The itsy-bitsy spider went up…
The good folks at Artichoke (who brought us the Telectroscope, which readers may recall), have commissioned “La Princesse” for the Capital of Culture celebration in Liverpool this October.
La Princesse “climbing”the Concourse Tower near Lime Street Station
See more photos here and here; see the BBC’s coverage here.
As we brush away the cobwebs, we might recall that it was on this date in 1908 that patent-hawk Thomas Edison launched The Motion Picture Patent Company with Biograph and Vitagraph to consolidate their control over the emerging movie industry. The MPPC refused to let other companies use their patented film equipment, distributed films only to theater owners who agreed to their terms, and “convinced” Kodak agreed to sell raw film stock only to members of the company. This, of course, created extreme hardship for independent film companies– several of whom fled to sunny Los Angeles to evade the long arm of the MPPC… thus creating “Hollywood.” But by 1912, the U.S. government began to crack down on the company for unfair trade practices; and by 1917, the MPPC’s power had eroded completely.