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 their 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). It was a part-time career. In the winter months he returned to his earlier work as a painter. In 1890, he and a Mr. Haddock bought a phonograph, which they demonstrated to the people of northeastern Pennsylvania, opening in Scranton on March 10, 1890. He exhibited the miniature coal breaker that summer but returned to giving phonograph concerts in the fall, this time without his partner. He sold the model coal mine and for the next several years toured with the phonograph. During this time, he began styling himself as "Professor" or "Lecturer". Howe was among the first to give full-length phonograph concerts. Film career During the 1890s, Howe attempted to acquire a kinetoscope from Thomas Edison, but was unsuccessful in doing so. In 1896, he attempted to lease a vitascope from Raff & Gammon, but was again unsuccessful. 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