00:00Before the movie industry made Hollywood California its home, there was Hollywood on the prairie right here in Lake County, Illinois. The following animation from the Dunn Museum illustrates the story of Edward Amont of Waukegan and his wonderful motion picture machine, the Magnuscope.
00:28Waukegan's motion picture industry of the 1890s. In 1894, one of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope parlors in Chicago was visited by electrical engineer and inventor Edward Amet. He was impressed by Edison's moving picture viewing machine, the kinetoscope, but knew he could improve on it. Amet thought, wouldn't it be better if more than one person at a time could view moving pictures?
00:58Amet returned home to Waukegan and built the Magnuscope, the first practical 35-millimeter motion picture projector. The Magnuscope was practical because it did not require electricity to operate. Operated by hand crank, and the light source could be an electric bulb or kerosene lamp.
01:18Amet and his business partner, George Spohr, put together the great motion picture show at Waukegan's Phoenix Opera House and showed Edison films on the Magnuscope, earning $400 in ticket sales.
01:33The Magnuscope went into production and was sold to traveling showmen. Amet wanted to provide films to sell with his projector and began making his own movies.
01:44He even pioneered the use of special effects props. Remarkably, he never patented his Magnuscope.
02:05And his movie-making career stopped short when his fiercely competitive rival, Thomas Edison, sued him for using the 35-millimeter film format.
02:15Edward Amet's inventions include electric waterwheel governor, method and means for localizing sound reproduction, synchronized sound camera and projector, automatic coin-controlled ticket printing, weighing scale, the graphophone, and the guided torpedo.
