Arthur Melbourne Cooper (15 April 1874 – 28 November 1961) was a British photographer and early filmmaker best known for his pioneering work in stop-motion animation. He produced over three hundred films between 1896 and 1915, of which an estimated 36 were all or in part animated. These include Dreams of Toyland (1908) and according to some sources Dolly’s Toys (1901), as well as Matches: An Appeal (date disputed), which Dutch independent researcher Tjitte de Vries has claimed may have been the first animated film to be shown in public.
Since his death, Cooper has become a controversial figure among film historians with disputes arising over his professional relationship with film pioneer Birt Acres; seven films known as the GRG-Series, which archives such as the BFI's currently credit to Brighton-based filmmaker George Albert Smith; and the re-dating of the aforementioned Matches: An Appeal, which archives such as the BFI's currently date to 1914. The claims were debated in a series of articles in Film History journal from 1999 to 2002, and in response to the book on Cooper published in 2009 by de Vries.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in St Albans, Cooper was the son of a local photographer Thomas M. Cooper, who educated him from very early on in his profession. By the age of 16, he was working as an assistant at his father's shop on New London Road, St. Albans. He claimed to have gone to work for film pioneer Birt Acres in 1892, at the age of 18; this claim has however been disputed as Acres himself was working for Elliot and Sons up until 1895 and is felt unlikely to have hired an assistant before this time.
During the late 1890s and early 1900s, Cooper performed "rush work" filming and developing topical subjects, such as the 1898 launch of the Albion (for Acre), the 1902 Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (for the Biograph Company) and the 1903 Grand National among others.
Dutch researcher Tjitte de Vries, based on later reports by Cooper and his daughter Audrey Wadowska, controversially claims that during this time the filmmaker also produced the Animated Matches series of films more commonly dated to 1914 and the GRG-Series of films more commonly attributed to George Albert Smith.
Continuing to live at London Road with his mother and siblings and work as a cameraman, he began to think about establishing his own company following his father's death in 1901.
Alpha Trading Company
By 1906 Cooper had established the Alpha Trading Company, and started film production in his own right. His productions at this time include MacNab's Visit to London (1905), in which he plays the title role in a slapstick comedy about golf, and The Motor Pirate (1906), in which bandits in an armoured car make the roads unsafe. That year he also became one of the founder-members of the British Kinematograph Manufacturers Association.
In 1907 Cooper set out on a special observation car, attached to the front of a train to film the long phantom ride film London to Killarney (1907) which was one of the longest to have been made at that time and was distributed in four parts. At the end of the ride he also filmed the comedy Irish Wives and English Husbands (1907), starring local girl Kate O'Connor, which was the first fiction film to be made in Ireland.
By 1908 Cooper had established the Alpha Production Works in St Albans. His productions during this time include his earliest uncontested animation Dreams of Toyland (1908), which includes storylines, themes, characters and techniques he would return to in later films. Earlier, contested, animated productions include Dolly’s Toys (1901), which has also been credited to Walter R. Booth and George Albert Smith, and the Animated Matches trilogy which has been variously dated to 1914 and 1899 by different researchers.
Alpha Picture House
On 27 July 1908, Cooper opened Hertfordshire's first permanent cinema, the Alpha Picture House, on London road. The building designed by Percival Blow contained a restaurant, swimming pool and hairdressing salon as well as the 800 seat cinema, which has been described as the first cinema as we know them today. The cinema failed inspection following the passing of the 1910 Cinematograph Act and was sold through liquidation to George Arthur Dawson the following year. The cinema continued to run as the Poly until 1926 and was destroyed by fire the following year. A new cinema was built on the London Road site, which continued in operation until the 1990s.