Lyman Hakes Howe

Lyman Hakes Howe

Image of Howe cropped from an advertisement for one of his shows
Born 1856
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Died 1923
Occupation Entertainer, filmmaker

Lyman Hakes Howe (1856–1923) was an American entertainer and early filmmaker.[1] He entered the entertainment industry in 1883, began touring with a phonograph in 1890, and showed his first movies in 1896. He was the first person to use a phonograph and other background sound effects in movies. Howe was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. There is a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker in the city of Wilkes-Barre, which is dedicated to him. Howe was active in the eastern United States and Canada. While Howe died in 1923, his film company continued operating for a number of years after his death, into the Great Depression.

Early life

Howe was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in 1856. He had little formal education.[1]

Career

Early career

Howe did numerous odd jobs during his early career. During the 1870s, he worked as a traveling salesman and at the Central Railroad of New Jersey.[1][2] In 1883, he entered the entertainment industry and began touring the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Ohio with a miniature working model of a coal mine.[1] In 1890, he traded his coal mine for a phonograph, which he demonstrated to the people of northeastern Pennsylvania.[3] For several years after this, he toured with the phonograph. During this type, he began styling himself as "Professor" or "Lecturer".[1][3] Howe was the first person to give full-length phonograph concerts.[3]

Film career

During the 1890s, Howe attempted to get a kinetoscope from Thomas Edison, but was unsuccessful in doing so.[1] In 1896, he attempted to get a vitascope from Raff & Gammon, but was again unsuccessful.[4] He thus created his own projector, the animotiscope with the help of an electrician.[1][3] The animotiscope improved on Edison's kinetoscope by incorporating a second reel, allowing for the showing of longer films.[1] Howe showed his first movie in Wilkes-Barre in December 1896. This movie was based on some of Thomas Edison's films and incorporated a phonograph for sound effects. Howe continued to show films, most of which were newsreels, local movies, and travelogues.[1] There was a time when he used both the phonograph and his movies during his shows, but he eventually concentrated mostly on movies.[5] He was creating his own travelogues and newsreels by 1901. He was also the first person to incorporate backstage sound effects in his movies.[1]

Howe's movies were well received by the public.[1] Venues were often filled when he showed his movie.[3] By 1903, he controlled six traveling movie companies based in Wilkes-Barre.[6] Although most of his competitors went out of business with the rise of nickelodeons around 1905, Howe's film company continued to operate, primatily focusing on large cities.[1][4] Howe, along with Burton Holmes and Fred Niblo, was invited to participate in the Motion Picture Patents Company in October 1909. From 1912 to 1919, he was active in the United States and Canada.[7]

In the 1910s, Howe made films about the industry, and made war films during World War One.[8] Howe was involved in making films from a flying airplane as early as 1911.[9]

One of Howe's films was Lyman H. Howe's Famous Ride on a Runaway Train, which was made in 1921. It was filmed from a moving train on a steep slope, producing a vertiginous affect, which influenced This Is Cinerama.[10][11]

Howe's circuit has been described as "quasi-Chautauqua".[4]

Howe termed his films "high class" films.[1] Specific examples of topics of his movies included the Olympic Games and the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain.[4] He also filmed the United States President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to Wilkes-Barre in 1905.[2]

Other work

Howe trained the showman Edwin J. Hadley.[12]

Death and legacy

Howe died in 1923, at the age of 66.[8] His company continued to operate as a film laboratory after his death and into the 1930s, during which time it produced short films about the Great Depression.[1]

A Pennsylvania state historical marker in Howe's honor was dedicated on September 18, 2000 in Wilkes-Barre.[1]

In the 2010s, Howe's 1921 film Lyman H. Howe's Famous Ride on a Runaway Train turned up in the New Zealand Film Archive.[10][13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Lyman H. Howe Historical Marker, retrieved January 28, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 State of PA Historical Signs, Lyman H. Howe, retrieved January 29, 2014
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 David Nasaw (1999), Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements, Harvard University Press
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Deac Rossell, Lyman Hakes Howe, retrieved January 29, 2014
  5. ↑ Richard Abel, ed. (January 1, 2005), Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
  6. ↑ William C. Kashatus (September 4, 2011), Lyman H. Howe was instrumental in introducing motion pictures to the area, The Citizens' Voice, retrieved January 28, 2014
  7. ↑ Anthony Slide (January 1, 1994), Early American Cinema, Scarecrow Press
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Letterhead, Lyman H. Howe Attractions, Festivals of Travel, playing the Principal Theaters of America. Wilkes Barre, PA, 1917, retrieved January 28, 2014
  9. ↑ Jacob Smith (April 1, 2012), The Thrill Makers: Celebrity, Masculinity, and Stunt Performance
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Dave Kehr (September 30, 2013), "A Silents Gold Mine From Down Under", The New York Times, retrieved January 29, 2014
  11. ↑ Naomi Nishihara (June 25, 2013), Foundation unearths films of historical significance, retrieved January 29, 2014
  12. ↑ Douglas Gomery (1992), Shared Pleasures: A History of Movie Presentation in the United States, retrieved January 29, 2014
  13. ↑ Lost and Found American Treasures from the New Zealand Film Archive, retrieved January 29, 2014

External links