Canadian Film Weekly (Oct 18, 1944)

SL eee UIMET'S desire of several O years, that of operating a regular and permanent movie theatre in Montreal, was satisfied on January 1, 1906. He had continued to work at Sohmer Park and the Theatre National while carrying on itinerant exhibition but his new enterprise, one of historic importance in North America, changed all that. He had rented Karn Hall, a second-storey dance place, filled it with kitchen chairs and began a policy that laid the groundwork for motion picture theatre operation as it is carried on today. Like other theatres, it was closed during the summer. During its dark period Ouimet made alterations that increased its seating capacity to 600. This theatre was called the Ouimetoscope, a name suggested by a newspaperman friend because everything connected with films seemed to be one kind of a “scope” or another. The Ouimetoscope was the first movie house in North America to match itself against the legitimate theatre by offering two performances a day and a reserved seat policy. In December, 1906, Ernest's exemployer at the Theatre National, George Gauvreau, who had sold out and retired from the theatre business, decided to return through the medium of motion pictures. He made an offer PART TWO L. ERNEST OUIMET Pioneer By HYE BOSSIN for the property on which the Ouimetoscope stood. This forced Ernest to buy it himself for a total of $100,000—$70,000 for the property and $30,000 for the hotel licence that went with the building. Gauvreau, not discouraged, acquired the lease on some property two blocks distant and built a theatre with a capacity of 750 seats. This opened on May i, 1907, In Ouimet's Day ¢ — > This photo was taken at the Grand Canyon, Arizona, on March 12, 1915, during the seven-car trek of Carl Laemmle and his men from New York to Hollywood for the opening of Universal City—the first community entirely devoted to the making of pictures. The special train pulled out of New York to the strains of “Tipperary” and “Auld Lang Syne” and picked up company men, movie stars and guests at different stops on the way, Universal City was the Laemmle’s personal triumphant climax of the battle against the patent monopoly which sought to control production, distribution and exhibition. Left to right—Clair Hague, Universal’s general manager for Eastern Canada, still tha company’s Dominion representative; George Magie; Carl Laemmle; Pat Powers, vice-president; and Chester A. Clegg, general manager for Western Canada. Clegg left the company during the year and went to England. Henry MacRae, who died a few weeks ago, was the first director-general of production at Universal City. Born in Staynor, Ontario, MacRae left there to take the Medical course at the University of Toronto but abandoned his studies and jolned a stock company in the Queen City. In 1909 he joined Laemmile and, at the time of his death, was the best maker of serials in the industry. Many of his proteges found important places and among the directors he trained was Toronto-born Allan Dwan. and forced Ernest to further action. He demolished the original dance hall and built a $50,000 movie theatre on the spot. When the new Ouimetoscope opened on August 14, 1907, it was something unheard-of before that time in the film and theatre industry. It seated 1,000, featured & seven-piece orchestra and singers aS well as movies, and sold reserved seats at advanced prices to its two performances daily. This theatre was the first de luxe house in North America, the father of all the plush auditoriums and cinema cathedrals that dot the continent today. It was the first to challenge ths Stage and offer first-class theatre surroundings and comfort at prices that enabled the average person to attend. The new Ouimetoscope was a direct challenge to the stage, a forthright declaration of faith in the future of the motion picture. The Strand, New York, described as being the first de luxe house in the United States, did not open until 1914. At that time movies were being used as “chasers” in vaudeville houses, Had not Louis Lumiere himself but two years before the new Ouimetoscope mourned the passing of movies as public entertainment? Had not Hdison refused to spend a few dollars to patent his Kinetoscope in some territories? In the light of these opinions Ouimet’s experiment was a daring one. The Ouimetoscope operated from 1906 to 1915, although seyeral years after its fancy entrance on the Montreal scene it was forced to become a grind house to compete with the fivecent store shows that had mushroomed. The period from 1915 on will be covered in those sections of this story which deal with Oulmet as a distributor and producer, The Oulimetoscope Is still a2 3 ei : L. ERNEST OUIMET movie theatre, Le Petit Canadien now. But the name it was born with, which incorporated in it the name of its founder, is still in the — tile floor, a souvenir of better days. Before we consign the Ouimetoscope to history and use it merely for reference, let it be observed here that it played a leading part in winning Montreal ~ exhibitors the right to remain open on Sunday. It was Ernest ~~ Ouimet who led the fight, making the point—and winning it— that the Sunday closing law as j, it stood applied to legitimate ¥ theatres only, ~ i And that is how it still stands. __ Not until many years had passed did Ouimet return to ex~ hibition. In 1935 he became manager of the Imperial, Montreal, under arrangement with RKO, which held the leases on a number of Canadian theatres and was controlled by Famous Players. The policy of French films exclusively proved a failure and Ouimet resigned in 1936. In 1937 he became a Quebec — government employee and that is what occupies him today. (Continued Next Week) veya) ai? H. Hurwitz Leaves For Saskatoon, Sask. Harry Hurwitz, for two years manager of the Sayoy, Hamilton, Ontario, is returning to SasKatoon to supervise three Odeon mt houses in that city. Hurwitz has been in the show business for 24 years. Before coming to Hamilton he was manager of the Tivoli theatre in Saskatoon for 12 years, and prior to that he spent ten years in the amusement sphere at Winnipeg. He is being suceeded as manager of the Savoy by R. E. Maynard, who is at present in Saskatoon.