Thomas Edison was a man of firsts ... so when Edison needed a model for his new Kinetograph, Ott was the perfect choice. Here, Ott sniffs a pinch of snuff and lets out the sneeze seen ‘round ...

In 1894, Thomas Edison filmed sharpshooter Annie Oakley in his Black Maria studio. He was testing a new device called the kinetograph, an electrically powered camera capable of capturing motion.

This new illustrated series explores some of the most iconic moments in the history of film. We begin with Thomas Edison, the inventor of the kinetograph ...

Edison wanted to see if his kinetograph — a primitive version of a movie camera — was sensitive enough to capture the smoke from Oakley’s gun. The experiment was a success, as you can see ...