"For the first time we have a comprehensive and knowledgeable
account of the early years in cinema in Toronto; not just what
was shown but a learned description of the places of exhibition,
as well as, what the early machines were like which made this
miracle possible--set against the social and political temper of
the times."

Gerald Pratley
Adjunct Professor
Film Studies
Ryerson Polytechnic University

Robert W. Gutteridge has spent the past twenty years researching the early history of cinema with special emphasis on technology and film. His goal is to set right the many misconceptions and myths that continue to be perpetuated by ill-informed media. As an educator (in visual art and film), collector of motion picture appa-ratus, and filmmaker, Gutteridge draws upon these to provide a fresh understanding of early cinema in Toronto, Canada.