Stoddard-the “Prince of Lecturers”-was one of the earliest showman, and in his time the most famous. Stoddard and his successor, Burton Holmes. Two of the biggest American names were John L. Stoddard’s lecture on The Pyrenees in 1887. But there were also semi-professional and professional showmen, regional stars and national superstars who performed before very large audiences. Most of the performers were local people-teachers, ministers, fraternal leaders, and neighborhood amateurs-their audiences small to mid-sized. They were so-called “illustrated lectures,” that is, lectures on travel, science, religion, etc., “illustrated” with a lantern and slides that added a dramatic entertainment quality to the discourse, creating a kind of “edutainment” much like our modern Discovery Channel or Nova. The vast majority of these performances were not like the “magic lantern shows” that we usually think of today-a combination of story, song, and animated comedy. One study has estimated (very roughly) that in 1895 there were about 30,000–60,000 lantern performers in America, giving 75,000–150,000 performances a year. ![]() The thousands of American-made magic-lantern slides for sale on eBay every week-still surviving 100 years after their era-and the tens of thousands of slides for sale in the lantern catalogs a century ago, are both graphic evidence that there must have been a lot of people giving lantern shows. The projectionist is using a double, or “biunial” lantern, which allowed for smooth dissolves from one image to another. Lantern shows attracted large audiences, especially shows on travel to exotic places.
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