Happy Birthday George Albert Smith!
For all lovers of film Thursday 4 January 2024 marks a special occasion as we celebrate the 160th anniversary of the birth of George Albert Smith.
Although this momentous event took place in London, Smith spent most of his life in the Brighton & Hove area. His various occupations make an exotic list – hypnotist, psychic, magic lanternist, astronomer and inventor – but it is his pioneering film work that has left a lasting mark today.
Success
Inspired by the Lumière brothers, Smith took up film making. He experimented with editing and close-up shots, techniques now taken for granted in the modern world. He used superimposition and reversing to create ghostly and other special effects right from the early days of filmmaking.
Together with Charles Urban, Smith presented the first commercially successful colour film process known as Kinemacolor. In 2010 Brighton Museum & Art Gallery held an exhibition ‘Capturing Colour’ which charted the discovery and development of colour film with Kinemacolor featured as one of the key chapters in this quest.
Recognition
Unfortunately, a court battle over a patent suit led to Smith’s ruin, ending his promising film career in 1914. However, during the 1940s he finally began to gain the recognition he deserved, eventually becoming a Fellow of the British Film Academy in 1955. He died in Brighton on 17 May 1959 at the grand age of 95.
Why not drop into Hove Museum of Creativity’s Film gallery on Thursday and wish George a Happy 160th Birthday? This display charts the history of moving images, from lantern slides and optical toys to early film. You can see the kind of equipment George Albert Smith would have used and then sit in our mini cinema and watch the films he made.
The films can also be viewed online
Cinéclub Podcast - Episode #1 - G.A. Smith
Days of Wonder awarded Heritage Fund grant to celebrate the magic of early cinema in Brighton & Hove and Shoreham.
This three-year project, supported by £177,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will explore Brighton & Hove and Shoreham’s filmmaking heritage, working with Hove Museum’s film and media collection. It will offer creative community education and art opportunities, alongside a public programme of free exhibitions, screenings, artist workshops and family activities.
