| 1912 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
| January 1 |
The Post Office takes over all operations of the National Telephone Company. Thus,
all UK telephone systems are nationalised except those owned by the Hull and Portsmouth local
authorities. International submarine cables from the UK remain in private hands. |
|
| February 2 |
Kinemacolor film of the Delhi Durbar
opens at the Scala Theatre in London. |
â May 11 |
| April 14 |
Sinking of SS Titanic is followed for 72 hours continuously in
Morse code radio signals. President Taft issues an executive order to close all other radio
communications during the event. David Sarnoff (aged 17) is among telegraph
operators following events, although apparently not in the way implied by his
self-promotion. |
|
| May 11 |
King George V and Queen Mary visit the Scala Theatre in London to see the Kinemacolor
film of their Durbar at Delhi. [This is probably the first visit by a reigning British monarch
to a cinema, although Queen Victoria had seen private film shows.] |
|
| May 13 |
Institute of Radio Engineers is formed by the
merger of the Wireless Institute and the Society of Wireless Telegraph Engineers. |
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| May 18 |
Release, as part of a double bill, of the first Indian feature film, Pundalik
by R G Torney (1880-?) and N G Chitre, shot on a Bourne & Shepherd camera. |
|
| l |
Carl Laemmle merges his Independent Motion Pictures Company with several others,
including Champion Films, to form Universal Pictures. |
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| June 1 |
Adolph Zukor incorporates Famous Players Film Company
in New York. |
à 1916 |
| June |
Première of Oliver Twist, the first US film
release to last more than one hour, produced as a five-reeler by H A Spanuth. |
|
| July 12 |
Queen Elizabeth is the first foreign feature-length film released in the USA. |
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| July |
What Happened to May?, a 12-part cinema serial of monthly episodes produced by
Edison, is the first of the genre; it is also published in text form in Ladies’ World magazine. |
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| August 13 |
First experimental radio transmission licence is granted by the US Department of
Commerce to St Joseph's College, Philadelphia. |
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| August |
Première of Oliver Twist, first UK film to last more than one hour, made as
a four-reeler by Thomas Bentley at the Hepworth Studios at Walton-on-Thames. |
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| August |
Kinemacolor de France is established by Charles Urban. |
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| September 23 |
Keystone Comedy, the first of Mack Sennett's comedy films, featuring the Keystone
Cops, is released. Keystone Comedy Studio is founded by Mack Sennett, in association with the New York
Motion Picture Company. |
|
| September |
Film studio complex costing over £10,000 is built at Rushcutter’s Bay, Sydney
by Australian producer Cozens Spencer. |
|
| October |
British Board of Film Censors is set up by Kinematograph
Manufacturers’ Association in response to the threat of government action. |
à 1913
History of British film censorship |
| November 15 |
Gaumont Chronochrome, the first practical three-colour film process, is shown to the
French Photographic Society in Paris. A three-lens camera with different colour filters is used, compared
with the two-colour approach of Kinemacolor. |
|
| November |
Amalgamated Picture Company, West’s Pictures and Spencer’s Pictures combine
to form Australia’s largest film company, General Film Company of Australasia. |
See also 1913 January |
| December |
Release of the first six-reel movie in the USA: The Beloved Vagabond, produced
by Gold Rooster. |
|
| l |
Charles Pathé introduces his KOK amateur film camera and projector, using 28mm
diacetate ‘safety’ film and a frame area almost as large as that on 35mm film. A library
of home entertainment films is made available for purchase—an early form of the ‘video
publishing’ concept. |
|
| l |
Nippon Katsudoshashin Company (Nikkatsu) is formed with the aim of dominating the
Japanese film market. Members of the trust are Fukuhodo, Pathé, Yokota and Yoshizawa. Nikkatsu builds
the Mukojima Studios in Tokyo to make ‘new school’ (Shinpa) films and uses the
former Yokota studio in Kyoto to make ‘old school’ (Kyuhu) films. |
|
| l |
Panchromatic film emulsion, sensitive to the whole colour spectrum, is invented by
Eastman Kodak for Gaumont. Orthochromatic film stock—the only kind previously available—had
good reproduction at the higher frequency (blue) end of the colour spectrum, low response to yellow
and green and complete insensitivity to reds. |
|
| l |
Skating rink at Alexandra Palace in north London is converted into a film studio by
Pathé subsidiary Union Film Publishing Company, also known as Big Ben Productions, which had
previously operated from a basement studio in Great Portland Street, Westminster. |
See also 1914, 1915 |
| l |
Captain Kettle Company starts to make films at the Towers Hall Studio in Manchester
Road, Bradford, Yorkshire. |
à 1914 |
| l |
Harry Warner sells his film exchanges in Baltimore and Pittsburgh to General Film Company
for $100,000. The money is used by Warner and his brothers to rent a studio on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. |
|
| l |
Cinema attendances are now 5m a day in the USA. |
|
| l |
There are 1,500 cinemas in Germany, 270 in Hungary, two in Iceland. |
|
| l |
Edison Home Kinetoscope 22mm film camera is introduced for use with Eastman Safety film stock. |
|
| l |
Film awards are given in a cinema competition at the International Exhibition, Turin,
Italy. Grand prix of Ffr 25,000 goes to Ambrosio Film Co for After Fifty Years, a historical drama. |
|
| l |
Fox Films founded in US by William Fox. |
|
| l |
Cinematograph Exhibitors Association (CEA) is formed in Great Britain. |
|
| l |
Carl Lindström Company becomes the leading German audio recording company before the
First World War through the acquisition of Beka, Favorite and Odeon companies. |
|
| l |
Albert Einstein formulates the law of photochemical equivalence. |
|
| l |
Lee De Forest develops the Audion vacuum tube amplifier. |
|
| l |
US Radio Act requires licensing of all stations and operators. |
|
| l |
First films made are in
• Colombia: The Triumph of Faith, directed by Floro Maco.
• Egypt: a travelogue, Dans les rues d’Alexandrie, directed by M de Lagarne.
• Guatemala: Agent no 13, directed by Alberto de la Riva. |
|
| l |
First Austrian feature films are Zweierlei Blut
and Das Mirakel, directed by Max Reinhardt (4,200 feet, 70 minutes). |
|
| l |
Mihály Kertész directs the first feature-length Hungarian film, Ma és holnap.
He later moves to America and under his anglicised name, Michael Curtiz, directs many classic Hollywood
movies, winning the Oscar for best director in 1943 with Casablanca. |
|
