Silent Santa: Movie Portrayals Up To 1900
The image of Santa Claus was not, as is often believed, the creation of Coca-Cola ad executives and the illustrator Haddon Sundblom, but developed over several decades, beginning with his description as a "jolly old elf" in "A Visit from St Nicholas" (aka "The Night Before Christmas"), a poem published in The Troy Sentinel, New York on December 22nd, 1823, and later claimed by Clement Clark Moore, a professor of Oriental and Greek literature at Columbia College and enthusiastic supporter of slavery (the poem was filmed by Edison Studios in 1905). Recently the poem's authorship has been brought into question and may prove to be the work of Henry Livingston Jr.*
As the 19th Century progressed, he developed into the rotund night visitor we're familiar with today, in John Leech's illustration of the Ghost of Christmas Present for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and the work of illustrator Thomas Nast, first seen in an 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly, as well as an editorial in the September 21st, 1897 issue of The New York Sun, wherein a young Miss O'Hanlon was comforted with the fact that "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" by editor Francis Pharcellus Church.
Santa Claus Filling Stockings (1897)
In December that same year, Santa made his first appearance on screen in a 254ft film by the American Mutoscope Company, named Santa Claus Filling Stockings. The film depicts our hero coming down the chimney and distributing his gifts before heading out the way he came in and was the second of a four-part series which also included The Night Before Christmas, in which the children hang up their stockings; Christmas Morning, when they gleefully discover their toys; and The Christmas Tree Party, which sees Santa joining the family and handing out more gifts.
The films were possibly made by WKL Dickson, a French-born Englishman who had founded Mutoscope in 1895 after falling out with his former employer, Thomas Edison (Dickson returned to England in 1897, so his actual involvement is unknown). If one man can claim the title The Father of Film, it's Dickson, who invented the first camera, made one of the first moving pictures, Monkeyshines, in 1890, and built the first studio, the Black Maria, all in the face of Edison's disinterest and objection. He and Edison finally had a disagreement neither could overcome and Dickson formed his own company and created the Mutograph projector. He started almost immediately on another creation, the Biograph – the company would change its name to the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company in 1899 and go on to hire DW Griffith, who shot the first motion picture in the small California village called Hollywood.
Santa Clause (1898)
Sadly Santa Claus Filling Stockings is lost, but September of 1898 saw the release of a British film we can thankfully still see, Santa Clause (known as The Visit of Santa Claus and Santa Claus' Visit in the USA - the latter is often mistakenly credited as a 1900 Edison release) from George Albert Smith's GAS Films shows a familiar-looking Santa in fur-lined cloak and hood. GA Smith was a former magic lantern man and hypnotist, who is know to have corresponded with Georges Méliès around this time and the influence of the French pioneer is apparent. This shouldn't detract from Smith's efforts though as he was equally adept at using available special effects such as double exposure, to create fantasy sequences the equal of those being accomplished across the Channel.
What marks Santa Clause as a landmark of early English cinema is the handling of Santa's visit during which, as the children sleep on the left of the screen, Santa is seen landing on the roof and climbing into the chimney on the right. This is the first time that two incidents, taking place in separate locations had been seen sharing the same frame in an English film. As with Smith's other pioneering efforts like The Haunted Castle (1897) and The X-Ray Fiend (1897), Santa Clause stars Smith's wife, Laura Bayley, as the children's governess and is a great example of the developing language of film, just a few years after its invention.
Santa Claus and the Children (1898)
Two months later in November 1898, one of the earliest fiction films from another great British cinema pioneer, Robert William Paul was released. RW Paul started out as an instrument maker and began manufacturing the Animatograph, a replica of WKL Dickson's Edison Kinetograph, around 1894 with Georges Méliès being one of his earliest customers. Sadly Santa Claus and the Children is another lost film (ironically Paul was an early advocate for archival preservation), but thanks to the British Film Institute, we can still enjoy some of his later classics, like Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost (1901), the earliest surviving version of Dickens' classic, The Magic Sword (1901), and ambitious fantasy epic, and The ? Motorist (1906) an early science fiction film in the spirit of Méliès. It's possible that Paul's film is heavily influenced by either or both of the Mutoscope and GAS films, as originality took second place to commerce in the early days of cinema.
Rêve de Noël/The Christmas Dream (1900)
On the December 1st, 1900, Georges Méliès revealed his big Christmas release to Star Film's eager customers. Rêve de Noël (known as The Christmas Dream in England and the USA, where it debuted at New York's Eden Musee on December 16th, 1901) was one of 34 films he made that year, as well as creating tableaux for the Paris World's Fair, but the prolific auteur was determined to top the success of the previous year's Cendrillon (Cinderella) and spent, he claimed, "…three months concentrated work, packed to produce a projection of 10 minutes' duration, without losing interest for one moment."
Described as both "Father Christmas" and "The King of Toyland" in publicity material, a bad-tempered Santa has more of supporting role here, and it's left to the Angels to distribute the gifts, with the central story being that of a beggar, threatened with ejection, invited to the feast by a wealthy host. The version we can see today last 4 minutes 15 seconds, and appears to be missing one scene, featuring a choir and organist, with some of the others truncated. Nevertheless, it's full of the charm we expect from Méliès, particularly in the distinctive set design and shows the development of his techniques as Star Film's productions became more ambitious.
It's well worth checking out these early examples of Christmas cinema, and reflecting on how well they capture the spirit of the season, in contrast to the mega-budget, syrupy extravaganzas we're forced to endure 110 years later.
Viewing
Santa Claus (1889) can be viewed on the BFI's YouTube channel
Rêve de Noël/The Christmas Dream can be seen on the DVD set Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913), from Flicker Alley.
Also recommended is the DVD, Christmas Past: Vintage Holiday Films, from Kino Video. which includes the 1905 Edison Night Before Christmas, and eight other silent films from 1901 to 1925, including a 1910 version of A Christmas Carol.
Reference
The AFI Catalog: Silent Film
The British Film Catalogue: Volume 1, Fiction Film 1895–1994, 3rd Edition; Denis Gifford. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001. Pages 7 and 8.
L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès; Jacques Malthête, Laurent Mannoni. Éditions de La Martinière/La Cinématèque Française, 2008. Pages 109–111.
Marvellous Méliès; Paul Hammond. The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, 1974. Page 44.
Coca-cola-art.com, A Coca-Cola Blog by RockAndRoll Agency, Coca-Cola Santa Claus: Coke Christmas Art by Haddon Sundblom.
* The New York Times Web Site, 12.23.09; "Literary Sleuth Casts Doubt on the Authorship of an Iconic Christmas Poem".
The Kingdom of the Fairies (1903)
Alternate Titles: Le Royaume des fées (French title); Fairyland; or, the Kingdom of the Fairies (US title); Wonders of the Deep (UK title).
Country: France
Length: 16’26” / 1,080ft.
Black and White
Production Company: Star Film
Mise en scène: Georges Méliès
Based on: La Biche au bois (The Doe in the Forest—1865), by the Brothers Cogniard (or La Biche au bois, pièce féerie en 1 acte, mêlée de couplets (1826) by Nicolas Brazier, Pierre-Frédéric-Adolphe Carmouche and Jean-Baptiste Dubois).
Cast: Georges Méliès (Prince Bel-Azor), Marguerite Thévenard (Princess Azurine), Bluette Bernon (Aurora).
Synopsis: The announcement of the betrothal of Princess Azurine and Prince Bel-Azor, is interrupted by a witch, who curses the Princess and later, with her minions, carries her away on a chariot of fire. With the aid of the Fairy Godmother Aurora, the prince gives chase, and after a shipwreck, is helped by Neptune to locate the witch’s castle. The Princess is rescued, the castle destroyed and the witch thrown over a cliff in a barrel.
Review: Star Film # 483–489. Méliès’ big production of 1903 thankfully still survives in its hand-colored form. Mme Thulliers and her team of girls were responsible for coloring each frame—each girl was assigned a different color—and they provided this service for the majority of the French film industry. The result is well worth the effort, as this is one of Méliès’ most sumptuously designed productions. The flaming chariot that carries away the princess, and the undersea journey to Neptune’s court, are particularly impressive, and the triumphant return of the prince and princess is a rare example of a scene shot outdoors at the Montreuil studio.
While the film is widely reported as being based on either the stage works, by the Brothers Cogniard (performed at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in 1845), or Nicolas Brazier, Pierre-Frédéric-Adolphe Carmouche and Jean-Baptiste Dubois (performed in the same theater in 1826), sources also mention the story by Marie-Catherine le Jumel d'Aulnoy (1650/1–1705)—who first coined the term ‘fairy tale’—there seems to be very little similarity between the stage works (which are possibly related) and the story. Raymond Knapp, in The American Musical and the Formation of National Identity (Princeton University Press, 2005), mentions that an 1865 revival of the Cogniard piece by Hervé, includes ballet sequences for “sea creatures set in an underwater grotto.” It seems likely therefore that the fairy tale and the play have no link (in the fairy tale, the princess is turned into a doe), and this film is based solely on one or other (or both) of the stage works.
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Alternate Titles: Le Voyage dans la lune (French title); A Trip to Mars (US title)
Country: France
Length: 12’46” / 845ft.
Black and White
Budget: 10,000 francs
Production Company: Star Film
Mise en scène: Georges Méliès
Based on: Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (De la Terre à la Lune, 1865), and HG Wells’ The First Men in the Moon (1901),
Camera: Lucien Tainguy
Cast: Georges Méliès (President Barbenfouillis), Victor André, Henri Dalannoy, Delpierre, Farjaux, Kelm, Brunnet, Jehanne D’Alcy, Bleuette Bernon (Phoebe), Lallemand (navy officer), dancers from the Théâtre du Châtelet (navy girls), acrobats from the Folies Bergères (Selenites).
Synopsis (with chapter headings from Méliès’ outline—my comments in italics):
1. The scientific congress at “The Astronomic Club”. The astronomers are gathered in their observatory; President Barbenfouillis enters and lays out his plans for a trip to the Moon.
2. Voting on the trip. The pages. Farewell. After some dissension, the plan is approved and the Professor selects Nostadamus, Alcofrisbas, Omega, Micromegas and Parafaragamus to accompany him, they change and exit.
3. The workshops constructing the projectile. The crew visits the construction and Micromegas falls into a vat of nitric acid.
4. The foundry. The blast furnaces. The casting of the Gun. The crew moves up to the roof and watch as molten metal pours into the mould.
5. The Astronomers board. Following a naval greeting.
6. Loading the Gun. Navy girls push the shell into the breach of the gun and wave at the crowd.
7. The Monster Gun. March of the navy artillery. Fire!!! Saluting the flag.
8. The Moon approaches. Using a similar effect to the one Méliès utilized on The Man with the Rubber Head (1901).
9. Right in the eye. One of the most famous scenes in cinema history.
10. The fall to the moon. Earth light. The shell lands, the astronomers disembark, and watch as the Earth rises.
11. The Plain of Craters. Volcanic Eruption. As the astronomers explore, an explosion throws them to the ground.
12. The dream. The comet. The Great Bear. Phoebe. The double stars, Saturn. Tired from their exertions, the crew sleep, but celestial beings are not happy with the intrusion and Phoebe causes snow to fall.
13. The Snowstorm.
14. 40° below zero. Descent into a lunar crater. Waking up freezing, the astronomers seek shelter under the surface.
15. In the interior of the Moon. The grotto of giant mushroom. In this strange new environment, one of the astronomers plants his umbrella in the ground, only to see it transform and grow into a giant mushroom.
16. Encounter with the Selenites. Heroic battle. Strange creatures appear and threaten the crew, but are dispatched with the blow of an umbrella, however the team is soon outnumbered.
17. Prisoners!
18. The Kingdom of the Moon. The Selenite Army. On his throne, inset with living stars, the Selenite king holds court, however President Barbenfouillis breaks free and kills the king.
19. Flight.
20. Wild pursuit. The astronomers run away, and kill more of the Selenites.
21. The Astronomers reunite with the Shell. Departure from the Moon. The President heroically pulls the shell over a cliff to launch it back to Earth, with one Selenite attached.
22. Vertical Drop in Space. This and the following two scenes happen in rapid cuts unusual for the time.
23. On the open sea. An outdoor scene Méliès shot while on vacation in Normandy.
24. At the bottom of the ocean. A scene filmed in a fish tank.
25. The Rescue. Return to Port. A two-dimensional model shot.
26. Great triumphant procession.
27. Crowning and decorating the heroes of the trip. The astronomers are crowned by the mayor, and the Selenite is paraded in chains and beaten with sticks.
28. Procession of the navy and firefighters.
29. Unveiling of the commemorative statue. The statue depicts Barbenfouillis standing triumphant with his foot crushing the moon (with the shell in its eye). The statue reads “Science” and “Labor Omnia Vincit” (”Hard Work Conquers All”).
30. Public rejoicing.
Review: Star Film #399–411. Méliès’ most celebrated work is a mélange of Verne and Wells, as well as a parody of French colonialism and in a career loaded with superlatives, this the first true science fiction film, is Méliès’ crowning achievement, though he didn't share that opinion, and was quoted as saying: ”…it was considered my masterpiece—I don’t agree.”
Considerably more ambitious than anything else being made at the time, the film was also something of a turn of the century blockbuster, a budget of 10,000 francs meant that the rental fees for the film where a then astronomical 560 francs for black and white, and 1,000 francs for a hand-colored version, with the US market paying $126.75 (very roughly $2,500 in today’s dollars). The French market was convinced by free showings that proved the worth of the enterprise, but Méliès was less fortunate in the USA, where pirated copies distributed by Edison (stolen by a London representative) and Siegmund Lubin (under the title: A Trip to Mars) meant that he never saw a penny – initially flattered by the success, he would open a US office the following year, to protect his copyright. The first purpose-built movie theater in the USA, Thomas Lincoln Tally’s Electric Theater in Los Angeles opened in spring 1902, and its early success was due to screenings of A Trip to the Moon.
It's ironic that the only surviving version of the film until recently, appears to have been one of these bootlegs, which ended after Scene 25. Thankfully the missing celebration scenes were found in a barn in France in 2005, and are now available on DVD.
As well as the source novels, Méliès was likely influenced by the stage success of Adolphe d’Ennery and Jules Verne’s production Voyage à travers l’impossible, which was staged 97 times in Paris from 1882 to 1883, and an unofficial operetta adaptation of the Verne novel, Le voyage dans la Lune, by Jacques Offenbach, which ran first in 1876 and was revived at the Théâtre du Châtelet in 1877. Chapter VI of Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions; Including Trick Photography by Albert A. Hopkins, details the effects produced for an illustrated lecture named “A Trip to the Moon”, that had been popular in Berlin, and included a scene showing “The phenomena of earthlight and sunlight upon the moon”, which may have influenced Scene 10.
One of the pleasures of Méliès more ambitious works, is the discovery of subtle references that, while striking to contemporary viewers, may be lost on an audience watching the films over a century later. The negative response of the heavens to the intruders from Earth in Scene 10 (Saturn was known in mediaeval times as the god of justice), and the Astronomers' attacks on the Selenites, echo the disillusion with rampant colonialism felt in Paris following the revelation that the Voulet-Chinoine Mission of 1899, designed to unify French territories in West Africa, had ended in the slaughter of thousands. It's also worth noting that Phoebe, one of Saturn's moons, had been the first satellite discovered by photographic means in 1899.
Even the names of the expedition group are deep with meaning: President Barbenfouillis (which translates as ”messy beard”) may be a simple parody of Verne’s hero, President Barbicane of the Baltimore Gun Club, but other members of the crew show elements of parody and homage: The original Nostradamus predicted man’s travel to the moon, Alcofrisbas is taken from the fact that François Rabelais wrote his satirical fantasy Pantagruel under the nom de plume Alcofrisbas Nasier), Omega is possibly a reference to Camille Flammarion’s apocalyptic 1893 novel Omega: The Last Days of the World (La Fin du Monde), and Micromégas is a reference to Voltaire’s 1752 short story of that name about a giant from the star system Sirius visiting Earth. Parafaragamus has no known derivation, but is a name Méliès would use again in 1906 in The Mysterious Retort/Alchimiste Parafaragamus ou la cornue infernale).
None of this takes away from from the sheer enjoyment that A Trip to the Moon still provides and the knowledge (detractors’ attacks on Méliès primitive approach to film-making notwithstanding) that this was produced months before Edwin S Porter fired a gun at the audience in The Great Train Robbery (1903), a film generally regarded as the first example of narrative in cinema.
Watch on DVD
Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913). Flicker Alley; DVD Region 1.
The Movies Begin – A Treasury of Early Cinema, 1894–1913. Kino Video; DVD Region 1.
Watch on YouTube: Le voyage dans la Lune, Méliès, 1902 (with French commentary, full version but projected too fast, hence the short running time).
Watch on YouTube: Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight (Video) (based on A Trip to the Moon, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who went on to direct Little Miss Sunshine).
Further Reading/Sources
A Trip to the Movies: Georges Méliès, Filmmaker and Magician (1861–1938); Paolo Cherchi Usai (editor). International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House/Edizioni Biblioteca dell’Immagine/Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, 1991.
Artificially Arranged Scenes: The Films of Georges Méliès; John Frazer. GK Hall & Co., 1979.
L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès; Jacques Malthête, Laurent Mannoni. Éditions de La Martinière/La Cinématèque Française, 2008.
French Film Directors: Georges Méliès; Elizabeth Ezra. Manchester University Press, 2000.
Marvellous Méliès; Paul Hammond. The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, 1974.
George Méliès' A Trip to the Moon: Influences of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells & Others; Steve Joyce. Web site available here: www.silentsf.com/Project_Melies/index.html
Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions; Including Trick Photography; Albert A Hopkins. Munn & Co., 1897 (available through Google Book Search): http://books.google.com/books.
"Spectacular Attractions: Film in All its Forms"; Dan North, has an excellent shot-by-shot commentary here.
See Also
Excursion to the Moon (1908), remake by Segundo de Chomón for Pathé Frères
The First Men in the Moon (1919)
From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
First Men in the Moon (1964)
"From the Earth to the Moon" (1998) the documentary series features a reconstruction of Méliès’ production, with Tchéky Karyo and Tom Hanks.
The Man with the Rubber Head (1901)
Alternate Titles: L’Homme à la tête en caoutchouc (French title); The Man with the India-Rubber Head
Country: France
Length: 2’31”
Black and White
Mise en scène: Georges Méliès
Starring: Georges Méliès
Production Company: Star Film
Synopsis (translated from the Star Film Catalog, 1902, Page 13): A chemist in his laboratory places his own living head on a table then, attaching a rubber pipe and bellows, begins to inflate the head with all his strength. Immediately the head increases in volume, and grimacing, takes on colossal proportions. The chemist fearing the head may burst, opens a tap on the pipe; at once the head deflates and returns to its natural dimension. The chemist then calls his assistant and informs him of his discovery. The assistant, wishing to see for himself, seizes the bellows and starts to blow violently. The head, becoming enormous, bursts with a crash, astounding the two operators. The furious chemist seizes his assistant and throws him out of the window [in actual fact a door].
Review: Star Films #382–383 is one of Georges Méliès’ most celebrated works. The Man with the Rubber Head is a major step up from his earlier trick films, which often relied on simple substitution, or more complex multiple exposures to achieve the desired effect. Here, to achieve the illusion of the expanding head, Méliès created a ramp, which moved towards the camera, with Méliès sitting on a chair, his head sticking through a hole in a table covered in black cloth.
The effect works well, despite a few moments where his head bounces above the table top, and it’s indicative of Méliès ingenious approach that he chose to move himself towards the camera, rather the move the heavy and sensitive camera equipment towards him.
Scoffing at the attempts of his Pathé competitor, Ferdinand Zecca, to replicate this effect, Méliès said in a 1935 interview with Henri Langlois, founder of the Cinémathèque française (printed in the magazine Cinema 71, Paris 1971), “Zecca sought in vain to reproduce the trick by bringing his camera to the severed head; which then overflowed the plane of the table progressively as it enlarged. I did it otherwise, advancing towards the camera, rising up little by little in such a way so that my chin rested on the plane of the table.”
It is likely that Méliès was influenced by a book first published in 1897 named Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions; Including Trick Photography, compiled and edited by Albert A. Hopkins (editor of the Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts, Notes and Queries), which was the first publication to expose the workings of stage magic tricks by the likes of Robert-Houdin (whose theater Méliès owned), and others including Buatier de Kolta (whose vanishing lady act formed the basis of Méliès' first film), and Maskelyne and Cooke. One chapter is entirely devoted to “Photographic Diversions”, including “Photography upon a Black Ground” and “Photographing a Human Head upon a Table”.
Set design and painting are well up to Méliès usual standards, with a prominent Star Film logo on the left, which was intended to combat copyright theft (mainly by Philadelphia-based entrepreneur Siegmund Lubin), unfortunately this proved unsuccessful and two years later, Georges’ brother, Gaston (who previously ran a shoe company in Charing Cross Road, London with brother Henri), opened a Star Film office at 204 East 38th Street, New York (now home to an aquarium store and gym), with the stated aim: “energetically to pursue all counterfeiters and pirates.” (Star Film Catalogue, New York, 1903).
Watch on DVD
Georges Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (1896-1913). Flicker Alley; DVD Region 1.
Watch on YouTube: Georges Méliès - L'homme a la tête en caoutchouc (1901)
Further Reading/Sources
L'oeuvre de Georges Méliès; Jacques Malthête, Laurent Mannoni. Éditions de La Martinière/La Cinématèque française, 2008.
Artificially Arranged Scenes: The Films of Georges Méliès; John Frazer. GK Hall & Co., 1979.
Marvellous Méliès; Paul Hammond. The Gordon Fraser Gallery Ltd, 1974.
French Film Directors: Georges Méliès; Elizabeth Ezra. Manchester University Press, 2000.
Georges Méliès: Father of Fantasy Film; David Robinson. British Film Institute, Museum of the Moving Image, 1993.
Magic: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions; Including Trick Photography; Albert A Hopkins. Munn & Co., 1897 (available through Google Book Search: http://books.google.com/books.
