Way back in the 1800's, experiments were being made using photographs which created the illusion of motion. For example, batteries of cameras were set up to take a series of pictures of a running horse.
In the late 1880's roll film was invented. Then cameras were invented which photographed a series of separate photographs of an action on a strip
of film and then showed them back at the same rate of speed, thus reproducing the action. In fact, these were "movies."
They became quite popular. At first, they were only scenes of something that moved: waves on the beach, horses running, children swinging, trains arriving at a station.
The first film which really told a story was produced in the laboratories of Thomas Edison in 1903. It was "The Great Train Robbery," and it caused a nationwide sensation. It was exhibited in black lightproof tents.
The first permanent motion-picture theater in the United States opened in November 1905, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The owners called it a nickelodeon. Soon nickelodeons were opened all over the country and everybody began to go to the movies.
Most of the first films were made in New York and New Jersey and it wasn't until 1913 that films began to be made in Hollywood.
How did movies start?
