Le Grand Méliès

An Homage to GEORGE MELIES (1861-1938)

Artistic Director of the Théatre Robert-Houdin

Artist, Actor, Set Designer, Director

Innovator of Modern Special Effects

Creator of Cinematic Entertainment

Featuring MADAME GEORGE MELIES

and ANDRE MELIES in the Role of His Father

In this building, home to a few retired film professionals,

my grandfather, Georges Meéliés, spent his final days.

G. MELIES 2ND FLOOR

Madame Georges Mélies, my grandmother.

"Vivons heureux,"

a waltz my grandfather composed for her

a long time ago.

"Far from the crowds, my lovely

Let me see myself in your eyes

Ardent is my love

What matters are the crazy things we devise

Let's forget life's troubles

Think of them no more

Far from the crowds, my lovely

Let us live happily evermore"

Mismatched mementos of a once-renowned life

that was filled with kindness and generosity

and that shouldn't have ended this way.

Magician and groundbreaking force in cinema,

Georges Meélies, forgotten after the Great War,

resurfaced in 1928 at the Montparnasse train station,

where he had a toy shop.

The creation of several thousand poetic and magical films

had swallowed up all his wealth

except for his most precious assets that he saved

from unscrupulous businessmen.

his love of children, and his fondness for illusions,

which reminded him of magical evenings at the Théatre Robert-Houdin.

He enjoyed practicing his iflusionist's tricks.

He'd steal coin purses,

but he always gave them back,

with plenty of candy to ease the shock.

FORTY YEARS EARLIER

AT THE THEATRE ROBERT-HOUDIN...

Ladlies and gentlemen, you have the honor of applauding...

in his show of phantasmagorical illusions,

Mr. Mélies!

Act one:

prestidjgitation, sleight of hand,

Streamers, and flying pigeons!

Act two.

in the crystal ball, a crowned head's past and future.

And now, some images whose artistic quality

and historical value you will appreciate.

Masers de Latude, for offending Mme de Pompadour, spent 35 years

in the cells of Charenton, Vincennes, the Bastille, and Chételet.

Take him away!

These drawings, projected from behind the screen,

were the first steps foward the cinematic entertainment

that Georges Méelies would create.

Napoleon, at the pyramids, to a deaf and dying grenadier:

‘Soldier, I'm proud of you!"

No answer.

Abdelkader surrenders to General de Lamoriciere,

and we get a glimpse of the fool's errand...

that began in 1847

and continues toaay.

The gendarme is a figure of little importance,

but he always has the last word.

One evening in 1895,

strolling along the boulevard — a favorite pastime for a Parisian —

Meélieés stopped before a poster

aavertising a demonstration of the Lumiere Cinématographe.

Sensing a special event, he entered the Grand Café

where Louis Lumiere was showing the first films shot with his invention.

Mélies glimpsed the possibilities of the Cinématographe

in short, simple films like

L'Arroseur arrosé, L'Arrivée d'un train,

Les mauvaises fréquentations, and so on.

After the show,

Meélies and Lumiére had the following conversation:

"It's extraordinary, Mr. Lumiere."

‘Mr. Mélies, it's a mere scientific curiosity."

"I'd love to buy one of your machines."

‘My invention's not for sale."

"I'll give you 10,000 francs."

"Why bother, Mr. Mélies?"

"Twenty thousand francs."

"I don't wish to ruin you, Mr. Mélies.

The Cinématographe has no commercial future."

"No future?

It brings the whole world within reach!"

But Lumiere was not to be swayed.

A few months later, Meélies managed to develop

his own camera.

That very day,

he ‘cinématographed" in his garden a magic trick

from the Théatre Robert-Houdin. making a woman disappear.

He made sure to conceal