1870s in film

Years in film
1870s
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010s 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

The decade of the 1870s in film involved some significant events.

Events

• 1877 - French inventor Charles-Émile Reynaud improved on the Zoetrope idea by placing mirrors at the center of the drum. He called his invention the Praxinoscope. Reynaud developed other versions of the Praxinoscope, too, including a Praxinoscope Theatre (where the device was enclosed in a viewing box) and also the Projecting Praxinoscope. Eventually he created the "Theatre Optique", a large machine based on the Praxinoscope, but was able to project longer animated strips. In the USA, the McLoughlin Bros from New York released in 1879 a simplified (and unauthorized) copy of Reynaud's invention under the name "Whirligig of Life".
• 1878 - Railroad tycoon Leland Stanford hired British photographer Eadweard Muybridge to settle a bet on whether a galloping horse ever had all four of its feet off the ground. Muybridge successfully photographed a horse in fast motion using a series of 12 cameras controlled by trip wires. Muybridge's photos showed the horse with all four feet off the ground. Muybridge went on a lecture tour showing his photographs on a moving-image device he called the zoopraxiscope. Muybridge's experiments inspired French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey to invent equipment for recording and analyzing animal and human movement. Marey called his invention the chronophotographic camera, which was able to take multiple images superimposed on top of one another.

• 1879 - American George Eastman invents an emulsion-coating machine which enables the mass-production of photographic dry plates.

Births

• March 13, 1870 – Henri Étiévant, French actor, director (d. 1953)
• April 21, 1871 – Jaro Fürth, Austrian actor (d. 1945)
• March 23, 1871 – Heinrich Schroth, German actor (died 1945)
• May 30, 1871 – Olga Engl, Austrian actress (died 1946)
• February 12, 1872 – Oscar Stribolt, Danish actor (d. 1927)
• March 7, 1873 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (died 1959)
• June 13, 1873 – Karin Swanström, Swedish actress, director (died 1942)
• December 23, 1874 – Viggo Wiehe, Danish actor (died 1956)
• January 22, 1875 – D. W. Griffith, American filmmaker (died 1948)
• March 19, 1875 – George Pearson, English filmmaker (died 1973)
• September 12, 1875 – Matsunosuke Onoe, Japanese actor (died 1926)
• December 8, 1875 – Frederik Buch, Danish actor (died 1925)
• June 20, 1876 – Romuald Joubé, French actor (died 1949)
• June 19, 1877 – Charles Coburn, American actor (died 1961)
• April 12, 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (died 1954)
• April 14, 1878 – Donald Meek, American actor (died 1946)
• May 25, 1878 – Bill Robinson, American dancer and actor (died 1949)
• August 15, 1879 – Ethel Barrymore, American actress (died 1959)
• October 15, 1879 – Jane Darwell, American actress (died 1967)
• November 4, 1879 – Will Rogers, American actor and comedian (died 1935)
• November 15, 1879 – Lewis Stone, American actor (died 1953)
• December 27, 1879 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (died 1954)

See also

• Film
• History of film
• Lists of films
• 1870s in music