Jean Paul

Little is known about the actor Jean Paul or Jean-Paul (?-?). The comedian was mainly active in the German theatre but he also sporadically appeared in short German films during the silent era.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2363. Photo: Elga Film. Senta Söneland and Jean Paul in Habakuk (Franz Schmelter, 1918).


German postcard by NPG, no. K 538. Photo: Alex Binder, Berlin.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 2365. Photo: Elga-Film, Berlin. Jean Paul in Bastelmeyer's Abenteuer (1918). The postcard writes the film title as Rastelmeyer's Abenteuer. Mistake?

Pioneer of German cinema

Jean Paul's first films were made in 1908. So, he belonged to the pioneers of German cinema.

His first films were the shorts Der Rastelbinder/The raster binder (?, 1908) and Allein/Alone (?, 1908), both made for Deutsche Bioscop GmbH.

Ten years followed before he returned to the screen. For the small Elga-Film studio, he co-starred in the drama Habakuk (Franz Schmelter, 1918) with Senta Söneland.

He had the leading role in the short comedy, Bastelmeyers Abenteuer/Bastelmeyer's Adventures (?, 1918), also made for Elga-Film. According to Filmportal.de, these were the only two productions by Berlin-based Elga-Film.

Jean Paul's final film was Das Kaviar-mäuschen/The caviar mouse (Gerhard Dammann, 1919) with Josefine Dora, Dora Hrach and Ada Svedin. It was produced by LloydFilm and written by Bruno Decker, Hanns Kräly, Julius Lachmann and Erich Schönfelder. According to our sources, it was Jean Paul's final film.


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K. 2362. Photo: Elga Film. Senta Söneland and Jean Paul in Habakuk (Franz Schmelter, 1918)


German postcard by Photochemie, Berlin, no. K 2364. Photo: Elga-Film.

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Filmportal.de and IMDb.