Photo – Drama Of Creation : International Bible Students Association 1914 [ Cinema , Charles Taze Russell ]

Description

Scarce first edition of the scenario for The Photo – Drama of Creation , an early Christian educational film from Bible Student Movement founder Charles Taze Russell who also inspired the modern Jehovah’s Witness Movement.

 

[ Russell , Charles Taze ]. Scenario of The Photo – Drama of Creation : The Divine Revelation, The Bible Is The Wisdom From Above, The Noblest Science And The Best Instructions. International Bible Students Association : Pittsburgh, PA. 1914. First edition.

 

A scarce piece of religious and cinematic history, this original script (“scenario”) for The Photo – Drama Of Creation helps preserve a radically innovative piece of propaganda from Pastor Charles Taze Russell.

A restorationist preacher in the vein of William Miller, Russell founded the journal Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence in 1879 ahead of creating the Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society and announcing the coming apocalypse in 1881. Though the date and details of Russell’s doomsaying predictions varied over the course of his career, he remained based in Pennsylvania until 1909 when he moved his organization and followers to Brooklyn Heights for better access to ports to spread promotional literature.

The Photo – Drama of Creation premiered in January 1914 in New York City and in it’s hey-dey was appearing in 80 cities simultaneously free of charge. A milestone in cinematic technology and modern evangelism,   the eight hour long film was among the first to utilize synchronized sound and colored slides with most images still produced using hand-painted glass more akin to earlier Magic Lantern shows than modern cinema, mixing together images of Dinosaurs with details like the estimated Earth’s age of 49,000-years-old.

By the end of its first year, over 9 million people had seen The Photo – Drama of Creation across the United States, Europe and Australia, despite coinciding with the start of World War I. It is likely the timing for the projects release — in the works since 1912 — were meant to coincide with Russell’s 1911 prophecy that Armageddon would begin by the end 1914. Near its end, the text repeatedly connects the state of the modern world to the text of the Book of Daniel and emphasizes possible Socialist upheaval, predating both the rise of the Soviet Union and the First Red Scare by several years.

Russell died in 1916 resulting in the fracture of his “Bible Student Movement”. His most prominent modern followers are the Jehovah’s Witnesses, established in 1931.

 

8vo, 96 pp + 2 ads, red leatherette boards with decorative gilt face and title and publisher to spine. Shelfcocked. Corners bumped and rubbed. Soiling to top fore corners, front and back boards. Marbled floral pastedowns and endpapers with print advertisements on verso. Illustrated throughout with photo plates. Good condition.

 

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