As an exhibitor, Porter had tremendous creative control over these programs, presenting a slate of films accompanied by a selection of music and live narration. While at Eden Musée, Porter worked *embling programs of Edison films, most particularly exhibitions of films of the Spanish–American War, Edison productions which helped stir an outbreak of patriotic fever in New York City. Returning to New York City in early 1898, Porter found work at the Eden Musée, a Manhattan wax museum and amu*t hall which had become a center for motion picture exhibition and production and licensee of the Edison Manufacturing Company. He later made a second tour through Canada and the United States. He traveled through the West Indies and South America, showing films at fairgrounds and in open fields. He was briefly employed in New York City by Raff & Gammon, agents for the films and viewing equipment made by Thomas Edison, and then left to become a touring projectionist with a competing machine, Kuhn & Webster's Projectorscope. Porter entered motion picture work in 1896, the first year movies were commercially projected on large screens in the United States. During his three years' service he showed ap*ude as an inventor of electrical devices to improve communications. He was employed initially in the electrical department of William Cramp & Sons, a Philadelphia ship and engine building company. He served three years as a gunner's mate, serving on the USS New York (ACR-2) and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He filed for bankruptcy on June 15 and enlisted in the United States Navy four days later on June 19. Eventually becoming a merchant tailor, Porter was battered by the Panic of 1893. He developed an interest in electricity at a young age, and shared a patent at age 21 for a lamp regulator. After attending public schools in Connellsville, Porter worked, among other odd jobs, as an exhibition skater, a sign painter, and a telegraph operator. Named Edward at birth, he later changed his name to Edwin Stanton, after Edwin Stanton, the Democratic politician from Ohio who had served as Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War. Porter was born and raised in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, to Thomas Richard Porter, a merchant, and Mary (Clark) Porter he was the fourth of seven children with four brothers (Chales W., Frank, John, and Everett Melbourne) and two sisters (Mary and Ada). Of over 250 films created by Porter, his most important include: What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City, (1901), (the 72-seconds long footage depicting the skirt-raising scene later used in The Seven Year Itch) Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) Life of an American Fireman (1903) The Great Train Robbery (1903) The European Rest Cure (1904) The Kleptomaniac (1905) Life of a Cowboy (1906) Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1913). Edwin Stanton Porter (Ap– April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company.
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