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Oscar FischingerOscar Fischinger was a German artist, film-maker and animator. Born in 1900 in Frankfurt and trained as an architect and engineer, he developed great interest in painting and animation in his early 20s. By the age of 22 he was already running a small animation studio in Munich or Berlin (there is no agreement between some commentators), and by 1935 he had over 30 films under his belt. Fischinger became quite famous when he started to produce musical, animated commercials (e.g. for Murrati cigarettes), some of which proved very popular with the general public in Germany. After the Nazi government came to power in Germany, the making of abstract art was no longer allowed, so Fischinger was no longer safe working on his films. At the same time, in 1936, he received an offer from Paramount to come and work in Hollywood. While in America, he was also invited to work at the Disney studios, and took part in the production of the classic Fantasia. However, his career at Disney lasted only 9 months: he did not enjoy the commercial spirit of the company and left to work on his own experimental productions. Around 1950 Fischinger devised his 'colour organ' named the Lumigraph. The machine played both sounds and lights, and served as a perfect instrument for a one-man show. Fischinger did a short tour in America, performing various classical pieces, and many were impressed by the the machine's combination of music and spectacular images. Fischinger hoped to make the Lumigraph a commercial product, widely available for anybody. He wanted to use it to educate children about music and image, or to sell it to adults as an entertainment device. After Fischingers death, his widow Elfriede did a few performances with the Lumigraph, and his son Conrad even built two more machines in different sizes. In 1964 the Lumigraph was used in the science fiction film The Time Travellers, in which it became a 'love machine'. Today the instrument is displayed at Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt, and is still played occasionally.
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