Thomas A. Edison’sMonkeyshines no. 1-3 (Monkeyshines) were taken by the cylinder Kinetograph (Edison’s motion picture camera). Although Monkeyshines are the only surviving example of Edison’s cylinder based motion picture, these production date and photographing method are still controversial. Fred Ott, one of the Edison’s employees, testified that he was one of the subjects before August 1889 and in photographing, a flash light was used. However, Gordon Hendricks questioned the validity of this testimony and concluded that Monkeyshines were photographed in November 1890. Hendricks’ conclusion had a huge influence on subsequent research on this period. On the other hand, in recent years, Paul Spehr reexamines the primary sources and he supports that testimony that Monkeyshines was taken in 1889, but he did not mention clearly the photographing method.
Edison proposed the idea of the cylinder Kinetograph using the flash light generated by the Leyden jar in his caveat (formal notice of a potentially patentable device) no. 116 during May, June, and July in 1889. Leyden jar has been used for instantaneous photography since the first success by Talbot in 1851, and this suggests that the idea of caveat no. 116 was practicable. In conclusion, it is most probable that Edison’s Monkeyshines was taken in 1889 and the flash light generated by the Leyden jar was used in photographing.
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