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400:. Smith and Bayley probably worked in creative collaboration to devise the fiction films Smith directed; Bayley may also have directed some of the films currently credited to Smith, as his records indicate that she supervised the "facials" (comic short films emphasising facial expression). Bayley handled sales of the Biokam films and related materials, and may also have participated in the process of making cameras.
431:, where three Bayley films were shown in 2002, the film historian David Robinson cited Bayley and her sisters as the first known comediennes in British film. The film writer Ellen Cheshire, in a 2016 study of women working behind the camera in early film, identified Bayley as film history's first woman cinematographer.
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In a discussion of Bayley's collaboration with Smith, the film historian Frank Gray wrote: "Laura Bayley brought to this creative work a keen understanding of popular texts, an unself-conscious and dynamic style of acting and a rich sense of humour. Audiences which still laugh at her winking at the
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Behind the camera, Bayley likely played a significant hand in the creative development of Smith's fiction films, and may have directed some of those currently credited to him. She also directed and supervised numerous other films on her own, including a series for an early show-at-home projector
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Other members of Bayley's family also became involved in Smith's filmmaking; all three of her sisters probably appeared in the films, as did Smith and Bayley's two children. Notably, the film historian Frank Gray concludes that Harold and
Dorothy Smith probably both appear in
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Smith's interest in novel forms of entertainment led him towards early experiments with motion picture film, and in 1897 he began making short films on the St. Ann's Well grounds. By the time of Smith's foray into filmmaking, Bayley had had wide experience in comic acting for
419:, with some film historians simply calling her "Smith's wife" or "Mrs. Smith". Several twenty-first-century film historians have drawn attention to this neglect and to her contributions, though she remains relatively little-known in the field. The
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routines in local venues, including the
Brighton Aquarium. Bayley and Smith married in a double wedding: the other couple was Bayley's sister Florence and the Bayleys' theatrical colleague J. D. Hunter.
347:
170:, she entered the world of early experiments with motion picture film; she played main roles in many of the most important films Smith made between 1897 and 1903, including
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in early 1897, Bayley and her sister
Blanche performed live onstage, while Smith came along on the tour to exhibit his "animated photographs" as part of the entertainment.
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Bayley and Smith had two children, Harold Norman and
Dorothy Eugenie, in 1889 and 1890, respectively. In 1892, Smith acquired a lease on St. Ann's Well and Wild Garden, a
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During her acting career, Bayley also worked on her own as a filmmaker, making numerous short films that were designed and marketed for a home projector, the
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321:, and Smith drew extensively on her knowledge of visual humour and audience tastes. She played lead roles in many of his most significant films, including
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design. Film historians have highlighted her prolific career as a film performer as well as the creative talent she brought to filmmaking.
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Later in the decade, after the series of Biokam films, Bayley also appeared in some of Smith's 1906ā1908 tests of the colour-film process
217:, in 1887, praised "the Misses Bayley ā¦ who, by their charming vocal selections added so considerably to the success of the burlesque
369:(1903). In at least one instance, Smith and Bayley mixed their theatrical and film work together: when J. D. Hunter's company toured
209:. She and her sisters Blanche, Florence, and Eva worked together as performers for J. D. Hunter's Theatre Company, which produced a "
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Cheshire, Ellen (2016), "Who Was the First Female
Cinematographer in the World?", in Bridges, Melody; Robson, Cheryl (eds.),
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database ranks Bayley as "the most prolific
British actress" in turn-of-the-century cinema. In program notes for the
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in
Brighton; it reopened under his management the following spring. Together, Bayley and Smith mounted summer
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in August 1890 and again in the latter in 1892, but the four sisters were reunited at the
Aquarium for
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commented that "The Robin Hood of Miss Laura Bayley is a distinctly comely and cheery Robin Hood".
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146:(4 February 1862 ā 25 October 1938) was a British actress and filmmaker, active in the
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Bayley's three sisters also performed without her for some
Aquarium productions, such as in the
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Suburbia, seaside and sensation: showing films in London and the south-east, 1896ā1897
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Gray, Frank (1998), "Smith the
Showman: The Early Years of George Albert Smith",
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Fletcher, Tony (2013), Gaines, Jane; Vatsal, Radha; Dall'Asta, Monica (eds.),
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Bayley's work was usually overlooked in twentieth-century assessments of the
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On 13 June 1888, at the Congregational Church in Ramsgate, Bayley married
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Bayley was born on 4 February 1862 in the English seaside town of
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The Brighton Aquarium, where Bayley and her sisters performed in
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Cinema-by-Sea: Film and Cinema in Brighton & Hove since 1896
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740:"Mary Jane's Mishap or, Don't Fool with the Paraffin (1903)"
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648:"Funny Ladies: The Comediennes of the Silent Screen"
213:" extravaganza every year at the Brighton Aquarium.
439:are acknowledging her considerable achievement."
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621:(PhD thesis), University of York, pp. 45ā46
44:Bayley (at right), with George Albert Smith, in
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276:fancy dress parties
256:George Albert Smith
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354:Let Me Dream Again
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660:23 December
508:(1): 8ā20,
405:Kinemacolor
379:Santa Claus
330:Santa Claus
294:Film career
176:(1899) and
97:Nationality
786:Categories
755:20 October
625:15 January
598:20 October
567:20 October
453:Two Clowns
443:References
336:Cinderella
230:Cinderella
226:pantomimes
164:pantomimes
62:1862-02-04
315:pantomime
211:burlesque
137:(m. 1888)
130:Spouse(s)
91:, England
72:, England
455:(c.1907)
357:(1900),
351:(1900),
345:(1899),
339:(1898),
333:(1898),
327:(1897),
207:Ramsgate
182:(1903).
152:Ramsgate
70:Ramsgate
532:The Era
514:3815398
100:British
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411:Legacy
398:Biokam
319:revues
308:(1903)
162:, and
160:revues
50:(1899)
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619:(PDF)
510:JSTOR
777:IMDb
757:2016
691:2016
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627:2018
600:2016
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381:and
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78:Died
56:Born
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