by Francis Friel

The 1880s were a time when every joker thought he was gonna be the first to do everything, and the ones with enough money could just pummel their competitors into oblivion. 

Between paper rolls, magic lanterns, and early sound experiments (they sound really cool), all kinds of fools were trying to be the KING OF CINEMA.

So Eastman comes along and just straight up patents everything in sight (also known as The Ol' Thomas Edison Trick).

After creating the Eastman Kodak camera and essentially inventing modern photographic technology, he put his money into colleges, dentistry, and some pretty evil eugenics programs. 

He eventually shot himself in the heart (also know as The Ol' Elliot Smith Knock-off Trick.)

While all this Eastman bullshit was going on, Edison was secretly working on the kinetoscope, the zoetrope was being prepared for public exhibition, and the Lumiere brothers were lurking in the background, about to just absolutely crush everyone else in their path by inventing the cinematographe.

The 1890s were gonna change everything and Cinema was about to officially be born.