Abd al-Aziz, Sultan of Morrocco
"One of the more unexpected enthusiasts for the cinematograph in its early days must surely be the youthful Sultan of Morocco (ruled 1894-1908). In truth cinema was but one of the foreign-made playthings in which he was interested. Encouraged by western governments, especially Britain, he imported gadgets in large numbers: according to the Times correspondent these included automobiles, grand pianos, wild animals in cages, barrel-organs, hansom cabs, false hair, and even a passenger lift destined for his one-storey palace. In amongst these items was a large amount of camera gear, including a £2,000 camera made of gold."
Just one of the players on this interesting site, which recently added a selection of film clips (pre-1901) only. Link…
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