Thursday, August 6, 2015

BEFORE TELEVISION...

Behold the Enterprise Stereopticon with a Seroco Acetylene Light, advertised in the 1902 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogue—the “highest grade” of lantern made.
The full set came with a Seroco generator and a Simplex burner for firing the acetylene, a high power single stereopticon with carrying case, a 120 square-foot white screen, 52 transparent views in a polished wood case, and an accompanying lecture, bound in book form for easy reading by the operator to the audience.

There were several topics available: some of the most popular lectures were patriotic and military: The Maine and the Cuban War, the Boer-English War; religious and travel: the Passion Play Series, Life of Christ on Earth and—one of my favorites—Around the World in Eighty Minutes, a precursor, perhaps, to the more familiar (to us) eighty-day hot air balloon excursion.
There were eighty views in this series, so the audience saw one scene per minute.


For a more grim entertainment, you could see The Assassination of President McKinley, “a valuable memento of the sad event whereby the nation was deprived of its president.” It includes a view “of the assassin himself, taken within ten minutes of his capture by the police.”
Only fifteen slides in this set, but all with color added!
         





Sinclair Lewis might have enjoyed The Chicago Stock Yards (subtitled “From Hoof to Market”). Witness “the shipping of the animals, their reception at the stock yards, the slaughtering, curing, saving and inspecting, the manner in which the by-products are utilized…”
Fifty-five slides in this set, twelve of which had added color.
Sounds gruesome.




Sears pitched these stereopticon sets to young men (and women!) who might be interested in becoming self-employed—people who wished to “make money with little effort,” and find “pleasant and honorable employment.”
          The entire set cost $53 (a bit over a thousand dollars today—a substantial investment), but a traveling lecturer with an established circuit could earn that in a week by renting a hall in each small town, charging admission for two or three presentations, then moving on.


Hurry; place your order! 

12 comments:

  1. Entertainment certainly has improved a lot since then.

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    1. I think the delivery has definitely improved, but I'm not sure about the content!

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  2. Fascinating! Not exactly providing family entertainment in the way that television does though, but it too may well be on its way out, with everything that's available on the Internet now.

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    1. The changes are too fast and furious for me! I can't imagine what will be available in the next decade...

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  3. The Boer War or Hoof to Market -- what an option. Imagine how much money the traveling lecturer could have made if he had a few porn slides. Oh heck, I bet he did. Did you clean this up for Sepia Saturday? (HA -- Just kidding.)

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    1. Never thought of that, Wendy! I think you could use your own negative plates, so...a little frisky business might be possible! What a laugh you've given me!

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  4. When I was a little girl, the owner of the farming corporation, for which my dad worked, had a similar set. When he came to Oregon from California, he would bring all sorts of treasures to pique the interest of a small girl.
    Also, the comments are ever bit as entertaining as the posts --so go, girl, go.

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    1. One of the things I love about Sepians? The sense of humor that prevails! You're right, Joan...the comments ARE as good as the posts!

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  5. I agree with Wendy, what a choice. I can't imagine women going on the circuit with these particular topics.

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    1. I can't imagine ANYBODY going on the road with the hoof lecture! Would love to see the "color" images, though! And the travel ones would be interesting...

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  6. With added colour? The mind boggles. Aren’t we lucky these days?

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    1. I know, I know...can you imagine the "added" color for the slaughterhouse? Yikes...it's too much to process!

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