Léo-Ernest Ouimet (March 16, 1877 - March 2, 1972) was a Canadian film pioneer. He was a theater operator, filmmaker, producer, and distributor.

Early life

Ouimet was born on March 16, 1877 in

Laval, Quebec Laval (; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. It is in the southwest of the province, north of Montreal. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third-largest city in the province after Montreal and Quebec City, and the thirteenth largest city in C ...

. He planned a career in electrical engineering but stumbled upon show business by chance in 1901, when Le Theatre National in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

asked him to rewire the theatre building. Not only did he do the job in just two days but he devised a creative lighting system that wowed audiences. Other theatres, such as the Le Cartier Theatre asked him to do the same in their theatres and he became an instant success. Le Theatre National asked Ouimet to come back to work for them as a lighting designer, and a legal loophole launched his movie career: by law, Le Theatre National was not allowed to operate in any closed venue on Sundays, so to get around this, performances took place at Sohmers Park on Sundays. From 1902 onwards, the theatre screened animations during intermissions and the projectionist showed Ouimet how to use the theatre's

kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...

. He subsequently bought one for himself and began experimenting.Leo-Ernest Ouimet
- IMDB Biography. Retrieved May 22, 2009.

First steps into filmmaking

Due to his fascination with Edison products, he became their representative in eastern Canada and set up his own Ouimet Film Exchange to facilitate the distribution of films in the region. During the 1904 federal election he used his kinetoscope to project election results on to the front wall of the newspaper La Patrie and in 1906 turned an abandoned cabaret house into a

nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

of 500 seats. Due to the technical restrictions placed on the kinetoscope by Edison to maintain control over the market, Ouimet modified his into a 'Ouimetoscope' and in 1907 opened a 1200-seat movie theatre which he also named

Ouimetoscope frame, Photograph of the Ouimetoscope as it existed in 1908. The civic number of the building has now been changed to 1204 Sainte-Catherine Est. The Ouimetoscope was the first Canadian theatre dedicated exclusively to showing movies. It was inaug ...

. His films were shown around

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and made Quebec the theatre hotspot of the country.Ouimet, Leo-Ernest
Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 23, 2009.

A booming business

In 1911, the religious leaders of Montreal attempted to have movie screenings on Sundays banned, similar to the restriction placed on theatres in Ouimet's early filmmaking days. The backlash did affect Ouimet for quite a while, and, along with other factors, almost financially ruined him. However, the ban was rejected by the Supreme Court soon after its introduction. By

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Ouimet had made over 80 best-selling films, making him one of the most successful filmmakers of that period.Leo-Ernest Ouimet (1877-1972) Filmmaker
Retrieved May 23, 2009. Unlike many other move theatre owners of his time, Ouimet didn't include live performances in between films just in case the movie industry went bust, but he did hand out programs or

showbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's p ...

s to his patrons to keep the theatre-like experience alive. Ouimet, weary from battles with Hollywood film studios who flooded Quebec with their movies, sold his Ouimetoscope and moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

in 1922. There he formed a production company, Laval Photoplays, after his birthplace. After the dismal sales of his film '' Why Get Married?'', Ouimet decided to leave commercial filmmaking. Back in Montreal, he attempted to rebuild his theatre business by leasing another building, but he was again financially ruined due to the lawsuits of the descendants of those killed in a fire at his theatre. With no motivation to continue, he retired to a store job with the Quebec Liquor Commission and died on March 2, 1972, aged 94. In 2018, Ouimet was named a National Historic Person by the federal government.Léo-Ernest Ouimet (1877-1972)
Parks Canada backgrounder, October 3, 2018

References

* L'Encyclopédie du Canada: édition 2000, Montréal, Stanké, 2000, p. 1782 * Bélanger, Les ouimetoscopes : Léo-Ernest Ouimet et les débuts du cinéma québécois, Montréal, VLB, 1978, 247 p. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouimet, Leo-Ernest 1877 births 1972 deaths People from Laval, Quebec Canadian cinema pioneers Film distributors (people) Film directors from Quebec French Quebecers Canadian film producers Film exhibitors