Waukegan in the Early Movie Industry-- Part 3: "Fake News" Back Then?

Edward Ahmet also filmed the William McKinley presidential inauguration and he wanted to film some of the Spanish-American War but could not get permission so he created his own Spanish-American War using model ships in his backyard in Waukegan.  (The first special effects?)

In these days of "Fake News," you might say Amet had the first one.

The Bess Dunn Museum, which is the Lake County History Museum, has one of the model ships, which were quite realistic-looking and even had puffs of smoke in the movie.

The magniscope was a success and was sold to several high profile theaters, however, Amet concentrated on inventing and never got a patent for his invention.  Thomas Edison even went so far as to sue Amet but when Amer didn't contest it, Edison dropped the suit.

Amet went on to shoot more films with George Kirke Spoor and made a series of war films, shooting footage from staged military camps and using miniatures in the bathtub for staged naval battles.

--Cooter