Charles Urban 1867 - 1942

occupation:
Cinematographer,
Film producer
Nationality:
American
born in:
Cincinnati, Hamilton county, Ohio, United States

1895, Urban became manager of phonograph and Kinetoscope parlour; 1896, he acquired the rights to Edison Vitascope film projector for Michigan and joined Maguire and Baucus in New York. By 1897, Urban had moved to London as manager of Maguire and Baucus in Britain. A year later Maguire and Baucus moved to London and changed their name to the Warwick Trading Company. In 1903, Urban left and formed Charles Urban Trading Company. In 1906 Kinemacolor was invented, of which Urban had the patent; it was marketed through the Natural Color Kinematograph Company. During WWI, he produced British propaganda and a documentary on the Somme. He then moved to the USA to work on improving Kinemacolor which resulted in Kinekrom. In 1922 he formed a film library, 'Urban Institute' but the scheme ended in bankruptcy in 1924. In 1830 he returned to Britain, where he died in 1942. His papers were donated to the Science Museum in 1937.