1899 Anno Quattro Capitolo 6: Auguste Baron. Uno spettacolo nello studio di Asnière / A Show at the Studio in Asnières (CNC restoration)

Auguste Baron: [Danseuse en robe longue sur un tapis] (1899). CNC.

AUGUSTE BARON
There are no titles in the films.
The wax sound cylinders of these early sound films have not survived.
Preserved by CNC.
Introducono Mariann Lewinsky and Didier Bertrand.
John Sweeney at the grand piano.
Viewed at Cinema Mastroianni, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna

Mariann Lewinsky (Il Cinema Ritrovato): "Everybody who had a say in the matter, from Léon Gaumont to Laurent Mannoni, the eminent historian of technical history of cinema, agreed that Auguste Baron had a revolutionary idea. He worked, starting in 1895, on a system to record sound and moving image synchronically by means of a ‘graphophonoscope’. There was never a public screening, however, which makes experts doubt that he ever achieved satisfying results. Baron himself admitted to one weak point: the wax cylinders used for recording sound could not be reproduced. What remains is an impressive collection of his drawings, about 700 of them, some pieces of the machinery and some 70 films now in the Archives français du film of the CNC, many of them in a unique 50 mm format, with one perforation per frame. If you read French and are interested in learning more, Laurent Mannoni and Giusy Basile-Pisano have published an exhaustive study on the life and work of Auguste Baron (“1895. Revue d’histoire du cinéma”, n. 26, 1998). Viewing his films, most of them very short, I was struck by the quality of the dancers, singers, actors, and of their charming, lively performances. The research by Basile-Pisano and Mannoni revealed that Berthe Théodore, Baron’s wife, was a professional actress and musician and that Baron himself occasionally worked as a musician and in the Casino de Paris as an electrician for the ‘projections lumineuses’. He knew show-business well, and so our programme is organised as a spectacle." Mariann Lewinsky

"August Baron’s surviving films entered into the CNC collection upon its creation (1969) thanks to Jean Vivié, its first director and one of the first great historians of cinematographic technology. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of these acquisitions, CNC has digitally restored the Baron films selected for Il Cinema Ritrovato. Where possible (Chanteuse en robe longue sur scène and Danseuse en robe longue sur un tapis), the original 35 mm negatives were scanned in 8K. Due to the fragile state of the other films, the 35 mm interpositives or safety duplicates were scanned in 2K. The projection speed has been set at 16 fps." (Il Cinema Ritrovato)

[Femme récitant sur scène II / The curtain opens. Berthe Théodore reads a text]
Auguste Baron. D.: 23”. DCP. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.

[Femme récitant sur scène IV / The curtain opens. Berthe Théodore reads a text in a charming manner]
Auguste Baron. D.: 22”. DCP. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: Two takes of the same recital of an imposing actress against a painted wood backdrop. Inferior quality in the first take.

[Danseuse en robe longue sur un tapis]
Auguste Baron. DCP. D.: 1’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: See photo above. A dancer in a long robe on a carpet. Visual quality: soft.

[Monsieur Lagrange des Théâtres de Paris dans le récit du Songe d’Athalie]
Auguste Baron. DCP. D.: 25’’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: Another recital. Visual quality: soft dupe.

[Petit marin sur scène I / A cabaret artist singing and performing a sailor’s dance]
Auguste Baron. DCP e 35 mm. D.: 25’’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: A straight record of a performance against a painted backdrop. Visual quality: soft dupe.

[Danseuse de French cancan / The same artist in a long dress, singing and dancing]
Auguste Baron. DCP e 35 mm. D.: 40’’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: A straight record of a cancan performance. Soft dupe.

[Ballet de l’Etoile / What Degas saw]
Auguste Baron. DCP. D.: 1’40’’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: A straight record of ballet.

[Chanteuse en robe longue sur scène / Woman singing on stage, Auguste Baron enters the image for a second]
Auguste Baron. DCP. D.: 20’’. Year: 1899. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: A glimpse of Auguste Baron in the bottom right corner.

[Enfants au bois]
Ernest Normandin. DCP. D.: 10’’ (triple loop). Year: 1896. Country: Francia. Copy from CNC.
    AA: A rapid flash of an Ernest Normandin view of children in the wood repeated three times.

AA: An ultra-rare collection of early cinema on display thanks to the CNC. Partly filmed on 50 mm, it would be interesting to learn about the original negative formats of the different views. As a whole, a fascinating collection of fin-de-siècle performing arts. Of these early sound films, the sound cylinders, alas, have not survived: like butterflies, they lived for one night only.