Edison Projectoscope Exhibition Flyer

Original 2 page B&W printed flyer for a public exhibition of Thomas A. Edison's Projectoscope October 18th, 1897 at the Union Club Auditorium, Rutherford, N.J.. Admission was 50 cents which was a tidy sum at the time. The promoters of the show were Colgan and Watkins. In the days before dedicated movie theaters or "Nickelodeons", M.J. Colgan and E.G. Watkins were prominent late 19th-century showmen and amusement entrepreneurs. In 1897, they partnered as traveling entertainment proprietors to tour the United States with novelty acts, early cinematic exhibitions, or vaudeville-style combinations. During this golden era of traveling showmen, partnerships like Colgan and Watkins frequently managed dime museums, regional tours, and specialty carnival attractions across the American circuit. The Edison Projectoscope (also known as the Projecting Kinetoscope) was Thomas Edison's first commercially successful motion picture projector. Introduced in November 1896, it marked a crucial pivot for the Edison Manufacturing Company from solitary "peep-hole" viewing machines to communal cinema experiences. Before the Projectoscope, Edison famously championed the Kinetoscope, a wooden cabinet where only one person at a time could watch a loop of film through a peephole. However, as inventors worldwide began successfully projecting movies onto large screens for crowds, Edison had to adapt. Traveling showmen highly favored Edison’s machine. This exhibtion was probably the first time the atendees had ever seen a moving picture. In overall VG original condition with several folds and one small tear to the bottom cover. Measures 6" wide, 9.5" tall. From the Allen Koenigsberg collection.