In 1888 Georges Méliès acquired the Théâtre Robert-Houdin and used it as a performance space for magic shows. Shortly after seeing the Lumières’ first cinématographe screening at the Grand Café in 1895, Méliès—who grew up tinkering with machines in his father’s shoe factory—invested in film technology. He incorporated the cinématographe into his performances at the theater and ended up putting many of his magic tricks on film. Méliès’s particular ability to endow cinema with its own technological magic paved the way for the subsequent history of special effects.