoscope. Mr. Cline demurred but quicker than a flash Sandow caught him with one hand and sent him sailing through the air and out of the door. Unfortunately the whole thing was done so quickly that it could not be caught by the cameras. Sandow expressed his regret and said that he would have to bring out next time some man that liked to be "chucked." Alter the experiments were over Mr. Dickson made a group photograph of Mr. Edison, Sandow, Mr. Kaster, Mr. Cline and Mr. Haines. The party were then driven to Davis's restaurant where a fine dinner had been served by Mr. Edison's orders. The latter could not accompany them, but Mr. Dickson did so as the personal representative of Mr. Edison. The dinner was a fine one and reflected great credit on Davis. Sandow gave an account of his life and how he had developed his phenomenal strength and Mr. Dickson gave a history of Mr. Edison's life and personality and his wonderful achievements.
The kinetograph has now been thoroughly perfected and placed on the market. This has been one of the chief objects at which Mr. Dickson has been at work for the past five years. He has succeeded in producing a light and portable instrument which can be readily taken around and catch novel objects everywhere over the world. Some of the details about the wonderful machine are interesting. The film is a sensitized one and tears along through the field of exposure at the rate of twenty-six miles an hour. The motion is not continuous but the film is at absolute rest during each exposure. When il is considered that these follow one another as above stated at the rate of forty-six in a second, and when it is further remembered that the film is at absolute rest nine-tenths of the time, the jump from one exposure to the next being in one-tenth of the time of the actual exposure, the marvelous accuracy of the machine and the lightning-like speed of the film can be appreciated.
Sandow and Mr. Cline came out again yesterday and were met by Mr. Dickson. They were driven to the home of Mr.Edison in Llewellyn Park, where they spent an hour or more. After taking a dinner at Davis's they went out for a drive.
Mr. Dickson then took his guests to his home on Cleveland street where the remainder of the afternoon was spent, Miss Antonia Dickson assisting her brother in entertaining and playing several selections on the piano. Last night Sandow was the guest of the Orange Camera Club at its dinner at Davis's and returned to New York on the 8:14 train.
Mr. Dickson and his sister, Miss Antonia Dickson, have just finished a life of Mr. Edison, which will soon be given to the public. They are well qualified for the undertaking, Mr. Dickson having been associated with Mr. Edison for some thirteen years, ever since he was superintendent of his electrical works in New York, and during that time has been brought into close personal intimacy with him.
Orange Chronicle, Orange, samedi 10 mars 1894, p. 5.
3 06/03/1894. © W.K.L. Dickson. 18/05/1894.  
 

EDISON PERFECTS HIS KINETESCOPE
It Shows Photographs That Have All the Action ot the Original Objects
FORTY-SIX PICTURES A SECOND
Experiments with the New Camera Made for the First Time with Sandow Posed.
SHOW OF BRAWN AND BRAIN.
The strongest man on earth, to quote the play bills, and the greatest inventor of the age met yesterday at Menlo Park, New Jersey. The meeting was an interesting one, and the giant of brain and the giant of muscle found much to admire in each other. Sandow marvelled at Edison's Inventions, and the Wizard gazed longingly and enviously at the prodigious muscles of the strong man. 
The latest development of Edison's genius in the line of photography, on which he has been working for the past five years, the kinetoscope, was practically completed a few days ago, and in casting about for a unique subject for the first photograph by the new process Edison chose Sandow as the most fitting and striking character.
Accompanied by John Koster, of Koster & Bial's, Manager C. B. Cline and B. T. Haines, of the Northwestern Telephone Company, Sandow took the Delaware and Lackawanna train at eleven o'clock yesterday morning for Menlo Park. Edison met the quartet at the depot.
TWO GIANTS ARM IN ARM.
The main principle of the kinetoscope, as is already known, consists in the taking of a great number of impressions by a camera in a limited space of time, thus obtaining a continuous photograph of the entire motion of the object or person. The photographs follow each other in such rapid succession that no lapse of time can be detected between the impression recorded, and the series of pictures becomes in effect but one picture.
Then proceeding to the studio Edison and Sandow walked arm in arm. The studio is a building apart from the factory. It is so constructed as to move with the sun, so that the luminary which shines through an aperture about twenty feet in width will always shine directly on the object or person being photographed, the object being to get a perfect focus. The building as it turns rolls like a ship, being erected on a sort of pivot.
The walls, floor and ceiling of the studio are black. The machine for taking pictures consists of a large, square box, about four feet by three. The slide, however, is different from the ordinary, as it is revolving. Back of the spring Is a sensitive gelatine plate in the form of a band that runs on two rollers-. The rollers are revolved rapidly by electricity.
FORTY-SIX PICTURES A SECOND
Forty-six pictures are taken in one second, and the exposure lasts twenty seconds—the length of time required to unroll the band.
The camera Is kept behind a curtain in complete darkness, and when the person is ready to be photographed the curtain is drawn aside, the camera pushed forward on rollers and the exposure takes place.
The opening in the camera is but three inches in width and the pictures are an inch square, though the inventor says he will be able to take pictures of a larger size soon.
Sandow showed his eight well known movements for the distension of the muscles. These bad to be done within twenty seconds, the time of the exposure, so it necessitated some practice beforehand.
The plates secured were declared perfect.
"Let’s get our pictures taken together." said Edison.
"I should consider it an honor and a privilege," replied Sandow, and in a few moments the picture was taken.


New York Herald, New York, 7 mars 1894, p. 9.

4 États-UnisWest Orange. Black Maria.  

3

07/02/1895 MexiqueMéxico John R. Roslyn  Hércules 
04/06/1895 Grande-BretagneÎle de Man. Derby Castle  H.S. Williams Sandow
 
[…] and Sandow is shown in his act. Every feature, every moving muscle, and firm compression of the lip (when straining to produce some tremendous force), every movement oh head, arm, leg, and body is reproduced before the beholder’s rapt gaze, with absolute fidelity to nature and with marvelous distinctness, precisely as Sandow went through these movements before the camera of the kinetograph.
Isle of Man Times, 22 juin 1895, p. 4. 

4

0026 01 sandow_07.jpg
The Souvenir Strip Edison Kinetoscope (1)
" Eugene Sandow " (1894) [D.R.]
The Souvenir Strip Edison Kinetoscope (2)
" Eugene Sandow " (1894) [D.R.]

Contacts