Oskar Messter
Encyclopedia
Oskar Messter was a German
inventor and film tycoon in the early years of cinema
.
, where his father had founded a company selling and manufacturing optical
equipment in 1859. Messter built and sold his first movie projector
in 1896, one of the first projectors using a Geneva drive
to achieve the intermittent motion of the film. He is often credited with inventing this application of the Geneva drive, but both Max Gliewe (also in Berlin) and Robert W. Paul
in London
independently built projectors using this mechanism for film transport at about the same time. Gliewe later joined Messter's company, and together they produced highly successful projectors — already in his first year, Messter sold 64 units.
Messter also immediately entered the film production business and built the first film studio in Germany. In 1897, he already offered 84 films showing a wide variety of scenes. Four years later, he restructured his company into separate firms for film production, distribution, and the manufacturing of optical equipment, including film projectors. He did the first projection of sound film in Germany at the Apollo theatre in Berlin in 1903 with a system called "Biophon" in which a gramophone
was coupled to the projector. From 1909 to 1917, his film company produced 350 films. In 1918, he sold his movie companies to the newly founded UFA
.
He donated his collection of historical film equipment to the German Museum in 1932. Messter died in 1943 in Tegernsee
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
inventor and film tycoon in the early years of cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
.
Biography
He was born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where his father had founded a company selling and manufacturing optical
Optics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
equipment in 1859. Messter built and sold his first movie projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
in 1896, one of the first projectors using a Geneva drive
Geneva drive
The Geneva drive or Maltese cross is a gear mechanism that translates a continuous rotation into an intermittent rotary motion. The rotating drive wheel has a pin that reaches into a slot of the driven wheel advancing it by one step...
to achieve the intermittent motion of the film. He is often credited with inventing this application of the Geneva drive, but both Max Gliewe (also in Berlin) and Robert W. Paul
Robert W. Paul
Robert W. Paul was a British electrician, scientific instrument maker and early pioneer of British film.-Early career:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
independently built projectors using this mechanism for film transport at about the same time. Gliewe later joined Messter's company, and together they produced highly successful projectors — already in his first year, Messter sold 64 units.
Messter also immediately entered the film production business and built the first film studio in Germany. In 1897, he already offered 84 films showing a wide variety of scenes. Four years later, he restructured his company into separate firms for film production, distribution, and the manufacturing of optical equipment, including film projectors. He did the first projection of sound film in Germany at the Apollo theatre in Berlin in 1903 with a system called "Biophon" in which a gramophone
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
was coupled to the projector. From 1909 to 1917, his film company produced 350 films. In 1918, he sold his movie companies to the newly founded UFA
Universum Film AG
Universum Film AG, better known as UFA or Ufa, is a film company that was the principal film studio in Germany, home of the German film industry during the Weimar Republic and through World War II, and a major force in world cinema from 1917 to 1945...
.
He donated his collection of historical film equipment to the German Museum in 1932. Messter died in 1943 in Tegernsee
Tegernsee
Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Tegernsee lake, at an elevation of 747 m above sea level....
.
External links
Literature
- Loiperdinger, M. (Ed.): Oskar Messter: Filmpionier der Kaiserzeit and Oskar Messter, Erfinder und Geschäftsmann, KINtop Schriften 2 & 3, Stroemfeld/Roter Stern; Basel, 1994. In GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. - Messter, O.: Mein Weg mit dem Film, Berlin, 1936. Also in German.