Friday 28 November 2008

88 pianos, 88 keys

The bizarre and harrowing film Electrocuting an Elephant (Thomas Alva Edison, 1903), though not an isolated case of an Elephant execution, is especially remarkable because it represents the extremes to which Edison would go to protect his interests.

Edison and Topsy the Elephant's fates met after Topsy had trampled to death three men in as many years at Coney Island's Luna Park. Simultaneously Edison had been on a campaign of animal electrocutions to prove the danger of George Westinghouse's Alternating Current, which was struggling for dominance in the 'War of the Currents' with his own Direct Current. Edison had pioneered the electric chair for just this reason in 1890 and was confident that, not only could an elephant be destroyed by electrocution, but that by proliferating a film of the act via his kinetograph machines across America, he could create enough of a stir to help stigmatise AC for good.

This came at a time when Edison was looking for ways to monopolise cinematic production and distribution through his company's patent rights. 5 years later he would succeed with the creation of the Motion Picture Copyright Corporation (or The Trust) which approved studio licenses enforcing holders to pay fees to the Edison company. This effectively disenfranchised independent film making in America until Carl Laemmle's company spearheaded a definitive stand against Edison and The Trust.

Edison's plans backfired, by 1912 The Trust was taken to court and in 1915 was dissolved. Similarly DC lost out to the AC that is generally used today despite his attacks on Westinghouse. In the end, aside from seeming unusually cruel, Topsy's Death is symbolic of Edison's frustrated attempts at dominion both over Cinema and over electricity itself.






1 Adult Elephant tusk can produce 44 pianos, thats 88 per Elephant. Each piano has 88 keys.
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