23 November 2019

New acquisitions: Pathé Frères

Between 1903 and 1910, Pathé dominated the international film world. Three-quarter of what every film visitor, even in America, would see in a vaudeville house, in the booth of a travelling cinema, or in one of the very early permanent cinemas, were Pathé productions. The driving force behind this pioneering film operation was Charles Pathé. He set both the artistic and technical standards for film. Pathé Frères also pioneered during the early 1910s with postcards of the actors in its films. Today, a post on postcards by Edition Pathé Frères, Ivo Blom acquired recently. And I added one of my own acquisitions, a few star postcards published for the promotion of the Pathé-Baby, a 9.5 mm projector for home entertainment, which was introduced by Pathé in 1922.

Edition Pathé Frères


Yvonne de Bray
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Yvonne de Bray (1887-1954) was a French stage and screen actress, famous for her role as Sophie in Jean Cocteau's film Les parents terribles (1948).

Henry Krauss
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: Benque.

French actor and director Henry Krauss (1866-1935) was a veteran of the European cinema. From 1908 on he starred in several powerful character roles in early silent films.

Léontine Massart
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: X.

Léontine Massart (1885-1980) was a French stage and screen actress of Belgian origin. She peaked in French silent film of the early 1910s.

Léontine Massart
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères.

Léontine Massart (1885-1980) was a French stage and screen actress of Belgian origin. She peaked in French silent film of the early 1910s.

Gabrielle Robinne
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: Henri Manuel. Mlle Robinne de la Comédie Française.

Gabrielle Robinne (1886-1980) was a French stage and film actress, who had the peak of her film career in the 1910s.

Émile Dehelly
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: A. Bert. Emile Dehelly de la Comédie Française. French actor Emile Dehelly as D'Artagnan in the Le Film d'Art production of Les trois mousquetaires/The Three Musketeers (Henri Pouctal, 1913), based on Alexandre Dumas' famous novel.

Crane Wilbur
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères.

Crane Wilbur (1886–1973) was an American writer, actor, and director for stage, radio, and screen, best remembered for playing Harry Marvin in the popular Pathé serial The Perils of Pauline (1914).

Georges Saillard
French postcard by Edition Pathé Frères. Photo: A. Bert.

French actor Georges Saillard (1877-1967) appeared from 1909 on in several early silent Eclair and Pathé productions. He was born in 1877 in Besançon, Doubs, France as Georges Augustin Eugène. He was known for his roles in films like Le petit Jacques/Little Jack (Georges Monca, 1913), Les misérables (Henri Fescourt, 1925) starring Gabriel Gabrio, and Yoshiwara (Max Ophüls, 1937), starring Pierre-Richard Willm and Sessue Hayakawa. Saillard died in 1967 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. He had starred in more than 70 films between 1909 and 1950.

Check out this earlier post about Edition Pathé Frères.

Pathé Baby


Max Linder
French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby.

French comedian Max Linder (1883-1925), with his trademark silk hat, stick and moustache was an influential pioneer of the silent film. He was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy and he was the highest paid entertainer of his day.

Melle Moimot
French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby.

Miss (Mademoiselle) Moimotis an unknown actress who probably appeared in Pathé productions. Pathé-Baby was the name given by Charles Pathé to a mainstream amateur cinema system launched in 1922 and using a 9.5 mm wide film with central perforations, the smallest format existing at the time. The Pathé-Baby was initially a small crank projector capable of projecting short films packaged in a metal cartridge that contained less than ten meters of non-flammable film. For Christmas 1922 , several thousand Pathé-Baby projectors were put on the market accompanied by an important catalog of 192 titles extracted from the Pathé film library. Because of the success and demand, a camera was made, also by the company Continsouza, and put on the market in 1923 .

Léon Mathot
French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby.

Léon Mathot was a French actor and director, born 1886 in Roubaix and died 1968 in Paris. Mathot became well-known for his role of Edmond Dantès in the French serial Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1918), directed by Henri Pouctal. Mathot became one of the most popular stars of French silent film of the 1920s with such film as L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922) and Coeur fidèle (1923) by Jean Epstein. From 1927, he also became a film director, directing over 20 films.

Simone Aurel
Simone Aurel. French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby.

Pierrette Madd
French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby. Pierrette Madd as Raoul, the Vicomte de Bragelonne in Vingt ans après (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922), the sequel to Les Trois mousquetaires (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1921).

Pierrette Madd (1893-1967) was a French operetta singer, who had a short-lived career in the French silent films of Henri Diamant-Berger.

Régine Dumien
French postcard by Helio Paul et Vigier, Paris, ca. 1922. Photo: Pathé. Promotional postcard for the Pathé-Baby.

Sweet 'little angel' Régine Dumien (1914-1979) was a popular child star of the French silent cinema of the early 1920s.

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