Reverend Hannibal Goodwin, in search of a way to make his Sunday school classes more exciting for his students and project the images on a wall, invented what we now know as celluloid film. Born on April 21, 1822 in Ulysses, New York, Reverend Goodwin was an Episcopal priest living and ministering in a house on Broad Street in Newark, NJ.
He was motivated to search for a non-breakable, and clear substance on which he could place the images he utilized in his Biblical teachings. On May 2, 1887, the year Goodwin retired from the church he had served for twenty years, he filed a patent for “a photographic pellicle and process of producing same … especially in connection with roller cameras”, but the patent was not granted until September 13, 1898 (U.S. Patent 610,861). Unfortunately, for Rev. Goodwin he was not good at paperwork and his patent process was unfairly stalled in the court system awaiting approval. In the meantime, George Eastman had already started production of roll-film using his own process. His patent was sold to Ansco who successfully sued Eastman Kodak for infringement of the patent and was awarded $5,000000 in 1914.
In 1900, Goodwin set up the Goodwin Film and Camera Company on Ferry Street in Newark, but before film production had started he was involved in a street accident near a construction site and died on December 31, 1900 from his injuries.
To this day, Goodwin’s contribution to the world has been recognized by way of a street that bears his name, and the annual Newark International Film Festival that recognizes Goodwin’s work and the continued work of filmmakers that was all spawned by one innovative man in Newark, NJ.
