Sanarchive:Selected anniversaries/February 1

1 February:  Major events in the arts

• 1893 – Thomas Edison completed the construction of the Black Maria in New Jersey, the world's first dedicated motion picture studio.
• 1893 – Giuseppe Verdi's final opera, the lyric comedy Falstaff, had its highly anticipated premiere at La Scala in Milan.
• 1949 – RCA Victor introduced the first 45 rpm vinyl record to the public, a technological shift that redefined music distribution and album art aesthetics.
• 1953 – The first voice-over for a major animated character was recorded for a television special, marking an evolution in the art of voice acting and character design.

• John Ford (b. 1894)
• Mary Shelley (d. 1851)
• Maximilian Schell (d. 2014)
• Buster Keaton (d. 1966)