Celebrating British Silent Films from a century ago

Hepworth Inventions

Hepworth Inventions, Patents, and Innovations

Hepworth claims to have invented many things, and often claimed to be first with others.

He certainly was a technical innovator. However, given the intense competition in the industry at the time, sometimes you cannot be sure! So, until we can verify the facts and find all the evidence, please treat these claims with a pinch of salt! Can you help?

  • Hepworth invented a type of arc lamp for Robert Paul in 1895.
  • In 1897, he penned one of the first handbooks on filmmaking - "Animated Photography, or the ABC of the Cinematograph".
  • Hepworth patented several film-oriented inventions including a new kind of projection bulb and an automated system for developing and printing films.
  • Another patent granted to him concerned the continuous developing, printing and drying of film stock, in 1898; he exploited this the following year by establishing his own processing laboratory in Walton-on-Thames, Middlesex. Early industrial automation.
  • In 1900 Cecil Hepworth uses slow motion The Eccentric Dancer, a close-up of his own head in The Egg-laying Man and reverse motion in The Bathers, the second half of the film reversing the first half.
  • He claimed he was the first to film a State Funeral: the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. Whilst this may have been a first, it was a joint first since footage shot by British Pathé of the same event survives. It is remarkable to observe similarities in tradition between this funeral and that of Queen Elizabeth II, a direct descendant of Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother, some 120 years later.
    In his autobiography Hepworth claimed the King stopped the cortege in front of the camera to ensure it would be captured for posterity. Maybe. Or maybe the King was annoyed by the noise of the camera, which Hepworth confessed was considerable! Cecil Hepworth committed all of the small resources at his disposal to cover the route at various points, and the resulting sales secured the future of his company which became a major player in the industry for many years thereafter. The company worked 24-hour shifts for several days to process all the orders that came in for film of the funeral from around the world.
  • In 1910 he invented the The Vivaphone, an early synchronized sound system that utilized a phonograph - one of many competing systems to add sound to the silent film. 
  • In 1913 he filmed the first production of "Alice in Wonderland" (now available on a BFI DVD). Alice in Wonderland, an 800 ft spectacular, was the largest project they ever attempted and was the longest film of its time. Mabel Clark, a girl from the cutting room at Hurst Grove, played Alice, and Hepworth's wife was the White Rabbit. The film was shot in the gardens of Mount Felix in Walton.
  • He presented the first cinema Royal Command Performance - The first feature film presented by Royal Command was Cecil Hepworth's production of "Comin' Through the Rye", starring Alma Taylor, which was shown before Queen Alexandra in the State Dining Room of Marlborough House on 4 August 1916. Hepworth was no stranger to Command Performances, having been present at the very first one . The very first Royal Command Film Performance was held at Marlborough House on 21 July 1896 before forty Royal guests when he had acted as assistant to Birt Acres. That showing followed an even earlier request from pioneer cinematographer Birt Acres of New Barnet, Hertfordshire, to be allowed to exhibit publicly a film he had taken the previous month of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) whilst attending the Cardiff Exhibition. Before giving his permission, The Prince of Wales asked Acres to bring the film to Marlborough House for inspection. It was screened in a specially erected marquee together with twenty other short films, including Tom Merry the Lightning Artist drawing Mr Gladstone and Lord Salisbury, the Derby Races of 1895 and 1896, Henley Regatta and scenes showing a boxing kangaroo, a great Northern Railway express train and the pursuit of a pickpocket.
  • First filming of British politicians - it took until 21 November 1989 before live TV cameras were allowed back into the House of Commons. 
  • His company produced the first hour-long feature-length version of "Hamlet" in 1913.
  • Filmed the first feature-length film made in Britain, "David Copperfield" 
    • "In spite of its faults, the film is undeniably a milestone in translating Dickens to the screen and demonstrates in scene after scene the pictorial quality and realism for which Hepworth was renowned."  - Michael Pointer.
  • His studio was one of the first to use scriptwriters, notably the thriller writer Edgar Wallace who in 1928 was the author of every 4th book published in Great Britain. Wallace went on to write the plot of "King Kong", and the rest is history!
  • Other famous writers included Walter Summers
  • Hepworth taught Phalke, "Father of the Indian Film Industry" - but not for very long!
  • He invented the pan shot, and the mechanism to do it.
  • He invented the tracking shot, and the mechanism to do it.
  • He invented the "Star System" making Hepworth Players Chrissie White, Henry Edwards and Alma Taylor the first film stars the world had ever known.