Who knew? - cinema slides actually predate cinematography. Before the invention of motion picture photography ‘lantern slides’ were used for lectures and entertainment. Early movies were short by today’s standards and lantern slides were projected between features as intermission titles or advertising.

Even as motion advertising became available the lower production costs of cinema slides saw them remain in widespread use in Australia through most of the 20th century.

A cinema slide consists of an image supported on a glass substrate or base (82mm, 3½ inches square). Sometimes a second piece of glass protects the surface of the image. Aperture masks, cut from thin card were employed in a variety of shapes.

These Malvern Star ads from a club member’s collection incorporate photographic imagery overpainted by hand with dye. They would have been distributed to bike shops around the country who could localise the advertisement by simply adding their name in the blank box at the bottom of the slide.