Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 11, 1944)

jn October 11, 1944 He also made duplicates of the Kinetoscope and took films for them with a camera invented by himself. London was also the scene of the first color films made without artificial or hand coloring, a process called the Kinemacolor. Canada, though it contributed hardly anything to the technical advancement of the motion picture, was first in several aspects of its presentation to the public as theatre entertainment. HAT Canadian who is the racial brother of the pioneering French and the spiritual comrade of all who sought the same goal is Leo Ernest Ouimet, born in St. Martin, Laval County, Quebec, on March 7, 1877—and still intensely alive to the possibilities of the camera and the future of the motion picture. A FrenchCanadian, he more than any other of his fellow-countrymen, living or dead, established the motion picture as entertainment in the Dominion. Ouimet started out, not in the Paris of France but in the Paris of America, Montreal. He laid the foundation of modern distribution in Canada. He was the _ originator of the de luxe motion picture theatre on the North American continent. And he ranks among the first makers of Canadian films. Ernest—the Leo has long since faded out of common usage—was strolling along the main street of Montreal one day in 1895 when he was attracted by a movie show. A man named Guay, who was a good electrician and held diplomas from France, was offering a fifteen-minute program of two subjects projected on «a screen through a Lumiere machine. The place was a dark room 8x35 feet in premises occupied by an amusement arcade, which featured a shooting gallery, @ ball-throwing game in which the idea was to hit the man whose head showed through a hole in the canvas, and so on. Photography wasn’t new but moving pictures on a screen were amazing. That show, a year before the debut of the Kinetoscope projector in New York, was probably the first of its kind in North America, Ouimet says. ~ It is claumed that the first projected picture in North America was Woodville Latham’s record of the boxing match between Young Griffo and Battling Barnett in Madison Square Gardens, New York, which was exhibited on May 20, 1894. There was an experimental screening of a Kinetoscope film in a New York store as early as May, 1895, and Armat demonstrated his Vitascope in Atlanta in September, 1895. The first showing of moving Animated Pictures = Canadian FILM WEEKLY WUIMETOSCOPE” FROM 10 AM 1) 10 0M, ie OFFR POLICY ' ; THE REST. Messe race er ane TREUETAATER SONG PAEERET AS " reeviprp ae Dre.Pere. Mice e« Eric. Ocvoates ee Week beginning May 25th 1906 5 4 a Feety Bvrocg o 848 Above is part of the program of the “Ouimetoscope,” first really successful motion picture theatre in Canada. It was opened by Ernest Ouimet in Montreal on January, 1906, and was the first movie house in North America to compete with the legitimate stage by running two shows a day and using a reserved seat plan. The Ouimetoscope was a converted dancehall and was replaced in 1907 by a $50,000 theatre devoted to movies. The new Ouimetoscope was the first deluxe movie palace on the continent and Ouimet was the first exhibitor to charge advanced prices—thirty-five cents—to see the flickers. The usual price of the store shows was five cents. Not until November, 1905, was there a continuous performance movie house on the continent and this was the Nickelodeon, Pittsburgh, opened by John P. Harris, which exhibited “The Great Train Robbery” from 8 a.m. until midnight. When Ouimet began his two-a-day policy a few months later it was a sensational experiment and when he opened the new $50,000 Ouimetoscope, featuring a seven-piece orchestra as well as movies, he had the show world dizzy. Ouimet’s programs, like the legitimate theatre, had two intermissions. Afternoon prices at the first Ouimetoscope were ten and fifteen cents, with 300 seats for ladies and children at ten cents. Evening prices were ten and fifteen cents, with reserved seats at twenty-five cents. He was also the first in Canada— and possibly the United States—to offer special inducements to attend movies. Each program carried a coupon which, “When presented at the boxoffice will be accepted om payment of 10c. and will admit one lady and a child to any of the afternoon exhibitions.” The program above was typical and was made up as follows: 1—Washerwoman and Chimney Sweep. 2-—-Miniature Theatre. 3—Niagara Falls in Winter. 4—Golden Gate Panorama. 5—Burglar’s Surprise. ¢—Human Butterfly. 7—Silver Wedding, 8—INTERMISSION $—Spring Cleaning. 10—Bath of the Sacred Elephant. 1)—The Bad Coffee. 12—Frem Socialism to Nihilism. 13—Illustrated Songs, “Down Where the Swanee River Flows” and “Does This Train Ge to Heaven,” sung by Bob Price. 14—Trouble in Basement. 15—The Czar, 16—Apple Thieves. 17—INTERMISSION 18—Eccentric Burglers. 19—Bicycle Rubber. 20—Wolf Trap. Z1l—Love Letter. 22—Frog Fishing. 23—Lost Coller Button. The first Ouimetoscope was operated in Karn Hall, a second-storey dance place. Fred Howarth, shown above with Ouimet, was the ace manager of the Sparrow & Jacobs circuit and had been manager in Montreal of the Theatre Francais for ten years. Plant’ Urs: Latae Charen oe © Eecamg (Oe & ha Resenne Pe oe eee men wewaew re war pictures in a regular theatre, as mentioned here earlier, is generally accepted as having been held at Koster & Bial’s Music Hall. The show that Ouimet saw in Montreal that day in 1895 might easily have been the first North American attempt to make a daily grind show pay. Records have it that William Rock, later one of the founders of Vitagraph, ran a store show in New Orleans in 1896 and the same year T. L, Lally opened a Phonograph and Vitascope Parlor in Los Angeles. According to one history, the first true motion picture was the Electric, opened In Los Angeles on April 16, 1902, and charging ten cents for an hour-long show. Jack Green, still a touring magician at the age of 77, claims Page 5 that he projected the first moving pictures in Canada at an Ottawa park in June, 1896. This, he says, marked the debut in Canada of the Edison Kinetoscope for screen projection, although that instrument made its peep-show bow for the Dominion in Ottawa in April, 1894, about one week after New York saw it. Ouimet’s statement and the story of the D’Hauterives, referred to later, indicates that the Lumiere machine came to Canada first. Ouimet, at the time he saw the amusement arcade show, was a mechanically-minded youth with an overwhelming curiosity and a great love for what are today known as gadgets. What he saw set him to wide-eyed dreaming and gave him a new interest which, eyen unto this very minute, governs his private life. Ernest Ouimet is the dean of the motion picture in Canada. Though imactive in the industry he is honorary president of the Quebec branch of the Canadian Picture Pioneers. . The history of the Canadian motion picture industry can no more be written without Ouimet than the history of Britain without Churchill. Ernest is a beloved figure, knowing for sure what he knows and as kindly, humorous and outspoken as he was in the days when he was recognized throughout the young motion picture world as the Dominion’s leading figure. And Ouimet is just as enthusiastic as ever about exploring the scientific possibilities of the camera. i THE years prior to 1904 Ernest Ouimet was an electrician at the Theatre National, a Montreal melodrama house. Movies were not uncommon, Programs, made up of any number of subjects, usually took about twenty minutes and were of a documentary nature — bees at work, etc. In 1903 Keith’s was showing them as part of its vaudeville show. Before that movies had come to Montreal as special shows at Windsor Hall and Monument National. Keith bookers were furnishing vaudeville and cireus acts to Sohmer Park, an amusement centre open every day in summer and Sunday in winter. A 40-piecc band played outside a 3,000 seat pavilion which was an ice rink in winter. In the summer the panels were taken off the pavilion wallix and the spectators had a view of the St. Lawrence. Between the pavilion and the St. Lawrence there Was a promenade and between it and the building beer and refreshments were served. The man named Guay had been induced to move his movie show into a small building in the park and brought with him between thirty-five and forty different (Continued on Page 11)