A small photograph lies before us. It measures 6.4 × 6.1 cm, indicating that the image might be a contact sheet made from a 120 roll film negative.

It presents us with a scene on a busy street. We see a horse-drawn fire engine passing a row of buildings. A fireman is sitting on the fire engine while pedestrians walk along the street, some wearing boaters.

Of the two storefronts facing the camera, the one bearing the number 99 is striking. The window to the right on the first floor seems to be covered by a film poster. But the remarkable thing is a message. Letters spanning the upper three floors form the following words:

ELITE
SALES AGENCY LD
FILMS

Apparently, a film-related business by the name of ELITE SALES AGENCY LD was located here.

Browsing through trade journals reveals that this company first appeared around the end of 1912. The first mention of The Elite Sales Agency in the British press was in November 1912, when the rights to the film The Miracle were announced for Great Britain, the Colonies, and Canada.¹ A slightly earlier mention of the company in the French press stated that it was handling the distribution of films from several German producers, such as Eiko, Duskes, and Continental, as well as the Danish producer Skandinavisk.² Two advertisements for the films The Gipsy Girl (Eiko) and The Broken Sword (Duskes) were also commissioned in November, listing Gloucester Mansions, Cambridge Circus, as the distribution company’s office address.³

By March 1913, the office of the Elite Sales Agency had relocated.⁴ It was situated at 99 Charing Cross Road, London, and therefore in the vicinity of Wardour Street, the film hotspot in London at that time. The address matches the street number in the photograph, allowing us to date the photograph to after the spring of 1913. This particular building still exists today.

thoughts

Trading film was an necessity in world where moving images were accompanying daily life. So running a film related import business around 1910 was something to be proud of. Otherwise such an extensive advertising message would‘t have been commissioned by the owner of the Elite Sales Agency. An message that can be still grasped today by this tiny photo of the past.

copyright

The images used are from reproductions made by myself, the original photographer is unknown.

sources

Trade journals can be accessed on the Internet Archive. The photo is privately owned.