William
N. Selig was born March 14, 1864 in Chicago, Illinois.
In
1894, he was part of a touring show billed as 'Selig, Conjurer'
doing magic tricks.
After
viewing an Edison Kinetoscope in Dallas in 1895, Selig quit
the minstrel circuit and headed for Chicago where he opened
a photographic shop. Wishing to enter the film business with
his own equipment, he experimented, but went nowhere.
Finally,
after seeing the Latham and Lumiere projectors, he, along with
assistance from the Union Metal Works, began working on constructing
his own projector and camera.
Finally,
he was able to build his camera and projector, based on the
Lumiere system, and shot his first film in 1896 under the auspices
of his new enterprise, the Selig Polyscope Company
