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Milestones and Turning Points in Film History The Year 1905 |
 Timeline of Greatest Film History Milestones and Turning Points (by decade and year) Introduction | Pre-1900s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
| Event and Significance | |
| Harry Davis and John Harris opened their first movie theater, dubbing it a nickelodeon, in Pittsburgh. The opening feature was The Great Train Robbery (1903). The name for the converted storefront, dance hall or theater was derived from the cost of admission -- a nickel -- and the Greek word for theater -- "odeon." | |
| The first ever parody of a film was Edwin S. Porter's 12-minute short The Little Train Robbery (1905) - a parody of his own The Great Train Robbery (1903). | |
| The Warner Brothers (three brothers, Harry, Sam, and Albert) opened their first nickelodeon (theatre), a building that they called the Cascade Movie Palace, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The historical marker at the present-day site stated: "WARNER BROTHERS' FIRST THEATRE - An early milestone for the Warners' film empire was the operation by Harry, Sam, and Albert Warner of a theater her, 1906-07. It seated 99 persons, who could view three movies for a nickel. Sixteen years later, Warner Bros. Pictures was established." [Two years later, the Warners sold the Cascade and left New Castle, moving to Pittsburgh where they established their own film exchange, the Duquesne Amusement and Supply Company.] | |
| Cooper Hewitt mercury lamps made it practical to shoot films indoors without sunlight. | |
| The American entertainment trade journal Variety began publication weekly in New York City. | |
| The short action-oriented British melodrama Rescued by Rover (1905, UK) was produced by Cecil Hepworth, and was the earliest cinematic canine feature. Its star was Rover, a shepherd dog (Rough Collie breed) - the first canine film star. It was a very early and notable example of creative cutting and energetic traveling shots (moving across the screen in a consistent direction) to make it more suspenseful. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, it was also the least expensive movie to produce, at $37.40. However, the 7-minute film was so successful that the negative wore out and the film had to be made all over again. | |
| Director Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company's family-oriented comedy short The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905) was based upon a popular postcard fad of its day, and daringly created humor from the name of the dysfunctional family. It combined live-action comedy and graphics. |
