Clément Maurice(1853-1933)

Clément Maurice was a French photographer, film director and producer born at Aiguillon, France. He worked for several years at the Lumière photographic factory at Monplaisir, where he became a friend of Antoine Lumière and his sons, and followed with interest their work with new photographic processes. He became a professional photographer and settled in Antoine Lumière's studio at 8 boulevard des Italiens, above the Robert-Houdin Theater, property of the future filmmaker Georges Méliès. It was Clément Maurice who arranged the rental of the Salon Indien, at the Grand Café, for the first public Lumière show on 28 December 1895, and who took charge of the till for the first performances. He continued to manage the Lumière programme at the Grand Café for some time, and remained an active figure in the burgeoning Paris film scene. From 1898 to 1906, he was the cameraman for surgeon Eugène Doyen for whom he filmed for educational purposes around sixty operations. With Henri Lioret, he developed the Phono-Cinema-Theater, a pioneering system of sound cinema, presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1900.