LOUIS AND AUGUSTE LUMIÈRE
‘The Lumière Cinematograph’ allowed large audiences to watch ‘moving
pictures’. Its début took place on 28 December 1895 in a Paris café. That day the
Lumière showed several short films. They were all documentaries and one of them was
called ‘Arrival of Train Station’. Afterwards, Auguste Lumière talked to reporters about
his invention. ‘It can be exploited for certain time,’ he said, ‘but apart from that it has
no commercial value at all.’
Well, he was completely wrong. In less than a year, cinemas had started to
open in Europe and America. The public’s appetite for films was instant and enormous – which
meant that more and more had to be made. By 1905 movie-making wasn’t just an interesting
idea – it was a successful new industry. And by 1915 it was an industry with a capital –
Hollywood, USA.
THE SILENT ERA
Hollywood was established in 1912. That’s when a group of New York film producers decided to
open a new studio in California. Why California? Because the climate was good, labour was cheap and
there were lots of beautiful locations nearby.
As a result of their decision, Hollywood soon attracted film actors and technicians from all over
the country. While World War One was fought in Europe, and for several years after, these cinema
pioneers made thousands of black and white films – comedies, tragedies, fantasies, romances and
historical dramas. This was ‘the silent era’ – the era of Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow,
Douglas Fairbanks and Buster Keaton. It was called ‘silent’ because there was no recorded sound.
Instead, the actors’ dialogue appeared on cards shown every 15 or 20 seconds. At the time it
seemed perfectly normal. That’s simply how films were. In fact, even as late as 1924, director D W
Griffith declared ‘There will never be speaking pictures’. But Griffith, like Auguste Lumière 29 years
before, was wrong. A revolution was coming, and its name was…

A. Read the text and put the correct subheading for each paragraph. There is an EXTRA
one.
1. REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN
2. CASTING FOR SUCCESS
3. MASSIVE SUCCESS
4. FIRST STARS
5. CRADLE OF EMERGING INDUSTRY
6. NO EXPECTATIONS
B. Read the text again and answer the questions about it.
1. What types of films were shown at the beginning?
2. Was Auguste Lumiére positive about the future of their invention?
3. What was people’s reaction to motion pictures?
4. Why were film actors and technicians attracted to Hollywood?
5. Why do you think Lumière and D W Griffith were wrong?

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