Félix Mesguich

Félix Mesguich is a pioneering French cinema operator born on September 15, 1871 in Algiers and died on April 25, 1949 in Paris on the 16th. He was one of the first cinema reporters (along with Alexandre Promio, Francis Doublier and Marius Chapuis) and the chief operator of the first advertising film in October 1898 for the Ripolin brand.

Born in Algeria, Mesguich was Zouave before settling in France and joining the Lumière brothers, where he was Perrigot's assistant during the first provincial screening of the Cinématographe, in Lyon on January 25, 1896. He was then the one of the operators sent by the Lumières to launch the Cinématographe in the United States in June 1896. Exhibited at the Eden Museum and Keith's Union Square Theater in New York, as well as in other major cities, Lumière programs enjoyed great successful throughout America until late 1896, but the company could not keep up with growing American competition and ceased to be a major force on the American stage by 1897.

Mesguich returned to France via Canada (while filming Niagara Falls), returned to France in the fall of 1897, then was assigned to Russia, worked for the Lumière dealer Arthur Grünewald and exhibited Lumière films before Tsar Nicholas II in Yalta. Staying in Russia until September 1898, Mesguich returned to France, left the Enlightenment, then made some of the world's first advertising films, starting with an "animated poster" for "Ripolin" in October 1898, then sponsored "Ghost Rides" by Compagnie des Wagons-Lits. He then presents on tour the films and cylinders of Sarah Bernhardt, Coquelin and others initially shot by Clément-Maurice for the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre at the Paris Exhibition of 1900 during a one-month three-week getaway to through France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He returned to Paris in 1901 to present the film at the Olympia for the Isola brothers.

Subsequently, Mesguich toured the world as a news cameraman, commissioned by various companies, the coronation of Edward VII in 1902, a return to Europe and Russia, the unofficial Athens Olympics in 1906 , passing through Palestine, Algeria and Egypt, and claims to have filmed a Wright biplane in flight in 1908. A circumnavigation of the globe in 1909-10 took him through Ceylon, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Singapore, Japan and China. He served during the First World War in his regiment of Zouaves. He published these memoirs in 1933 in “Tours de Manivelle” published by Grasset.

He fulfilled the wishes of the inventors of the Cinematograph: “Teach, Educate, Entertain. »