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Ferdinand Zecca

January 01, 1970

Ferdinand Zecca (19 February 1864 – 23 March 1947)[1] was a pioneer French film director, film producer, actor and screenwriter. He worked primarily for the Pathé company, first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationally based company.

Ferdinand Zecca
Born
Ferdinand Louis Zecca

(1864-02-19)19 February 1864
Paris, France
Died23 March 1947(1947-03-23) (aged 83)
Saint-Mandé, France
Occupations

Early life edit

Ferdinand Louis Zecca was born in Paris on 19 February 1864 into an Italian family steeped in the entertainment world. His father was the stage manager at the Paris Théâtre de l'Ambigu while his brothers were actors. [Note 1] [2] Zecca also became a stage manager and then an actor, before working as an entertainer, playing the cornet and singing in Parisian cafés. He was playing the cornet at the Foire au Pain d'épices, when he encountered filmmaker Léon Gaumont.

Filmmaking edit

From 1891, Zecca had worked occasionally recording voice-overs for phonograph records for the Pathé Frères company, a pioneer in the cinema and audio recording industries. After 1895, Pathé became more involved in cinema. Gaumont first hired Zecca as an actor in 1898 but Zecca directed his first film for Pathé, an experimental sound production, Le Muet mélomane (1899) based on a musical Zecca and another artist, Charlus, were performing. At the request of entrepreneur Georges Dufayel, owner of the Grands Magasins Dufayel, they acted the piece before a ciné camera. His next film, Les Méfaits d'une tête de veau (1899) was for Gaumont.[3]

In 1900, unable to personally do the work, Charles Pathé had Zecca set up the Pathé pavilion in the Paris World Fair (Exposition Universelle). After seeing his work, Pathé offered Zecca a position in his film company in Vincennes, first as an assistant to a director. Engaging Zecca "for a few weeks", he quickly became Pathé's right-hand man and was soon creating and directing his own films.

 
Zecca often appeared in his own films including À la conquête de l'air (1901).

Zecca explored many themes from the mundane to the fantastic. In À la conquête de l'air (1901), a strange flying machine, called Fend-l'air, was seen flying over the rooftops of Belleville. By using trick photography, the one-minute short was notable in being the first aviation film, predating the flight by the Wright Brothers by two years.[4][Note 2]

Zecca also pioneered one of the first crime dramas, Histoire d'un crime (1901), stylistically innovative in its use of superimposition. The story was of a man condemned to death, awaiting execution with his crimes appearing on his cell wall. The film is an early example of flashbacks as a film device.[3] Other films included comedies, trick films or fairy tales, such as Les Sept châteaux du Diable, both 1901, and La Belle au bois dormant in 1902, as well as social dramas like Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme (1902), Au pays noir (1905) and reconstructions of actual events, the most famous being La Catastrophe de la Martinique (1902).

Zecca acted in many of his films. At the end of 1906, assisted by the Spaniard Segundo de Chomón's photography and special effects, Zecca continued to experiment. He co-directed La Vie et la passion de Jésus Christ (1903), which, at a running time of 44 minutes, was one of the first feature-length films about Jesus. He started filming in colour, with second Vie et Passion de N.S. Jésus Christ, shot in four parts with 38 scenes, 990 metres long, which was finished in 1907.[5]

Between 1900 and 1907, Zecca oversaw the production of hundreds of Pathé films from many important Pathé directors including Nonguet Lucien, Gaston Velle, Albert Capellani, Louis J. Gasnier, André Heuzé and Henri Pouctal. Zecca also acted, directed, produced, and, on occasion, wrote films. After Pathé bought the rights to Star films, Zecca started editing films by George Méliès.

Appointed Managing Director of Pathé in 1905, in 1913 Zecca was sent to the United States to take charge of the American Pathé production house. He returned to France in 1919, where as a co-director with René Leprincee, he made Le Calvaire d'une reine, his last film. In the same year, Zecca was appointed to head the Pathé-Baby division, producing equipment and cameras for thin film, where he worked until his retirement in 1939.

In March 1947 at the age of 83, in his residence at Saint-Mandé, France, Ferdinand Zecca died.

Filmography edit

as director

  • 1899: Les Mésaventures d'un muet mélomane (Le Muet mélomane)
  • 1899: Les Méfaits d'une tête de veau
  • 1901: Une tempête dans une chambre à coucher
  • 1901: Une idylle sous un tunnel
  • 1901: Un duel abracadabrant
  • 1901: Un drame au fond de la mer
  • 1901: La Soupière merveilleuse
  • 1901: Les Sept Châteaux du diable
  • 1901: Rêve et Réalité
  • 1901: Plongeur fantastique
  • 1901: Par le trou de la serrure
  • 1901: La Mégère récalcitrante
  • 1901: Le Mauvais Riche
  • 1901: La Loupe de grand-maman
  • 1901: L'Illusionniste mondain
  • 1901: Histoire d'un crime
  • 1901: L'Enfant Prodigue
  • 1901: Comment on met son couvert
  • 1901: Comment Fabien devient architecte
  • 1901: Scènes vues de mon balcon (Ce que je vois de mon sixième)
  • 1901: À la conquête de l'air
  • 1901: L'Agent plongeur
  • 1901: Une discussion politique
  • 1901: Quo Vadis?
  • 1902: Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme
  • 1902: Une séance de cinématographe
  • 1902: La Fée des roches noires
  • 1902: Le Conférencier distrait
  • 1902: Chez le photographe
  • 1902: La Catastrophe de la Martinique
  • 1902: La Belle au bois dormant (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)
  • 1902: Baignade impossible
  • 1902: L'Assommoir
  • 1902: L'Affaire Dreyfus
  • 1902: La Poule merveilleuse
  • 1902: Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs
  • 1902: L'Assassinat du duc de Guise
  • 1903: Samson et Dalila
  • 1903: Repas infernal
  • 1903: La Soubrette ingénieuse
  • 1903: Le Chien et la Pipe
  • 1903: Le Premier Cigare du collégien
  • 1903: Le Démon du jeu ou la Vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)
  • 1903: Les Aventures de Don Quichotte (Don Quichotte) (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)
  • 1903: Le Chat botté (coréalisation de Lucien Nonguet)
  • 1904: The Wrong Door
  • 1904: Le Portrait
  • 1904: Les Petits Coupeurs de bois vert
  • 1904: Le Pêcheur de perles
  • 1904: Annie's Love Story
  • 1904: La Grève
  • 1905: La Passion de Notre-Seigneur Jésus Christ (La Vie et la Passion de Jésus Christ)
  • 1905: Un drame à Venise
  • 1905: Rêve à la lune (coréalisation de Gaston Velle)
  • 1905: Le Remords
  • 1905: La Course aux tonneaux
  • 1905: Automobile et Cul-de-jatte
  • 1905: Au Pays Noir
  • 1905: Au bagne
  • 1905: L'alcool engendre la tuberculose
  • 1905: L'Incendiaire
  • 1905: Dix femmes pour un mari (coréalisation de Georges Hatot et Lucien Nonguet)
  • 1905: L'Honneur d'un père
  • 1905: Vendetta
  • 1905: Les Apaches de Paris
  • 1905: Brigandage moderne
  • 1907: Le Spectre rouge (coréalisation de Segundo de Chomón)
  • 1907: Le Poil à gratter
  • 1907: Métempsycose
  • 1907: L'Homme Protée
  • 1907: La Course des sergents de ville
  • 1908: Samson (coréalisation d'Henri Andréani)
  • 1908: Le Rêve d'agent
  • 1908: L'Affaire Dreyfus
  • 1909: Le Caprice du vainqueur
  • 1910: La Tragique Aventure de Robert le Taciturne, duc d'Aquitaine
  • 1910: Slippery Jim
  • 1910: Cléopâtre (coréalisation d'Henri Andréani)
  • 1910: 1812, (coréalisation de Camille de Morlhon)

All films below are co-directed by René Leprincee

  • 1912: La Fièvre de l'or
  • 1913: Le Roi de l'air
  • 1913: La Leçon du gouffre
  • 1913: La Comtesse noire
  • 1913: Cœur de femme
  • 1913: Plus fort que la haine (film, 1913)
  • 1914: La Danse héroïque
  • 1914: La Lutte pour la vie
  • 1914: La Jolie Bretonne
  • 1914: L'Étoile du génie
  • 1915: Le Vieux Cabotin
  • 1915: Le Noël d'un vagabond
  • 1919: Les Larmes du pardon
  • 1919: Le Calvaire d'une reine

As producer

  • 1901: Scènes vues de mon balcon (Ce que je vois de mon sixième)
  • 1901: À la conquête de l'air
  • 1903: Le Démon du jeu ou La vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)
  • 1906: Pauvre Mère
  • 1906: La Grève des bonnes
  • 1907: Cendrillon, ou la Pantoufle merveilleuse (Cendrillon) d'Albert Capellani
  • 1907: Les Débuts d'un patineur
  • 1908: Don Juan
  • 1912: Boireau, roi de la boxe
  • 1913: Les Incohérences de Boireau
  • 1913: Boireau empoisonneur
  • 1913: Boireau spadassin

as actor

  • 1899: Les Mésaventures d'une tête mélomane (Le Muet mélomane)
  • 1901: Une idylle sous un tunnel
  • 1901: Histoire d'un crime
  • 1901: Comment on met son couvert
  • 1901: À la conquête de l'air
  • 1902: Une séance de cinématographe
  • 1902: Chez le photographe
  • 1902: La Poule merveilleuse
  • 1905: L'Amant de la lune (Rêve à la lune): Le pochard
  • 1905: Automobile et cul-de-jatte
  • 1905: Créations renversantes
  • 1912: Rigadin aux Balkans

as writer

  • 1901: Histoire d'un crime
  • 1902: Les Victimes de l'alcoolisme
  • 1903: Le Démon du jeu ou La vie d'un joueur (La Vie d'un joueur)
  • 1905: L'Amant de la lune (Rêve à la lune)
  • 1906: Le Théâtre de Bob
  • 1910: La Tragique aventure de Robert le Taciturne, duc d'Aquitaine
  • 1915: Le Malheur qui passe

See also edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ His brother, Louis Z. Rollini, later became a screenwriter with 23 credits to his name.
  2. ^ Zecca had filmed an actor in the strange contraption suspended from the studio roof with the camera having half the frame blocked. The film was then rewound and the city landscape was shot in the previously blacked-out portion, creating the first split-screen effect.[4]

Citations edit

  1. ^ Death certificate # 113/1947
  2. ^ Rège 2009, p. 1026.
  3. ^ a b "The rise of French cinema." 2019-12-05 at the Wayback Machine brevestoriadelcinema. Retrieved: 30 December 2016.
  4. ^ a b Paris 1995, p. 11.
  5. ^ Gordon 2002, p. 167.

Bibliography edit

  • Gordon, Rae Beth. Why the French Love Jerry Lewis: From Cabaret to Early Cinema. Palo Alto, California:Stanford University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-80473-894-1.
  • Paris, Michael. From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-7190-4074-0.
  • Rège, Philippe. Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Volume 1. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8108-6137-4.

External links edit

January 01, 1970
ferdinand, zecca, february, 1864, march, 1947, pioneer, french, film, director, film, producer, actor, screenwriter, worked, primarily, pathé, company, first, artistic, endeavors, then, administration, internationally, based, company, bornferdinand, louis, zec. Ferdinand Zecca 19 February 1864 23 March 1947 1 was a pioneer French film director film producer actor and screenwriter He worked primarily for the Pathe company first in artistic endeavors then in administration of the internationally based company Ferdinand ZeccaBornFerdinand Louis Zecca 1864 02 19 19 February 1864Paris FranceDied23 March 1947 1947 03 23 aged 83 Saint Mande FranceOccupationsfilm director producer actor screenwriter Contents 1 Early life 2 Filmmaking 3 Filmography 4 See also 5 References 5 1 Notes 5 2 Citations 5 3 Bibliography 6 External linksEarly life editFerdinand Louis Zecca was born in Paris on 19 February 1864 into an Italian family steeped in the entertainment world His father was the stage manager at the Paris Theatre de l Ambigu while his brothers were actors Note 1 2 Zecca also became a stage manager and then an actor before working as an entertainer playing the cornet and singing in Parisian cafes He was playing the cornet at the Foire au Pain d epices when he encountered filmmaker Leon Gaumont Filmmaking editFrom 1891 Zecca had worked occasionally recording voice overs for phonograph records for the Pathe Freres company a pioneer in the cinema and audio recording industries After 1895 Pathe became more involved in cinema Gaumont first hired Zecca as an actor in 1898 but Zecca directed his first film for Pathe an experimental sound production Le Muet melomane 1899 based on a musical Zecca and another artist Charlus were performing At the request of entrepreneur Georges Dufayel owner of the Grands Magasins Dufayel they acted the piece before a cine camera His next film Les Mefaits d une tete de veau 1899 was for Gaumont 3 In 1900 unable to personally do the work Charles Pathe had Zecca set up the Pathe pavilion in the Paris World Fair Exposition Universelle After seeing his work Pathe offered Zecca a position in his film company in Vincennes first as an assistant to a director Engaging Zecca for a few weeks he quickly became Pathe s right hand man and was soon creating and directing his own films nbsp Zecca often appeared in his own films including A la conquete de l air 1901 Zecca explored many themes from the mundane to the fantastic In A la conquete de l air 1901 a strange flying machine called Fend l air was seen flying over the rooftops of Belleville By using trick photography the one minute short was notable in being the first aviation film predating the flight by the Wright Brothers by two years 4 Note 2 Zecca also pioneered one of the first crime dramas Histoire d un crime 1901 stylistically innovative in its use of superimposition The story was of a man condemned to death awaiting execution with his crimes appearing on his cell wall The film is an early example of flashbacks as a film device 3 Other films included comedies trick films or fairy tales such as Les Sept chateaux du Diable both 1901 and La Belle au bois dormant in 1902 as well as social dramas like Les Victimes de l alcoolisme 1902 Au pays noir 1905 and reconstructions of actual events the most famous being La Catastrophe de la Martinique 1902 Zecca acted in many of his films At the end of 1906 assisted by the Spaniard Segundo de Chomon s photography and special effects Zecca continued to experiment He co directed La Vie et la passion de Jesus Christ 1903 which at a running time of 44 minutes was one of the first feature length films about Jesus He started filming in colour with second Vie et Passion de N S Jesus Christ shot in four parts with 38 scenes 990 metres long which was finished in 1907 5 Between 1900 and 1907 Zecca oversaw the production of hundreds of Pathe films from many important Pathe directors including Nonguet Lucien Gaston Velle Albert Capellani Louis J Gasnier Andre Heuze and Henri Pouctal Zecca also acted directed produced and on occasion wrote films After Pathe bought the rights to Star films Zecca started editing films by George Melies Appointed Managing Director of Pathe in 1905 in 1913 Zecca was sent to the United States to take charge of the American Pathe production house He returned to France in 1919 where as a co director with Rene Leprincee he made Le Calvaire d une reine his last film In the same year Zecca was appointed to head the Pathe Baby division producing equipment and cameras for thin film where he worked until his retirement in 1939 In March 1947 at the age of 83 in his residence at Saint Mande France Ferdinand Zecca died Filmography editas director 1899 Les Mesaventures d un muet melomane Le Muet melomane 1899 Les Mefaits d une tete de veau 1901 Une tempete dans une chambre a coucher 1901 Une idylle sous un tunnel 1901 Un duel abracadabrant 1901 Un drame au fond de la mer 1901 La Soupiere merveilleuse 1901 Les Sept Chateaux du diable 1901 Reve et Realite 1901 Plongeur fantastique 1901 Par le trou de la serrure 1901 La Megere recalcitrante 1901 Le Mauvais Riche 1901 La Loupe de grand maman 1901 L Illusionniste mondain 1901 Histoire d un crime 1901 L Enfant Prodigue 1901 Comment on met son couvert 1901 Comment Fabien devient architecte 1901 Scenes vues de mon balcon Ce que je vois de mon sixieme 1901 A la conquete de l air 1901 L Agent plongeur 1901 Une discussion politique 1901 Quo Vadis 1902 Les Victimes de l alcoolisme 1902 Une seance de cinematographe 1902 La Fee des roches noires 1902 Le Conferencier distrait 1902 Chez le photographe 1902 La Catastrophe de la Martinique 1902 La Belle au bois dormant corealisation de Lucien Nonguet 1902 Baignade impossible 1902 L Assommoir 1902 L Affaire Dreyfus 1902 La Poule merveilleuse 1902 Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs 1902 L Assassinat du duc de Guise 1903 Samson et Dalila 1903 Repas infernal 1903 La Soubrette ingenieuse 1903 Le Chien et la Pipe 1903 Le Premier Cigare du collegien 1903 Le Demon du jeu ou la Vie d un joueur La Vie d un joueur 1903 Les Aventures de Don Quichotte Don Quichotte corealisation de Lucien Nonguet 1903 Le Chat botte corealisation de Lucien Nonguet 1904 The Wrong Door 1904 Le Portrait 1904 Les Petits Coupeurs de bois vert 1904 Le Pecheur de perles 1904 Annie s Love Story 1904 La Greve 1905 La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ La Vie et la Passion de Jesus Christ 1905 Un drame a Venise 1905 Reve a la lune corealisation de Gaston Velle 1905 Le Remords 1905 La Course aux tonneaux 1905 Automobile et Cul de jatte 1905 Au Pays Noir 1905 Au bagne 1905 L alcool engendre la tuberculose 1905 L Incendiaire 1905 Dix femmes pour un mari corealisation de Georges Hatot et Lucien Nonguet 1905 L Honneur d un pere 1905 Vendetta 1905 Les Apaches de Paris 1905 Brigandage moderne 1907 Le Spectre rouge corealisation de Segundo de Chomon 1907 Le Poil a gratter 1907 Metempsycose 1907 L Homme Protee 1907 La Course des sergents de ville 1908 Samson corealisation d Henri Andreani 1908 Le Reve d agent 1908 L Affaire Dreyfus 1909 Le Caprice du vainqueur 1910 La Tragique Aventure de Robert le Taciturne duc d Aquitaine 1910 Slippery Jim 1910 Cleopatre corealisation d Henri Andreani 1910 1812 corealisation de Camille de Morlhon All films below are co directed by Rene Leprincee 1912 La Fievre de l or 1913 Le Roi de l air 1913 La Lecon du gouffre 1913 La Comtesse noire 1913 Cœur de femme 1913 Plus fort que la haine film 1913 1914 La Danse heroique 1914 La Lutte pour la vie 1914 La Jolie Bretonne 1914 L Etoile du genie 1915 Le Vieux Cabotin 1915 Le Noel d un vagabond 1919 Les Larmes du pardon 1919 Le Calvaire d une reine As producer 1901 Scenes vues de mon balcon Ce que je vois de mon sixieme 1901 A la conquete de l air 1903 Le Demon du jeu ou La vie d un joueur La Vie d un joueur 1906 Pauvre Mere 1906 La Greve des bonnes 1907 Cendrillon ou la Pantoufle merveilleuse Cendrillon d Albert Capellani 1907 Les Debuts d un patineur 1908 Don Juan 1912 Boireau roi de la boxe 1913 Les Incoherences de Boireau 1913 Boireau empoisonneur 1913 Boireau spadassin as actor 1899 Les Mesaventures d une tete melomane Le Muet melomane 1901 Une idylle sous un tunnel 1901 Histoire d un crime 1901 Comment on met son couvert 1901 A la conquete de l air 1902 Une seance de cinematographe 1902 Chez le photographe 1902 La Poule merveilleuse 1905 L Amant de la lune Reve a la lune Le pochard 1905 Automobile et cul de jatte 1905 Creations renversantes 1912 Rigadin aux Balkans as writer 1901 Histoire d un crime 1902 Les Victimes de l alcoolisme 1903 Le Demon du jeu ou La vie d un joueur La Vie d un joueur 1905 L Amant de la lune Reve a la lune 1906 Le Theatre de Bob 1910 La Tragique aventure de Robert le Taciturne duc d Aquitaine 1915 Le Malheur qui passeSee also editHistoire d un crimeReferences editNotes edit His brother Louis Z Rollini later became a screenwriter with 23 credits to his name Zecca had filmed an actor in the strange contraption suspended from the studio roof with the camera having half the frame blocked The film was then rewound and the city landscape was shot in the previously blacked out portion creating the first split screen effect 4 Citations edit Death certificate 113 1947 Rege 2009 p 1026 a b The rise of French cinema Archived 2019 12 05 at the Wayback Machine brevestoriadelcinema Retrieved 30 December 2016 a b Paris 1995 p 11 Gordon 2002 p 167 Bibliography edit Gordon Rae Beth Why the French Love Jerry Lewis From Cabaret to Early Cinema Palo Alto California Stanford University Press 2002 ISBN 978 0 80473 894 1 Paris Michael From the Wright Brothers to Top gun Aviation Nationalism and Popular Cinema Manchester UK Manchester University Press 1995 ISBN 978 0 7190 4074 0 Rege Philippe Encyclopedia of French Film Directors Volume 1 Lanham Maryland Scarecrow Press 2009 ISBN 978 0 8108 6137 4 External links edit in French Les gens d cinema Ferdinand Zecca at Who s Who of Victorian Cinema Ferdinand Zecca at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ferdinand Zecca amp oldid 1220169404, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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