When I was a small boy at school we had little booklets with pictures. so arranged that when you flipped the pages with your thumb, they would appear to be moving. From that same principle came the moving pictures of today. The idea must be very old, for when I showed my father one of these books, he told me they had them when he was young in about 1835. No doubt the idea is very ancient. It was not until celluloid films were made that the present movies were possible.
The first moving pictures I saw in about 1900, were given in a traveling show in a tent. At that time, there were no movie actors, except possibly a few comedians. In that picture, a stout man sat on an extending end of a bench and when the party at the other end arose, the bench made a somersault over the stout man.
The main feature of the show was a fire with a horse drawn engine, an actual scene.
I don't recollect the other parts of the show. Later a picture show was given at the Aurora Hall, with the local orchestra filling in between the acts.
Next came the Nickelodeon, and finally about 1928, the talking movies.