BEDFORD MUSEUM

In the limelight : images of Bedford

The Magic Lantern 

The magic lantern is an optical instrument used to project glass slides onto a wall, white sheet or even white smoke.  Devised in the early seventeenth century, the first lanterns relied upon oil lamps and lenses to project glass paintings.  Over the subsequent 150 years an industry of travelling magic lantern shows developed, enthralling the public with spectacles of the grotesque, religious, humourous and even educational.

By the Victorian period the appeal of this form of entertainment broadened gaining public respectability as it did so.  The sophistication of dissolving views and moving slides in the late 1830s heightened the public enthusiasm.  However, it was not until the early Victorian period that 'limelight' was introduced enabling magic lantern shows to be performed for larger audiences.  Employed in the theatre for spotlights, limelight was produced by a combined flame of pressurised oxygen and hydrogen gasses impinging on a cylinder of lime.  This produced a hot, intense and brilliant light, on occasions with lethal consequences for those seated nearest to the projector.  The introduction of Edison's new incandescent light at the turn of the century, thankfully improved the safety issues.

Following the development of the camera in the 1850s photographs of 'real life' were gradually introduced into the magic lantern repertoire for the first time.  This innovation proved an instant success with audiences and a manufacturing industry producing slides of a standard format (3½" x 3¼") was created as a result.  Between 1880 and 1890 the magic lantern show reached the pinnacle of its success, with huge spectacles at which 2000 people would have been entertained by the simultaneous images from eight projectors.  By the 1890s, however, with the development of cinematography the popularity of the magic lantern sadly began to wane

 Back