Olfactory Cinema - Text 3
According to Motion Picture Daily on 10 September 1958,[1] one of the first times smell was used in a movie theatre came in 1906 when the American exhibitor Samuel Roxy Rothafel is said to have presented a Vitascope actuality film on the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, an annual event held in California featuring flower-bedecked floats. On this occasion, Rothafel placed rose essence in front of a fan in the Family Theatre in the town of Forest City, Pennsylvania. But the Family Theatre was only built in 1908, and it is not possible using primary sources from the period to confirm this anecdote. It is possible, therefore, that the event took place on another date. Nevertheless, this practice, by which exhibitors diffused in their theatres scents generally connected to the film being shown and most often by means of ventilation or air conditioning systems, recurred on several occasions.
In 1927, the inventor John Leavell filed a patent application for an “apparatus for presenting theatrical impressions.” This patent, granted in 1930 and inspiring numerous inventors thereafter, including Hans Laube and Morton Heilig, was for an apparatus for diffusing scents in a movie theatre in a way that was completely synchronized with the images, thereby creating “olfactory images.” This system would work by means of pipes installed under the theatre floor diffusing at the right moment scents coming from a central tank. The theatre had to be equipped with fans installed under each seat to help propel the scents upwards. This system was never installed in a movie theatre, however, with the exception of one inconclusive test, because of the difficulty in getting rid of the odours after they were released; the accumulation of scents made viewers unwell.[2]
