October 6, 2014 (Monday)
On this day in 1889, Thomas Edison showed his first motion picture. Exactly 38 years later, On October 6, 1927, “Jazz Singer,” the first “talking movie,” premiered in New York City. Silent movies had already become very popular with the public, but the introduction of sound brought even more enthusiasm for the new form of entertainment.
In their early days, motion pictures were much like modern day documentaries. Films were about “famous people, news events, disasters, people at work, new modes of travel and technology, scenic views, expositions, and other leisure activities. Film production emphasis eventually shifted to comedies and dramas.” * As they say, “the rest is history.” Movies became so popular that theaters could be found in the smallest of towns and in neighborhoods throughout the cities.
With the advent of television, the medium gradually changed from film to electronics.
Television became unbelievably popular. And then came the Internet, a curious combination of almost every venue of entertainment and information. Most recently in this evolution of moving pictures is the ubiquitous “smart phone,” offering mobility to its owners. Its possibilities have expanded to its picture-making capabilities, and now video. I saw a TV show recently that featured family members in their seats at the school auditorium awaiting the appearance of their little daughter on stage with the other kids from her class. The mother raised her smart phone to make a video, and suddenly her view was blocked by smart phones raised by families seated in front of her. Suddenly there was a sea of color images raised as the audience made their videos with their little hand-held miracle mini-machines.
What next? We do not know, but we do know that something else is on its way. That’s just the way it is these days. What a wonderful time to be alive.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Many of the old movie stars are dead, but they seem to be alive when we see the old movies. Many of our loved ones and friends have died and are with the Lord today; they seem to be dead, but are very much alive, with Jesus–“absent from the body, present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8).