William D Slade Archive

The William D Slade Archive contains a collection of papers relating to the early itinerant cinema exhibitor, 1896-1898. Includes invoices, receipts and account statements, lists of films available for purchase (Royal Jubilee films and "animated photograph films"), lists of films purchased for exhibition, advertisements for film equipment and accessories, correspondence and memoranda.

William D Slade was a shoe seller and part time magic lanternist based in Cheltenham. Accompanied by his daughter Mary, and in partnership with a theatrical and music hall agent Edward Baring, Slade toured Britain between May 1897 and March 1898. They gave up to three lantern and film shows a day in over 190 locations including theatres, music halls, church halls, and on two Royal Navy warships. The trade press was full of accounts of fortunes to be made exhibition films, review of the latest technology and practical advice relating to exhibition. This encouraged Slade to abandon a respectable high street business for over a year and embark on a highly speculative enterprise. The performances had to sustain William and Mary, turn enough profit to provide a dividend for their partner, account for all expenses relating to the performances and provide the initial capital for equipment and films.

Two tours – the first 20 dates between May and June 1897. The second, Slade’s Electro-Photo Marvel, included 170 separate dates. It began in the south-west passing through Devon and Cornwall then north covering Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Lake District and finished in Scotland. The tour made use of popular theatres and municipal exhibition venues, where cinema was often part of a larger bill of entertainment including comedians, musical interludes, acrobats and magicians. Slade also used town and church halls for slightly different presentations, more like lectures offering moral guidance supported by moving pictures.