>The finished work was titled “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” and Hollaman commissioned a poster to advertise the work – the first known example of a film poster. “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” premiered on January 30, 1898 at Eden Musee. Because the concept of intertitles was not yet invented, the film was shown with an off-screen narrator detailing the various scenes.
>Anyone viewing “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” quickly realized from its painted backdrops that it was not filmed in Germany. The New York Herald denounced the fraud, stating: “All the preliminary announcements of this exhibition have tended to convey the impression that this is a genuine reproduction of the celebrated passion play at Oberammergau.” Klaw & Erlanger tried to halt the screenings of Hollaman’s work, but this only added to the publicity for the presentation.
>Despite the chicanery of the marketing, “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” was praised by New York-area clergy who attended screenings. Hollaman began to receive requests for screenings outside of New York, and he started to sell prints for a then-exorbitant fee of $850 per copy.
>At this point, Thomas Edison pounced. Claiming that his patent on the motion picture camera was violated, Edison took Hollaman and his creative collaborators to court – and won. Hollaman was required to turn over the negative and the rights to “The Passion Play of Oberammergau.” Edison broke the complete 20-minute film into segments that were sold separately to exhibitors, although the complete production was still being shown as late as December 1899.
>Edison’s control on the nascent film industry by citing his patent on the film camera came to an end in 1902, when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Edison only owned rights to the sprocket system that moved perforated film through the camera and not the complete concept of the motion picture camera. By that time, however, it was too late for Hollaman to retrieve the rights to “The Passion Play of Oberammergau.”
>Today, “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” only exists in a fragment that is preserved at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York; no copies of the 20-minute version are known to exist. Hollaman and his collaborators slipped into obscurity, quickly forgotten by a film industry they helped to launch. As for “The Horitz Passion Play” that inspired the creation of this work, it is now considered a lost film.
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The poster says “Edison’s The Passion Play” which is a reference to this [https://www.cinema-crazed.com/blog/2018/12/07/the-bootleg-files-the-passion-play-of-oberammergau/](https://www.cinema-crazed.com/blog/2018/12/07/the-bootleg-files-the-passion-play-of-oberammergau/)
>The finished work was titled “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” and Hollaman commissioned a poster to advertise the work – the first known example of a film poster. “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” premiered on January 30, 1898 at Eden Musee. Because the concept of intertitles was not yet invented, the film was shown with an off-screen narrator detailing the various scenes.
>Anyone viewing “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” quickly realized from its painted backdrops that it was not filmed in Germany. The New York Herald denounced the fraud, stating: “All the preliminary announcements of this exhibition have tended to convey the impression that this is a genuine reproduction of the celebrated passion play at Oberammergau.” Klaw & Erlanger tried to halt the screenings of Hollaman’s work, but this only added to the publicity for the presentation.
>Despite the chicanery of the marketing, “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” was praised by New York-area clergy who attended screenings. Hollaman began to receive requests for screenings outside of New York, and he started to sell prints for a then-exorbitant fee of $850 per copy.
>At this point, Thomas Edison pounced. Claiming that his patent on the motion picture camera was violated, Edison took Hollaman and his creative collaborators to court – and won. Hollaman was required to turn over the negative and the rights to “The Passion Play of Oberammergau.” Edison broke the complete 20-minute film into segments that were sold separately to exhibitors, although the complete production was still being shown as late as December 1899.
>Edison’s control on the nascent film industry by citing his patent on the film camera came to an end in 1902, when the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Edison only owned rights to the sprocket system that moved perforated film through the camera and not the complete concept of the motion picture camera. By that time, however, it was too late for Hollaman to retrieve the rights to “The Passion Play of Oberammergau.”
>Today, “The Passion Play of Oberammergau” only exists in a fragment that is preserved at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York; no copies of the 20-minute version are known to exist. Hollaman and his collaborators slipped into obscurity, quickly forgotten by a film industry they helped to launch. As for “The Horitz Passion Play” that inspired the creation of this work, it is now considered a lost film.