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Mutoscope in San Francisco antique arcade

Mutoscope: "Mechanical Maniacs" video.

The Mutoscope is an early motion picture device, invented by W. K. L. Dickson and Herman Casler^[1] and granted U.S. patent 549309A to Herman Casler on November 5, 1895.^[2] Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to only one person at a time. Cheaper and simpler than the Kinetoscope, the system, marketed by the American Mutoscope Company (later the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company), quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot peep-show business.

Operation[edit]

The Mutoscope works on the same principle as the flip book. The individual image frames are conventional black-and-white, silver-based photographic prints on tough, flexible opaque cards. The image on each card is made by contact printing each frame of the original 70 mm film.^[3] Rather than being bound into a booklet, the cards are attached to a circular core, similar to a huge Rolodex. A reel typically holds about 850 cards, giving a viewing time of about one minute.^[4] The reel with cards attached has a total diameter of about 10 inches (25 cm); the individual cards have dimensions of about 2+3⁄4 in × 1+7⁄8 in (7.0 cm × 4.8 cm).

Mutoscopes are coin-operated. The patron views the cards through a single lens enclosed by a hood, similar to the viewing hood of a stereoscope. The cards are generally lit electrically, but the reel is driven by means of a geared-down hand crank. Each machine holds only a single reel and is dedicated to the presentation of a single short subject, described by a poster affixed to the machine.

The patron can control the presentation speed only to a limited degree. The crank can be turned in both directions, but this does not reverse the playing of the reel. The patron cannot extend viewing time by stopping the crank, because the flexible images are bent into the proper viewing position by tension applied from forward cranking. Stopping the crank reduces the forward tension on the reels causing the reel to go backward and the picture to move away from the viewing position. A spring in the mechanism turns off the light, and in some models closes a shutter which blocks the picture.

Manufacture[edit]

Mutoscopes were originally manufactured from 1895 to 1909 for the American Mutoscope Company, later American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1899) by the Marvin & Casler Co., Canastota, New York formed by two of the founding Managers of American Mutoscope Company.

In the 1920s the Mutoscope was licensed to William Rabkin who started his own company, the International Mutoscope Reel Company, which manufactured new reels and also machines from 1926 until 1949.

The term "Mutoscope" is no longer a registered trademark in the United States.

Usage[edit]

Mutoscopes were a popular feature of amusement arcades and pleasure piers in the UK until the introduction of decimal coinage in 1971. The coin mechanisms were difficult to convert, and many machines were subsequently destroyed. Some were exported to Denmark where pornography had recently been legalised. The typical arcade installation included multiple machines offering a mixture of fare. Both in the early days and during the revival, that mixture usually included "girlie" reels which ran the gamut from risqué to outright soft-core pornography. It was common for these reels to have suggestive titles that implied more than the reel actually delivered. The title of one such reel, What the Butler Saw, became a by-word, and Mutoscopes are commonly known in the UK as "What-the-Butler-Saw machines." (What the butler saw, presumably through a keyhole, was a woman partially disrobing.)

Public response[edit]

The San Francisco Call printed a short piece about the Mutoscope in 1898, which claimed that the device was extremely popular: "Twenty machines, all different and amusing views...are crowded day and night with sightseers."^[5] However, just a few months later, the same newspaper published an editorial railing against the Mutoscope and similar machines: "...a new instrument has been placed in the hands of the vicious for the corruption of youth...These vicious exhibitions are displayed in San Francisco with an effrontery that is as audacious as it is shameless."^[6]

In 1899, The Times also printed a letter inveighing against "vicious demoralising picture shows in the penny-in-the-slot machines. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the corruption of the young that comes from exhibiting under a strong light, nude female figures represented as living and moving, going into and out of baths, sitting as artists' models etc. Similar exhibitions took place at Rhyl in the men's lavatory, but, owing to public denunciation, they have been stopped."

Notes[edit]

^ Robinson, David (1996). From Peep Show to Palace: the Birth of American Film. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0-231-10338-7.
^ Spehr, Paul C. (2000). "Unaltered to Date: Developing 35mm Film," in Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam, ed. John Fullerton and Astrid Söderbergh Widding, pp. 3–28 (p. 17). Sydney: John Libbey & Co.
^ "Press release (no. 82)" (PDF). The Museum of Modern Art. August 2, 1967. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
^ Mutoscopes & Reels, Gameroom Show.
^ "The Mutoscope". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, CA. 6 November 1898. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
^ "The Corruption of Youth". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, CA. 1 April 1899. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

External links[edit]

Illustration and demonstration of the Kinora
Mutoscopes and Title Cards collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Penny Arcade, poem by Jared Carter describes tightrope-walk images viewed through a Mutoscope.
An example of a mutoscope on YouTube
Streible, Dan (Autumn 2003). "Children at the Mutoscope". Journal of Film Studies. 14 (1). Cinémas: 91–116. doi:10.7202/008959ar.

[1] Robinson, David (1996). From Peep Show to Palace: the Birth of American Film. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0-231-10338-7.

[2] Spehr, Paul C. (2000). "Unaltered to Date: Developing 35mm Film," in Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam, ed. John Fullerton and Astrid Söderbergh Widding, pp. 3–28 (p. 17). Sydney: John Libbey & Co.

[3] "Press release (no. 82)" (PDF). The Museum of Modern Art. August 2, 1967. Retrieved 21 July 2021.

[4] Mutoscopes & Reels, Gameroom Show.

[5] "The Mutoscope". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, CA. 6 November 1898. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

[6] "The Corruption of Youth". The San Francisco Call. San Francisco, CA. 1 April 1899. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

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[2]

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Hand-cranked motion-picture viewer (1895–1949)}}
 {{about|an early motion-picture device|non-motion-picture "mutoscope cards," typically of "pin-up" material|Mutoscope cards}}
 [[File:Mutoscope, 1899 (bis).jpg|thumb|An 1899 trade advertisement]]
@@ Line 4: / Line 5: @@
 [[File:Mutoscope San Francisco 2013-04-13 12-21.jpg|thumb|Mutoscope in San Francisco antique arcade]]
 [[File:Mutoscope Mechanical Maniacs.webm|thumb|thumbtime=1.4|Mutoscope: "Mechanical Maniacs" video.]]
-The '''Mutoscope''' was an early [[film|motion picture]] device, invented by [[Winsor McCay]] and later patented by [[Herman Casler]] on November 21, 1894.<ref>Spehr, Paul C. (2000). "Unaltered to Date: Developing 35mm Film," in ''Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam'', ed. John Fullerton and Astrid Söderbergh Widding, pp. 3–28 (p. 17). Sydney: John Libbey & Co.</ref> Like [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[Kinetoscope]], it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to only one person at a time. Cheaper and simpler than the Kinetoscope, the system, marketed by the American Mutoscope Company (later the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]]), quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot [[peep show|peep-show]] business.
+The '''Mutoscope''' is an early [[film|motion picture]] device, invented by [[William Kennedy Dickson|W. K. L. Dickson]] and [[Herman Casler]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=David |date=1996 |title=From Peep Show to Palace: the Birth of American Film |url=https://archive.org/details/frompeepshowtopa0000robi |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/frompeepshowtopa0000robi/page/56 56] |isbn=0-231-10338-7 }}</ref> and granted {{US Patent|549309A}} to [[Herman Casler]] on November 5, 1895.<ref>Spehr, Paul C. (2000). "Unaltered to Date: Developing 35mm Film," in ''Moving Images: From Edison to the Webcam'', ed. John Fullerton and Astrid Söderbergh Widding, pp. 3–28 (p. 17). Sydney: John Libbey & Co.</ref> Like [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[Kinetoscope]], it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to only [[Peep show|one person at a time]]. Cheaper and simpler than the Kinetoscope, the system, marketed by the American Mutoscope Company (later the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]]), quickly dominated the coin-in-the-slot [[peep show|peep-show]] business.
 ==Operation==
-The Mutoscope worked on the same principle as the [[flip book]]. The individual image frames were conventional black-and-white, silver-based photographic prints on tough, flexible opaque cards. Rather than being bound into a booklet, the cards were attached to a circular core, rather like a huge [[Rolodex]]. A reel typically held about 850 cards, giving a viewing time of about a minute.<ref>[https://www.gameroomshow.com/shop/mutoscopes-reels/ Mutoscopes & Reels], [https://www.gameroomshow.com Gameroom Show].</ref> The reel with cards attached had a total diameter of about ten inches (25&nbsp;cm); the individual cards had dimensions of about {{frac|2|3|4}}" x {{frac|1|7|8}}" (7&nbsp;cm x 4.75&nbsp;cm).
+The Mutoscope works on the same principle as the [[flip book]]. The individual image frames are conventional black-and-white, silver-based photographic prints on tough, flexible opaque cards. The image on each card is made by [[contact printing]] each frame of the original 70 mm film.<ref>{{cite web |title=Press release (no. 82) |url=https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/3932/releases/MOMA_1967_July-December_0014_82.pdf |publisher=The Museum of Modern Art |access-date=21 July 2021 |date=August 2, 1967}}</ref> Rather than being bound into a booklet, the cards are attached to a circular core, similar to a huge [[Rolodex]]. A reel typically holds about 850 cards, giving a viewing time of about one minute.<ref>[https://www.gameroomshow.com/shop/mutoscopes-reels/ Mutoscopes & Reels], [https://www.gameroomshow.com Gameroom Show].</ref> The reel with cards attached has a total diameter of about {{convert|10|in|cm}}; the individual cards have dimensions of about {{cvt|2+3/4|×|1+7/8|in|cm}}.
-Mutoscopes were coin-operated. The patron viewed the cards through a single lens enclosed by a hood, similar to the viewing hood of a [[stereoscope]]. The cards were generally lit electrically, but the reel was driven by means of a geared-down hand crank. Each machine held only a single reel and was dedicated to the presentation of a single short subject, described by a poster affixed to the machine.
+Mutoscopes are coin-operated. The patron views the cards through a single lens enclosed by a hood, similar to the viewing hood of a [[stereoscope]]. The cards are generally lit electrically, but the reel is driven by means of a geared-down hand crank. Each machine holds only a single reel and is dedicated to the presentation of a single short subject, described by a poster affixed to the machine.
-The patron could control the presentation speed only to a limited degree. The crank could be turned in both directions, but this did not reverse the playing of the reel. Nor could the patron extend viewing time by stopping the crank because the flexible images were bent into the proper viewing position by tension applied from forward cranking. Stopping the crank reduced the forward tension on the reels causing the reel to go backwards and the picture to move from the viewing position; a spring in the mechanism turned off the light and in some models brought down a shutter which completely blocked out the picture.
+The patron can control the presentation speed only to a limited degree. The crank can be turned in both directions, but this does not reverse the playing of the reel. The patron cannot extend viewing time by stopping the crank, because the flexible images are bent into the proper viewing position by tension applied from forward cranking. Stopping the crank reduces the forward tension on the reels causing the reel to go backward and the picture to move away from the viewing position. A spring in the mechanism turns off the light, and in some models closes a shutter which  blocks the picture.
 ==Manufacture==
-Mutoscopes were originally manufactured from 1895 to 1909 by the [[American Mutoscope and Biograph Company]], or its [[license]]e Marvin & Casler Co., formed by two of American Mutoscope's founders. In the 1920s the Mutoscope was licensed to William Rabkin who started his own company, the [[International Mutoscope Reel Company]], which manufactured new reels and also machines from 1926 until 1949. The term "Mutoscope" is no longer a registered trademark in the United States.
+Mutoscopes were originally manufactured from 1895 to 1909 for the American Mutoscope Company, later American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (1899) by the Marvin & Casler Co., Canastota, New York formed by two of the founding Managers of American Mutoscope Company.
+In the 1920s the Mutoscope was licensed to William Rabkin who started his own company, the [[International Mutoscope Reel Company]], which manufactured new reels and also machines from 1926 until 1949.
+The term "Mutoscope" is no longer a registered trademark in the United States.
 ==Usage==
-Mutoscopes were a popular feature of [[penny arcade (venue)|amusement arcades]] and [[Pier#Pleasure piers|pleasure piers]] in the UK until the introduction of [[decimalisation|decimal coinage]] in 1971.  The coin mechanisms were difficult to convert, and many machines were subsequently destroyed; some were exported to Denmark where pornography had recently been legalised. The typical arcade installation included multiple machines offering a mixture of fare. Both in the early days and during the revival, that mixture usually included "girlie" reels which ran the gamut from risqué to outright soft-core pornography. It was, however, common for these reels to have suggestive titles that implied more than the reel actually delivered. The title of one such reel, ''[[What the Butler Saw (mutoscope)|What the Butler Saw]]'', became a by-word, and Mutoscopes are commonly known in the UK as "What-the-Butler-Saw machines." (What the butler saw, presumably through a keyhole, was a woman partially disrobing.)
+Mutoscopes were a popular feature of [[penny arcade (venue)|amusement arcades]] and [[Pier#Pleasure piers|pleasure piers]] in the UK until the introduction of [[decimalisation|decimal coinage]] in 1971.  The coin mechanisms were difficult to convert, and many machines were subsequently destroyed. Some were exported to Denmark where pornography had recently been legalised. The typical arcade installation included multiple machines offering a mixture of fare. Both in the early days and during the revival, that mixture usually included "girlie" reels which ran the gamut from risqué to outright soft-core pornography. It was common for these reels to have suggestive titles that implied more than the reel actually delivered. The title of one such reel, ''[[What the Butler Saw (mutoscope)|What the Butler Saw]]'', became a by-word, and Mutoscopes are commonly known in the UK as "What-the-Butler-Saw machines." (What the butler saw, presumably through a keyhole, was a woman partially disrobing.)
 ==Public response==
+''The San Francisco Call'' printed a short piece about the Mutoscope in 1898, which claimed that the device was extremely popular: "Twenty machines, all different and amusing views...are crowded day and night with sightseers."<ref>{{cite news |date=6 November 1898 |title=The Mutoscope |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18981106.2.142&srpos=1&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Mutoscope-------1 |newspaper=The San Francisco Call |location=San Francisco, CA |access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref> However, just a few months later, the same newspaper published an editorial railing against the Mutoscope and similar machines: "...a new instrument has been placed in the hands of the vicious for the corruption of youth...These vicious exhibitions are displayed in San Francisco with an effrontery that is as audacious as it is shameless."<ref>{{cite news |date=1 April 1899 |title=The Corruption of Youth |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC18990401.2.76&srpos=9&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Mutoscope-------1 |newspaper=The San Francisco Call |location=San Francisco, CA |access-date=4 January 2017}}</ref>
-In 1899, ''[[The Times]]'' printed a letter inveighing against "vicious demoralising picture shows in the penny-in-the-slot machines. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the corruption of the young that comes from exhibiting under a strong light, nude female figures represented as living and moving, going into and out of baths, sitting as artists' models etc. Similar exhibitions took place at [[Rhyl]] in the men's lavatory, but, owing to public denunciation, they have been stopped."
+In 1899, ''[[The Times]]'' also printed a letter inveighing against "vicious demoralising picture shows in the penny-in-the-slot machines. It is hardly possible to exaggerate the corruption of the young that comes from exhibiting under a strong light, nude female figures represented as living and moving, going into and out of baths, sitting as artists' models etc. Similar exhibitions took place at [[Rhyl]] in the men's lavatory, but, owing to public denunciation, they have been stopped."
-A collector's site describes the contents of one such reel, "Birth of the Pearl" which "pictures a nude woman rising from a seashell and standing." The site notes "this reel has some damage to a whole chunk of photos. They are all in a section where there was full frontal nudity and the cards are quite worn off."{{citequote}}
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 28: / Line 33: @@
 ==External links==
+{{commonscat}}
-*[http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit05.htm Illustration and demonstration of the Kinora]
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110516150400/http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit05.htm Illustration and demonstration of the Kinora]
-*[http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1542/ ''Penny Arcade''], poem by [[Jared Carter]] describes tightrope-walk images viewed through a Mutoscope.
+*[https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/cameras-and-apparatus-mutoscopes-and-title-cards-nmahphc/14LtftcpmHoJ53sc Mutoscopes and Title Cards collection] at the [[National Museum of American History|Smithsonian National Museum of American History]]
-*{{cite journal|last=Streible|first=Dan|date=Autumn 2003|volume=14|issue=1|pages=91–116|title=Children at the Mutoscope|url=https://www.erudit.org/revue/cine/2003/v14/n1/008959ar.html|doi=10.7202/008959ar|journal=Journal of Film Studies|publisher=Cinémas}}
+*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130531072326/http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1542/ ''Penny Arcade''], poem by [[Jared Carter (poet)|Jared Carter]] describes tightrope-walk images viewed through a Mutoscope.
+*{{YouTube|id=IiK7lTHTjhg|title=An example of a mutoscope}}
-{{commonscatinline}}
+*{{cite journal|last=Streible|first=Dan|date=Autumn 2003|volume=14|issue=1|pages=91–116|title=Children at the Mutoscope|url=https://www.erudit.org/revue/cine/2003/v14/n1/008959ar.html|doi=10.7202/008959ar|journal=Journal of Film Studies|publisher=Cinémas|doi-access=}}
 {{Precursors of film}}
+[[Category:Audiovisual introductions in 1894]]
 [[Category:Film and video technology]]
 [[Category:History of film]]