WHEN Lumière brought the first exhibition of animated pictures to London in 1896, I witnessed one of the original representations at the Polytechnic. At once I saw the great possibilities of such a wonderful novelty for the Egyptian Hall.

I persuaded Mr. Maskelyne and his son to accompany me to the next performance, and felt confident that after seeing the exhibition they would wish to secure it, if possible, for the Hall. To my surprise, Mr. Maskelyne gave it as his opinion that it would be only a nine days' wonder, and was not worth troubling about. Although I had no interest in the matter, except the good of the firm, nothing that I could say would persuade them even to ask terms or trouble further with the matter.

Personally I was convinced that here was a rare novelty, and I asked terms, intending, if a machine could be secured, to speculate on one for myself. I found that M. Trewey, who was managing the show for himself, would not sell a machine at all, and that the hire price was £100 a week. At this price the Empire had secured the London rights, and the exhibition was to open there in a few days. The performances at the Polytechnic were, it appeared, dress rehearsals, to show the pictures to managers.

One hundred pounds a week was more than I cared to risk, and I had given up the idea of being able to exploit the machine myself or of inducing Mr. Maskelyne to do so, when I made a discovery that set me on the track of another cinematograph. In reading a copy of the English Mechanic I came across a paragraph which Stated that a Mr. R. W. Paul had invented a machine for projecting kinetescopic pictures on the screen, and that this was the first machine to achieve good results.

My wife and I were about to commence dinner, but on her advice I left the meal and made my way in a hansom cab as quickly as possible to the office of the paper, and there obtained the information that Mr. Paul was a scientific instrument maker with a place of business in Hatton Garden. Going to Hatton Garden, I found a gentleman just getting into a cab loaded with boxes. Here was the inventor I was in search of.

I quickly made my business known and asked for particulars of the machine. Mr. Paul told me that he was just going to show the instrument at the Olympia at a side-show, and invited me to accompany him there and see it. My time was limited, as I had to be back at the Egyptian Hall for the evening show, but afterwards would have been too late. I decided to go.

During the journey I gathered from Mr. Paul that he had made the machine and had shown it to some friends some time previously, but looked upon it as a kind of plaything, and had put it away again until recently. He quoted me a price for the machine, and promised me the first one if I wished, also a commission on any further machines I might be the means of selling. The price for each was to be £100, less commission.

After seeing the performance I asked for an option on buying the machine until the following day, intending to offer it to Mr. Maskelyne. Surely, I thought, he would be glad to take such a chance, but I found that he would not risk even £100, so convinced was he that there was nothing in it.

I then proposed that if he would give me a salary for the novelty and try it, I would buy the machine myself and risk the result. He agreed to give me £5 a week for a month, but impressed upon me that I must not be disappointed if, after that time, the contract ended. I do not remember how long the original machine was shown, but it was for years, not months, and we had the satisfaction of showing animated pictures, as Mr. Maskelyne called them, two days after the Lumière Cinematograph was first presented at the Empire, so that we were the second house in London to show the novelty, and the hall was packed to capacity in consequence.

I soon bought a second machine and fitted it up for private performances with limelight. I was, I believe, the first to do this. I received £25 for each performance for some time. It would be a long, long story to recount all that was done with these pictures, as difficulties in obtaining good results were at the time very great. For instance, for one winter I journeyed every week-end to Paris in search of films. I left by the night-boat after the show and returned by the Sunday night-boat.

M. Melies, of the Théâtre Robert Houdin, bought several machines from me and eventually started a business of manufacturing films and machines, which he carried on for some years. For a time I was his sole agent in Great Britain for the sale of films and cameras, and soon I had to decide between giving up conjuring or selling these goods. I gave up the commission agent's business after a most successful and remunerative run and stuck to showmanship only. During this period I sold machines to Carl Hertz, who was the first to show pictures in Africa. Victor André was also one of my customers, as well as many other showmen all over the country.

By this time Mr. Maskelyne had considerably altered his views, and Mr. Nevil, after many costly experiments, nearly succeeded in making a machine in which the films would run continuously without the stoppages which wore them away so quickly. Unfortunately, it did not quite succeed. Meanwhile my machine still went merrily on, and, in fact, Mr. Paul's make of instrument was still in use at St. George's Hall when I left in 1915.

The first moving picture projector at the Egyptian Hall

There were also three tours running in the provinces at this time, each giving a long programme of animated pictures with effects. By the success of these tours I was able to prove to Mr. Maskelyne that I had a certain amount of organizing ability.

During the Diamond jubilee Mr. Maskelyne conceived the idea of pulling down a large drapery establishment in St. Paul's Churchyard and building a grandstand in its place for two days, and then rebuilding the drapery establishment. As a result of this idea there ensued a business transaction which proved my confidence in Mr. Maskelyne. He came to me one day and asked me to buy some of the seats on the prospective stand on condition that he rebought them at the same price on a certain day unless in the interim I had sold the seats at a profit. I got together £2,283 15s. This transaction cemented our friendship, and was, I think, the real beginning of the partnership of Maskelyne and Devant.

I had never studied photography, so it is not surprising that I had some rather curious adventures with the pictures. The first time I uncapped a lens to take a photograph was at a garden fête at Chelsea Hospital, at which were present nearly the whole Royal Family, with the exception of Queen Victoria. It was more by luck than judgment that the negatives turned out to be excellent and were shown all over the world. Miss Knollys wrote to me on behalf of the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Alexandra, asking for a copy of the picture. I sent Her Royal Highness the roll of film, and often wonder what she did with it. What made this incident more extraordinary was that the camera had only arrived from France on the very morning of the day on which I took this lucky picture.

When Queen Victoria came to London for her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 I made arrangements to take a film of her passing through London Street, near Paddington Station, after her arrival at that terminus. On this occasion fortune was not with me. I got there bright and early with my camera and fixed up a temporary platform outside a shop which I had hired.

When I tried to focus up I found I had not got my lens with me: it was a special lens which I carried in my pocket. The time was so near, and the crowd was so closely packed, that it was impossible to retrieve it, although the lens was in an overcoat pocket in a vehicle I had left a short distance away. So there I was, perched on the platform with the camera beside me, and when the Queen passed, not wishing to look too foolish before the crowd, I turned the handle with great energy. It made a whirring sound, and, not being in the best of tempers, perhaps I looked somewhat savagely at the Queen's carriage.

At all events, the combination made her start visibly, and I hope Her Majesty did not think I was an anarchist with some new sort of machine-gun. Princess Beatrice, who was sitting next to her, however, appeared to explain the matter to her satisfaction. The carriage passed on, leaving me pictureless. However, I got a good one of Her Majesty the next day from Maskelyne's stand in St. Paul's Churchyard.

The first animated picture ever taken of a performer was shot by R. W. Paul on the roof of the Alhambra Theatre. It was one of myself doing a short trick with rabbits. I produced one from an opera hat, then made it into twins, all alive and kicking. This picture was reproduced in a little device called a Filiscope. The hundreds of pictures which go to make up a film of a cinematograph were printed on paper in the form of a little book, the leaves of which were turned one at a time by a simple mechanical device, the rapidly moving leaves giving the effect of movement. This pocket cinematograph sold by the million.

Another notable picture I had taken of myself was procured by Monsieur Melies in Paris, and was, I believe, the first picture in which things were made to disappear and reappear and change by trick photography, such as stopping the camera, double exposures, etc. I mean, of course, a cinematograph picture of this class, for I had previously had an ordinary still picture done in which my wife was apparently floating in the air in front of me. This had been a great success, and was advertised in the Press under the title of "My Spirit Wife".

It will be remembered that about this time Mr. Maskelyne had a lawsuit over his famous box, in which he was sued by a young man for £1,000, which he had publicly offered to anyone who could reproduce his box trick. The case was taken right up to the House of Lords, and Mr. Maskelyne eventually lost the case. He was able to revive the box trick, however, and the whole affair turned out to be an excellent advertisement. I was called as witness in this case, to prove, on Mr. Maskelyne's behalf, that a trick which had a certain effect could be accomplished by different means, so that a person performing this certain effect did not necessarily know the secret of the means used by another person for a similar effect.

I illustrated this by doing a trick with a coin in the witness-box, in which I first disappeared a coin, then showed I had retained it in my hand; then repeated the same movements: this time it disappeared completely.

"I suppose," remarked the judge, "you could pass that coin anywhere." "Yes," I replied innocently. "I will pass it into your lordship's, wig if you wish." At this there was a roar of laughter, in which the judge joined.

It appeared I had made a faux pas by alluding to the judge's wig; in fact, the placard of the evening papers that night exhibited these words: "Contempt of Court--Tampering with a judge's Wig."

During this case I produced a box in court which was apparently a complete replica of Mr. Maskelyne's original box; certainly the same trick had been performed with it. Mr. Maskelyne's contention had been that, although many imitations had been made, no other imitators knew the exact secret of his box. This is what he meant by his challenge, but in constant repetition he had become careless in the wording of it, and the claimants gained the day.

By this time I had three companies running in the provinces with animated pictures and a few variety turns. This was done with the Chief's permission, and the billing announced: "Mr. David Devant's Animated Pictures. Direct from Maskelyne and Cooke's, Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly."

I now asked, and obtained, permission to include the above-mentioned box trick in one of the programmes, where naturally it proved a great attraction. For another programme I designed a magical spectacle on the black art principle called the "Zauberwunder", which included several novel effects. I had some most amusing experiences with this. I rehearsed it in my garden behind my house at Swiss Cottage, to the great amusement of the neighbours and the disgust of my wife, who objected to having her garden spoilt with frequent sprinklings of calcium carbide, used for my acetylene-gas lighting and fit-up.

The house, too, was like a hive, actors tramping in and out with muddy boots to change their costumes in their bedrooms, typists hammering away in the dining-room, and perhaps trying out a film in the drawing-room. However, this came to an end in good time, and the companies were soon running merrily and profitably in the provincial towns. I had three excellent lieutenants acting as managers and operators of the machines. They each had to do a double rôle. These three were my brother (Mr. Ernest Wighton), Mr. George Facer, and Mr. Smith. To look after the illusions I had Mr. Walter Booth and his brother Bert, Dr. Seaton, and others-all good men and true.

A great feature with the films was the effects we worked with them. The difficulty was to get enough new subjects; the long story film had not then been thought of. The films we had at the time were simply short incidents, and even these were very scarce.

Of course, this was very hard work for me, as I had the three companies to manage, book tours, etc., as well as my performances. One day a brilliant idea struck me, and I approached the beloved Chief with a new proposition. I had the temerity to suggest that we should combine our forces and supplant my three companies with a proper Maskelyne and Cooke Provincial Company, for which I should act as managing partner, and that we should each supply contributions of working plant and half the working capital.

To this Mr. Maskelyne at first replied with a decided negative. He assured me that from his experience of a provincial company it would not pay. He had frequently tried excursions in the country under the management of his son Nevil, and had never made a profit. To which I replied by telling him the tale of the donkey who was crossing a stream on a hot day and was laden with bags of salt. Feeling the heat, and needing a rest, it laid itself down in mid-stream. When it rose again after an interval, it found that its load was lightened considerably by reason of most of the salt having dissolved. Some time afterwards it was crossing the same stream with another load, and, judging by its past experience, thought it would repeat the restful tactics; but lo, on rising, the load was much heavier, the bags being filled with sponges.

This tale amused him, but I think he was more convinced by my accounts of the three companies I was running. After I had outlined some new methods I proposed to use, he became convinced, and consented to my proposition on certain conditions.

The most important of these was that the working capital was to be limited to a certain smallish sum, and that if this was lost the company should at once be given up, and, furthermore, in such a case I was not to attempt to run any further companies if I wished to remain at the Hall. He also made a condition that his son, Nevil Maskelyne, should be admitted to the partnership, and to these conditions I gladly consented, Nevil Maskelyne becoming a partner with a fourth share.

The next thing discussed was a programme. Mr. Maskelyne had already adapted the illusions from my "Zauberwunder" in a sketch called the "Gnome's Grot", written by Nevil Maskelyne, which afterwards, for the purposes of the revival at St. George's Hall, was given the new title of "The Hermit of Killarney". This was to be the opening item of our programme, and "Mrs. Daffodil Downey's Séance" was to be the other feature. This was one of the best and simplest sketches we ever had.

The plot is a very amusing one of a designing widow who invites a rich baronet to her house. The baronet is a widower, and the widow has asked a couple of mediums to give a light and dark séance, during which spirits appear and produce the usual manifestations, such as table-rapping and dancing with the table. Then a cabinet is built up in full light, when manifestations occur with a walking-stick, which really walks, or rather hops, about the stage, and a fiddle which hangs inside the empty cabinet is played upon by the spirits.

The tune happens to be the favourite one of the baronet's late wife, and a face appears at the window, which the baronet recognizes as the face of the late departed. The whole thing ends in a dark séance, in which a skeleton appears and during an uncanny dance dismembers itself, the bits and pieces separately keeping time to the music. It then loses its head, which floats over the audience, champing its jaws in a most weird fashion. A happy finale is reached when the spirit of the wife is materialized and consents to the baronet marrying the widow.

For the next item I had to find an understudy for myself. From many applicants I selected Herr Valadon, whose wife assisted him in the séance, of thought-transmission, similar to that presented by Morritt for so many years at the Egyptian Hall. He also had the advantage of already being practised in some of my own tricks, so that, in a way, he was already an understudy. He was of German origin, and spoke with a pronounced foreign accent. The Germans were well received in England at that time, so this was no disadvantage. Our provincial programme was completed with a series of animated pictures, and we duly opened at the Town Hall, Eastbourne, on July 31st, 1899.

For the first week's performance we took the Egyptian Hall Company with us to show the new company how things were done. The members consisted of Mr. J. N. Maskelyne, Mr. Nevil Maskelyne, Mr. J. B. Hansard, Mr. Bernard MacKenzie, and Miss Cassie Bruce. Mr. H. Verne acted as business manager, and also gave a musical and ventriloquial sketch. My brother, Mr. E. Wighton, was advance manager. The Egyptian Hall members of this company were supplanted the following week by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Crispin, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Bert, and Mr. Walter Booth. We had a small orchestra under the direction of Mr. H. G. Hime. If I remember aright, there was a quintet of performers, and I am sure no quintet ever worked so hard in any show. In fitting up and packing the properties all hands had to help for the good of the show.

One of the things I had insisted on at the commencement was a small orchestra. This I always considered a bright feature of the show, for it must be remembered that we hardly ever went to a theatre or music-hall where there was a resident orchestra. We visited town halls, lecture halls, corn exchanges, where nothing was provided but a bare platform, so that we had to carry with us the whole "fit-up" to transform the place into a theatre with proscenium, orchestra rails, scenery, and suitable lighting.

Mr. Maskelyne never agreed with me about the orchestra; he considered a piano all that was necessary. The first week was quite successful, and we of the original company returned to London and commenced the usual routine of twice-daily work.

Mr. George Facer was installed as secretary of the provincial company and to carry on my entertainment bureau for sending out animated photographs and providing all classes of private entertainments. This business is still running, and ever increasing.

After about the first year of the tour I suggested to Mr. Maskelyne that I should go with it myself and that he might consent to have Herr Valadon at the Hall in my place. To this he agreed for two months only. Therefore I started the 1900 tour myself, going to the same towns that we had visited in 1899, and giving practically the same programme, with the exception that this year "The Artist's Dream" was added. Much to our surprise, the receipts were double that of the first tour; whereupon Mr. Maskelyne suggested I should stay with the tour. I was nothing loth, as it gave me the opportunity of developing and looking after the business on the spot, and was also, as it turned out, very profitable to all concerned.

I am glad to say Mr. Maskelyne and I had very few disagreements about anything during the whole of our partnership. It must be remembered that it was only with him I had to deal, for our other partner never took any part in the affairs of the business at this time.