Méliès, Georges. (1861–1938)
Signed Document receiving Royalties from New York Film Sales, 1913 Rare signed document from the French filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest cinema. DS in French, signed “G. Melies,” one page, 8.5 x 10.75, February 4, 1913. On elaborated printed advertising letterhead: "Manufacture de films pour cinématographes. G. Méliès fabricant b[réve]té 16 passage de l'Opéra Paris IXe. Spécialités de vues à transformations, trucs, fééries, apothéoses, scènes artistiques, scènes fantastiques, sujets comiques, scènes de guerre, actualités, fantaisies, illusions etc." (“Manufacture of Cinematic Films. G. Méliès ...Specialties from views to transformations, magic tricks, apotheoses, artistic scenes, fantastic scenes, comic subjects, war scenes, news, fantasies, illusions etc."). The document confirms receipt “from Mr. G. Melies Manufacturing & Co. from New York the amount of four hundred and 61 francs" and includes the separate sheet carbon statement listing films produced by the company and the corresponding royalties due. Expected document wear, scattered creases, and some tears to filing holes along the left edge, otherwise fine condition.
Among the silent shorts listed on the royalty statement are 41 prints of "A Ballad of the South Seas," 11 prints of "A Cowboy's Proposal" and 1 print of "The Lesson." Georges Melies ran his film production company in Paris while his older brother managed the American branch in New York; this document evidently concerns a transaction between the two.
At once the cinema's first true artist and the most prolific technical innovator of the early years, Georges Méliès was a pioneer in recognizing the possibilities of the medium for narrative and spectacle. He created the basic vocabulary of special effects, and built the first studio of glass-house form, the prototype of European studios of the silent era. The success of his films contributed to the development of an international market in films and did much to secure the ascendancy of French cinema in the pre-1914 years. Outside this historical contribution, Méliès's films are the earliest to survive as a total, coherent artistic creation with its own validity and personality. A genuine virtuoso who produced and directed his own films while also devising the narratives; designing the sets, costumes and props; and frequently performing the leading parts, he built the first movie studio in 1896 near Paris and from it cascaded a staggering variety of 500 films - fantastic magic films, dream films, historical reconstructions, imaginary journeys, melodramas, slapstick comedies -- even erotic films.
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