On March 17, 1896, engineer Henri Joly patented a new cinematographic device which had the peculiarity, at a time when many different systems were being proposed, of employing 35mm film, but in an almost-square format, with five perforations per frame rather than four. Joly was soon contacted by engineer Ernest Normandin, who offered to commercialise the device – Normandin apparently also suggested certain technical improvements. The duo’s first films were shot during the summer of 1896, probably in the context of the upcoming Exposition internationale du théâtre et de la musique, where Normandin and the camera manufacturer Louis Doignon were the only ones presenting a cinematograph and were both awarded a diploma of honour. Patent applications were soon made in France, the United Kingdom and the United States. 

Normandin’s ambition to expand is evident in the advertisements he took out in the international press and his forging of links with foreign exhibitors. Normandin needed new films to supply to exhibitors along with his system, because, at least initially, the system was not compatible with films on offer from other firms due to its use of five perforations per frame. Normandin's catalogue offered titles shot by exhibitors in France and abroad, but his commercial relationship with these “exhibitor-operators” remains unclear. It is not known whether he shared the profits from the sale of prints with them.

By the first months of 1897, there were at least a dozen Joly-Normandin cinematographs operating in France and abroad (United States, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy). At the end of March 1897, Normandin decided to lower the price of the apparatus, and in May he was invited to organise some screenings as part of a cinematographic attraction at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris, a charity event intended to gather the whole of Parisian high society. But the whole set-up at the Bazar was somewhat precarious and potentially hazardous: hosted in a huge wooden hanger crowded with painted scenery and a reconstructed “Old Paris” made from papier-mâché and fabrics, about twenty stalls, a buffet and a space for the cinematograph booth. Safety measures were inadequate – reduced to the absolute minimum stipulated by the police prefecture. Normandin, given very short notice, set up his cinematograph on May 4, after the opening of the Bazar. As there was no electricity supply, an Alfred Molteni oxy-ether lamp was used and projection was entrusted to his employees Bellac and Grégoire Bagrachow. The theatre was full when a handling error by Bellac and Bagrachow caused a fire that spread rapidly through the building. The turnstile at the entrance to the hall prevented the swift evacuation of the audience. Disaster was inevitable: 126 people died and many more were injured – most by burns.

Normandin, even if not held responsible for the fire, inevitably came to be associated with the drama. Unfortunately for him, on June 14, 1897, his apparatus, installed at the Eden Musée in New York City, also caught fire. The incident was minor and there were no victims, but the Joly-Normandin cinematograph was forced to leave the Musée. A few months later, in August, the cinematograph installed above the performance venue Parisiana in Paris resulted in another fire. Although fire damage to the buildings appeared to be considerable, there were no injuries or deaths. Three fires in four months were too much for Normandin to handle. Advertisements for the Joly-Normandin cinematograph became increasingly rare in the French press, and in the latter months of 1897 the Cinématographe Joly-Normandin was mainly to be found abroad. 

Ernest Normandin decided to sell all the equipment, patents and exploitation of the “Cinématographe perfectionné, système Joly” to Alfred Saunier and Charles Flahault. A new company was formed on April 22, 1898, and on August 24, 1898, Edgard Normandin (Ernest’s brother) registered the trademark “The Royal Biograph”. In October 1899, Edgard Normandin joined forces with Rodolphe Fouchier in order to buy, sell and exploit cinematographs and their accessories. But the company would not survive for long, and it was declared bankrupt in June 1901. The company briefly became “Fouchier, Normandin et Cie” but was dissolved in December 1901.