United States, early 1900s
Michael Organ
|
Introduction
Walter Barnsdale (1868-1951) is a little known pioneer of the American motion picture industry. A one-time bicycle shop owner, in 1951 he rated obituary notices in trade journals Box Office and Billboard. Arriving in the United States from England in 1885, he worked as a lumberjack, farmer and engineer before marrying and taking up residence in Plover, Wisconsin. Here he operated a bicycle repair and machine shop and dabbled in photography. After developing an interest in moving pictures he spent twenty years on the road as a travelling picture show man and was responsible for important innovations in the film projection process. Barnsdale remained a resident of Plover until his death at the age of 83 on 4 January 1951, survived by his wife Kate and six children - including daughter Eva and sons Frank, Dick, George and Walter Jr. He was warmly remembered as a "pioneer in the motion picture field" and a "Roadshowman", testament to his role as moving picture producer, exhibitor and inventor.
Engineer and Inventor
Little is known of Walter Barnsdale's early life. According to various obituary notices he was born in Donnington, England on 14 May 1867. Around the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a locomotive shop and, after 3 years, gained his mechanical engineering certificate. He then went to sea and shortly thereafter jumped ship in Canada. Heading towards the United States, in the winter of 1885 he arrived at the Wisconsin farm of his uncle, George Barnsdale. Here he worked for a period, before gaining employment as a lumberjack near Phillips, an electrician for the Stevens Point Lighting Company, and as an engineer on the Colorado Beach Hotel in San Diego and with the Chicago Transit Company.
On 18 May 1891 Walter married Kate Barnsdale, daughter of George and Sara Barnsdale. The couple lived on the farm near Plover for a number of years and Walter started a bicycle repair business there before moving closer into town, to a house on the corner of Post Road and Elm Street, Plover. From 1900 until his death 51 years later this remained his home, with the bicycle shop attached. Around this time he also took up still photography and with the aid of various cameras shot a large collection of pictures of his family and locations in and around Plover. On occasion he ventured further afield, by train to Green Bay and to the State prison at Waupun. This activity continued through to at least 1904 and gave rise to a large collection of high quality glass plate negatives and daguerreotypes which are presently house in the Portage County History Society archive at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. These images represent an important record of life in Plover at the turn of the century. A number are reproduced in Malcolm Rosholt's Photos from Wisconsin's Past (1986).
Walter was a naturally gifted mechanical engineer and this saw expression in the designs he patented, including an 1895 combined steam and explosion engine. After opening his bicycle shop he travelled, in season, with Ringling Brothers Circus and Hagenback & Wallace as a general mechanic and later worked in a paper mill.
Barnsdale's interest in moving pictures was aroused in 1896 with the arrival in nearby Stevens Point of a French magician advertising a moving picture show. What he presented, however, was merely a series of still pictures made to move in a rudimentary manner. In 1897 an exhibitor came to Plover from Chicago with the first crude Edison film projector. It made use of chemically generated limelight to produce a small, indistinct, flickering image. Barnsdale was not impressed and put his mind to improving the quality of the picture projected on the silver screen. Over the next few years he contributed several unacknowledged and significant innovations to the projection process, including:
|
|
|
Edison projector 1897 |
Unfortunately Walter failed to enter any patents on his modifications, due to the various patent scandals existing at the time. At one point, following a showing in Chicago, he was challenged by the highly litigious Edison organisation. They did not believe that a technician from the wilderness of northern Wisconsin was responsible for achieving such advances in film projection. Walter did not have the resources to fight Edison, and as a result his inventions were never formally recognised.
As a contemporary of Thomas Edison, Siegmund Lubin and the Lumiere brothers, Walter Barnsdale made critical contributions to the advancement of film as a popular medium. He was especially innovative in his use of electricity, and an early adopter of the portable electric plant. He built a projector which incorporated his many technical improvements, and by focusing on the use of electricity he was able to abandon the flickering and dangerous limelight for the newer incandescent arc lights. In 1907 he announced that his presentations were "the highest perfection yet attained in moving pictures", due to the aforementioned innovations. Contemporary reviews backed up these claims.
Barnsdale's Viveorama
|
|
From 1901 through to 1926 Walter Barnsdale was both exhibitor and producer of moving pictures. He began with the production of a series of prison-based presentations and followed this by forming, in 1904, a travelling company - Barnsdale's Electric Moving Picture Company. His promotion of flicker-free films, marketed under the banner Barnsdale's Viveorama, proved a popular selling point.
Walter travelled widely by train and car, exhibiting his own films - some in color - alongside reels purchased locally and from England, Norway, France and Italy of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the Sino-Russian war, logging with elephants in India, whale fishing, Hagenbeck's zoo in Germany and the London zoo, beauty spots of the Alps, and the British navy during World War I and the American fleets. There were also travel films, dramas, comedies and biopics such as Bill Cody's autobiographical 3 reeler The Life of Buffalo Bill (1912). Showcasing more than 100 reels of old-time feature films and utilising some of the best lighting equipment available, powered by a portable gasoline electric generator, Barnsdale brought his moving picture show to people who couldn't get to the city, at a time when the film industry was still in its infancy. He would set up in local halls, circus tents and at crossroads, showing people - often for the first time - the wonders of this new form of entertainment.
Over the years various reviews of his presentations and productions appeared in the Wisconsin media, and many of them were praiseworthy of both the quality of his projections and the entertainment value offered. Comments such as the following are typical:
 |
"The best moving picture outfit on the road."
"Everyone admits that Barnsdale's pictures are presented better then anything of the kind ever seen."
"[Barnsdale's feature films] are brighter, clearer and less given to flicker then any other exhibition of life nature." Appleton Post
"Over two hundred people were turned away from the Grand Opera house Friday evening on the occasion of Barnsdale's third appearance here, every seat was filled and when the standing room was sold, patrons were turned away. His pictures are instructive and entertaining, the best money can procure, and are shown even more clearly and perfectly than the scene would appear if you were on the original spot." Stevens Point Gazette, circa 1912
"The matinee and evening entertainment at the Appleton Theatre yesterday by Barnsdale's Co. was highly appreciated by large crowds at both performances. The subjects thrown on the canvas compare very favorably with the Lyman Howe exhibition, which has visited Appleton for several years. The Barnsdale Co. carries its own electric generating plant for projecting the pictures with the result that they are brighter, clearer and less given to flickering than any other exhibition of like nature; several of the spectacular subjects thrown on the canvas were masterpieces of acting and artistic coloring." Appleton Post, circa 1912
"Barnsdale's Moving Pictures at the Portage Opera house last evening were voted even better than Lyman Howe's. Mr. Barnsdale uses a lighting plant of his own design which seems to produce steadier, clearer views than any other." Portage Daily Resister, circa 1912
"Barnsdale's moving pictures were shown before two delighted audiences at the Barnery Boyle theatre Thanksgiving day. The pictures shown were exceptionally clear, and there was no flicker to them. The program included both instructive and entertaining subjects. The naval parade, logging in India, a battle with cleverness and beauty spots of the Alps, are exceptionally good. The Oren's Cave is the prettiest film ever shown here." Daily Commonwealth, Fend du Lur
This situation was not to last, however, and the need for travelling picture show men drew to a close as a result of the proliferation of local picture theatres during the twenties and the fact that small towns lacked the fire prevention equipment to satisfy state regulations. Walter left the motion picture industry in 1926 and, though in his 59th year, took up an engineering position with the Whiting Plover paper mill. He remained there for 20 years, eventually retiring in June 1945. Members of Walter's family continued to work the carnival and circus circuit, most especially his sons Frank and Dick who performed on the high wire and knife-throwing. Frank was a midget who liked to dress in a Revolutionary War uniform. He was eventually discovered by the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus and went on to become their biggest star, touring the world as the celebrated Colonel Tom Thumb.
Film Production and Posters
Outside of Plover little was known of Walter Barnsdale and his pioneering role in the movies until the 1990s when an article by Brenda Regeth appeared in the Stevens Point Journal (1992), and a collection of Barnsdale posters and ephemera came onto the market. Auction houses and online auction sites such as Bruce Hershensen's eMovieposters (1997-8, 2009), Christies (2000), Heritage Auctions (2006) and eBay (2009) have proven rich sources of information in the search for Walter Barnsdale, picture show man. For example, an August 2009 eBay sale included 11 Barnsdale-related items, comprising 9 posters and 2 programs from the period 1903-1912. All had been saved from destruction by Walter's family following his death. These, along with three other posters, a set of lobby cards, and a program reveal his presentation style. There was a strong religious element amongst his early showings, though this was common for the time. His latter presentations catered to a more general audience.
 |
In the area of moving picture production, details of his output are sketchy. Walter gave his first shows at the old Plover G.A.R Hall and the school house in McDill during 1900, and they mostly included lantern slides due to the scarcity of film. Around that time he also obtained permission from authorities to film inside the state prison at Waupun and document prison life, in return for which he would show the prisoners movies. Prison Bars (1901) and Life Behind the Bars (1903) have both been cited as Barnsdale productions. The precise content and length of these early cinema items remains a mystery, though Prison Bars and Life Behind the Bars most likely displayed elements of prison life in a documentary fashion, utilising a mixture of lantern slides (photographs) and film. Apart from the prison viewings they were shown to local audiences in and around Plover, and perhaps even as far afield as Chicago. They would not have been the feature lenghth presentations we are familiar with today, as these did not begin to appear until later in the decade.
It was only in 1901 that Edwin S. Porter, working for Edison, developed the one reel (1000 feet long) capacity Kinetoscope projector, as a replacement for the more common one minute long reel projectors. Whether Barnsdale made use of the longer reels to produce his prison moving picture presentations is not known, though such information may eventually come to light with the location of contemporary reviews. It is unclear what material Barnsdale produced in the years after the prison films. 10 Nights in a Bar-room (1901) and the morality melodrama Life for Life (1904) has both been attributed to him, as have some later newsreel items. The lavish production of the 10 Nights in a Bar-room poster and lobby card set suggests that it may have been beyond the resources of Walter Barnsdale and in fact from a much later date.
It appears that Walter Barnsdale's films have long since perished, due to wear from overuse, the dangerously flammable nature of nitrate film and the ephemeral aspect of the material. What have survived, however, are posters, programs and some of his personal records. A few posters and programs specifically refer to the Barnsdale Moving Picture Company, though others are lacking any such reference and were most likely generic pieces purchased with the films he presented. The poster for Prison Bars was printed by the well-known firm of Russell Morgan Lithographic Company, and Life Behind the Bars by the American Showprint Company. They are both fine quality lithographic productions, though only the latter specifically refers to Barnsdale.
In 1903 he utilised posters printed by the Hennegan Showprint Company for his presentation of The Life of Christ aka The Passion Play. This moving picture tableau and its numerous variants dated from 1898. Barnsdale presented it to the people of Wisconsin. Whether he filmed any religious material for The Life of Christ or Life for Life (1904) is unknown. For that latter film the American Showprint Company was used to produce a poster. Perhaps his most famous poster is the generic one sheet from 1905 [?1920] simply titled Barnsdale's Moving Pictures. This exquisite item features the figure of a hobo-clown walking along a road, and in a single image brings together the moving picture and circus show worlds of Walter Barnsdale and his family.
In 1912 Walter had $12,000 invested in film and the Barnsdale Moving Picture Company was sole Wisconsin agent for the latest 3 reel Bill Cody biopics, The Life of Buffalo Bill and The Life and Adventures of Buffalo Bill. A colourful poster survives for the former, making specific reference to Barnsdale. Also extant is a program and various promotional items from local newspapers, all of which add to our knowledge of his operation at the time. A number of text-only broadside posters are also extant. They point to the variety and length of a Barnsdale presentation, running up to 8000 feet (2 hours at 16 frames per second project speed) and with a "well-balanced selection of comedy, science, travel and art". Barnsdale boasted in one advertisement that for a ticket price of 10c he would present a show running over two hours, compared to a typical one hour or less presentation in the city. The broadside posters also reveal Barnsdale's expanding interest in news-related items. Reflecting this, in 1914 he once again undertook the production of new material and won praise for the clearness of the films which he finished in his own laboratory. Walter sold some of these to newsreel concerns. In 1917 he took a film of former Troop I of Stevens Point at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, and willed it, upon his death, to that group of World War I soldiers.
All of this is testament to the experience Walter gained in taking a travelling picture show to literally hundreds of towns in the American north-east during the earliest days of cinema. However, like so much of the material associated with this period, little has survived. As a result, the pioneering work of Walter Barnsdale remains a mere footnote in the annals of the American motion picture industry, whether it be as a travelling picture show man or, more importantly, as an engineer and inventor responsible for important developments in the film projection process.
Obituaries
Stevens Point Daily Journal, Friday 5 January 1951
Walter Barnsdale Dies at Plover Home Thursday
Pioneer in Movies Toured State With Portable Machine
Walter Barnsdale, a pioneer in the movie industry, died suddenly about 4:20 Thursday afternoon at his home at Plover at the age of 83. A long time resident of Plover, Barnsdale was well known locally for his many activities in the field of motion pictures. Early in the century he travelled the state with his own portable projector, using a gasoline engine of his own design to provide the power.
Mr. Barnsdale was born May 14, 1867, at Donnington. England, a son of the late Richard and Mary Barnsdale. He spent his boyhood in England and in the early 1880s received his engineering papers after serving a three year apprenticeship in a locomotive shop there. He came to this country in the winter of 1885 and arrived at the farm of his uncle, George Barnsdale, in weather 20 degrees below zero. He helped his uncle operate the farm located east of Plover, and for a time was a lumberjack near Phillips. A short time later he went to California where he was employed as an engineer in the construction of the Coronado Beach hotel in San Diego. Four years later he went to Chicago and worked as an engineer for the Chicago Transit company. In 1891 he returned to his uncle's Farms at Plover.
Married in 1891
On March 18, 1891, he married at Stevens Point to Kate Barnsdale, daughter of George and Sara Barnsdale. The couple lived for a time on her father's farm, where Mr. Barnsdale opened a bicycle repair and machine shop. Later they moved to Plover and he set up his repair shop in town. Several years later he became interested in the new industry of moving pictures and began his pioneering work in that field. About 1926 he began working as a machinist for the Whiting-Plover paper mill and worked there until he retired in June 1945. The couple have lived at their present home in Plover for the past 51 years.
Surviving Relatives
Mr. Barnsdale is survived by his wife, four sons, George, Pocatelllo, Ida., Frank at home., Walter Jr., east of Plover, and Richard, Adel, Ida.; two daughter's, Mrs. LeRoy Gordon, Nelsonville, and Mrs W.S. Brooks, Chippewa Falls; a brother, Albert, in England, 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Three daughters preceded him in death. Funeral services will be held at 2 p. m. Monday at the Boston funeral home. Rev. John Kendall will officiate and interment will take place in the spring in Plover cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from Saturday noon until the time of services.
Willed Film to Troop I
Mr. Barnsdale, who started giving motion picture shows when movies were in their infancy, took a film of former Troop I of Stevens Point at Camp Douglas, Wis., in 1917, and willed that film, at his death, to that group of World War One soldiers.
Although Mr. Barnsdale's name is unknown in the movies today, he pioneered in that field and made important contributions to it through his inventions. He literally brought to the doorsteps of thousands of Wisconsin people the first "flickers" they ever saw. He travelled from one end of the state to another showing the first movies to audiences at crossroads, towns and cities, and also ventured into Chicago. Hollywood was still in its infancy and many of Mr. Barnsdale's pictures were reels of film imported from England, Norway, France and Italy. Others were pictures of local scenes and events which he took and developed over the years.
Mr. Barnsdale's first contact with movies was in 1896. A musician had come to Stevens Point, bringing motion pictures as an added attraction tor show patrons at the old Opera House. Mr. Barnsdale then was an electrician for the former Stevens Point Lighting company and he and the late F. A. Sustins were sent to assist in doing necessary wiring. His interest was aroused. He learned later that the first motion picture ever to be shown upon a screen was in the music halls of London in 1895 by a man named Robert E. Paul, who was an inventor and operator.
Movies Flickered
The first movies attempted were unsuccessful because the film, actually a continuing series of “still pictures”, moved constantly, resulting in dancing flickers. Paul applied intermittent motion to overcome this. In 1897 a man came to Plover with the first crude Edison machine using a limelight for projection. Mr. Barnsdale attended the show and noticed that the picture was small and indistinct. The plover man knew that the gaslight apparatus did not have the power of the electric arc. He decided to make a portable electric plant to use in small towns. Experienced in both gasoline engines and electricity, he designed and made such a plant in his shop at Plover. He subsequently improved the early day motion picture machine by adding sprockets with gears to provide proper timing. Mr. Barnsdale recalled later that, so far as he knew, this was the first improvement on the Edison machine. The timing speeded up the film’s exposure by lengthening the intervals of light, to reduce the flicker. At that time, near the turn of the century, the Plover man also perfected the "take-up" reel upon which film is mechanically wound after passing through the machine. He is believed to have been the first person to put this device into use. Up to that time, the early day films passed through the machine and ran into a cloth sack, to be rewound afterward. The exposed, curling strips of celluloid always were a fire hazard. The take-up removed this hazard as well as taking care of the film.
Invented Loop Principle
Another of Mr. Barnsdale's inventions was the "loop" principle. This overcame a direct pull and jerking on the film, assuring a continuous regular feeding speed with a shuttling motion. He also built a projector and developed a machine and light that were unexcelled in those days. He invented an electrically operated shutter as a safety device to prevent fires. He found that even Chicago showhouses were behind the time on this point, for while its movie houses were using shutters, they were operated by foot pedal. In those pioneering days most of the pictures were supplied with gas illumination. It was inferior to the electricity he was able to provide with his portable plant. This, he believed, did more than anything to revolutionize the art of showing movies in small towns, which were then mostly without electricity. His power plant made incandescent lighting possible in the showhouses. He also invented an electric governor for his gas engine to regulate the power and current.
Gave First Shows Here
With these improvements, the Plover man then launched into the motion picture business. He used more slides than films at first because of inability to buy film. He gave shows in the old G.A.R. hall at Plover, and in the school house at McDill in 1900. In 1903 he gave the first shows in Stevens Point, and in 1904 he started on the road with a complete motion picture outfit. Usually showings were in halls where he took care of his own advance advertising and billing, arranged for sale of tickets and came back to put on the show. His lighting plant attracted attention everywhere he went. Mr. Barnsdale had many feature pictures, among them the San Francisco earthquake and fire; the Sino-Russian war; logging with elephants in India; whale fishing; Hagenbeck's zoo at Hamburg. Germany; the zoo at London: films of the British navy during the first World war, and the American fleets. There were also travel films, drama and comedy pictures. He made many films in color which compared favorably with later films. He showed the life of Buffalo Bill and the Passion Play in color.
Travelled 20 Years
The Plover man travelled for 20 years, at first by train and then by car. At one time he had an investment of $12,000 in films. He destroyed many of them when they became outdated. He often hired a piano player to add to the entertainment. As he operated his movie machine, he made appropriate accompanying explanations. Prices ranged from 10 to 25 and 30 cents, with reserved seats a dime extra. In 1914 Mr. Barnsdale undertook the making of motion pictures and won praise for the c1earness of his films, which he finished in his own laboratory. He sold some of them to the news reel concerns. He travelled for years under the dramatic name of "Barnsdale's Vivorama."
Never Sought Patents
Mr. Barnsdale never sought patent rights on his inventions and improvements. He believed it would be useless as well as expensive because of patient scandals in those days. Changing times finally brought an end to Barnsdale’s Vivorama. Bigger theatres had their own machines and leased the pictures. Small towns lacked the fire prevention equipment that the state required. He travelled with the Hagenbeck - Wallace circus and Ringling Brothers circus for a time, doing mechanical work and also making pictures. Then he turned to his trade of machinist and was employed for 20 years by the Whiting-Plover Paper company until his retirement in June, 1945.
The Billboard, 20 January 1951
Barnsdale, Walter, 83, pioneer in the movie exhibition field, recently at his home in Plover, Wisconsin. Barnsdale contributed several improvements to the original Edison machine, having devised the gear sprockets which reduced the flicker and perfected the projection machine "take up" reel. Another advancement he is credited with is the discovery of the "loop" principle in the threading of film through the machine. He travelled for 20 years with his movies show called "Barnsdale's Viveorama."
Box Office, 20 January 1951
Walter Barnsdale Dies; Former Roadshowman Stevens Point, Wisconsin -
Walter Barnsdale, 83, oldtimer in the motion picture industry, died recently at his home in nearby Plover, Wisconsin. Barnsdale, a native of England and an engineer, came to the States in 1885. He worked as a lumberjack, a farmer and an engineer and in 1891 opened a bicycle repair and machine shop at Plover. Shortly after coming to Wisconsin, Barnsdale became interested in motion pictures. He travelled from one end of the state to another showing early motion pictures to audiences at crossroads, towns and cities. In 1897 he saw the first crude Edison machine, using a limelight for projection. He noticed that the picture was small and indistinct and he decided to make a portable electric plant to use in small towns. Another invention added sprockets with gears to provide proper timing of the film. He also perfected the take-up reel upon which film is wound after passing through the machine. He later built a projector and invented an electrically operated shutter as a safety device.
In 1904 he started out on the road with a complete motion picture outfit and he showed in ensuing years films of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, the Sino-Russian war, logging with elephants in India, whale fishing, Hagenbeck's zoo, films of the British navy during World War I and the American fleets. There were also travel films, dramas and comedies. He travelled for 20 years, first by train and then by car. At one time he had an investment of $12,000 in films. He destroyed many of them when they became outdated. In 1914, Barnsdale undertook the production of motion pictures and won praise for the clearness of his films which he finished in his own laboratory. He sold some of them to newsreel concerns. He continued to work with motion pictures until about 1926 when he became a machinist for a paper company.
Barnsdale Posters and Ephemera
| Image | Description |
 |
Title: Prison Bars Date: 1901 Size: Stone lithographic 1 sheet poster, 28 x 42 inches Description: This poster was printed by the Russel Morgan Lithographic Company and is dated 1901. It features a beautiful image of a female prisoner. The film was supposedly produced by Walter Barnsdale using material he filmed in the Wisconsin state prison. It is likely that the production was a mix of photographic slides and film, all taken by Barnsdale. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: 10 Nights in a Bar-room Date: 1901 Size: Stone lithographic 3 sheet poster, approximately 27 x 81 inches Description: This rather sensational poster features a moving picture presentation cited as produced by Barnsdale for showing to prisoners. The early date and the content of the poster suggest to this author that it was not a Barnsdale production and may in fact refer to a later feature. Reference: eMovieposters 1997. |
[No image] |
Title: 10 Nights in a Bar-room Date: 1901 Size: 7 lobby cards Description: This movie has been cited as produced by Barnsdale for showing to prisoners. Reference: eMovieposters 1998. |
 |
Title: Barnsdale Presents Life Behind the Bars Date: 1903 Size: Stone lithographic half sheet poster, approx 22 x 28 inches Description: Printed by American Showprint Company. A number of posters associated with Walter Barnsdale were printed by this firm. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
[No image] |
Title: Barnsdale Presents Life Behind the Bars Date: 1903 Size: program booklet Description: A one page courier/program that Barnsdale had printed for his prison films including Life Behind The Bars. Barnsdale explains in it that he made a deal with the state prison to show the prisoners films for the right to photograph them and document prison life. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: Oberammergau - The Passion Play Date: circa 1903 Size: Broadside poster, 24 x 35 inches Description: A text only poster, outlining the contents of The Passion Play feature program. The Passion Play of Oberammergau is accredited with being produced in 1898, though a number of variants subsequently appeared due to its popularity. it typically comprised over twenty separate pieces of film and various coloured lantern slides. By 1903 it may have included more film elements. It is unclear whether Barnsdale merely presented this feature or also included some of his own locally shot footage. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
[No image] |
Title: The Life of Christ - The Passion Play Date: circa 1903 Size: program booklet Description: Barnsdale made his own program for The Passion Play aka The Life of Christ. It is 4 pages long and slightly larger than the Buffalo Bill program from 1912. It contains many pictures and the cover artwork is similar to The Life of Christ poster (below). Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: The Life of Christ Date: 1903 Size: Half sheet poster, approximately 22 x 28 inches Description: It is possible that this poster, by the Hennegan Showprint Company, was printed earlier. Hennegan Show Print in Cincinnati was the lithography house used by Thomas Edison for his first programs. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: The Life of Christ Date: circa 1903 Size: Half sheet poster, approximately 22 x 28 inches Description: This poster is for the same movie as above, which is cited by some as the first docudrama ever made. This poster was printed by the Hennegan Showprint Company. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: Life for Life Date: 1904 Size: One sheet poster, 28 x 42 inches Description: Life for Life is a 1904 religious morality melodrama. The rather dramatic imagery of the poster also features the titles "Go and sin no more" and "Friends in death", presenting elements of the film as shown . According to the eMovieposters website, this was one of the movies made by Barnsdale. This poster is dated 1904 and it has a litho mark from the American Show Print Company in the bottom right corner. Apparently, the top border of the poster was where show times could be written in, much like with window cards. Reference: eMovieposters 2009. |
|
Title: Barnsdale's Moving Pictures Date: 1905 [1920] Size: One sheet poster, 27 x 41 inches. Description: High quality generic poster showing the image of a hobo / clown on the road, with a large banner reference to Barnsdale. There is some discrepancy over the age of this poster, it variously being dated 1905 or 1920. Reference: eMovieposters 1997 - therein dated 1905; Heritage Auctions sale 601, 16 March 2004; eMovieposters 2006, therein dated 1920. |
 |
Title: Barnsdale's Viveorama Date: circa 1907 Size: Half sheet poster, approximately 22 x 28 inches Description: Broadsheet text only poster. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: Defence of the Cameron Dam by John Deitz Date: 1912 Size: Broadside poster, 24 x 35 inches Description: In 1912 Eastman Kodak of New York sent filmmakers to Wisconsin to film the story of John F. Dietz. In 1904, Deitz and his family purchased a farmstead on the Thornapple River. Deitz soon discovered that Cameron Dam - one of many logging dams on this important tributary of the Chippewa River - lay on his property. He thereupon claimed that the Chippewa Lumber & Boom Co., a Weyerhaeuser affiliate, owed him a toll for logs driven downriver. For four years he refused to permit logs to be sluiced down the Thornapple, defending "his" dam at gunpoint and successfully resisting attempts to arrest him. At least one deputy and two of Deitz's children were wounded in confrontations. In becoming an outlaw, Deitz also became a folk hero with a nationwide following. In October 1910, a large sheriff's posse surrounded his house. In the ensuing gun battle, Oscar Harp, a deputy, was killed. John Deitz surrendered, stood trial for murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 10 years, but public pressure eventually convinced Governor John J. Blain to pardon him in May 1921. Deitz died in 1924. It is not known whether this broadside pertains to the film made by Eastman Kodak in 1912, or to another, early item perhaps involving Walter Barnsdale in its production. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: The Life of Buffalo Bill Date: 1912 Size: Stone lithographic one sheet poster, 28 x 42 inches Description: This poster was used to advertise this autobiographical documentary film made by Buffalo Bill and starring himself. It depicts a young Cody and champion horse with historic scene behind them. The poster was printed by the Buffalo Bill Pawnee Bill Film Company and has the Barnsdale snipe at the bottom. Exclusive state distribution rights were held by the Barnsdale Moving Picture Company. A copy of the contemporary advertisement for this film is available here. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
 |
Title: The Life of Buffalo Bill Date: 1912 Size: Stone lithographic one sheet poster, 28 x 41 inches Description: This poster was used to advertise this autobiographical documentary film made by Buffalo Bill and starring himself. It depicts a young Cody and champion horse with historic scene behind them. The poster was printed by the Buffalo Bill Pawnee Bill Film Company and has the Barnsdale snipe at the bottom. Exclusive state distribution rights were held by the Barnsdale Moving Picture Company. Reference: Sold at Heritage Auctions, March 2010 for $3107. |
|
Title: Life of Buffalo Bill: actual moving pictures by Cody, himself Date: [1912] Size: program booklet, 4 pages Description: Caption on title - Barnsdale's Moving Pictures, all shown and operated by electricity. Reference: eBay 2009. |
 |
Title: Barnsdale's Famous Electric Moving Pictures Date: 1912 Size: Broadside poster, 24 x 36 inches Description: This poster is representative of the "broadside" style of poster common to the late 1800s and the early 1910s, featuring a text style announcement. Reference: eBay August 2009. |
References
1. Patent 571,147 Combined Steam and Explosion Engine, Walter Barnsdale, Plover, Wisconsin. Filed 11 May 1895, Serial No.548,968. Cited in Horseless Age: the automobile trade magazine, volume 2, The Horseless Age Company, 1898.
2. J.T. Allen, Digest of US Patents of air, caloric, gas and oil engines, 1789-1905, volume 3, The Columbia Planograph Company, 1906.
3. 'Walter Barnsdale, Plover, Wis. - Scenic and educational pictures', The Moving Picture World, volume 31, 10 March 1917, page 1567.
4. 11 April 1929 - Walter Barnsdale is a signatory to a Plover railway crossing petition .
5. Walter Barnsdale [obituary] Stevens Point Daily Journal, 5 January 1951. See also editorial of 8 January.
6. Walter Barnsdale [obituary] The Billboard, 20 January 1951.
7. Walter Barnsdale [obituary] Box Office, 21 January 1951.
8. Malcolm Rosholt, 'The Barnsdale Collection', in Photos from Wisconsin's Past, Rosholt House, 1986.
9. Brenda Regeth, 'Barnsdales brought circus to town', Stevens Point Journal, 19 May 1992. Reproduced in Malcolm Rosholt Online Archive, Portage County Historical Society of Wisconsin, web page here.
10. eMovieposters.com 1997+ [web site - www.emovieposter.com]
11. Collection of very early Western and other film posters from the collection of Walter Barnsdale, Entertainment Memorabilia [auction], Christies East, New York, 2000.
12. Heritage Auctions, 16 March 2004 [web site: www.ha.com]
13. Life of Buffalo Bill (movie), Sideshow World 2009 [web site: www.sideshowworld.com]
14. Walter Barnsdale 1867 - 1951 [web site: ancestry.co.uk]
Site last updated: 22 March 2010. Return to Michael Organ's Home Page. Any comments, corrections, or additions to this site are most welcome.
