Dissolving: Conquering everywhere

“To conquer the world. By the Pathé brothers, 1894-19…”

An early advertisement of the Pathé brothers, mentioned yesterday, with cine-projector, phonograph, and the French rooster which was chosen as the company’s logo. It is a secret why the company, founded on September 28, 1896 calculates the time from 1894. Maybe they want to indicate their precedence to the Lumière brothers, who appeared on the scene a year before them. But that they took seriously the conquering of the world, is shown by the fact that by the early 20th century they became the world’s largest cinematograph and film producer and distributor, as well as one of the largest phonograph record producers.

“Pathé News presents the official images of the Great War and the news of all the world.”

Twenty years later the motto of “conquering” is omitted, since the situation makes it self-evident, but the posture is the same. The Pathé brothers put on uniform, and while our heroic boys conquer the enemy with weapons, they conquer the heartland with the images of the newsreel, invented by them in 1908.