Horse-drawn carriages clattering over the cobblestoned streets, ladies strolling along sidewalks wearing big busy dresses, and dirty-faced little boys perched on the corners shouting out the day’s headlines bring us back in time to West Orange, New Jersey, 1893.

Number six in the series of Devine Entertainment’s Inventors’ Specials, Edison: The Wizard of Light is being directed by David Devine and shot in Toronto by dop Rick Maguire on a budget of $1.5 million.

The series, which continues in the vein of their acclaimed Composers Specials, is a Canada/ Ireland coproduction with Merlin Films out of Dublin; 80% of the funding comes from Canada where the series is being driven creatively and 20% is from Ireland.

The one-hour drama, which boasts a high moral base as it focuses on the creation of the first motion picture camera and the first movies ever made, will air in late 1998 on Family Channel in Canada and hbo in the u.s. Einstein, the first of the series, was well received after its July run, and Leonardo: A Dream of Flight, directed by Allan King, will air Oct. 20.

Edison is a light family comedy starring Kenneth Welsh (Margaret’s Museum) as Edison. The story is premised on a middle-aged filmmaker’s flashback to the days when he was a young apprentice to Edison. The tale begins as the former apprentice, played by Jesse Collins, is about to show his wife, played by Susannah Hoffman, the film he has just completed about his childhood experiences with the inventor. Young Jack is played by Michal Suchanek and David Storch plays Edison’s assistant.

Everything about the series from the ambiance of the locations, to the props, right down to the original Edison light bulb that hangs over the workbench are as authentic as they could get, which Devine says makes it all the more believable: ‘If it is not believable to us how can we expect others to believe it?’

The architecture of the shoot’s downtown Gooderham Worts location was perfect for recreating the look of the 1800s. Devine says that judging by old photographs, the building being used to recreate Edison’s lab has the exact scope and scale of the original.

Notebooks full of illegible pencil scrawlings, countless chemical bottles, minerals, precious stones and rows of workbenches piled high with batteries, microscopes, magnifying glasses, pipes, newspapers and hundreds of antique Edison inventions fill the set, making what is supposed to be a recreation of the inventor’s lab resemble some sort of vintage jumble.

According to history buff/producer Devine, Edison came up with 1,200 inventions, including the Dictaphone, light bulb, motion picture camera, talking doll and phonograph, which will also be making several harmonious cameos in the special.

Following a three-month search for authentic phonographs, an extensive collection of Edison originals was found right at home in Ontario which to this day play the scratchy, high-pitched sounds of the first recordings ever made.

While Toronto was the ideal location to shoot Einstein and establish the setting for the North American story about the inventor, producers Devine and Richard Mozer dragged certain members of their crew across the globe to Italy to shoot the Da Vinci and Galileo Specials, and over to Ireland for Marie Curie and Isaac Newton.

As of early September, Devine is now also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and according to Mozer, one of their commitments as a publicly traded company is to ‘provide world-class family entertainment.’

‘The focus is to create the best family programming possible. We believe that if people see Edison as a real human being it will be easier to understand how he worked, and kids can see that they also have the potential to do anything they want.’

Aimed at children who don’t necessarily have any deep interest in science, the series is meant to reinforce self-esteem.

Next on the series agenda, Devine and Mozer plan to be taking a look at great statesmen and historical sports heroes.