Viva Brighton Issue #60 February 2018
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BITS AND BUSES<br />
...............................<br />
ON THE BUSES #34: JAMES WILLIAMSON (Routes 1, 1A)<br />
Born in 1855 in Pathead, near Fife, and raised in Edinburgh, James Williamson was<br />
a prolific pioneer of early film-making. A member of the ‘<strong>Brighton</strong> School’, he is<br />
known for his experimental short films, which were ahead of their time, with their<br />
extreme close-ups and use of multiple shots.<br />
After training as a master chemist in Scotland, Williamson settled in Hove in 1886,<br />
where he set up a pharmacy. The shop soon became a developing agency for Kodak,<br />
prompting Williamson’s relationship with film. He befriended the likes of George<br />
Albert Smith, Esmé Collings and William Friese-Greene, who were spearheading<br />
the local film movement, and with Smith’s encouragement, Williamson made his first<br />
foray into film-making with his short piece on the Devil’s Dyke Fun Fair.<br />
Upon moving his family and work to Western Road, Williamson set about expanding his film business and made<br />
the transition from pharmacist to full-time film-maker in 1898, a year that saw the creation of 39 films. Every<br />
Saturday night, the shop hosted Williamson’s Popular Entertainments, a weekly showcase of his work.<br />
In 1902 Williamson moved the business, renamed The Williamson Kinematograph Company, to Cambridge<br />
Grove and opened studios in both London and New York, making an average of 50 films a year until 1912. Whilst<br />
his own film-making tapered off, he patented several film-making devices, including projectors that enabled the<br />
insertion of title slides into projected films. Williamson died in Richmond of a heart attack in 1933, aged 78.<br />
Saskia Solomon<br />
Illustration by Joda (@joda_art)<br />
kids go<br />
free!<br />
See leaflets<br />
for details<br />
breeze up<br />
77<br />
to the Downs...<br />
Breeze up to Devil’s Dyke,<br />
Stanmer Park or Ditchling<br />
Beacon by bus!<br />
For times, fares, leaflets and<br />
walk ideas: Visit<br />
brighton-hove.gov.uk/breezebuses<br />
Phone 01273 292480<br />
Or visit traveline.info/se<br />
to plan any bus or train journey<br />
6170
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