People active in the silent era and people who keep the silent era alive. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Photograph: Silent Era image collection.

Thomas A. Edison

Born 11 February 1847 in Milan, Ohio, USA, as Thomas Alva Edison.
Died 18 October 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey, USA.

Married Mary Stilwell in 1871; daughter, Marion Estelle Edison, born 18 February 1873;
son, Thomas Alva Edison Jr., born 10 January 1876; son, William Leslie Edison, born 26 October 1878;
until her death on 9 August 1884.
Married Mina Miller in 1886; daughter, Madeleine Edison, born 31 May 1888;
son, Charles Edison, born 3 August 1890; son, Theodore Miller Edison, born 10 July 1898.

Thomas A. Edison is a well-known figure in American history. In silent era significance, his laboratory is responsible for developing the first practical American motion picture system, represented first by a single-person viewing system — the Kinetoscope — and subsequently by an operational projection system. Edison is responsible in 1893 for establishing the first American motion picture studio, nicknamed the Black Maria, on the grounds of his New Jersey laboratory of necessity to supply motion picture films to the exhibition market.

In 1913 Edison brought to market the Kinetophone, a synchronized sound film system that ultimately failed due to its totally mechanically-based technology which was prone to developing synchronization problems — not uncommon with other sound film systems that were introduced around the same time.

By 1918 Edison’s motion picture production arm, part of Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated, was shut down in response to more-sophisticated and talented competition. Throughout World War I, the industry had moved away from exhibition programs comprised chiefly of short films to feature-length films with more emphasis on character development and well-plotted stories — a trend to which the Edison studio apparently could not effectively adapt.

References: Website-Wikipedia.