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George Albert Smith (4 January 1864 – 17 May 1959) was an English stage hypnotist,
psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...
,
magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...
lecturer, Fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...
, inventor and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian
Georges Sadoul Georges Sadoul (4 February 1904 – 13 October 1967) was a French film critic, journalist and cinema writer. He is known for writing encyclopedias of film and filmmakers, many of which have been translated into English. Biography Sadoul was ...
. He is best known for his controversial work with
Edmund Gurney Edmund Gurney (23 March 184723 June 1888) was an England, English psychologist and parapsychologist. At the time the term for research of paranormal activities was "psychical research". Early life Gurney was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Tham ...
at the
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...
, his short films from 1897 to 1903, which pioneered film editing and close-ups, and his development of the first successful colour film process,
Kinemacolor Kinemacolor was the first successful colour motion picture process, used commercially from 1908 to 1914. It was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906. He was influenced by the work of William Norman Lascelles Davidson and, more directly, E ...
.


Biography


Birth and early life

Smith was born in
Cripplegate Cripplegate was a gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London. The gate gave its name to the Cripplegate ward of the City which straddles the line of the former wall and gate, a line which continues to divide the ward into tw ...
, London in 1864. His father Charles Smith was a ticket-writer and artist.Hall (1964), p. 92. He moved with his family to Brighton, where his mother ran a boarding house on Grand Parade, following the death of his father. It was in Brighton in the early 1880s that Smith first came to public attention touring the city's performance halls as a stage hypnotist. In 1882 he teamed up with
Douglas Blackburn Douglas Blackburn (6 August 1857, Southwark – 28 March 1929, Tonbridge) was an English journalist and novelist, who worked in the Transvaal and Natal between 1892 and 1908. He has been called "the great chronicler of the last days of the Bo ...
in an act at the Brighton Aquarium involving
muscle reading Muscle reading, also known as " Hellstromism", "Cumberlandism" or "contact mind reading", is a technique used by mentalists to determine the thoughts or knowledge of a subject, the effect of which tends to be perceived as a form of mind reading. ...
, in which the blindfolded performer identifies objects selected by the audience, and ''
second sight Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...
'', in which the blindfolded performer finds objects hidden by his assistant somewhere in the theatre.Hall (1964), pp. 92–94. The
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...
(SPR) accepted Smith's claims that the act was genuine and after becoming a member of the society he was appointed private secretary to the Honorary Secretary
Edmund Gurney Edmund Gurney (23 March 184723 June 1888) was an England, English psychologist and parapsychologist. At the time the term for research of paranormal activities was "psychical research". Early life Gurney was born at Hersham, near Walton-on-Tham ...
from 1883 to 1888. In 1887, Gurney carried out a number of "hypnotic experiments" in Brighton, with Smith as his "hypnotiser", which in their day made Gurney an impressive figure to the British public. Since then it has been heavily studied and critiqued by
Trevor H. Hall Trevor Henry Hall (1910–1991) was a British author, surveyor, and sceptic of paranormal phenomena. Hall made controversial claims regarding early members of the Society for Psychical Research. His books caused a heated controversy within the para ...
in his study ''The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney''. Hall concluded that Smith (using his stage abilities) faked the results that Gurney trusted in his research papers, and this may have led to Gurney's mysterious death from a narcotic overdose in June 1888. Following Gurney's death, his successors, F. W. H. Myers and
Frank Podmore Frank Podmore (5 February 1856 – 14 August 1910) was an English author, and founding member of the Fabian Society. He is best known as an influential member of the Society for Psychical Research and for his sceptical writings on spiritualism. ...
, continued to employ Smith as their private secretary. In 1889, he co-authored (with
Henry Sidgwick Henry Sidgwick (; 31 May 1838 – 28 August 1900) was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was the Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1883 until his death, and is best known in philos ...
and
Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick (née Balfour; 11 March 1845 – 10 February 1936), known as Nora to her family and friends, was a physics researcher assisting Lord Rayleigh, an activist for the higher education of women, Principal of Newnham College o ...
) the paper, ''Experiments in Thought Transference'', for the society's journal. Blackburn publicly admitted fraud in 1908 and again in 1911, although Smith consistently denied it.


At St. Ann's Well Gardens

In 1892, after leaving the SPR, he acquired the lease of the St. Ann's Well Gardens in
Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...
from the estate of financier and philanthropist Sir
Isaac Lyon Goldsmid Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, 1st Baronet (13 January 1778 – 27 April 1859) was a financier and one of the leading figures in the Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom, who became the first British Jew to receive a hereditary title. Biography ...
, which he cultivated into a popular pleasure garden, where from 1894 he started staging public exhibitions of hot air ballooning, parachute jumps, a monkey house, a fortune teller, a hermit living in a cave and magic lantern shows of a series of ''dissolving views''. Smith also began to present these dioramic lectures at the Brighton Aquarium, where he had first performed with Douglas Blackburn in 1882. Smith's skilful manipulation of the lantern, cutting between lenses (from slide to slide) to show changes in time, perspective and location necessary for story telling, would allow him to develop many of the skills he would later put to use as a pioneering film maker developing the grammar of film editing. Smith had attended the Lumière programme in
Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
in March 1896 and spurred on by the films of
Robert Paul Robert Paul (born June 2, 1937) is a Canadian former pair skater. He teamed up with Barbara Wagner in 1952. They became the 1960 Olympic champions, four-time World champions, and five-time Canadian national champions. After retiring from compe ...
, which played in Brighton for that summer season, he and local chemist James Williamson acquired a prototype
cine camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either on an image sensor or onto film stock, in order to produce a moving image to project onto a movie sc ...
s from local engineer
Alfred Darling Alfred Darling (1862–1931) was an engineer and a key member of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. Biography Darling began to manufacture film equipment at his engin ...
, who had begun to manufacture film equipment after carrying out repairs for Brighton-based film pioneer
Esmé Collings Arthur Albert 'Esme' Collings (1859 – 28 March 1936) was an English photographer, miniaturist and the first of the loose association of early film pioneers dubbed the Brighton School by French film historian Georges Sadoul. Collings, whose in ...
. In 1897, with the technical assistance of Darling and chemicals purchased from Williamson, Smith turned the pump house into a ''film factory'' for developing and printing and developed into a successful commercial film processor as well as patenting a
camera A camera is an Optics, optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), ...
and
projector A projector or image projector is an optical device that projects an image (or moving images) onto a surface, commonly a projection screen. Most projectors create an image by shining a light through a small transparent lens, but some newer types ...
system of his own. Both he and his neighbour Williamson would go on to become pioneering film makers in their own right creating numerous historic minute-long films. On 29 March 1897, Smith added ''animated photographs'' to the end of his twice-daily programme of projected entertainment at the Brighton Aquarium, as an outlet for his burgeoning film production. Many of Smith's early films, including ''
The Miller and the Sweep ''The Miller and the Sweep'' is a 1898 British short black-and-white silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a miller carrying a bag of flour fighting with a chimney sweep carrying a bag of soot in front of a windmill, ...
'' and '' Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer'' (both filmed in 1897) were comedies thanks to the influence of his wife,
Laura Bayley Laura may refer to: People * Laura (given name) * Laura, the British code name for the World War I Belgian spy Marthe Cnockaert Places Australia * Laura, Queensland, a town on the Cape York Peninsula * Laura, South Australia * Laura Bay, a ba ...
, who had previously acted in pantomime and comic revue. However Smith also corresponded with special effects pioneer
Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...
whose influence can be seen in ''
The X-Rays ''The X-Rays'' (also known as ''The X-Ray Fiend'') is an 1897 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a courting couple exposed to X-rays. The trick film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, ...
'' and '' The Haunted Castle'' (both 1897) the later of which, along with ''
The Corsican Brothers ''The Corsican Brothers'' (french: Les Frères corses) is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père, first published in 1844. It is the story of two conjoined brothers who, though separated at birth, can still feel each other's physical distress. It h ...
'', ''
Photographing a Ghost ''Photographing a Ghost'' (1898) is a short film that was directed by George Albert Smith. It is about photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", t ...
'' and, perhaps his most accomplished work from this time, ''
Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
'' (all 1898), include special effects created using a process of double-exposure patented by Smith. Many of Smith's films were acquired for distribution by
Charles Urban Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propa ...
for the
Warwick Trading Company The Warwick Trading Company was a British film production and distribution company, which operated between 1898 and 1915. History The Warwick Trading Company had its origins in the London office of Maguire and Baucus, a firm run by two American ...
and the two began a long business relationship with a joint show of Smith and Méliès' films at the Alhambra Theatre, Brighton in late 1898 and early 1899. In 1899 Smith, with the financial assistance of Urban, constructed a glass house film studio at St. Ann's Well Gardens, ushering in a highly creative period for him as a film maker. That year he shot the single scene ''
The Kiss in the Tunnel ''The Kiss in the Tunnel'', also known as ''A Kiss in the Tunnel'', is a 1899 in film, 1899 film UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent comedy film, produced and directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith, sh ...
'' (1899) which was then seamlessly edited into
Cecil Hepworth Cecil Milton Hepworth (19 March 1874 – 9 February 1953) was a British film director, producer and screenwriter. He was among the founders of the British film industry and continued making films into the 1920s at his Hepworth Studios. In ...
's '' View From an Engine Front - Train Leaving Tunnel'' (1899) to enliven the staid phantom ride genre and demonstrate the possibilities of creative editing. The following year he experimented with reversing in '' The House That Jack Built'' (1900), developed dream-time and the dissolve effect in '' Let Me Dream Again'' (1900) and pioneered the use of the close-up with ''
Grandma's Reading Glass ''Grandma's Reading Glass'' is a 1900 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a young Willy who borrows a huge magnifying glass to focus on various objects, which was shot to demonstrate the new technique ...
'', ''
As Seen Through a Telescope ''As Seen Through a Telescope'' (AKA: ''The Professor and His Field Glass'') is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring an elderly gentleman getting a glimpse of a woman's ankle through a telescope ...
'' and ''
Spiders on a Web ''Spiders on a Web'' is a 1900 British short silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a single shot close-up of two spiders trapped in an enclosure (not on a web as indicated in the title). The film is, according to ...
'' (all 1900). Film historian Frank Gray describes this experimental period, from 1897 to 1900, as Smith's laboratory years. In 1902 Smith collaborated with old friend Georges Méliès at the Star Films studio in Montreil, Paris, on a pre-enactment of the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra commissioned by Charles Urban of the Warwick Trading Company after rival company Mutoscope and Biograph acquired the rights to film the actual event. In 1903
Charles Urban Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propa ...
left the
Warwick Trading Company The Warwick Trading Company was a British film production and distribution company, which operated between 1898 and 1915. History The Warwick Trading Company had its origins in the London office of Maguire and Baucus, a firm run by two American ...
to form the Charles Urban Trading Company taking the rights to Smith's films with him, at what marked the end of his most active period as a film-maker.


At Laboratory Lodge

In 1904, A. H. Tee took over the lease on St Ann's Well Gardens, and Smith moved to a new home in Southwick,
Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, dubbed ''Laboratory Lodge'', where with finance from Charles Urban, he went on to develop the Lee-Turner Process, which had been acquired by Urban following the death of
Edward Raymond Turner Edward Raymond Turner (1873 – 9 March 1903) was a pioneering British inventor and cinematographer. He produced the earliest known colour motion picture film footage. Biography Turner was born in 1873 in Clevedon, North Somerset, UK. In late ...
in 1903, into the first successful colour film process,
Kinemacolor Kinemacolor was the first successful colour motion picture process, used commercially from 1908 to 1914. It was invented by George Albert Smith in 1906. He was influenced by the work of William Norman Lascelles Davidson and, more directly, E ...
.Hall (1964), p. 172. Smith proved the new process, which abandoned the three-colour approach of Edward Turner in favour of a two-colour (red-green) process, with early test films such as ''
Tartans of Scottish Clans ''Tartans of Scottish Clans'' is a 1906 in film, 1906 UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith as a test for his newly patented Kinemacolor system, whi ...
'' (1906) and ''
Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs ''Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs'' is a 1908 in film, 1908 UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith as a showcase of his new Kinemacolor syst ...
'' (1908) before giving a trade demonstration of ''
A Visit to the Seaside ''A Visit to the Seaside'' (1908) was the first successful motion picture filmed in Kinemacolor. It is an 8-minute short film directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton, showing people doing everyday activities. It is ranked of high historica ...
'' (1908) on 1 May 1908, followed by public demonstration from early 1909 as far afield as Paris and New York, for which Smith was awarded a silver medal by the
Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
. In 1910 Urban founded the Natural Colour Kinemacolor Company, which successfully used the process to produce over 100 short features at its studios in Hove and Nice, until it was put out of business by a 1914 patent suit filed by
William Friese-Greene William Friese-Greene (born William Edward Green, 7 September 1855 – 5 May 1921) was a prolific English inventor and professional photographer. He was known as a pioneer in the field of motion pictures, having devised a series of cameras in 1 ...
, which ended Smith's film career.


Later life and death

In the late 1940s he was rediscovered by the British film community, being made a Fellow of the
British Film Academy British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
in 1955. Smith died in Brighton on 17 May 1959.Hall (1964), p. 173. Hove Museum has a permanent display on Smith and Williamson.


Selected filmography

*'' The Haunted Castle'' (1897) *''Making Sausages (1897) *'' Old Man Drinking a Glass of Beer'' (1897) *''
The X-Rays ''The X-Rays'' (also known as ''The X-Ray Fiend'') is an 1897 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a courting couple exposed to X-rays. The trick film, according to Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline, ...
'' (1897) *''
The Miller and the Sweep ''The Miller and the Sweep'' is a 1898 British short black-and-white silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a miller carrying a bag of flour fighting with a chimney sweep carrying a bag of soot in front of a windmill, ...
'' (1898) *''
Photographing a Ghost ''Photographing a Ghost'' (1898) is a short film that was directed by George Albert Smith. It is about photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", t ...
'' (1898) *''
Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...
'' (1898) *''
The Kiss in the Tunnel ''The Kiss in the Tunnel'', also known as ''A Kiss in the Tunnel'', is a 1899 in film, 1899 film UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent comedy film, produced and directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith, sh ...
'' (1899) *''
As Seen Through a Telescope ''As Seen Through a Telescope'' (AKA: ''The Professor and His Field Glass'') is a 1900 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring an elderly gentleman getting a glimpse of a woman's ankle through a telescope ...
'' (1900) *''
Grandma's Reading Glass ''Grandma's Reading Glass'' is a 1900 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a young Willy who borrows a huge magnifying glass to focus on various objects, which was shot to demonstrate the new technique ...
'' (1900) *'' Grandma Threading her Needle'' (1900) *''
Spiders on a Web ''Spiders on a Web'' is a 1900 British short silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith, featuring a single shot close-up of two spiders trapped in an enclosure (not on a web as indicated in the title). The film is, according to ...
'' (1900) *'' The Old Maid's Valentine'' (1900) *'' The House That Jack Built'' (1900) *'' Let Me Dream Again'' (1900) *'' The Inexhaustible Cab'' (1901) *''
The Death of Poor Joe ''The Death of Poor Joe'' is a 1901 British short silent drama film, directed by George Albert Smith, which features the director's wife Laura Bayley as Joe, a child street-sweeper who dies of disease on the street in the arms of a policeman ...
'' (1901) *''
Mary Jane's Mishap ''Mary Jane's Mishap; or, Don't Fool with the Paraffin'' is a 1903 British short silent comedy film, directed by George Albert Smith, depicting disaster following when housemaid Mary Jane uses paraffin to light the kitchen stove. The ''trick' ...
'' (1903) *'' The Sick Kitten'' (1903) *''
Tartans of Scottish Clans ''Tartans of Scottish Clans'' is a 1906 in film, 1906 UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith as a test for his newly patented Kinemacolor system, whi ...
'' (1906) *''Two Clowns'' (1906) *''
Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs ''Woman Draped in Patterned Handkerchiefs'' is a 1908 in film, 1908 UK, British Short subject, short silent film, silent documentary film, directed by George Albert Smith (inventor), George Albert Smith as a showcase of his new Kinemacolor syst ...
'' (1908) *''
A Visit to the Seaside ''A Visit to the Seaside'' (1908) was the first successful motion picture filmed in Kinemacolor. It is an 8-minute short film directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton, showing people doing everyday activities. It is ranked of high historica ...
'' (1908)


References


Bibliography

* Hall, Trevor H. (1964). ''The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney''. Gerald Duckworth.


External links


History of film industry in Brighton

History of Brighton that includes the claim that Smith invented the closeup
*
First Colour Moving Pictures Discovered: The First Colour Moving Pictures Made by Lee and Turner (Restored film video)
September 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, George Albert 1864 births 1959 deaths People from Hove Parapsychologists British hypnotists Photographers from Sussex Cinema pioneers British cinema pioneers British film directors Horror film directors English inventors Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Telepaths Articles containing video clips