Subject
Martin Loiperdinger: Film & chocolate: Stollwerck's business in living images
BOOK REVIEW
by Jan-Christopher Horak
in: Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (2000)
Possibly because film history was traditionally conceived as a national project involving the development of distinctly national cinemas, which were in turn defined by production and exhibition rather than distribution, it seems understandable that the internationalist aspects of early film history would initially be ignored. Little mention is in fact made in the classic histories of such an inherently international project as film distribution. If distribution is mentioned at all, it is in terms of the earliest Lumière cameramen going to far away places to photograph the sights, earning their travel expenses by also screening their work on location. However, one can read precious little about film distribution in the cinema's first 15 years of existence, although it is clear today from the literature of the past 20 years that film distribution was completely international from its inception. Thus, while Martin Loiperdinger's latest book Film and Chocolate, Stollwerck's business in living images, seemingly covers an esoteric corner of the film historical map, it in fact illuminates a previous hidden landscape of the cinema's earliest history, namely the distribution of pioneering cinema technologies and, specifically, the Lumière brother's films. What makes the book particularly intriguing is that it focuses on conditions within an national cinema, i.e. Germany, while simultaneously covering the multiferous international cross-currents influencing that development.
In Germany, the earliest cinema technologies and films were ostensibly imported, yet the conditions of distribution and exhibition were defined by national borders. While in almost every other country in Europe or the Americas early cinema was defined by vaudeville, fairgrounds and other forms of popular entertainment, in Germany the primary mover and shaker was the chocolate manufacturer, Ludwig Stollwerck, who sold films and chocolates in arcades. Thus, by focusing on the business ventures of Stollwerck, who sought to sell his products with other goods and services through the newly available technology of coin-operated automates, Loiperdinger paradigmatically discusses one set of distribution methods available to early cinema. His access to Stollwerck Company archives is particularly important, since it allows him to make available for the first time many important letters and documents.
Stollwerck, one of Germany's leading chocolate manufacturers even today, began selling high-quality chocolate through coin-operated machines as early as 1887. By 1895 he had set up a separate company, the Deutsche Automaten Gesellschaft (DAG), to sell chocolate and other goods, including toiletries, other candies, cigarettes and matches, at train stations, cafes and other public places. Following the American example of penny arcades, Stollwerck also began setting up automates in urban arcades, selling not only goods, but also experience of music and photography images. Particularly popular were stereoscopic viewers, the 'Kaiserpanorama' which August Fuhrmann had introduced to most major German cities, In 1894, Stollwerck signed a contract with a Parisian photographer of stereoscopes and began distributing images and machines, the 'Princess-Panorama-Automat', to clients in Germany, Austria-Hungary and Belgium.
From there it was only a small step to the sale of moving images. As Loiperdinger establishes, Stollwerck had been negotiating with several inventors, including Ottomar Anschütz whose electrotachyskop had been introduced as early as 1887; Thomas Edison, whose kinetoscope machines had been in distribution since1893; and Georges Demeny, who was developing a so-called phonoscope. While Demeny's R&&was financially supported by Stollwerck for several years without coming to fruition, Stollwerck's relationship with Edison was more promising: a Stollwerck subsidiary became the a non-exclusive distributor for Edison Kinetoscopes in Central Europe. Once the novelty wore off, however, a major drop in business occurred because the distribution of new films lagged far behind the demand for a constantly changing programme. To keep the arcades in Cologne and elsewhere in business with a steady stream of patrons, Stollwerck needed a reliable source for film material, just as his Parisian contact for stereoscopic slides had proven a steady supplier.
While Stollwerck flirted briefly with the English inventor Birt Acres, who was promising to deliver a functional cinema camera and projector, Stollwerck eventually signed an exclusive distribution contract with the Lumière Brothers, whose cinematographe had become am sensation in Paris, since its introduction in December 1895. According to their contract, dated 26 March 1896, the Lumières were to receive 60% of all income from the sale and projection of their moving images. The first public presentation in Germany of Lumière's cinematographe occurred in Cologne on 18 April 1896. Rather than presenting the film as an separate attraction, Stollwerck set up screening rooms in spaces directly attached to his arcades, allowing patrons to experience a variety of entertainments, as well as purchase foods and chocolate with a drop of a coin.
In part 2 of his book, Loiperdinger describes every films listed in the Lumière catalogue, produced by French and German cameramen in Germany, as well as excerpting reviews from local German newspapers and providing dates of presentation. Finally, he discusses the individual film by location and /or event, including a chronology of their production/exhibition, including all those films which were announced by Lumière but either never made it into the catalogue or have been lost. This second part is thus an extremely valuable reference for anyone studying distribution patterns of early cinema.
While the Stollwerck/Lumière connection lasted less than 2 years, Loiperdinger makes clear that it was a defining moment in Germany's film history. His history however, also gives us an idea of the intense international business that was cinema, even in its earliest days.
Martin Loiperdinger, Film & Schokolade. Stollwercks Geschäfte mit lebenden Bildern (= KINtop Schriften 4) Stroemfeld Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, Basel 1999 ISBN 3-87877-764-7 (Buch) ISBN 3-87877-760-4 (Buch und Videocassette)
