Christiaan Slieker

Biography

Christiaan Slieker was the first Dutchman to bring a travelling cinema to carnivals and fairs. He was the son of a carnival operator from Leeuwarden. He began at the young age of eighteen as an independent carnival entrepreneur, initially as a deputy manager for others, and later as an operator of an electromagnetic fishing game.

When saw a cinematograph at the Gewerbe-Ausstellung in Berlin in 1896, he decided to operate this attraction himself. He ordered a projector from the Berlin firm of Foersterling & Co., and on July 16, 1896, gave his first show at the carnival in Leeuwarden, with his travelling cinema ‘Edison’s Ideaal'. At the end of 1896, Slieker screened the first films made by a Dutchman: Zwemplaats voor Jongelingen te Amsterdam, Spelende kinderen, and De gestoorde hengelaar, all directed by the Amsterdam photographer M.H. Laddé.

Slieker remained active as travelling cinema operator until 1907. In the years that followed, he gave occasional screenings at schools and various venues, until finally retiring in 1912. He then earned his living as a door-to-door salesman. In 1934, Slieker received considerable recognition when he was invited to the festivities in celebration of forty years of cinematography.

He died in 1944. On his grave is written: ‘The first cinema operator of the Netherlands’.