Randall's first efforts as a young showman were a small conjuring act and then a magic show - and from such humble beginnings, his show evolved into one of Britain's most elaborate Ghost Illusion Shows, the success of which owed as much to Randall's skill as an orator as to the increasing quality of the theatrical performances.

"RANDALL WILLIAMS GREAT HOBGOBLINSCOPE  The Largest and Grandest Exhibition travelling now on view at the Fair Ground. The Gorgeous military and illusionary spectacle "The fall of Khartoum". Must be seen to be believed."

Christmas: Birmingham:  Advertising in The Era suggests that Randall was the lessee of Bingley Hall in Birmingham from at least Christmas 1886 until 12 February 1887. In an interview with Chum magazine in 1896, Randall stated: 

"A similar venture of mine was a fair at Bingley Hall, Birmingham. I took the building for three weeks and engaged Bostock's Menagerie.  The first fort-night we did very good business; in fact, we did so well that at the commencement of the third week I resolved to keep the fair on a bit longer."

In January, Randall was trying to sell his large double-entrance bioscope. Perhaps, having tested the waters with moving pictures, he was finding that his show was not as practical for the showing of films as it was for ghost shows and that he was planning to downsize the show.

January: Islington:  Randall chaired the showman's annual supper held at the Agricultural Hall in Islington on the last day of the World's Fair:. 

October:  Hull Fair:  Randall's 1897 Handbill advertised the "Electroscope" and "Mammoth Phantoscopical Exhibition, suggesting that he had been travelling a combination show, exhibiting both moving picture and ghost illusions for the better part of the year. By the time of Hull Fair, however, he had begun advertising a "Cinematographe".

November: Malton Hiring Fair: "Randall Williams’ Famous Cinematograph" (Merry Go Round)

By Christmas, Randall was travelling two bioscope shows - a smaller show performed at Sheffield Christmas fair (likely under the proprietorship of his nephew Reuben Williams) while his main show performed at the World's Fair in Islington. By this time - his "Grand Bioscope" had replaced the "Cinematograph" in his advertizing -  claiming that it was “more clear, distinct and without the flicker of the Cinematograph”.
 
Randall's main attraction during the latter months of 1897 had been Queen Victoria's Jubilee film, but at the World's Fair in December, he was showing a new film that would have been of particular interest to London audiences and that was the December 21st funeral procession of  William Terriss - an actor who had been murdered just prior to the opening of the fair.

"Randall William's cinematograph show contains views of a snowballing match, and of the funeral of the late William Terriss, in which many faces well known in the theatrical profession may be recognised. There is also a representation of a young lady taking a bath. The usual Jubilee procession concludes the entertainment." (The Era, 29 January 1898)

November: Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire:  Randall received a letter dated 3 November 1898, from James Murray, sub-manager of  Williams Deacon & Manchester & Salford Bank Ltd (Mosley Street Branch, Manchester), which acknowledged receipt of a remittance sent by Randall and which closed with the comment "We hope that you will soon be quite well, again."

"The funeral of Randall Williams was more than a local event.  Although here in Manchester  his  name and fame, "king of showmen" are locally household words, great crowds of Manchester and Salford people lined the roadway along which the funeral cortege moved, and there was a great gathering of representative showmen from all parts of the kingdom. . .  The services in the cemetery chapel and at the graveside was taken by the Rev. T. Horner, Hon. Chaplain of the Showman's Guild.  Before pronouncing the benediction at the close of the service the chaplain referred in feeling terms to the life work of Randall Williams.  On the Sunday following the funeral hundreds of the former patrons of the "king of showmen" wended their way to Weaste Cemetery to see his grave." (The Era, November 26, 1898)  

Toulmin, apparently, didn't believe Randall's Electroscope was a cinematograph, but rather that it may have been “a peepshow kinetoscope, small screen film viewing device or magic lantern, and not necessarily a large screen film projector” (Randall Williams - King of Showmen, p 20).  Randall’s show was enormously popular in 1896 and his advertising for Hull Fair claimed that “1,000 People can be comfortably accommodated”.  With an audience of that size, it is very unlikely that the Electroscope was anything less than a large screen projector. It is also unlikely, that Randall Williams, the Master Showman, introduced a new novelty of still images cast upon a small screen to an audience of 1,000 in late 1896 when at that time, numerous exhibitors were criss-crossing the country exhibiting the latest novelty of "moving images" cast upon a large screen.

To give Heard credit, he at least acknowledged the role that the firm of Haydon and Urry played in supplying Randall's projector - and he was probably right because the timing was right. Haydon & Urry first entered the cinema trade in the latter months of 1896 and their involvement in the trade lead them to relocate their offices and showroom to 353 Upper Street, Islington (directly across from the Royal Agricultural Hall) sometime prior to the opening of the World's Fair in December 1896. [Haydon & Urrry were listed at Upper Street in the 1897 Post Office London Directory published the first week in December 1896] The first time that Randall Williams exhibited moving pictures at the World's Fair was in December 1896 and it is likely that he was involved, or that he became involved with, Haydon & Urry at that time. 

By February 1897, Haydon and Urry had produced a new model projector (The Eragraph) built with a 5 sided maltese-cross mechanism designed to forward Edison gauge films. This was likely the “new Haydon and Urry machine that just saved the position" that Dick Monte mentioned in his letter to Manvell and Low in 1946.  In fact, there is reason to believe based on Dick’s claim that he was at King's Lynn, that not only was the firm's new Eragraph used in Randall's show, but that it was also the projector's first time out. Haydon & Urry applied for a patent for their new projector on February 10, 1897, just as the World's Fair was closing and just five days prior to the opening of King's Lynn Mart, and one suspects that they did so in anticipation of a successful showing in Randall's booth at the start of the fairground season. Fitting-up the popular showman with one of their new cinematographs would have been a real feather in the firm's cap and one they would have been eager to cash in on. It is also likely that the Grand Bioscope that Randall was advertising in late 1897 was Haydon & Urry's new projector patented September 1897. This new model was apparently "More clear, distinct, and without the flicker of the Cinematograph" (handbill).

2.      Toulmin claimed that the early films shown in Randall’s bioscope were Lumiere films [NFA: Fairground Bioscope Shows: Randall Williams] - but there are no contemporary sources that back up that claim.  According to The Lynn Advertiser, the films exhibited in the show at King’s Lynn in February 1897 included “a serpentine dance, the Czar in Paris, a Paris boulevard and a march past of the Royal blues". The ‘Czar in Russia’ was a series of films produced by Lumieres, but the ‘Czar in Paris” wasn’t one that was credited to them (according to the BFI, this film may have been produced by Gaumont). And while Lumiere Bros did produce the film “Loie Fuller la danse serpentine”, Stephen Worfolk (The Cinema at Lynn) claimed it was ‘Annabelle’s Serpentine Dance’ that was exhibited in Randall’s show in Feb 1897. 

Note: Edison Manufacturing Co. produced a film titled Annabelle Serpentine Dance in 1895 and that may have been the film that Randall exhibited at King's Lynn in Februrary. Haydon & Urry was located on Upper Street, Islington, just a couple of doors down from George Barron's Interchangeable Autuomatic Machine Co. Ltd. and George began supplying Edison equipment as early as September 1896.

There were some basic differences between Lumiere films and other types of films that were available at the time - and the availability of a Lumiere cinematograph (or the lack thereof) is one of the factors in determining which projector was, or was not used in Randall's show - and which films might have been exhibited. During the period in question there had been no standards set for the making of films (eg. dimension, number of perforations, etc). The Edison films were formatted with four rectangular perforations on each side of the frame, while the Lumiere films were formatted with a single circular perforation (a unique perforation pattern requiring a projector fitted with a specific type of mechanism to forward the film). It is very unlikely that a travelling showman like Randall William had access to a Lumiere projector during his earlier shows (late 1896, early 1897) because Lumiere Bros. did not permit the sale of their cinematograph equipment to independent exhibitors until at least May 1897. Therefore, if Randall had been exhibiting Lumiere films in his earlier shows (as Toulmin claims), he would have needed a projector adapted solely for the prupose of accommodating the unique Lumiere perforation pattern.

Toulmin also denied that there were any contemporary resources directly linking Randall to the firm of Haydon & Urry. But that wasn't true either. There was, in fact, one film shown in Randall’s booth that was filmed exclusively by firm (they were the only suppliers). At the 1897-98 World's Fair, Randall was exhibiting a new film  – “the funeral of the late William Terriss, in which many faces well known in the theatrical profession may be recognised” (The Era, January 29, 1898). William Terriss was an actor who had been murdered on December 21, 1897 (just prior to the opening of the World’s Fair) and Haydon & Urry was the only firm known to have filmed the funeral procession.

The Williams Showmen of Warrington 

The Monte Williams Showmen 

Haydon and Urry Ltd