A Trip to the Moon, a triumph of science and scenic art
January 26, 2013 10:17 AM Subscribe
In 1889, the Urania Astronomical Society of Berlin put together an illusion of a trip to the moon and a solar eclipse, created with painted scenery, transparent screens, and a variety models, created live before an audience. Three years later, the same show was presented at Andrew Carnegie's Music Hall, as covered in Scientific American, a decade before Le Voyage dans la Lune, the film by Georges Méliès (previously). The stage show was documented in 1897, in Magic; stage illusions and scientific diversions, including trick photography (Archive.org, direct link to Trip to the Moon; also available on Google Books). [via io9, who have a summary of the special effects]
"landscapes ... of the moon, which, under a sky of eternal blackness, glitter in a jeweled panoply of death, for the moon is a dead world."
Gotta love those Victorian-romantic text stylings. And the fanciful images of lunar crags.
posted by Twang at 2:25 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Gotta love those Victorian-romantic text stylings. And the fanciful images of lunar crags.
posted by Twang at 2:25 PM on January 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh goodness, going to one of those shows would have been a real treat.
posted by aroweofshale at 1:38 AM on January 28, 2013
posted by aroweofshale at 1:38 AM on January 28, 2013
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posted by filthy light thief at 1:47 PM on January 26, 2013