Girolamo or Hieronimo Cardano (1501–1576) was an Italian physician and mathematician who has been described by Cajori, the mathematical historian, as “a singular mixture of genius, folly, self-conceit and mysticism.” He lectured in medicine at the Universities of Milan, Paris and Bologna. In 1571, after having been, according to some, jailed for debt the year before, he was pensioned by the Pope and went to Rome to continue special work in medicine. Cardano’s contribution to motion picture pre-history was made in his _De Subtilitate_, published at Nuremberg in 1550. He showed how a concave mirror could be used to produce quite a wonderful show:--“If you wish to see what is happening on the street, put a small round glass at the window when the sun is bright and after the window has been shut one can see dim images on the opposite wall.” He went on to explain how the images could be doubled, then quadrupled and how other strange appearances of things and one’s self could be devised with a concave mirror. He remarked that the images appeared upside down. This, of course, is another description of the _camera obscura_, with a few additional points for recreational and instructional purposes. It will be noted that Cardano’s description is very like those of Bacon, Leonardo and Cesariano. Now da Vinci’s camera, the original “dark room” camera and progenitor of the modern pin-hole box camera, was ready for showmen to turn it to successful uses. Just after the middle of the 16th century, a young Neapolitan was prepared to spread the knowledge of the sporting use of the device throughout the world. _IV_ PORTA, FIRST SCREEN SHOWMAN _Porta, a Neapolitan, blends fancy and showmanship for magic shadow entertainments in the 16th century--Barbaro and Benedetti put a lens in the “pin-hole” camera or_ camera obscura. The first contact of the new dramatic art, then being developed in Europe and especially in England, with the magic shadow medium was made by a remarkable Neapolitan, Giovanni Battista della Porta. Porta, a boy wonder, who would have felt at home in the modern Hollywood, put the room camera to theatrical uses. In a way Porta was both the last of the necromancers, who used lens and mirror devices to deceive, and the first legitimate screen writer and producer of light and shadow plays with true entertainment values. Porta was born in Naples about the year 1538. He and his brother, Vincenzo, were educated by their uncle Adriano Spatafore, a learned man. The uncle had considerable wealth, which enabled young Porta to travel extensively and have the best available instructors. From boyhood Porta’s chief interests were the stage and magic.