| Thirty-four year old Herbert Booth,
the youngest son of The Salvation Army’s founder,
William Booth, and his wife Cornelie, came to Melbourne
to take command of Salvation Army operations in
Australasia. |
|
| The headquarters building at
69 Bourke Street Melbourne, purchased by The Salvation
Army in 1894 from the YMCA, reverberated with the
energy, the charm and the creativity of the Booths. They
were quick to seize onto the potential offered in the
work of the innovative Joseph Perry with his camera,
projectors and slides.
Herbert’s personal interest in moving pictures
encouraged Perry to investigate this new media in 1897.
Herbert and Cornelie Booth utilised the Limelight
Brigade, built facilities for the production of slides
and films on the Bourke Street property, and added the
Cinematographe (movie projector), as well as wax
cylinder phonographs which played recorded Salvation
Army music and speeches.
From 1897 Perry and his brigade of film makers
documented many aspects of Salvation Army and community
activity.
|
 |
|
BOOTH DEVISES
AND DIRECTS
SOCIAL SALVATION
In 1898, Perry and his
growing production team
produced, in conjunction
with Herbert Booth, the
famous social work
lecture Social Salvation.
This grew into a
combination of 200
slides, 2000 feet of film
and phonograph records
and was used to
supplement lectures that
were personally
presented by Herbert and
Cornelie Booth as they
toured extensively
throughout the country.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
