Arthur Melbourne-Cooper

Arthur Melbourne Cooper (15 April 1874 – 28 November 1961) was a British photographer and early filmmaker best known for his pioneering work in stop-motion animation.

These include Dreams of Toyland (1908) and according to some sources Dolly’s Toys (1901), as well as Matches: An Appeal (date disputed), which Dutch independent researcher Tjitte de Vries has claimed may have been the first animated film to be shown in public.

[2] The claims were debated in a series of articles in Film History journal from 1999 to 2002,[3][4][5] and in response to the book on Cooper published in 2009 by de Vries.

[5] During the late 1890s and early 1900s, Cooper performed "rush work" filming and developing topical subjects, such as the 1898 launch of the Albion (for Acre), the 1902 Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (for the Biograph Company) and the 1903 Grand National among others.

[3][5] Continuing to live at London Road with his mother and siblings and work as a cameraman, he began to think about establishing his own company following his father's death in 1901.

[5] His productions at this time include MacNab's Visit to London (1905), in which he plays the title role in a slapstick comedy about golf, and The Motor Pirate (1906), in which bandits in an armoured car make the roads unsafe.

After twelve years, Cooper folded up his businesses in St Albans and, with his wife and young children, he moved to Manor Park, Lee.

During the day he made here a series of surprising puppet animation pictures for Butcher's Empire Films, which had its studios at the back of his garden.

[3][5] Dutch researcher Tjitte de Vries has also championed the claim by Cooper and his daughter that the series of three stop-motion animation films that includes Matches: An Appeal (date disputed), was not produced in 1914 as previously suggested by study of the now lost original negative by curator of Harrow's Kodak Museum Dr. R.S.

Although the picture house that Cooper founded on London Road was destroyed by fire, the site continued to be used as a cinema when a new building was erected in 1931.