Magic Lantern shows became increasingly popular throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. In the Victorian period the Magic Lantern underwent continuous technical development, which resulted in the film-based moving-picture projector or cinematograph.

The magic lanterns that we use in our shows date back to the turn of the century. Three are equipped with moving picture mechanisms another is a traditional lantern used for projecting glass slides...all were once children's toys. We have made many new moving pictures for our magic lanterns based on traditional magic lantern images and early cinema.

We have projected our moving picture shows in many locations, bars, museums, classrooms, dark alleys, homes, parks, raves, a day care school. . . We've projected on buildings, music boxes, balloons, inside hats, white cars (setting off the alarm just at the end of the show!), on white clothing - we've even projected the films while rollerskating - as an ambulant cinema we can go anywhere and show anyone our films.

We use suitcase victrolas, music boxes and a variety of other instruments and props to create live soundtracks for our moving pictures.

View our links page for more sites on magic lanterns.

panelectric@gmail.com