February 5: ThePhiladelphia-basedengineer Henry Renno Heyl presented hisPhasmatrope to 1500 persons at a church entertainment evening at thePhiladelphia Academy of Music. This modifiedmagic lantern had a wheel that could hold 16 photographic slides and a shutter. The wheel was rotated in front of the light source by an intermittent mechanism to project the slides successively, probably with a speed of 3 fps. The program contained three subjects: All Right (a popular Japaneseacrobat),Brother Jonathan, and awaltzing couple. Brother Jonathan addressed the audience with avoice actor behind the screen and professed that "this art will rapidly develop into one of the greatest merit for instruction and enjoyment." The pictures of the waltzing couple survived and consist of four shots of costumed dancers (Heyl and a female dancing partner) that were repeated four times in the wheel. The pictures were posed. The waltzing animations were screened with an appropriate musical accompaniment by a 40-personorchestra. Heyl's only known other show was a screening on 16 March 1870 at theFranklin Institute.[1][2]
The French entertainerFrançois Dominique Séraphin had popularisedshadow plays in France during the 18th century. Séraphin died in 1800 but his shadow play shows continued, initially under the direction of his nephew. The shadow play theatre which Séraphin had established closed in 1870.[6][7] The shadow play tradition is considered a precursor ofsilhouette animation.[8]
Around 1870, the first demonstration of theKaleidotrope took place at theRoyal Polytechnic Institution: a slide with a single perforated metal or cardboard disc suspended on a spiral spring. The holes can be tinted with colored pieces ofgelatin. When struck, the disc's vibration and rotation sends the colored dots of light swirling around in all sorts of shapes and patterns. It was dubbed "Kaleidotrope" when commercial versions were marketed.[9]
October 9:John Barnes Linnett, Britishlithographprinter, (the first person to patent theflip book, a type of small book with relatively springy pages, each having one in a series of animation images located near its unbound edge), dies at an unknown age.[10][11][12] Early film animators cited flip books as their inspiration more often than the earlier animation devices, which did not reach as wide an audience.[13]
