ABSTRACT
In 1889, Thomas Edison announced his invention of a ‘Far-Sight Machine’ in the lead-up to the Columbian Exposition (1893). When he unveiled his Kinetograph and Kinetoscope to the public in 1891, the subsequent confusion fuelled speculation about a hybrid electric-photography instrument that could transmit live images (like a television) as well as reproduce scenes (like the cinema). This discussion dovetailed into early cinema mythology that bolstered its identity as a spectacular attraction. This chapter explains how the ‘Far-Sight Machine’ transformed into the Kinetograph. The ‘Far-Sight Machine’ destabilizes assumptions about the distinctions between cinema and television, transmission and recording. It shows how the identities of cinema and television are deeply entangled with the social circumstances of their emergence.
