Otway Latham

Otway Latham, along with his brothers and father, is recognized as an early developer in the 'pioneering days' of movie history.

++++++++++++++++++++

Otway Latham was SON of FATHER - Major Woodville Latham D.O.D. - 1911

Siblings included:

• BROTHER - Grey Latham D.O.D. - 1902
• BROTHER - Percy Latham D.O.D. - (?)

+++++++++++++++++++++

The Latham brothers, along with a school chum, came across a new fangled machine in NYC, offering moving images. It was titled: a 'Kinetoscope'.

The young men thought the invention offered great promise - and with some tweaking, they could improve and enhance the machine till it would not only show films but spit money into their pockets!

In 1894, Otway and Grey Latham - became concessionaires for the new fangled entertainment, 'The Edison Kinetoscope.' They formed the 'Kinetoscope Exhibition Company' with partners Samuel J. Tilden plus their former-classmate, Enoch J. Rector. The company's purpose was to photograph and exhibit athletic exhibitions - like boxing films.

They got a contract for displaying only prize fights - which were very popular entertainments of the era. They worked on the project till they could run a longer film and present an entire recorded prize fight.

The venture was a success!

A second fight was made filmed along with the opening of a second viewing parlor. Success abounded and afterwards others facilities were opened in Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco. The men were determined to get life-size pictures on the screen.

In December 1894, the Lathams formed the 'Lambda Company' - 'Lambda' being Greek for the letter 'L' / chosen to stand for the family name LATHAM. This firm was to create and perfect a motion picture camera / projector / etc...

The sons got their father, Major Latham involved in their moving picture venture. The sons were planning for him to carry their workload.

Motion picture production started in earnest, including the development of a 'top loop' in the camera. It became known as: 'The LATHAM LOOP' - (a title it still holds today). This slack-portion-of-film was devised so the intermittent mechanism would not pull on the unexposed stock. This technique enabled much longer lengths of film to be taken.

Films produced by his brother, Gray Latham and others - included a 'Bullfight' that lasted more than ten minutes. They filmed a movie that could be shown on a screen and premiered it in 1895.

This was fantastic! The Lathams, who once shabby genteel became dandies over night. Police had to control crowds wanting to view the modern marvel. The popularity of their invention did not have 'staying power.'

Unrest prevailed. Arguments and lawsuits developed between the Lathams and the Thomas Edison Co. regarding who did what. The legal acrimony lasted 13 years, resulting in the Lathams loss...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By 1910 the brothers, Otway and Grey, whose hedonistic life styles were not endearing, had lost fortunes, endured divorces and alas, were dead.

His father, Major Latham died in 1911.