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141-584: Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( / m eɪ ˈ l j ɛ s / ; French: [meljɛs] ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magician , actor , and film director . He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of cinema , primarily in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Méliès rose to prominence creating " trick films " and became well known for his innovative use of special effects , popularizing such techniques as substitution splices , multiple exposures , time-lapse photography , dissolves , and hand-painted colour . He

282-520: A Star Films office in New York City, with his brother Gaston Méliès in charge. Gaston had been unsuccessful in the shoe business and agreed to join his more successful brother in the film industry. He travelled to New York in November 1902 and discovered the extent of the infringement in the U.S., such as Biograph having paid royalties on Méliès' film to film promoter Charles Urban . When Gaston opened

423-463: A moratorium declared at the onset of World War I prevented Pathé from taking possession of his home and the Montreuil studio, Méliès was bankrupt and unable to continue making films. In his memoirs, he attributes what Miriam Rosen describes as "his own inability to adapt to the rental system" with Pathé and other companies, his brother Gaston's poor financial decisions, and the horrors of World War I as

564-417: A French composition or Latin verse, his pen mechanically sketched portraits or caricatures of his professors or classmates, if not some fantasy palace or an original landscape that already had the look of a theatre set." Often disciplined by teachers for covering his notebooks and textbooks with drawings, young Georges began building cardboard puppet theatres at age 10 and crafted sophisticated marionettes as

705-499: A Star Films production. In late 1904, Thomas Edison sued the American production company Paley & Steiner over copyright infringement for films that had stories, characters and even shot set-ups exactly like films that Edison had made. Edison also included Pathé Frères , Eberhard Schneider and Star Films in this lawsuit for unspecified reasons. Paley & Steiner settled with Edison out of court (and were later bought out by Edison) and

846-535: A big magic show Les Fantômes du Nil , and he went on an expansive tour in Europe and North Africa . Later that year, Star Films signed an agreement with the Gaumont Film Company to distribute all of its films. In the autumn of 1910, Méliès made a deal with Charles Pathé that destroyed his film career. Méliès accepted a large amount of money to produce films, and in exchange, Pathé Frères distributed and reserved

987-403: A cave, and The Four Troublesome Heads , in which Méliès removes his own head three times and creates a musical chorus. Achieving these effects was extremely difficult, requiring considerable skill. In a 1907 article, Méliès noted: "Every second the actor playing different scenes ten times has to remember, while the film is rolling, exactly what he did at the same point in the preceding scenes and

1128-453: A certain degree of sleight of hand and carefully functioning mechanisms and devices to be performed convincingly. This form of magic was popular around the turn of the 19th century—today, many of the original mechanisms used for this magic have become antique collector's pieces and may require significant and careful restoration to function. Magicians describe the type of tricks they perform in various ways. Opinions vary as to how to categorize

1269-422: A computer screen. The computer screen affords ways to incorporate magic from the magician's wand to the computer mouse. The use of computing technologies in performance can be traced back to a 1984 presentation by David Copperfield , who used a Commodore 64 to create a "magic show" for his audience. More recently, virtual performers have been experimenting with captivating digital animations and illusions that blur

1410-533: A conventional magic show. Bizarre magic often uses horror, supernatural, and science fiction imagery in addition to the standard commercial magic approaches of comedy and wonder. Shock magic is a genre of magic that shocks the audience. Sometimes referred to as "geek magic", it takes its roots from circus sideshows , in which 'freakish' performances were shown to audiences. Common shock magic or geek magic effects include eating razor blades, needle-through-arm , string through neck and pen-through-tongue. Comedy magic

1551-541: A copy was discovered in 2005 in Paris. That year, Méliès also made two of his most ambitious and well-known films. In the summer he made the historical reconstruction The Dreyfus Affair , a film based on the then-ongoing and controversial political scandal , in which the Jewish French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused and framed for treason by his commanders. Méliès was pro-Dreyfus and

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1692-496: A family friend's daughter whose guardians had left her a sizable dowry. They had two children: Georgette, born in 1888, and André, born in 1901. While working at the family factory, Méliès continued to cultivate his interest in stage magic, attending performances at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin , which had been founded by the magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin . He also began taking magic lessons from Emile Voisin, who gave him

1833-469: A feat of magic supposed to have been able to be performed by the ancient magoi. The performance of tricks of illusion, or magical illusion, and the apparent workings and effects of such acts have often been referred to as "magic" and particularly as magic tricks. One of the earliest known books to explain magic secrets, The Discoverie of Witchcraft , was published in 1584. It was created by Reginald Scot to stop people from being killed for witchcraft. During

1974-416: A given effect, and disagreement as to what categories actually exist. For instance, some magicians consider "penetrations" a separate category, while others consider penetrations a form of restoration or teleportation. Some magicians today, such as Guy Hollingworth and Tom Stone have begun to challenge the notion that all magic effects fit into a limited number of categories. Among magicians who believe in

2115-506: A group of Moon aliens , played by acrobats from the Folies Bergère . Taken before the alien king, they manage to escape and are chased back to their spaceship . Then, with the aid of a rope attached to the spaceship, the men, along with an alien, fall from the Moon back to Earth, landing in the ocean (where a superimposed fish tank creates the illusion of the deep ocean). Eventually the spaceship

2256-405: A head off, and then "restore" it, make something appear to move from one place to another, or they may escape from a restraining device. Other illusions include making something appear to defy gravity, making a solid object appear to pass through another object, or appearing to predict the choice of a spectator. Many magic routines use combinations of effects. Among the earliest books on the subject

2397-676: A high level of world renown. He opened a second theatre in Glasgow in 1845. Towards the end of the century, large magic shows permanently staged at big theatre venues became the norm. The British performer J N Maskelyne and his partner Cooke were established at the Egyptian Hall in London 's Piccadilly in 1873 by their manager William Morton , and continued there for 31 years. The show incorporated stage illusions and reinvented traditional tricks with exotic (often Oriental ) imagery. The potential of

2538-683: A hotel guest is attacked by a giant bedbug . But more importantly, the Lumière brothers had dispatched camera operators across the world to document it as ethnographic documentarians, intending their invention to be highly important in scientific and historical study. Méliès' Star Film Company, on the other hand, was geared more towards the "fairground clientele" who wanted his specific brand of magic and illusion: art. In these earliest films, Méliès began to experiment with (and often invent) special effects that were unique to filmmaking. This began, according to Méliès' memoirs, by accident when his camera jammed in

2679-408: A lifelong passion for stage magic . Méliès returned to Paris in 1885 with a new desire: to study painting at the École des Beaux-Arts . His father, however, refused to support him financially as an artist, so Georges settled with supervising the machinery at the family factory. That same year, he avoided his family's desire for him to marry his brother's sister-in-law and instead married Eugénie Génin,

2820-442: A limited number of categories (such as Dariel Fitzkee , Harlan Tarbell , S.H. Sharpe), there has been disagreement as to how many different types of effects there are. Some of these are listed below. Many magic routines use combinations of effects. For example, in " cups and balls " a magician may use vanishes, productions, penetrations, teleportation and transformations as part of the one presentation. The methodology behind magic

2961-407: A live audience, who provide the remote viewer with a reassurance that the illusions are not obtained with post-production visual effects . Many of the principles of stage magic are old. There is an expression, "it's all done with smoke and mirrors", used to explain something baffling, but effects seldom use mirrors today, due to the amount of installation work and transport difficulties. For example,

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3102-447: A new version of Baron Munchausen with Hans Richter and a film that was to be titled Le Fantôme du métro ( Phantom of the Metro ) with Henri Langlois , Georges Franju , Marcel Carné and Jacques Prévert . He also acted in a few advertisements with Prévert in his later years. Langlois and Franju had met Méliès in 1935 with René Clair , and in 1936, they rented an abandoned building on

3243-469: A painted set as inspired by the conventions of magic and musical theatre. For the remainder of his film career, he divided his time between Montreuil and the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, where he "arrived at the studio at seven a.m. to put in a 10-hour day building sets and props. At five, he would change his clothes and set out for Paris in order to be at the theatre office by six to receive callers. After

3384-400: A police squad made up of former criminals. There has historically been competition with the newer, nearby Galerie Colbert  [ fr ] . Since 1960, the gallery has once again become very active. It features fashion and home furnishings, and haute couture shows held there. The installation of Jean Paul Gaultier and Yuki Torii  [ fr ] shops in 1986 helped with

3525-679: A popular theatrical art form. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, magicians such as John Nevil Maskelyne and David Devant , Howard Thurston , Harry Kellar , and Harry Houdini achieved widespread commercial success during what has become known as "the Golden Age of Magic", a period in which performance magic became a staple of Broadway theatre , vaudeville , and music halls . Meanwhile, magicians such as Georges Méliès , Gaston Velle , Walter R. Booth , and Orson Welles introduced pioneering filmmaking techniques informed by their knowledge of magic. Magic has retained its popularity into

3666-421: A professor's head is cut off in the middle of a speech and continues talking until it is returned to his body. When he purchased the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, Méliès also inherited its chief mechanic Eugène Calmels and such performers as Jehanne D'Alcy , who became his mistress and later his second wife. While running the theatre, Méliès also worked as a political cartoonist for the liberal newspaper La Griffe , which

3807-509: A quick dinner, he was back to the theatre for the eight o'clock show, during which he sketched his set designs, and then returned to Montreuil to sleep. On Fridays and Saturdays, he shot scenes prepared during the week, and Sundays and holidays were taken up with a theatre matinee, three film screenings, and an evening presentation that lasted until eleven-thirty." In total, Méliès made 78 films in 1896 and 52 in 1897. By this time, he had covered every genre of film that he would continue to film for

3948-464: A reverse shot in A Dinner Under Difficulties , where he hand cranked a strip of film backwards through his camera to achieve the effect. He also experimented with superimposition , where he filmed actors in a black background, then rewinded the film through the camera and exposed the footage again to create a double exposure. These films included The Cave of the Demons , in which transparent ghosts haunt

4089-455: A single type of film perforation, in order to thwart Edison and the MPPC. Like others, Méliès was unhappy with the monopoly that Edison had created and wanted to fight back. The members of the congress agreed to no longer sell films, but to lease them for four-month periods only to members of their own organization, and to adopt a standardized film perforation count on all films. Méliès was unhappy about

4230-739: A special genre, entirely distinct from the ordinary cinematographic views consisting of street scenes or genre subjects." Like the Lumière brothers and Pathé , Star Films also made " stag films " such as Peeping Tom at the Seaside , A Hypnotist at Work and After the Ball , which is the only one of these films that has survived, and stars Jeanne d'Alcy stripping down to a flesh-coloured leotard and being bathed by her maid. From 1896 to 1900, Méliès made 10 advertisements for products such as whiskey, chocolate, and baby cereal. In September 1897, Méliès attempted to turn

4371-559: A teenager. Méliès graduated from the Lycée with a baccalauréat in 1880. After completing his education, Méliès joined his brothers in the family shoe business, where he learned how to sew. After three years' mandatory military service, his father sent him to London to work as a clerk for a family friend and to improve his English. While in London, he began to visit the Egyptian Hall , run by the London illusionist John Nevil Maskelyne , and he developed

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4512-446: A theatre or auditorium. This type of magic is distinguished by large-scale props, the use of assistants and often exotic animals such as elephants and tigers. Famous stage illusionists, past and present, include Harry Blackstone, Sr. , Howard Thurston , Chung Ling Soo , David Copperfield , Lance Burton , Silvan , Siegfried & Roy , and Harry Blackstone, Jr. Parlor magic is done for larger audiences than close-up magic (which

4653-521: A tip from Jehanne d'Alcy, who may have seen Robert W. Paul 's Animatograph film projector while on tour in England, Méliès traveled to London. He bought an Animatograph from Paul, as well as several short films sold by Paul and by the Edison Manufacturing Company . By April 1896, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin was showing films as part of its daily performances. Méliès, after studying the design of

4794-483: A way to control the film industry in the United States and Europe. The companies that joined the conglomerate were Edison , Biograph , Vitagraph , Essanay , Selig , Lubin , Kalem , American Pathé and Méliès' Star Film Company , with Edison acting as president of the collective. Star Films was obligated to supply the MPPC with one thousand feet of film per week, and Méliès made 58 films that year in fulfillment of

4935-440: Is Gantziony's work of 1489, Natural and Unnatural Magic , which describes and explains old-time tricks. In 1584, Englishman Reginald Scot published The Discoverie of Witchcraft , part of which was devoted to debunking the claims that magicians used supernatural methods, and showing how their "magic tricks" were in reality accomplished. Among the tricks discussed were sleight-of-hand manipulations with rope, paper and coins. At

5076-493: Is a form of street performing or busking that employs a hybrid of stage magic, platform, and close-up magic, usually performed ' in the round ' or surrounded by the audience. Notable modern street magic performers include Jeff Sheridan , Gazzo , and Wittus Witt . Since the first David Blaine TV special Street Magic aired in 1997, the term "street magic" has also come to describe a style of 'guerilla' performance in which magicians approach and perform for unsuspecting members of

5217-454: Is commonly used by children's magicians and mentalists . Corporate magic or trade show magic uses magic as a communication and sales tool, as opposed to just straightforward entertainment. Corporate magicians may come from a business background and typically present at meetings, conferences and product launches. They run workshops and can sometimes be found at trade shows, where their patter and illusions enhance an entertaining presentation of

5358-525: Is for a few people or even one person) and for smaller audiences than stage magic. In parlor magic, the performer is usually standing and on the same level as the audience, which may be seated on chairs or even on the floor. According to the Encyclopedia of Magic and Magicians by T.A. Waters, "The phrase [parlor magic] is often used as a pejorative to imply that an effect under discussion is not suitable for professional performance." Also, many magicians consider

5499-602: Is often referred to as a science (often a branch of physics) while the performance aspect is more of an art form. Galerie Vivienne The gallery was built in 1823 by Marchoux, President of the Chamber of Notaries, at the location of the Hôtel Vanel de Serrant and the Passage des Petits-Pères  [ fr ] . It was based on plans drawn up by the architect Francois Jean Delannoy  [ fr ] . Inaugurated in 1826 under

5640-471: Is the use of magic in which is combined with stand-up comedy. Famous comedy magicians include The Amazing Johnathan , Holly Balay , Mac King , and Penn & Teller . Quick-change magic is the use of magic which is combined with the very quick changing of costumes. Famous quick-change artists include Sos & Victoria Petrosyan. Camera magic (or "video magic") is magic that is aimed at viewers watching broadcasts or recordings. It includes tricks based on

5781-617: Is towed ashore and the returning adventurers are celebrated by the townspeople. At 14 minutes, it was Méliès' longest film up to that date and cost 10,000 francs to produce. The film was an enormous success in France and around the world, and Méliès sold both black-and-white and hand-coloured versions to exhibitors. The film made Méliès famous in the United States, where such producers as Thomas Edison , Siegmund Lubin and William Selig had produced illegal copies and made large amounts of money from them. This copyright violation caused Méliès to open

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5922-560: The Virgin Mary comes to the rescue of the damsel in distress . This effect was used again in The Man with the Rubber Head , in which Méliès plays a scientist who expands his own head to enormous proportions. This experiment, along with the others that he had perfected over the years, was used in his most well-known and beloved film later that year. In May 1902, Méliès made the film A Trip to

6063-538: The féerie Rip's Dream , based on the Rip Van Winkle legend and the opera by Robert Planquette . In 1906, his output included an updated, comedic adaptation of the Faust legend The Merry Frolics of Satan and The Witch . The féerie style that Méliès was best known began to lose popularity, and he began to make films in other genres, such as crime films and family films . In the U.S., Gaston Méliès had to reduce

6204-552: The féerie The Conquest of the Pole . Although inspired by such contemporary events as Robert Peary 's expedition to the North Pole in 1909 and Roald Amundsen 's expedition to the South Pole in 1911, the film also included such fantastic elements as a griffin -headed aerobus and a snow giant that was operated by 12 stage hands as well as elements reminiscent of Jules Verne and some of

6345-516: The methods they use to achieve their effects , although they often share their techniques through both formal and informal training within the magic community . Magicians use a variety of techniques, including sleight of hand , misdirection , optical and auditory illusions , hidden compartments , contortionism and specially constructed props , as well as verbal and nonverbal psychological techniques such as suggestion , hypnosis , and priming . The term "magic" etymologically derives from

6486-471: The 13-minute-long Joan of Arc . He also made The One-Man Band , in which Méliès continued to fine-tune his special effects by multiplying himself on camera to play seven instruments simultaneously. Another notable film was The Christmas Dream , which merged cinematic effects with traditional Christmas pantomime scenes. In 1901, Méliès continued producing successful films and was at the peak of his popularity. His films that year included The Brahmin and

6627-512: The 17th century, many books were published that described magic tricks. Until the 18th century, magic shows were a common source of entertainment at fairs . The "Father" of modern entertainment magic was Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin , who had a magic theatre in Paris in 1845. John Henry Anderson was pioneering the same transition in London in the 1840s. Towards the end of the 19th century, large magic shows permanently staged at big theatre venues became

6768-442: The 18th century, magic shows were a common source of entertainment at fairs , where itinerant performers would entertain the public with magic tricks, as well as the more traditional spectacles of sword swallowing , juggling and fire breathing . In the early 18th century, as belief in witchcraft was waning, the art became increasingly respectable and shows would be put on for rich private patrons. A notable figure in this transition

6909-641: The 20th century included Okito , David Devant , Harry Blackstone Sr. , Harry Blackstone Jr. , Howard Thurston , Theodore Annemann , Cardini , Joseph Dunninger , Dai Vernon , Fred Culpitt , Tommy Wonder , Siegfried & Roy , and Doug Henning . Popular 20th- and 21st-century magicians include David Copperfield , Lance Burton , James Randi , Penn and Teller , David Blaine , Criss Angel , Derren Brown , Dynamo , Shin Lim , Jay & Joss and Hans Klok . Well-known women magicians include Dell O'Dell and Dorothy Dietrich . Most television magicians perform before

7050-400: The 21st century by adapting to the mediums of television and the internet , with magicians such as David Copperfield , Penn & Teller , Paul Daniels , Criss Angel , David Blaine , Derren Brown , Mat Franco , and Shin Lim modernizing the art form. Through the use of social media , magicians can now reach a wider audience than ever before. Magicians are known for closely guarding

7191-604: The Animatograph, modified the machine so that it served as a film camera. As raw film stock and film processing labs were not yet available in Paris, Méliès purchased unperforated film in London, and personally developed and printed his films through trial and error. In September 1896, Méliès, Lucien Korsten, and Lucien Reulos patented the Kinétographe Robert-Houdin, a cast iron camera-projector, which Méliès referred to as his "coffee grinder" and "machine gun" because of

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7332-549: The Butterfly , in which Méliès portrays a Brahmin who transforms a caterpillar into a beautiful woman with wings, but is himself turned into a caterpillar. He also made the féerie Red Riding Hood and Blue Beard , both based on stories from Charles Perrault . In Blue Beard , Méliès plays the eponymous wife-murderer and co-stars with Jeanne d'Alcy and Bleuette Bernon . The film is an early example of parallel cross-cutting and match cuts of characters moving from one room to

7473-576: The Cinema Society arranged a place for Méliès, his granddaughter Madeleine and Jeanne d'Alcy at La Maison de Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly. Méliès was greatly relieved to be admitted to the home and wrote to an American journalist: "My best satisfaction in all is to be sure not to be one day without bread and home !" In Orly, Méliès worked with several younger directors on scripts for films that never came to be made. These included

7614-553: The Great. Herrmann was a French magician and was part of the Herrmann family name that is the "first-family of magic". The escapologist and magician Harry Houdini (1874–1926) took his stage name from Robert-Houdin and developed a range of stage magic tricks, many of them based on what became known after his death as escapology . Houdini was genuinely skilled in techniques such as lockpicking and escaping straitjackets, but also made full use of

7755-557: The Greek word mageia (μαγεία). In ancient times, Greeks and Persians had been at war for centuries, and the Persian priests, called magosh in Persian, came to be known as magoi in Greek. Ritual acts of Persian priests came to be known as mageia , and then magika —which eventually came to mean any foreign, unorthodox, or illegitimate ritual practice. To the general public, successful acts of illusion could be perceived as if it were similar to

7896-640: The Moon which was loosely based on Jules Verne 's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon , its 1870 sequel Around the Moon , and H. G. Wells ' 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon . In the film, Méliès stars as Professor Barbenfouillis, a character similar to the astronomer he played in The Astronomer's Dream in 1898. Professor Barbenfouillis is the President of the Astronomer's Club and proposes an expedition to

8037-597: The Moon. A space vehicle in the form of a large artillery shell is built in his laboratory, and he uses it to launch six men (including himself) on a voyage to the Moon. The vehicle is shot out of a large cannon into space and hits the Man in the Moon in the eye. The group explores the Moon's surface before going to sleep. As they dream, they are observed by the Moon goddess Phoebe , played by Bleuette Bernon , who causes it to snow. Later, while underground, they are attacked and captured by

8178-838: The Méliès Manufacturing Company to Fort Lee , New Jersey. In 1910, Gaston established the Star Film Ranch, a studio in San Antonio, Texas , where he began to produce Westerns . By 1911, Gaston had renamed his branch of Star Films American Wildwest Productions , and opened a studio in Southern California . He produced over 130 films from 1910 to 1912, and he was the primary source for fulfilling Star Films' obligation to Thomas Edison's company. From 1910 to 1912, Georges Méliès produced very few films. In 1910, Méliès temporarily stopped making films because he preferred to create

8319-541: The Seas , and a short version of Shakespeare's Hamlet . Yet such film critics as Jean Mitry , Georges Sadoul , and others have declared that Méliès' work began to decline, and film scholar Miriam Rosen wrote the works started to "lapse into the repetition of old formulas on the one hand and an uneasy imitation of new trends on the other." In 1908, Thomas Edison created the Motion Picture Patents Company as

8460-601: The Table. He throws up a Pack of Cards, and causes them to be living birds flying about the room. He causes living Beasts, Birds, and other Creatures to appear upon the Table. He blows the spots of the Cards off and on, and changes them to any pictures. From 1756 to 1781, Jacob Philadelphia performed feats of magic, sometimes under the guise of scientific exhibitions, throughout Europe and in Russia . The "Father" of modern entertainment magic

8601-643: The Théâtre Robert-Houdin by that August. At the end of 1896 he and Reulos founded the Star Film Company , with Korsten acting as his primary camera operator. Many of his early films were copies and remakes of the Lumière brothers ' films, made to compete with the 2000 daily customers of the Grand Café. This included his first film Playing Cards , which is similar to an early Lumière film. However, many of his other early films reflected Méliès' knack for theatricality and spectacle, such as A Terrible Night , in which

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8742-475: The Théâtre Robert-Houdin created a special celebration performance, including Méliès' first new stage trick in several years, Les Phénomènes du Spiritisme . At the same time, he was again remodeling and expanding his studio at Montreuil by installing electric lights, adding a second stage and buying costumes from other sources. Méliès's films for 1905 include the adventure The Palace of the Arabian Nights and

8883-511: The Théâtre Robert-Houdin into a movie theatre with fewer magic shows and film screenings every night. But by late December 1897, film screenings were limited to Sunday nights only. Méliès made only 27 films in 1898, but his work was becoming more ambitious and elaborate. His films included a historical reconstruction of the sinking of the USS Maine titled Divers at Work on the Wreck of the "Maine" ,

9024-424: The Théâtre Robert-Houdin. The property also included a shed for dressing rooms and a hangar for set construction. Because colours often photograph in unexpected ways on black-and-white film, all sets, costumes and actors' makeup were coloured in different tones of gray. Méliès described the studio as "the union of the photography workshop (in its gigantic proportions) and the theatre stage." Actors performed in front of

9165-530: The abundant ornaments around the half-moon windows, and the goddesses and nymphs that adorn the rotunda. The mosaic floors are signed Giandomenico Facchina and Mazzioli. Their sobriety emphasized by the repetition of simple geometric shapes is reminiscent of the style of the mosaics of the Rue de Rivoli . The 42 metres (138 ft) long gallery is sheltered by a glazed rotunda with a hemispherical glass dome that allows for air circulation. The gallery has entrances from

9306-501: The actress Jehanne d'Alcy . The couple scraped together a living by working at a small candy and toy stand d'Alcy owned in the main hall of the Gare Montparnasse . Around the same time, the gradual rediscovery of Méliès's career began. In 1924, the journalist Georges-Michel Coissac managed to track him down and interview him for a book on cinema history. Coissac, who hoped to underline the importance of French pioneers to early film,

9447-545: The age of 76—just hours after the passing of Émile Cohl , another great French film pioneer—and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery . Walt Disney , on being presented with the Legion of Honour in 1936, expressed gratitude to Méliès and his fellow pioneer Émile Cohl , saying they "discovered the means of placing poetry within the reach of the man in the street." Magic (illusion) Magic , which encompasses

9588-446: The audience close to the magician, sometimes even one-on-one. It usually makes use of everyday items as props, such as cards (see Card manipulation ), coins (see Coin magic ), and seemingly 'impromptu' effects. This may be called "table magic", particularly when performed as dinner entertainment. Ricky Jay , Mahdi Moudini , and Lee Asher , following in the traditions of Dai Vernon , Slydini , and Max Malini , are considered among

9729-502: The available illusions and tricks were out of date, and attendance to the theatre was low even after Méliès' initial renovations. Over the next nine years, Méliès personally created over 30 new illusions that brought more comedy and melodramatic pageantry to performances, much like those Méliès had seen in London, and attendance greatly improved. One of his best-known illusions was the Recalcitrant Decapitated Man , in which

9870-555: The branch office in New York, it included a charter that partly read "In opening a factory and office in New York we are prepared and determined energetically to pursue all counterfeiters and pirates. We will not speak twice, we will act!" Gaston was assisted in the U.S. by Lucien Reulos, who was the husband of Gaston's sister-in-law, Louise de Mirmont. Méliès' great success in 1902 continued with his three other major productions of that year. In The Coronation of Edward VII , Méliès reenacts

10011-493: The by then cliché magic trick of a person vanishing from the stage by means of a trap door is enhanced by the person turning into a skeleton until finally reappearing on the stage. In September 1896, Méliès began to build a film studio on his property in Montreuil , just outside Paris. The main stage building was made entirely of glass walls and ceilings so as to allow in sunlight for film exposure and its dimensions were identical to

10152-625: The carriage procession in the film. The film was financially successful and Edward VII himself was said to have enjoyed it. Next, Méliès made the féeries Gulliver's Travels Among the Lilliputians and the Giants , based on the novel by Jonathan Swift , and Robinson Crusoe , based on the novel by Daniel Defoe . In 1903, Méliès made The Kingdom of the Fairies , which film critic Jean Mitry has called "undoubtedly Méliès's best film, and in any case

10293-490: The case never went to trial. In 1905, Victor de Cottens asked Méliès to collaborate with him on The Merry Deeds of Satan , a theatrical revue for the Théâtre du Châtelet . Méliès contributed two short films for the performances, Le Voyage dans l'espace (The Space Trip) and Le Cyclone (The Cyclone), and co-wrote the scenario with de Cottons for the entire revue. 1905 was also the 100th birthday of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin , and

10434-532: The device. (For the same reasons, they refused the Musée Grévin 's 20,000 francs bid and the Folies Bergère 's 50,000 francs bid the same night.) Méliès, intent on finding a film projector for the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, turned elsewhere; numerous other inventors in Europe and America were experimenting with machines similar to the Lumières' invention, albeit at a less technically sophisticated level. Possibly acting on

10575-574: The devil and the occult. During the 19th and 20th centuries, many stage magicians even capitalized on this notion in their advertisements. The same level of ingenuity that was used to produce famous ancient deceptions such as the Trojan Horse would also have been used for entertainment , or at least for cheating in money games . They were also used by the practitioners of various religions and cults from ancient times onwards to frighten uneducated people into obedience or turn them into adherents. However,

10716-576: The end of his life. By late 1937, Méliès had become very ill and Langlois arranged for him to be admitted to the Léopold Bellan Hospital in Paris. Langlois had become close to him, and he and Franju visited him shortly before his death. When they arrived, Méliès showed them one of his last drawings of a champagne bottle with the cork popped and bubbling over. He then told them: "Laugh, my friends. Laugh with me, laugh for me, because I dream for you." Georges Méliès died of cancer on 21 January 1938 at

10857-593: The end of the Second Empire . But the gallery lost some of its appeal with the move of the prestigious shops to the Madeleine and the Champs-Élysées , and particularly because of the renovation of Paris by Georges-Eugène Haussmann . The gallery has been the scene of interesting events. The monumental staircase of no. 13 led to the former home of Eugène François Vidocq after his disgrace. The convict had become chief of

10998-478: The exact place where he was on the stage." Méliès made 48 films in 1899 as he continued to experiment with special effects, for example in the early horror film Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb . The film is not a historical reconstruction of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra , and instead depicts her mummy being resurrected in the modern era . Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb was believed to be a lost film until

11139-472: The fact-checking website Snopes dedicated a page to debunking the trick. German magician Wittus Witt performed interactive magic tricks live on TV from 1993 to 1997. Viewers were able to call Wittus Witt live in the television studio and perform a magic trick with him directly. In total, Witt performed this special magic 87 times, every other week. Theatrical magic describes a dramaturgically well thought-out performance that has been specially designed for

11280-512: The famous Pepper's Ghost , a stage illusion first used in 19th-century London, required a specially built theatre. Modern performers have vanished objects as large as the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, and a space shuttle, using other kinds of optical deceptions. Magic is often described according to various specialties or genres. Stage illusions are performed for large audiences, typically within

11421-462: The film depicts Dreyfus sympathetically as falsely accused and unjustly incarcerated on the Devil's Island prison. At screenings of the film, fights broke out between people on different sides of the debate and the police eventually banned the final part of the film where Dreyfus returns to prison. Later that year, Méliès made the féerie Cinderella , based on Charles Perrault 's fairy tale . The film

11562-657: The film to 33 minutes, and it too was unprofitable. After similar experiences with The Knight of the Snows and The Voyage of the Bourrichon Family in late 1912, Méliès broke his contract with Pathé. Meanwhile, Gaston Méliès had taken his family and a film crew of over twenty people to Tahiti in the summer of 1912. For the rest of that year and well into 1913, he traveled throughout the South Pacific and Asia, and sent film footage back to his son in New York City. The footage

11703-406: The film was based on an opera by Charles Gounod . Méliès also created a combined version of the two films that aligned with the main arias of the operas. He continued making " high art " films later in 1904 such as The Barber of Seville . These films were popular with both audiences and critics at the time of their release, and helped Méliès establish more prestige. His major production of 1904

11844-484: The first times artificial light was used for cinematography. The films were projected as Paulus Chantant at the Ba-Ta-Clan . There, Paulus sat behind the cinema screen and sang the songs – thus giving the illusion of cinema with sound. That same year, Georges Brunel wrote that "MM. Méliès and Reulos have, above all, made a speciality of fantastic or artistic scenes, reproductions of theatre scenes, etc., so as to create

11985-589: The foremost practitioners of close-up magic. Escapology is the branch of magic that deals with escapes from confinement or restraints. Harry Houdini is a well-known example of an escape artist or escapologist . Pickpocket magicians use magic to misdirect members of the audience while removing wallets, belts, ties, and other personal effects. It can be presented on a stage, in a cabaret setting, before small close-up groups, or even for one spectator. Well-known pickpockets include James Freedman , David Avadon , Bob Arno , and Apollo Robbins . Mentalism creates

12126-469: The illusion of a character changing size . He achieved this effect by "advancing the camera forward" on a pulley-drawn chair system, which was perfected to allow the camera operator to accurately adjust focus and for the actor to adjust his or her position in the frame as needed. This effect began with The Devil and the Statue , in which Méliès plays Satan and grows to the size of a giant to terrorize William Shakespeare 's Juliet , but then shrinks when

12267-477: The imaginativeness of the settings and the sumptuous tableaux made the film a masterpiece for its day." Later in 1904, Folies Bergère director Victor de Cottens invited Méliès to create a special effects film to be included in his theatre's revue. The result was An Adventurous Automobile Trip , a satire of Leopold II of Belgium . The film was screened at the Folies Bergère before Méliès began to sell it as

12408-1021: The impression in the minds of the audience that the performer possesses special powers to read thoughts, predict events, control other minds, and similar feats. It can be presented on a stage, in a cabaret setting, before small close-up groups, or even for one spectator. Well-known mentalists of the past and present include Alexander , The Zancigs , Axel Hellstrom , Dunninger , Kreskin , Deddy Corbuzier , Derren Brown , Rich Ferguson , Guy Bavli , Banachek , Max Maven , and Alain Nu . Theatrical séances simulate spiritualistic or mediumistic phenomena for theatrical effect. This genre of stage magic has been misused at times by charlatans pretending to actually be in contact with spirits or supernatural forces. For this reason, some well-known magicians such as James Randi (AKA "The Amazing Randi") have made it their goal to debunk such paranormal phenomena and illustrate that any such effects may be achieved by natural or human means. Randi

12549-442: The lines between magic tricks and reality. In some cases, the computer essentially replaces the online magician. In a 2008 TED Talk, Penn Jillette discussed how technology will continue to play a role in magic by influencing media and communication. According to Jillette, magicians continue to innovate in not only digital communication but also live performances that utilize digital effects. The 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns ushered onto

12690-478: The magic trick film The Famous Box Trick , and the féerie The Astronomer's Dream . In this film, Méliès plays an astronomer who has the Moon cause his laboratory to transform and demons and angels to visit him. He also made one of his first of many religious satires with The Temptation of Saint Anthony , in which a statue of Jesus Christ on the cross is transformed into a seductive woman. He continued to experiment with his in-camera special effects, such as

12831-562: The main reasons that he stopped making movies. The final crisis was the death of Méliès' first wife, Eugénie Génin, in May 1913, leaving him alone to raise their twelve-year-old son, André. The war shut the Théâtre Robert-Houdin for a year, and Méliès left Paris with his two children for several years. In 1917, the French Army turned the main studio building at his Montreuil property into a hospital for wounded soldiers. Méliès and his family then turned

12972-660: The men are traveling up to the highest peaks of the Alps , their vehicle continues moving upwards and takes them unexpectedly to the Sun, which has a face much like the man in the moon and swallows the vehicle. Eventually the men use a submarine to launch back to planet Earth and into the ocean. They are greeted back home by adoring admirers. The film was 24 minutes long and was a success. Film critic Lewis Jacobs has said that "the film expressed all of Méliès talents ... The complexity of his tricks, his resourcefulness with mechanical contrivances,

13113-557: The middle of a take and "a Madeleine-Bastille bus changed into a hearse and women changed into men. The substitution trick, called the stop trick , had been discovered." This same stop trick effect had already been used by Thomas Edison when depicting a decapitation in The Execution of Mary Stuart ; however, Méliès' film effects and unique style of film magic were his own. He first used these effects in The Vanishing Lady , in which

13254-669: The most intensely poetic". The Los Angeles Times called the film "an interesting exhibit of the limits to which moving picture making can be carried in the hands of experts equipped with time and money to carry out their devices". Prints of the film survive in the film archives of the British Film Institute and the U.S. Library of Congress . Méliès continued the year by perfecting many of his camera effects, such as more fast-paced transformations in Ten Ladies in One Umbrella and

13395-569: The name Marchoux, but soon renamed Vivienne, the gallery took advantage of its unique location. It attracted many visitors with its tailor shops, cobblers , wine shop, restaurant, Jousseaume bookstore, draper , confectioner, print-seller, and so on. Located between the Palais-Royal , the Paris Bourse (stock exchange) and the Grands Boulevards , the passage enjoyed considerable success until

13536-529: The next. The Edison Company's 1902 film Jack and the Beanstalk , directed by Edwin S. Porter , was considered a less successful American version of several Méliès films, particularly Blue Beard . That year, Méliès also made Off to Bloomingdale Asylum , a blackface burlesque that includes four white bus passengers transforming into one large black passenger, who is then shot by the bus driver. In 1902, Méliès began to experiment with camera movement to create

13677-407: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Mechanical magic is a form of stage magic in which the magician uses a variety of mechanical devices to perform acts that appear to be physically impossible. Examples include such things as a false-bottomed mortar in which the magician places an audience member's watch only to later produce several feet away inside a wooden frame. Mechanical magic requires

13818-637: The noise that it made. By 1897 technology had caught up and better cameras were put on sale in Paris, leading Méliès to discard his own camera and purchase several better cameras made by Gaumont , the Lumières , and Pathé . Méliès directed over 500 films from 1896 to 1913, ranging in length from 1 minute to 40 minutes. In subject matter, these films are often similar to the magic theatre shows that Méliès had been doing, containing " tricks " and impossible events, such as objects disappearing or changing size. These early special effects films were essentially devoid of plot. The special effects were used only to show what

13959-421: The norm. As a form of entertainment, magic easily moved from theatrical venues to television magic specials. Performances that modern observers would recognize as conjuring have been practiced throughout history. For example, a trick with three cups and balls has been performed since 3 BC and is still performed today on stage and in street magic shows. For many recorded centuries, magicians were associated with

14100-566: The obligation. Gaston Méliès established his own studio in Chicago , the Méliès Manufacturing Company, which helped his brother fulfill the obligation to Edison, although Gaston produced no films in 1908. That year, Méliès made the ambitious film Humanity Through the Ages . This pessimistic film retells the history of humans from Cain and Abel to the Hague Peace Conference of 1907. The film

14241-636: The official bootmaker of the Dutch court before a fire ruined his business. Eventually the two married, founded a high-quality boot factory on the Boulevard Saint-Martin, and had sons Henri and Gaston ; by the time their third son Georges, had been born, the family had become wealthy. Georges Méliès attended the Lycée Michelet from age seven until it was bombed during the Franco-Prussian War ; he

14382-650: The opportunity to perform his first public shows, at the Cabinet Fantastique of the Grévin Wax Museum and, later, at the Galerie Vivienne . In 1888, Méliès' father retired, and Georges Méliès sold his share of the family shoe business to his two brothers. With the money from the sale and from his wife's dowry, he purchased the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Although the theatre was "superb" and equipped with lights , levers, trap doors, and several automata , many of

14523-509: The performances of his rivals, John Henry Anderson and Alexander Herrmann . John Henry Anderson was pioneering the same transition in London . In 1840 he opened the New Strand Theatre, where he performed as The Great Wizard of the North . His success came from advertising his shows and captivating his audience with expert showmanship . He became one of the earliest magicians to attain

14664-411: The products offered by their corporate sponsors. Pioneer performers in this arena include Eddie Tullock and Guy Bavli . Gospel magic uses magic to catechize and evangelize. Gospel magic was first used by St. John Bosco to interest children in 19th-century Turin , Italy to come back to school, to accept assistance and to attend church. The Jewish equivalent is termed Torah magic. Street magic

14805-440: The profession of the illusionist gained strength only in the 18th century, and has enjoyed several popular vogues since. Opinions vary among magicians on how to categorize a given effect, but a number of categories have been developed. Magicians may pull a rabbit from an empty hat, make something seem to disappear, or transform a red silk handkerchief into a green silk handkerchief. Magicians may also destroy something, like cutting

14946-477: The property of the Orly retirement home to store their collection of film prints. They then entrusted the key to the building to Méliès and he became the first conservator of what became the Cinémathèque Française . Although he never was able to make another film after 1912 or stage another theatrical performance after 1923, he continued to draw, write to and advise younger film and theatrical admirers until

15087-418: The public on the street. Unlike traditional street magic, this style is almost purely designed for TV and gains its impact from the wild reactions of the public. Magicians of this type include David Blaine and Cyril Takayama . Bizarre magic is a branch of stage magic that creates eerie effects through its use of narratives and esoteric imagery. The experience may be more akin to small, intimate theater or to

15228-607: The range of conjuring techniques, including fake equipment and collusion with individuals in the audience. Houdini's show-business savvy was as great as his performance skill. There is a Houdini Museum dedicated to him in Scranton, Pennsylvania . The Magic Circle was formed in London in 1905 to promote and advance the art of stage magic. As a form of entertainment, magic easily moved from theatrical venues to television specials, which opened up new opportunities for deceptions, and brought stage magic to huge audiences. Famous magicians of

15369-552: The real-life coronation of Edward VII . The film was shot prior to the actual event (since he was denied access to the coronation) and was commissioned by Charles Urban, head of the Warwick Trading Company and the Star Films representative in London. The film was ready to be released on the day of the coronation; however, the event was postponed for six weeks due to Edward's health. This allowed Méliès to add actual footage of

15510-527: The rest of his career. These included the Lumière-like documentaries, comedies, historical reconstructions, dramas, magic tricks, and féeries (fairy stories), which became his most well-known genre. In 1897, Méliès was commissioned by the popular singer Paulus to make films of his performances. Because Paulus refused to perform outdoor, some thirty arc and mercury lamps had to be used in Méliès studio, one of

15651-541: The restricted viewing angles of cameras and clever editing. Camera magic often features paid extras posing as spectators who may even be assisting in the performance. Camera magic can be done live, such as Derren Brown 's lottery prediction. Famous examples of camera magic include David Copperfield's Floating Over the Grand Canyon and many of Criss Angel 's illusions. Classical magic is a style of magic that conveys feelings of elegance and skill akin to prominent magicians of

15792-584: The resurrection of the gallery. It now houses many shops selling ready-to-wear and decorative items. The Galerie Vivienne and Galerie Colbert were acquired by the Bibliothèque Nationale . The latter houses the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art . François-Jacques Delannoy conceived the decor in neo-classical Pompeian style covered with an elegant canopy, with mosaics, paintings and sculptures exalting trade. The restoration work rehabilitated

15933-491: The right to edit these films. Pathé also held the deed to both Méliès' home and his Montreuil studio as part of the deal. Méliès immediately began production on more elaborate films, and the two that he produced in 1911 were Baron Munchausen's Dream and The Diabolical Church Window . Despite the extravagance of these féeries that had been extremely popular just a decade before, both films failed financially. In 1912, Méliès continued making ambitious films, most notably with

16074-466: The sale prices of three of Méliès' earlier, popular féeries , Cinderella , Bluebeard and Robinson Crusoe . By the end of 1905, Gaston had cut the prices of all films on the Star Films catalog by 20%, which did improve sales. In 1907, Méliès created three new illusions for the stage and performed them at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, while he continued producing a steady stream of films, including Under

16215-607: The same "fantastic voyage" themes as A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage . Unfortunately, Conquest of the Pole was not profitable, and Pathé decided to exercise its right to edit Méliès's films from this point. One of Méliès' later féeries was Cinderella or the Glass Slipper , a 54-minute retelling of the Cinderella legend, shot with new deep focus lenses, outdoors instead of against theatrical backdrops. Pathé hired Méliès's longtime rival Ferdinand Zecca to trim

16356-416: The second of the three conditions, because his principal clients were owners of fairgrounds and music halls. A fairground trade journal quoted Méliès as saying "I am not a corporation; I am an independent producer." Méliès resumed filmmaking in the autumn of 1909 and produced nine films, including Whimsical Illusions , in which he presents a magical effect on stage. At the same time, Gaston Méliès had moved

16497-520: The second studio set into a theatrical stage and performed over 24 revues there until 1923. During the war, the French Army confiscated over four hundred of Star Films' original prints and melted them down to recover silver and celluloid , the latter of which the army used to make shoe heels. In 1923, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin was torn down to rebuild the Boulevard Haussmann . That same year Pathé

16638-498: The seven superimpositions that he used in The Melomaniac . He finished the year with The Damnation of Faust , based on the Faust legend. The film is loosely based on an opera by Hector Berlioz , but it pays less attention to the story and more to the special effects that represent a tour of hell . These include underground gardens, walls of fire and walls of water. In 1904, he made the sequel Faust and Marguerite . This time,

16779-406: The stage was exploited for hidden mechanisms and assistants, and the control it offers over the audience's point of view. Maskelyne and Cooke invented many of the illusions still performed today—one of his best-known being levitation . The model for the look of a "typical" magician—a man with wavy hair, a top hat, a goatee, and a tailcoat—was Alexander Herrmann (1844–1896), also known as Herrmann

16920-505: The subgenres of illusion , stage magic, and close-up magic , among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world. Modern entertainment magic, as pioneered by 19th-century magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin , has become

17061-405: The term "parlor" old fashioned and limiting, since this type of magic is often done in rooms much larger than the traditional parlor, or even outdoors. A better term for this branch of magic may be "platform", "club" or "cabaret". Examples of such magicians include Jeff McBride , David Abbott , Channing Pollock , Black Herman , and Fred Kaps . Close-up magic (or table magic) is performed with

17202-479: The theater and theater-like situations. It is not about individual tricks that are strung together, but about logical connections of tricks that lead to a story. The protagonists of this magic stage art were the German magician Fredo Marvelli , Punx , and Alexander Adrion . In the United States, they included Richard Hatch and Max Maven . Mathemagic is a genre of stage magic that combines magic and mathematics . It

17343-475: The time, fear and belief in witchcraft was widespread and the book tried to demonstrate that these fears were misplaced. Popular belief held that all obtainable copies were burned on the accession of James I in 1603. During the 17th century, many similar books were published that described in detail the methods of a number of magic tricks, including The Art of Conjuring (1614) and The Anatomy of Legerdemain: The Art of Juggling ( c.  1675 ). Until

17484-545: The trade union Chambre Syndicale des Editeurs Cinématographiques as a way to defend themselves in foreign markets. Méliès was made the first president of the union, serving until 1912, and the Théâtre Robert-Houdin was the group's headquarters. Around the same time, Méliès used the financial success of his films to expand the Montreuil studio, which allowed him to create even more elaborate sets and additional storage space for his growing archive of props, costumes and other memorabilia. In 1900, Méliès made numerous films, including

17625-516: The world stage a surge of online magic shows. These shows are performed via video conferencing platforms such as Zoom . Some online magic tricks recreate traditional card tricks and require user participation, while others, like Plato's Cursed Triangle, are based on mathematical, geometrical, and/or optical illusions. One such online magic trick, called Esmeralda's Crystal Ball, became a viral phenomenon that fooled so many computer users into believing that their computer had supernatural powers, that

17766-501: Was The Impossible Voyage , a film similar to A Trip to the Moon about an expedition around the world, into the oceans and even to the Sun . In the film, Méliès plays Engineer Mabouloff of the Institute of Incoherent Geography, who is similar to the previous Professor Barbenfouillis. Mabouloff leads a group on the trip on the many Automobouloffs, the vehicles that they use of their travels. As

17907-406: Was Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin , originally a clockmaker, who opened a magic theatre in Paris in 1845. He transformed his art from one performed at fairs to a performance that the public paid to see at the theatre. His speciality was constructing mechanical automata that appeared to move and act as if alive. Many of Robert-Houdin's mechanisms for illusion were pirated by his assistant and ended up in

18048-468: Was also one of the first filmmakers to use storyboards in his work. His most important films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès was born 8 December 1861 in Paris , son of Jean-Louis Méliès and his Dutch wife Johannah-Catherine Schuering. His father had moved to Paris in 1843 as a shoemaker and began working at a boot factory, where he met Méliès' mother. Johannah-Catherine's father had been

18189-458: Was edited by his cousin Adolphe Méliès. On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended a special private demonstration of the Lumière brothers ' cinematograph , given for owners of Parisian houses of spectacle. Méliès immediately offered the Lumières 10,000 francs for one of their machines; the Lumières refused, anxious to keep a close control on their invention and to emphasize the scientific nature of

18330-475: Was finally able to take over Star Films and the Montreuil studio. In a rage, Méliès burned all of his film negatives stored at the Montreuil studio, as well as most of the sets and costumes. As a result, many of his films do not exist today. Nonetheless, just over two hundred Méliès films have been preserved, and have been available on DVD since December 2011. Méliès was largely forgotten and financially ruined by December 1925, when he married his long-time mistress,

18471-562: Was given more recognition and in December 1929, a gala retrospective of his work was held at the Salle Pleyel . In his memoirs, Méliès said that at the event he "experienced one of the most brilliant moments of his life." Eventually Georges Méliès was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur , the medal of which was presented to him in October 1931 by Louis Lumière . Lumière himself said that Méliès

18612-531: Was often damaged or otherwise unusable, and Gaston was no longer able to fulfill Star Films' obligation to Thomas Edison's company. By the end of his travels, Gaston Méliès had lost $ 50,000 and had to sell the American branch of Star Films to Vitagraph Studios . Gaston eventually returned to Europe and died in 1915. He and Georges Méliès were not on speaking terms following his return to Europe. When Méliès broke his contract with Pathé in 1913, he had nothing with which to cover his indebtedness to that company. Although

18753-426: Was often screened as a featured attraction even years after its U.S. release in December 1899. Such U.S. filmmakers as Thomas Edison were resentful of the competition from foreign companies and after the success of Cinderella , attempted to block Méliès from screening most films in the U.S.; but they soon discovered the process of creating film dupes (duplicate negatives). Méliès and others then established in 1900

18894-400: Was possible, rather than enhance the overall narrative. Méliès' early films were mostly composed of single in-camera effects, used for the entirety of the film. For example, after experimenting with multiple exposure, Méliès created his film The One-Man Band in which he played seven different characters simultaneously. Méliès began shooting his first films in May 1896, and screening them at

19035-531: Was six minutes long and had a cast of over 35 people, including Bleuette Bernon in the title role. It was also Méliès' first film with multiple scenes, known as tableaux . The film was very successful across Europe and in the United States, playing mostly in fairgrounds and music halls. American film distributors such as Siegmund Lubin were especially in need of new material, both to attract their audience with new films and to counter Edison's growing monopoly . Méliès' films were particularly popular, and Cinderella

19176-423: Was the "creator of the cinematic spectacle." However, the enormous amount of praise that he was receiving did not help his livelihood or ameliorate his poverty. In a letter written to French filmmaker Eugène Lauste , Méliès wrote that "luckily enough, I am strong and in good health. But it is hard to work 14 hours a day without getting my Sundays or holidays, in an icebox in winter and a furnace in summer." In 1932,

19317-421: Was the "foremost skeptic" in this regard in the United States. Children's magic is performed for an audience primarily composed of children. It is typically performed at birthday parties, preschools, elementary schools, Sunday schools, or libraries. This type of magic is usually comedic in nature and involves audience interaction as well as volunteer assistants. Online magic tricks were designed to function on

19458-563: Was the English showman, Isaac Fawkes , who began to promote his act in advertisements from the 1720s—he even claimed to have performed for King George II . One of Fawkes' advertisements described his routine in some detail: He takes an empty bag, lays it on the Table and turns it several times inside out, then commands 100 Eggs out of it and several showers of real Gold and silver, then the Bag beginning to swell several sorts of wild fowl run out of it upon

19599-468: Was the first film historian to demonstrate Méliès's importance to the industry. In 1926, spurred on by Coissac's book, the magazine Ciné-Journal located Méliès, now working at the Gare Montparnasse, and commissioned a memoir from him. By the late 1920s, several journalists had begun to research Méliès and his life's work, creating new interest in him. As his prestige began to grow in the film world, he

19740-415: Was then sent to the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand . In his memoirs, Méliès emphasised his formal, classical education, in contrast to accusations early in his career that most filmmakers had been "illiterates incapable of producing anything artistic." However, he acknowledged that his creative instincts usually outweighed intellectual ones: "The artistic passion was too strong for him, and while he pondered

19881-489: Was unsuccessful, yet Méliès was proud of it throughout his life. Early in 1909, Méliès presided over the "Congrès International des éditeurs de films" in Paris. Under Méliès’ chairmanship, the European congress took place from 2 to 4 February 1909. In his mémoires , Méliès says that this congress was the second one, following the 1908 congress. In 1909, the congress made important decisions regarding film leasing, and adoption of

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