Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations, Unidentified Films and Historical Currencies
- Introduction
- I La Comète Belge: Jean Desmet’s Travelling Cinema, The Imperial Bio (1907-1910)
- II In The Beginning…: Film Distribution in the Netherlands Before Desmet
- III Gold Rush: In the Throes of Cinema Mania (1909-1914)
- IV Film Market Europe: Buying Films Abroad (1910-1914)
- V White Slave Girls and German Kultur: Film Rental and Distribution Strategies in the Netherlands (1910-1914)
- VI Onésime et Son Collègue: Competition (1910-1914)
- VII Das Ende vom Lied: The Impact of the First World War (1914-1916)
- VIII Quo Vadis?: Desmet’s Film Rental and Cinema Operation During the Great War (1914-1916)
- IX Afterlife: A New Career and the Beginning of a Collection
- X In Retrospect: Jean Desmet’s Place in Film History
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Photo Credits
- Film Culture in Transition
- Index of Film Titles
- General Index
I - La Comète Belge: Jean Desmet’s Travelling Cinema, The Imperial Bio (1907-1910)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations, Unidentified Films and Historical Currencies
- Introduction
- I La Comète Belge: Jean Desmet’s Travelling Cinema, The Imperial Bio (1907-1910)
- II In The Beginning…: Film Distribution in the Netherlands Before Desmet
- III Gold Rush: In the Throes of Cinema Mania (1909-1914)
- IV Film Market Europe: Buying Films Abroad (1910-1914)
- V White Slave Girls and German Kultur: Film Rental and Distribution Strategies in the Netherlands (1910-1914)
- VI Onésime et Son Collègue: Competition (1910-1914)
- VII Das Ende vom Lied: The Impact of the First World War (1914-1916)
- VIII Quo Vadis?: Desmet’s Film Rental and Cinema Operation During the Great War (1914-1916)
- IX Afterlife: A New Career and the Beginning of a Collection
- X In Retrospect: Jean Desmet’s Place in Film History
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Photo Credits
- Film Culture in Transition
- Index of Film Titles
- General Index
Summary
Desmet's period as a travelling showman was a transitional phase of just two years. When compared with the twelve years he spent working on the fairgrounds, this is not very long. Compared with his period in film distribution and his time as an operator of permanent cinemas, it is a mere interlude in his career. On the other hand, these are the years that were decisive for Desmet's move to the Dutch film world. They were essential to the rapid development of his career at the beginning of the twentieth century and led directly to his establishment as a permanent cinema owner. In the end, they provided him with the opportunity to expand beyond the fairgrounds and settle into a less risky and more profitable existence. They initiate a development that was to lead him into a flirtation with the film trade that would eventually yield to a passion for property.
Desmet's Debut in Dutch Film Culture
One day he was in Friesland talking to a Mr. Slikker. ‘Do you know what you should do?’ said Slikker. ‘You should set up a cinema.’ My father just muttered. No one in the Netherlands knew exactly what a cinema was. But it was a new idea, and father was a man who thought ideas were only good if they were new. He went to Belgium and France to take a look at cinema. Two months later he was appearing on the fairgrounds with the Imperial Bio.
Alot has been written by journalists and film historians about Desmet's early years in the Dutch film industry, although not all of this information is reliable. One myth that crops up repeatedly concerns the way Desmet made his entry into the world of film. The anecdote goes back to an interview in 1958 with Desmet's daughter, Jeanne Hughan-Desmet.
When Desmet began his travelling cinema in 1907, he was far from being the first in the business. Travelling cinemas first appeared in the Netherlands shortly after the first showing of the Lumières’ films in Amsterdam on 12 March 1896. They quickly became a major fairground attraction. In the year that Desmet began his Imperial Bio, the business was experiencing a boom.
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- Information
- Jean Desmet and the Early Dutch Film Trade , pp. 37 - 76Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2003