When Edison saw that the flexible film was successful in ordinary photography he again turned to serious work on motion pictures, and the Chicago World’s Fair, held in 1893, saw the introduction of his kinetoscope. This was a coin-in-the-slot device and a nickel was the charge at that time to view a picture about thirty seconds in duration. The novelty soon wore off, mainly because the pictures were so short, and Edison placed the kinetoscope on the shelf. Apparently foreign mechanical workers attending the Fair thought more of the apparatus than did its inventor, for in the years immediately following they made many advances on the original model, while Edison had even neglected to patent his invention abroad. Paul in London, Lumière in France, and numerous others were at work, and by 1896 signs of their success were apparent. The result was that Edison again turned to his kinetoscope, and soon he presented an improved machine, the vitascope, which could be used in theaters to show pictures on a screen. The motion picture was here. It was not long before pictures were being shown in theaters in Paris and London, and in July, 1896, Lumière’s cinematograph was exhibited at the Union Square Theater in New York. Others entered the field, some of the pioneers being Siegmund Lubin, William N. Selig, Henry Marvin, George Kleine, Francis Marion, William T. Rock, Albert E. Smith, and J. Stuart Blackton. These early picture-men were also, by necessity, somewhat capable as inventors, and numerous patents were secured on different portions of the apparatus for making and exhibiting pictures. The next few years of the industry’s history is the tale of numerous patent suits that wound in and out of the courts. The legal battles accentuated the naturally bitter competition to be expected in exploiting the new wonder. But the public had given a hearty welcome to the latest form of entertainment, and the picture-makers waxed prosperous, despite the handicap of internal strife. Theaters in all the big cities were showing the pictures as novelties, and traveling exhibitors were frequent. The “store show,” a picture theater made by remodeling a common store, came into being, and to supply them with pictures exchanges were opened all over the country. These exchanges were the “middle-men” of the picture field, buying the films from the manufacturers, and in turn renting them to the theater-owners. The patent litigation came to an end in 1908 when a group of the most important companies united to protect their patents, and to distribute their output through a common channel. For a time it seemed that the motion picture was to become a monopoly. But the independents, by co-operation with foreign manufacturers, succeeded in maintaining their position, so that the field is to-day as open to individual activity as any other line of commercial effort.