1300B. PROGRAM ONE - NEW BEGINNINGS batch2/20260907_122316

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## HEADING: 1300B. PROGRAM ONE - NEW BEGINNINGS

## LEFT COLUMN

Editing the Factory - Lumiere, France 1896, 1:13
Card Party (hand-colored) - Lumiere, France, 1896, 1:26
For many, cinema began on December 28, 1895, with the first public projection of short films like Exiting the Factory, Arrival of a Train and Card Party by Louis and Auguste Lumiere. But these iconic films also exist in alternative versions, sometimes with each frame of the print colored by hand!
Card Party was found in a French cheese store in the mid-1980s, along with five other "vues" in color. Lobster Films purchased the original Lumière-perforation negatives of Workers Leaving the Paugoot Factory and fifty other titles at an auction in Lyon for about fifty U.S. dollars. They were wrapped up in old paper which turned out to be an original poster of Watering the Garden, perhaps the very first poster in the history of moving pictures! Music for Exiting the Factory and Card Party by Neil Brand. Music for Arrival of a Train by Eric le Guen.

Kobelikoff - France, 1900, 1:24
Carnivals were popular amusements in the late 19th century, featuring rides, x-rays, games of skill, wild animals, strong men, contortionists, and even tent-show clowns. Midway freak shows — giants, dwarfs, bearded women — were especially potent public attractions.
Movies carried these exhibits to audiences unable to witness them in real life. Filmed about 1900, here is the famous man-torso, Nikolai Kobelikoff, born in Siberia (1851) and a performer beginning in 1874. None of us at Lobster Films had heard of Kobelikoff until TV producer producing a program on freaks mentioned his name and asked whether we could find film of him. We believed none existed, and could not — but only a month later, on a little roll of film found in an antique shop in the south of France, we saw "Kobelik" written in ink. It had 1897 perforations, and was the camera negative of this very early film!

Dance Serpantine (I) a Lion's Cage) (hand-colored) - France, 1900, 2:08
The famous serpentine dance was originated by modern dance pioneer Loie Fuller and soon widely imitated in both American and European vaudeville. This performance shows Mme. Ondine performing the dance — in a lion's cage! Music by Eric le Guen.

Gyrano de Bergerac (hand-colored, sound on cylinder) - Phono-Chimda-Théâtre, 1900, 1:55
This film was preserved from the original 35mm hand-colored print shown on a wax cylinder and synchronization depended upon the projectionist's skill. Probably the first color and sound film, the duel scene from Cyrano de Bergerac was filmed by Clement-Maurice with Coquelin Aîné for the Phono-Cinema- Théâtre at the Grand Universal Exposition of 1900. The sound was prerecorded in 1900, and we express appreciation to the Gaumont-Pathe archive. The perforation system is unique (one perf on the frame line in the center of the film), but Jean de Oliveira, who owns Prestech Laboratory in London, scanned every frame of the film, one by one, in 2K for the best possible resolution. The original sound comes from three sources: an incomplete 35mm nitrate print of a compilation film, 40 Years of Cinema, and two discs held in private collections, one of which is an incomplete dub of an original cylinder which has since been lost.

## RIGHT COLUMN

La Marseillaise (sound on disc) - Georges Méliès, France, 1907, 2:41
By 1907, sound experimenter Georges Méliès had devised a system to assume synchronization by mechanically interlocking phonograph and projector. Again, the film was shot to playback, but amplification of the acoustic recording remains a significant limitation. Here, M. Noté of the Paris Opera sings La Marseillaise in 1908.
Lobster acquired this as an unidentified film from a private collector. We never knew what it was until one day a friend realized that the man was actually singing the French national anthem. Because Méliès was using commercial records to which the artists mouthed lyrics and there were few recordings of La Marseillaise at that time, we simply tried the film against an original record we found — and it matched! The phonograph catalogue identified M. Noté.

PROGRAM ONE - MAGICAL MOVIES
Escalator - Prince of Magicians - Georges Méliès, France, 1901, 2:08
French stage magician and illusionist Georges Méliès began filmmaking in the principal part; he was undoubtedly the most accomplished filmmaker Meliès works, designed and directed his films and often (as here) performed Trick films such as this one from 1901, Escalator - Prince of Magicians. In 1896, he worked in many genres, but especially remembered for short

The Tailor Punishment (stencil-colored) Pathé Frères, France, 1906, 4:13
Fantasy films. Producer Pathé Frères introduced stencil-color in 1904. The Tailor Punishment was made in 1906 by Gaston Vella, a specialist in prints were laid out on long tables and colors were applied one at a time Stencils were hand-cut for every frame of each color. Black-and-white with a process similar to silk screening. Here, maidens dressed as butterflies retaliate against a busy lepidopterist. This print is part of the Lobster Films collection. Music by Eric le Guen.

Kiki, Japanese Acrobats (hand-colored) Pathé Frères, France, 1907, 2:38
Kiki), Japanese acrobats was made for Pathé Frères in 1907 by Segundo de Chomon, pioneer of Spanish cinema and master of special effects. Only a fragment of this film survived in stencil color. The negative was housed in the collection of the Cinématheque Française, but had never been printed frame by frame, using the techniques of the late 19th century. Music by Eric le Guen.
Chomon made a new black-and-white fine grain from the original negative in 2000, with the fragment as palette. Helaine Rombert then hand-colored the new copy

An Excursion to the Moon (stencil-colored) Pathé Frères, France, 1908, 6:47
Georges Méliès' best-known film, A Trip to the Moon, is inspired by Jules Verne's "From the Earth to the Moon" and H. G. Wells' "First Men on the Moon." In 1908, Segundo de Chomon made an Excursion to the Moon, an imitation of Méliès' work, which is preserved with the original Pathé Frères stencils were laid out on long tables and colors were applied one at a time prints were hand-cut for every frame of each color. Black-and-white Fantasy films. Producer Pathé Frères introduced stencil-color in 1904. The Tailor Punishment was made in 1906 by Gaston Vella, a specialist in with a process similar to silk screening. Here, maidens dressed as butterflies retaliate against a busy lepidopterist. This print is part of the Lobster Films collection. Music by Frederick Hodges.

The Automatic Moving Company - Pathé Frères, France, 1911, 4:23
Historian Donald Crafton credits this 1911 Pathé Frères film The Auto-matic Moving Company to Romeo Seteffi; it too is an imitation of an earlier work. Emile Cohl's Mobillier Fidele made in 1910 for Pathé's rival, Gaumont. However, Cohl also worked for Pathé in 1911 and the two artists sometimes collaborated. Regardless of authorship, it's brilliant. Only the scale of the straw reveals it to have been achieved in miniature.

PROGRAM ONE - SEEING THE WORLD
The Seine Flood - Eclipse, France, 1910, 4:16
These long-forgotten images of The Seine Flood, which devastated Paris in late January, 1910, were miraculously found only recently. They allow us to understand the magnitude of the catastrophe that immobilized the city for several weeks, leaving over 150,000 disaster victims in its wake. The film was produced by the Eclipse Company (1907-1920), only about 100 reels survive from its production of 1,600 films. It was found at a flea market in Portobello Road, London, in 1986. Music by Eric Behelm.

Over the Top (A Battle With The Elements) - Earle Films, USA, 1915, 11:22
In 1915, the Reno Commercial Club offered a trophy for the first car to travel a new route from San Francisco to Reno. This may sound easy, but much of the way across the Sierras involved slowly winching and pushing the 1915 Buick through snow and ice along an unplowed, steep, narrow, ill-defined road. In fact, you may wonder that these men attempted such a feat for mere trophy! The film was copied by Blackhawk in 1988 from an original nitrate print loaned by an elderly and secretive private collector. Music by Eric Behelm.

A Visit to Los Angeles - Ford Motor Company, USA, 1916, 10:25
To popularize the idea of automobile travel, Ford Motor Company produced Ford Educational Weekly, a film magazine distributed free to theaters. One 1916 series featured "Visits to American Cities." In this episode, Los Angeles is featured at the very beginning of the boom created by oil movies and aircraft. On the occasion of its centennial in 1953, Ford donated its film library to the National Archives and Records Service; this copy derives from a fine grain master printed from the Archive's preservation negative. Music by Frederick Hodges.

Montmartre's Kids - France, 1916, 3:51
Montmartre's Kids, also from 1916, was filmed on the Parisian hill, which with its height, light and cheap rents, was home to such artists as Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, Braque, and Picasso. Another figure of the period, Francis Poulbot, created the theme is the effect of the war on these children who, in the absence of Germans, attack a concierge! The previous owner of this original print was a hair stylist and florist in a small village in France, and when there was a funeral he would not only shave the corpse but also provide fresh flowers for the grave! Music by Eric le Guen.