Post by hi224 on Jul 26, 2020 18:59:08 GMT
Louis Le Prince is one of the forgotten names from the very early days of film. In 1890 he disappeared just before he was to travel to the United States to demonstrate his amazing invention: moving pictures.
Was his disappearance simply a coincidence, a suicide or a planned murder?
Photography was a big passion Louis Le Prince had. He wanted to create a memorable experience for the people interested in his work. In 1888 he had invented a filmcamera, which he used to take moving pictures in Leeds. This is said to be the birth of film photography.
He immediatley prepared a display of the images in New York in the late 1890s. This was four years before Thomas A. Edison opened his first saloon for displaying motion images.
In September of 1890, Le Prince was in France. His plan was to take a train from Dijon to Paris. His brother waved him goodbye, but when the train arrived in Paris there were no traces of Le Prince or his luggage.
Some say Le Prince commited suicide because of his financial situation. The problem with this theory is that he believed in his camera. This could make him rich.
Another theory says that Le Prince started a new life in Chicago after his family found out that he was gay, but there are no proof of this. It is possible, but many say evidence of this is lacking.
Could the brother have murdered Le Prince because of financial or other unknown reasons? There are many theories out there, but the most popular one is that Le Prince was murdered so he could not patent his filmcamera. Some say Thomas A. Edison was involved.
It is know that Le Prince was on his way to Britain to register his invention and that the trip to New York was planned shortly after. Could someone have taken this opportunity to steal the invention or to get rid of a competitor?
His family became involved in a long running legal battle with Edison over who had invented the motion picture technology.
Because Le Prince had disappeared he was not pronounced dead by the US authorities until 7 years after the disappearance.
The court's ruling in 1901 was in Edisons favor, but the ruling was changed the following year which meant that Edison was not the sole inventor. At that time, Le Prince's son (a key witness in the dispute) had died of gunshot wounds. Le Prince's mother was convinced that he was the second murder victim in the family because of their work with film photography.
Was this a suicide, a family dispute or is it true that "history is written by the victors"?
Source: Science Media Museum: Louis Le Prince
(If you are interested, there is a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode on this case: Buzzfeed Unsolved: The Historic Disappearance of Louis Le Prince )
Was his disappearance simply a coincidence, a suicide or a planned murder?
Photography was a big passion Louis Le Prince had. He wanted to create a memorable experience for the people interested in his work. In 1888 he had invented a filmcamera, which he used to take moving pictures in Leeds. This is said to be the birth of film photography.
He immediatley prepared a display of the images in New York in the late 1890s. This was four years before Thomas A. Edison opened his first saloon for displaying motion images.
In September of 1890, Le Prince was in France. His plan was to take a train from Dijon to Paris. His brother waved him goodbye, but when the train arrived in Paris there were no traces of Le Prince or his luggage.
Some say Le Prince commited suicide because of his financial situation. The problem with this theory is that he believed in his camera. This could make him rich.
Another theory says that Le Prince started a new life in Chicago after his family found out that he was gay, but there are no proof of this. It is possible, but many say evidence of this is lacking.
Could the brother have murdered Le Prince because of financial or other unknown reasons? There are many theories out there, but the most popular one is that Le Prince was murdered so he could not patent his filmcamera. Some say Thomas A. Edison was involved.
It is know that Le Prince was on his way to Britain to register his invention and that the trip to New York was planned shortly after. Could someone have taken this opportunity to steal the invention or to get rid of a competitor?
His family became involved in a long running legal battle with Edison over who had invented the motion picture technology.
Because Le Prince had disappeared he was not pronounced dead by the US authorities until 7 years after the disappearance.
The court's ruling in 1901 was in Edisons favor, but the ruling was changed the following year which meant that Edison was not the sole inventor. At that time, Le Prince's son (a key witness in the dispute) had died of gunshot wounds. Le Prince's mother was convinced that he was the second murder victim in the family because of their work with film photography.
Was this a suicide, a family dispute or is it true that "history is written by the victors"?
Source: Science Media Museum: Louis Le Prince
(If you are interested, there is a Buzzfeed Unsolved episode on this case: Buzzfeed Unsolved: The Historic Disappearance of Louis Le Prince )