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Chicago's west side in 1906 he opened a little nickel theater and his rise was swift.
They called him "Lucky" Laemmle, which was not especially apt even though he used it himself. He was a tiny man full of fight and he moved like a whirlwind, never sending a letter when a telegram would do as well. I had tried to sell him on feature pictures without success.
Porter, stolid, smoking a big cigar, told me that he had left Edison to form his own company, the Rex. We talked of a number of things that day, but what caught my attention was Porter's mention of the fact that Louis Mercanton, a French producer, wanted to make a four-reel picture with the world-famous Sarah Bernhardt in her successful play Queen Elizabeth. Although nearly seventy, the great actress was playing regularly, chiefly in France, her homeland.
Porter told me that Mercanton was being delayed for lack of money. I was elated by Porter's information. First of all, I was a devoted admirer of Sarah Bernhardt and saw her perform every chance I got. An opportunity to help bring her to the screen would delight me. And here might be a real test of my views on feature pictures.
After Porter and Laemmle departed I did some hard thinking. Next day I got in touch with Mercanton's American agent. We discussed the possibility of securing the North American rights. In the end I agreed to pay forty thousand dollars for them, advancing the money to enable Mercanton to go ahead.
It was a long gamble. But I decided that, while waiting