Jules Brulatour

Pierre Ernest Jules Brulatour (April 7, 1870 – October 26, 1946) was a pioneering executive figure in American silent cinema. Beginning as American distribution representative for Lumiere Brothers raw film stock in 1907, he joined producer Carl Laemmle in forming the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company in 1909, effectively weakening the stronghold of the Motion Picture Patents Company, headed by Thomas Edison, a large trust company that was then monopolizing the American film industry through contracts with hand-picked, established studios. By 1911 Brulatour was president of the Sales Company. He was a founder of the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, later known as Universal Pictures. Biography Origins Jules Brulatour was born in New Orleans on 7 April 1870 to Thomas and Marie Mossy Brulatour. His grandfather Pierre Ernest Brulatour was a wine importer from Bordeaux. Early career Jules Brulatour moved to New York City in 1898 to work for the Manhattan Optical Co. based in Creskill as a sales representative of photographic paper, cameras and lenses. In 1907, he became sales chief for Lumiere North American Co.