The American Mutoscope Company was an early movie producer founded in 1896, the same year the Lumiere brothers invented the process. Incidentally they also shot risque stills. The studio was in New York City, on the roof of 841 Broadway. The stage turned to follow the sunlight. The small company made only smutty solfcore pornography of half naked girls.
Sex sells and the company flourished. In 1903 it was the first to use electric light in movie making and it moved its studio indoors where it was warmer for the girls and crew. In 1908 the name was changed to the Biograph Company. The films were so successful and widely distributed that the prudes (as usual) decided that nudity was a horror so, in 1916, the firm
went more or less respectable. The early films are very rare.
Estimated basic value:
costly
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