Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1952)

leather strap. There were no stars and no trailers of coming attractions, although screen advertising by local merchants through the medium of slides was common. There was a considerable business in slides, a catalogue being available in which was featured the “Don’t Spit On the Floor” type. The new and cheaper form of entertainment was developing a regular patronage and though there were no stars and the screen carried no credits folks had their own favorites and were happily surprised when they appeared suddenly. This situation endured for some years. In the Maritimes, for instance, the girl who was later to be known to patrons as Mary Pickford was usually referred to as ‘Sweet Sixteen” and exhibitors, when they found that she was in the blind package, painted those words on a card and placed it outside the theatre to let the public know. Broncho Billy Anderson, really the first star, was another pot-luck favorite. Later the star system came in and still rules. There were small posters available for display but these followed a pattern and were not directly related to the films being shown. Lurid lithographs of cowboy-Indian warfare and of a train rushing down on a mother with a baby in her arms were to be had and displayed again and again if one of the film subjects matched the theme of the advertising. Ingenious Ernest found that he could blow up one frame of an action shot and have a painter trace the lines on a blank white one-sheet. The painter added color and this made a fairly attractive advertising piece. Trick photography was new in those days and intrigued the public. A favorite shot was that of people emerging from a rose. These scenes were advertised as “Transformation Pictures.” Competition between producers grew as the market broadened and trade names were simplified and played up. Spoor & Anderson, the latter being Broncho Billy, became S&A, then Essanay. Kliene, Long & Marion was soon KLM, then Kalem. EXHIBITORS in the Maritimes, which borders Quebec, were getting their films from Boston, the distribution centre for neighboring New England, when Ouimet came along. A man named Mills was operating the Bijou Dream Theatre in Saint John, 39 New Brunswick and a fire in it destroyed five reels of Ouimet’s film. The exhibitor was liable for $100 per reel and so Mills, faced with a $500 debt, offered Ouimet his lease and equipment in payment. Mills then toured with Mills Dog and Pony Circus. Later he returned to movie exhibition at the People’s Theatre, Charlottetown, now F. G. Spencer’s Empire. Ed Auger, a singer of illustrated songs for Ouimet, was sent to Saint John to survey the situation, reported favorably and was appointed to manage the house. Ernest renovated it, shipped in new equipment and opened a branch exchange office. This was in 1907. The Bijou Dream was the second movie house in Saint John, the first being the Unique, which had been opened by the Bennett Theatre Enterprises of London, Ontario, which begins to shape up in history as Canada’s first circuit. Later F. Guy Bradford converted the Big Nickel, the Keith vaudeville house, to movies. The state of the very young motion picture industry in Saint John at that time was typical. Moving pictures were beginning to boom, just as Ouimet felt they would when he saw the Guay-Vermette exhibition a dozen years earlier. In 1908 P. L. Waters returned to the Canadian distribution field. Keith, whose theatres Waters supplied in the United States, demanded the same service in Canada. Waters therefore had a special interest in Montreal and became a competitor and customer of Ouimet at the same time. Then Waters and Ouimet made a deal, the terms of which required the latter to drop out of the distribution field. With his Saint John branch out of business, absentee operation of the Bijou Dream didn’t pay and Ouimet sold it to Auger. Auger later joined Bert Fenton at General Films, outlet of the film monopoly. Fenton, who had first come to Canada to show films at Sohmer Park, had returned here as Dominion general manager. Auger, who became an important figure in Canadian distribution, passed on a few years ago in the USA, at which time he was connected with RCA in an executive capacity. LET us slip back to 1907 and examine the exhibition situation in Montreal It has some connection with distribution. Competition was growing. George