n, and that is, the Recording Department
in New York City, where the master records are made under the
superintendence of experts who have studied the intricacies of the art
with Edison himself. This department occupies an upper story in a lofty
building, and in its various rooms may be seen and heard many prominent
musicians, vocalists, speakers, and vaudeville artists studiously and
busily engaged in making the original records, which are afterward sent
to Orange, and which, if approved by the expert committee, are passed on
to the proper department for reproduction in large quantities.

When we consider the subject of motion pictures we find a similarity in
general business methods, for while the projecting machines and copies
of picture films are made in quantity at the Orange works (just as
phonographs and duplicate records are so made), the original picture,
or film, like the master record, is made elsewhere. There is this
difference, however: that, from the particular nature of the work,
practically ALL master records are made at one convenient place, while
the essential interest in SOME motion pictures lies in the fact that
they are taken in various parts of the world, often under exceptional
circumstances. The "silent drama," however, calls also for many
representations which employ conventional acting, staging, and the
varied appliances of stagecraft. Hence, Edison saw early the necessity
of providing a place especially devised and arranged for the production
of dramatic performances in pantomime.

It is a far cry from the crude structure of early days--the "Black
Maria" of 1891, swung around on its pivot in the Orange laboratory
yard--to the well-appointed Edison theatres, or pantomime studios, in
New York City. The largest of these is located in the suburban Borough
of the Bronx, and consists of a three-story-and-basement building of
reinforced concrete, in which are the offices, dressing-rooms, wardrobe
and property-rooms, library and developing department. Contiguous to
this building, and connected with it, is the theatre proper, a large and
lofty structure whose sides and roof are of glass, and whose floor space
is sufficiently ample for six different sets of scenery at one time,
with plenty of room left for a profusion of accessories, such as tables,
chairs, pianos, bunch-lights, search-lights, cameras, and a host of
varied paraphernalia pertaining to stage effects.

The second Edison theatre, or studi