Your chance to visit the world of Magic Lanterns July 10 through 13, 2008 See "A Day in DC" Saturday, July 12 below

Four continents will be represented in the programs, which recreate and examine the popular 19th and early 20th Century medium. The convention will open with a rear-projected show by the Japanese lantern troupe, Minwa-za Company of Tokyo. Minwa-za’s four lanternists and three musicians will perform at the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery Meyer Auditorium, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10.

“With its unique combination of illusion, communication, and art, the Japanese magic lantern spectacle known as utsushi-e was a precursor to cinema,” explains a Freer Gallery announcement. “For the first time in the United States, Tokyo’s Minwa-za Company revives this tradition from the Edo era by recreating the performances—complete with colorful moving images accompanied by live narration and music—that dazzled audiences nearly two hundred years ago.”

The celebration continues during the day Friday, July 11 at the convention hotel, Crowne Plaza National Airport, 1480 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, with a morning program including presenters from Australia and Canada.

“The Last Great Magic Lantern Show” will be presented by Ian and Margery Edwards “and has as its theme the early settlement of the Australian Continent, spiced with period advertisements and humorous mechanical slides,” according to Ian Edwards, whose collection “was first used by my Grandfather Percy in 1898 and by our family for over 100 years.” Among these are a set first produced when the “Great White American Battle Fleet” visited Australia in 1908.

Canadian Michael Lawlor will present “A Trip Across Canada” from lantern slides, photographs on glass, made for more than fifty years by Canadian Pacific Railroad for lectures presented around the world to promote immigration and tourism to Canada. “They show a Canada full of promise: bountiful land providing hunting, fishing, and mountain climbing for tourists, and great potential for immigrants to create a rich life for themselves and their families,” Lawlor said.

The convention returns to Washington for “A Day in DC” Saturday, July 12, beginning with programs at the Historical Society of Washington in the morning and moving to the Goethe-Institute and the National Gallery of Art in the afternoon.

The Historical Society program features “Traditional Magic Lantern Entertainment” presented by Canadian Lanternist Lindsay Lambert from Ottawa beginning at 9:45 a.m. and “The Magic Lantern Project,” a DVD produced by students at the Edmund Burke School in Washington, both in the theater of the former Carnegie Library; and installation of a tent camera obscura on the grounds, which continues until 2 p.m., at Mount Vernon Square, 801 K Street, NW.

Though its recorded history dates back to the Fifth Century BC, the term “camera obscura” was first used by a German astronomer who utilized a portable tent device in the early 1600s. The one being demonstrated is called “The Magic Mirror of Life,” named after a Philadelphia 19th century model, by its creator Jack Wilgus, a Baltimore photo historian.

The Goethe-Institute, at 812 Seventh Street, NW, a short walk from the Historical Society, will host a media archeology program with Zoe Beloff and Erkki Huhtamo at 1:00 p.m. Beloff, a NY-based media artist, will project “Shadow Land or Light from the Other Side,” a stereoscopic film based on the 1897 autobiography of materialization medium Elizabeth D’Espérance, and “Lost,” a performance for stereo slides, hand-cranked projector and 78 rpm gramophone records. Huhtamo, a UCLA media researcher and professor, will also give a presentation, which will be followed by a discussion.

At 4:30 p.m. David Francis and Joss Marsh will present “Victorian Transformations,” a special show with Francis’s rare triunial magic lantern at the National Gallery of Art East Building Auditorium, 4th Street at Constitution Avenue, NW. Similar in format to recent shows at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, Francis (lanternist), Joss Marsh (narrator) and Phil Carli (piano) will feature Victorian era magic lantern entertainment.

Francis, originally from England, is a former director of the film department of The Library of Congress, and Marsh, professor of Victorian Studies at Indiana University, presently live in Bloomington, Indiana.

All the “Day in DC” events are free and open to the public.

The convention returns to the National Gallery of Art East Building Auditorium, 5 p.m. Sunday, for the concluding presentation by The American Magic Lantern Theater, the country’s premier professional touring company. “Spirit of ‘76,” a patriotic program, will be presented by Lanternist Terry Borton, who will be accompanied by multi-talented musician Nancy Stewart and assisted by Debbie Borton. The program is free and open to the public.

A lecture by London-based Magic Lantern Historian Deac Rossell will follow. Both Borton and Rossell will be concluding a joint tour with Minwa-za that also included performances at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in New York City.

This “East meets West” tour was organized by Artemis Willis, an independent producer and former vice-president of the New York Film and Video Council. Willis also facilitated the Goethe-Institute and Francis/Marsh presentations.

In addition to all this, a sales room with vintage materials for sale by Society members opens Friday at the hotel; the morning performances will be followed by a full afternoon presentation schedule and an evening Potomac River dinner cruise. Add in a Sunday auction and other presentations throughout the convention, including:

“25 of Life’s Most Infrequently Asked Questions,” a metaphysical search for truth, by Richard Balzer, a past president of the Magic Lantern Society of the US and Canada. After a seven-year sojourn in London, Balzer and his family have relocated in the US and are settled in Boston.

“Stanley’s Last Expedition” by Dick Moore, who will exhibit a rare set of hand-tinted slides based on the original illustrations from “In Darkest Africa.” Moore, who is the Society’s Secretary-Treasurer, is a management consultant and lives in Connecticut. He has been collecting and giving magic lantern shows for 17 years, and will also present “The Happening of Puck and His Pig,” a convention short subject serial.

“Adventures in Decalomania” by Larry Rakow, who will present a brief history of Decal Children’s Lantern Slides and their diverse subject matter. Rakow has been a member of the Society since the late 1970s and has attended and presented at every Magic Lantern convention. He has appeared scores of times at schools, libraries, and social and professional societies as “Professor Optix,” magic lantern showman.

“What’s in a Name? The Magic Lantern and the Stereopticon in American Periodicals, 1860-1900” by Kentwood Wells, who will explore how the use of these terms changed over time. Wells has been collecting and doing research on magic lanterns since 1960 and is currently the Editor of The Magic Lantern Gazette. He is a Professor and Head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut.

“Skladanowsky World-Theater: Technology and Modernity” by Janelle Blankenship, who will present reproductions of magic lantern slides and broadsides from the Bundesarchiv/Federal Archives in Germany (Skladanowsky collection). Blankenship, a film historian, taught early cinema and German film at New York University and last fall joined the faculty at the University of Western Ontario. She is currently writing a book on the German film pioneers and magic lantern showmen Max and Emil Skladanowsky.

“Before the Movies: Magic-Lantern Entertainment and America’s First Great Screen Artist, Joseph Boggs Beale” by Terry and Debbie Borton, who will provide a brief introduction to America’s first book on the magic lantern and relate some of the story of its development. The Bortons have been collecting Beale’s works and researching his life and art for the last 24 years. They are the owners of the Beale Collection, which contains Beale’s own copies of his slides and many of his lantern drawings, sketches, letters, etc.

“Utsushi-e and Its Transition to (Western-Style) Magic Lantern in Japan around 1900” by Machiko Kusahara, who will present material from her own collection including Japanese mechanical slides (from blooming bonsai to war  scenes) both in utsushi-e format and in magic lantern format. Kusahara is Professor in the Media Culture Program at Waseda University, Tokyo.

There will also be a display of “Lighting Devices” by Karl Link. These are old lighting devices—general lighting pieces and not specifically magic lantern lights—“that can be handled and mishandled.” Originally from Germany, Link resides in the Rochester, New York, area and has a long-time interest in the magic lantern and particularly in toy lanterns and slides.

The public is invited to attend the hotel presentations, sales room and auction. A single $10 admission covers all.

For more information contact Convention Chairman Tom Rall marketflea@aol.com, 703-534-8220 or mail to 1101 N Kentucky Street, Arlington, VA 22205. For Convention registration form select this link.

Crowne Plaza (Washington- National Airport) Hotel in Arlington, VA.

Information about TheAmerican Magic Lantern Theater: http://www.magiclanternshows.com/magiclanternshows.htm

http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/ver/en3405572v.htm