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1898: Mesguich Gets His Marching Orders
Lumière cameraman Félix Mesguich found himself in hot water during a tour of Russia in this year. He had been successfully touring the country for the best part of nine months, presenting screenings to an audience as diverse as Czar Nicholas II in Yalta, and lowly peasants in Nijni-Novgorod. A few nights after his screening in Nijni-Novgorod, during which footage of the Czar's coronation was shown, the Lumière's establishment was burned to the ground by disaffected insurgents, but this was not the reason for the hapless cameraman's expulsion - Mesguich's faux pas was of a variety far more scandalous to the Russian aristocracy.
While in St. Petersburg, the Frenchman filmed Caroline Otéro (La Belle Otéro), a famous dancer and courtesan who, in her long life, would see six men commit suicide over her, and become the lover of countless more (the Czar of Russia amongst them). Otéro was dancing an 'explosive' waltz with a young Russian officer, and it was this that caused such uproar during the film's screening at the Aquarium Theatre the following day. The film was viewed by the aristocracy as a huge insult to the Russian army by turning one of its officers into a music-hall entertainer. Mesguich was immediately seized and escorted to the Russian Border.
History does not reveal the fate of the Russian officer in the film. [ADD]
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