Louis Le Prince: Mysterious Disappearance of Inventor of the Motion Picture Camera
What happened to Louis Le Prince?
Mysterious Disappearance of Louis Le Prince
During the late 1880s, French-born inventor Louis Le Prince developed a device to shoot film. Le Prince shot many short films during 1888 in Leeds, England. The next year he started using a new invention known as celluloid film with his device. The invention was astounding to people who had never seen "motion pictures" before.
In 1890, Le Prince was going to demonstrate his motion picture camera during a public premiere in New York City. He mysteriously disappeared while traveling in France, and there were efforts to invalidate his contributions to cinema. William Kennedy Dickson, who worked at the New Jersey laboratories of the Edison company, is often credited with inventing the first motion-picture camera.
Early Years
Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince was born on August 28, 1841. His father was an officer in the French army. As Le Prince grew up, he spent time at the home of his father's friend, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, recognized as a pioneer in photography.
Starting at a young age, Le Prince received lessons from Daguerre about photography and the chemistry associated with it. Le Prince studied painting in Paris and attended Leipzig University where he was a student in post-graduate chemistry.
Marriage in England
In 1866, Le Prince moved to Leeds, England. He was invited there by a friend from college, John Whitley, a partner in a firm that made brass valves and components.
Le Prince married Whitley's sister in 1869. Her name was Elizabeth and she was known as a gifted artist. Le Prince and his new wife started a school of applied art in 1871. The couple developed a reputation for their ability to put color photographs onto pottery and metal. Their success resulted in a commission for portraits of the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, and Queen Victoria.
Innovation in the United States
Le Prince visited the United States in 1881. He went there as an agent for his brother-in-law's firm, Whitley Partners. Le Prince stayed in the United States when his contract with Whitley Partners ended. He then began managing a small group of French artists. They produced large panoramas that were placed on exhibition at various places in New York. These panoramas usually depicted famous battles.
This is when he began to experiment with producing moving photographs. He had designed a camera that worked with 16 lenses, the first invention Le Prince had patented, though he didn't consider it a complete success. His invention could capture motion, but each lens depicted an image of a subject from a different viewpoint. If the image was projected, it would have been jumping in all directions.
Single lens motion picture camera invented by Louis Le Prince
Single Lens Camera
In 1887, Le Prince returned to England. He worked on creating a single-lens camera and had success in late 1888. Le Prince built an experimental model at his workshop in Leeds, England. He then created an updated version of his motion picture camera and used this to shoot his films.
Le Prince first used it on October 14, 1888, to film what would be referred to as the "Roundhay Garden Scene." It pictured his son Adolphe playing an accordion. Le Prince later used his new motion picture camera to film pedestrians crossing streets, road traffic, and more.
Disappearance
Le Prince was getting ready for a trip to the United States in September 1890. His goal was to show the work of his motion picture camera at a public premiere in New York City. He would join his wife and children, who were already there. Prior to his journey, Le Prince decided he should return to visit his brother in Dijon.
On September 16, 1890, en route to Paris, Le Prince was forced to take a later train than he had planned, and his friends in Paris missed his arrival. Le Prince was never seen again.
His family was frantic. The French police, as well as Scotland Yard, engaged in an exhaustive search for several days, but Le Prince was never found.
Louis Le Prince
Declared Dead
In 1897, Le Prince was officially declared dead. There was a photograph discovered of the body of a drowned man being pulled from the Seine in 1890. Some believe the image resembled Le Prince, but it was never officially determined to be him.
Theories
Many theories about the death of Le Prince surfaced. None of them have been proven to be true. One of the most popular is that Le Prince may have failed to get his moving picture to work. Because of this, he was in serious debt and decided to take his own life.
The Le Prince family suspected the death could have been a result of a patent dispute with Edison. A 1990 book and documentary titled The Missing Reel covered this theory. French film theorist Jean Mitry believed Le Prince was killed. He says if Le Prince wanted to disappear, he could have done this many times prior to his journey to France.
Mitry believes Le Prince never boarded the train. He also questioned if Le Prince was suicidal, as his brother claimed, why didn't his brother try to stop him from leaving?
Plaque dedicated to Louis Le Prince. Located in Leeds, England
Forgotten
The 1890 public premiere of Le Prince's motion picture camera invention never took place in New York, resulting in his massive contribution to cinema often being forgotten.
William Kennedy Dickson worked for the Edison Company in West Orange, New Jersey. He is often given credit as the person who created the first motion-picture camera in 1891.
Sources
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© 2021 Readmikenow
Comments
Miebakagh Fiberesima from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, NIGERIA. on July 10, 2021:
That's the trvh.
Readmikenow (author) on July 10, 2021:
Pamela, I agree. It may never be solved, but will always be a curious event in history.
Pamela Oglesby from Sunny Florida on July 10, 2021:
I had never heard of Le Prince before, and I found this article to be very interesting. It is a mystery that will never be solved. Thanks for this interesting information, Mike.
Readmikenow (author) on July 10, 2021:
Fran, I agree with you. Thomas Edison, at that time, was a man who got what he wanted one way or another.
Readmikenow (author) on July 10, 2021:
MG, Thanks. I think it is one of those mysteries that will last for generations.
fran rooks from Toledo, Ohio on July 10, 2021:
Readmikenow, great piece! Too bad he did not receive credit where due. I believe it is possible his demise was planned.
MG Singh emge from Singapore on July 09, 2021:
This is a topic I knew nothing about and it was interesting to read about the disappearance of Louis Le Prince. Thanks for sharing.
Readmikenow (author) on July 09, 2021:
Miebakagh, thanks!
Miebakagh Fiberesima from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, NIGERIA. on July 09, 2021:
readmikenow, this is interesting. Thanks.
