When cinema celebrated its centenary in 1996 it was with some justification that historians finally acknowledged the part played in the scenario by travelling showmen. “I don’t suppose many people know that the first moving picture shows… were produced at fairs” wrote Sir Gerard Tyrwhitt-Drake in 1946. Whilst the book doesn’t seek to record an in-depth history of moving pictures; what it does do is record the contribution made by showmen to the early history of the cinema – in the form of travelling bioscope and cinematograph shows.

Fully illustrated throughout.

Softback
180 pages