--- title: Thomas Edison: Watch a Clip from a New PBS Documentary description: 'Edison' premieres on Jan. 27 canonical: https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-26T15:30:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:48:20.754Z article:section: History og:title: Thomas Edison: Watch a Clip from a New PBS Documentary og:description: 'Edison' premieres on Jan. 27 og:url: https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3049d751f4bd9a1a/69877b570b72e3554c6dd497/edison.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: T A Edison og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thomas Edison: Watch a Clip from a New PBS Documentary twitter:description: 'Edison' premieres on Jan. 27 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3049d751f4bd9a1a/69877b570b72e3554c6dd497/edison.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See 19th-Century Kinetoscope 'Movies' That Thomas Edison Helped Develop  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 26, 2015 3:30 PM UTC  Thomas Alva Edison, circa 1871 Thomas Alva Edison, circa 1871Hulton Archive / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 26, 2015 3:30 PM UTC Pretty much everyone knows that Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and the light bulb, but Edison, one of history’s most prolific creators, didn’t stop there. As this exclusive clip from PBS’ upcoming American Experience documentary _Edison_ explains, he helped develop the technology behind the very first motion pictures — and it wasn’t an easy discovery. Eventually, the Edison company produced a run of short films for the “kinetoscope,” an early device that allowed the public to watch the precursors of movies. Several of those seconds-long films can be seen in the video above. Though they pale in comparison to the computer-enhanced movies at your local IMAX theater, it’s not hard to imagine how they would have shocked and delighted the viewers of the 19th century. _Edison_ premieres on PBS on Jan. 27, 2015. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/"},"headline":"See 19th-Century Kinetoscope 'Movies' That Thomas Edison Helped Develop","datePublished":"2015-01-26T15:30:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:48:20.754Z","description":"'Edison' premieres on Jan. 27","url":"https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/","keywords":["movies","Technology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3049d751f4bd9a1a/69877b570b72e3554c6dd497/edison.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3049d751f4bd9a1a/69877b570b72e3554c6dd497/edison.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"T A Edison","caption":"T A Edison","creditText":"Hulton Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3678876/edison-documentary/","name":"See 19th-Century Kinetoscope 'Movies' That Thomas Edison Helped Develop"}}]}] ```