Lyman Hakes Howe

Lyman Hakes Howe (June 6, 1856 – January 30, 1923) was an American entertainer, motion picture exhibitor and early filmmaker. He entered the entertainment industry in 1883, and began touring with a phonograph in 1890. He showed his first movies in 1896. He was the first person to use a phonograph for background sound effects in movies.

Early life and education Howe was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania to Nathan Howe, a building contractor, and Margaret Robins (Howe)––the youngest of eight children. He attended Wyoming Academy, a secondary preparatory and business school, for two years and then started a business as a house and sign painter with a friend. He soon became a traveling salesman. After his father's death and the 1873 financial panic left the family near bankruptcy, he became a brakeman for the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Career Early career In 1883, Howe entered the entertainment industry with Robert M. Colborn. The partners bought a miniature working model of a coal mine and showed it in Pennsylvania towns and Baltimore's Masonic Temple, where it did little business. Howe bought out his partner's share and made arrangements to exhibit the miniature during the summer months at Glen Onoko in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania). He thus created his own projector, the animotiscope with the help of an electrician. The animotiscope improved on previous motion picture projectors by incorporating a second take-up reel, allowing for the showing of longer films. Howe showed his first movie in Wilkes-Barre in December 1896. This movie was based on some of Thomas Edison's films and incorporated a phonograph for sound effects. Howe continued to show films, most of which were newsreels, local movies, and travelogues. He was creating his own travelogues and newsreels by 1901. He was also the first person to incorporate backstage sound effects in his movies. Although most of his competitors went out of business with the rise of nickelodeons around 1905, Howe's film company continued to operate, primarily focusing on large cities.

In the 1910s, Howe made films about the industry, and made war films during World War I. Howe was involved in making films from a flying airplane as early as 1911.

One of Howe's films was Lyman H. Howe's Famous Ride on a Runaway Train, which was made in 1921. It was filmed from a moving train on a steep slope, producing a vertiginous affect, which influenced This Is Cinerama.

From 1922 to 1929, Howe produced a cartoon series called Hodge Podge.

Howe's circuit has been described as "quasi-Chautauqua".

Death and legacy Howe died on January 30, 1923, at the age of 66.

Howe was posthumously inducted into the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2025.