History took an unexpected turn in the mid-19th century when demand for ivory billiard balls prompted a search for a substitute that ultimately gave birth to celluloid — one of the first semisynthetic plastics — and helped make modern cinema possible. Entrepreneurs and inventors including Michael Phelan, John Wesley Hyatt, George Eastman and the Lumière brothers all played parts in a chain of events that moved the technology from billiard halls to the movie screen, while also exposing early film to grave safety risks.
Billiards had become hugely popular and required large quantities of elephant tusks. By 1867 The New York Times warned that demand could threaten elephants. Michael Phelan offered a prize of $10,000 in gold for a workable ivory substitute, a reward that set inventors racing to find a new material.
The solution came from John Wesley Hyatt and his brother: celluloid, made by treating cellulose from cotton with camphor. The resulting substance could be heated and moulded repeatedly, making it an early thermoplastic. Promotional material for the product hailed it as a relief to endangered species: “As petroleum came to the relief of the whale, so has celluloid given the elephant, the tortoise, and the coral insect a respite in their native haunts,” read one pamphlet. Historian Jeffrey Meikle later argued in American Plastic (1996) that celluloid helped democratize many consumer goods for a growing middle class.
Celluloid soon found a far larger market than billiard balls. In 1880 George Eastman sought a lighter alternative to photographic glass plates; celluloid allowed emulsion to be coated on long, flexible rolls. The first Kodak camera, released in 1888, popularized roll film and made photography portable. Inventors such as Hannibal Williston Goodwin and technicians in Europe then adapted flexible film stock for moving images.
In France, Louis and Auguste Lumière used perforated 35 mm celluloid film in their Cinématographe. With a simple crank they captured and projected short motion pictures; their landmark screening of La sortie de l’usine Lumière on December 28, 1895, in Paris is widely cited as a birth moment for cinema because it let audiences see life in motion for the first time.
That achievement came with a cost. Early film stock made from nitrocellulose was highly flammable and degraded into toxic gases. Fires in projection booths and archives destroyed many early works; film historians estimate less than half of films made before 1950 survive. One of the worst tragedies occurred at the 1897 Bazar de la Charité in Paris, when a projection fire killed more than 100 people.
The industry moved to safer cellulose acetate film in the early 20th century, but the legacy of celluloid endures: it launched both the film industry and a wider plastics revolution. If a material could win an honorary award for influence on culture, celluloid would be a leading candidate. (The Conversation) [By Jordi Díaz Marcos, Professor, Barcelona University]
Original Source: https://theshillongtimes.com/2026/03/29/celluloid-the-story-of-the-plastic-that-made-hollywood/
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Publish Date: 2026-03-29 03:22:00
