Theatre Robert-Houdin.

Méliès, Georges. Theatre Robert-Houdin. Soriées Fantastiques Program. Paris, ca. 1897. Pictorial program advertising the show produced by this film pioneer at his own theater on the Boulevard des Italiens in Paris. The three-part show featured the Cinematogaphe Artistique of Méliès, the magic tricks of M. Legris, and a demonstration of spiritualistic phenomena. Four pages in pale blue wraps, bearing Méliès’ and Legris’ portraits on the front. The body of the program includes a biography of Méliès, and the internal rear wrapper advertises his film laboratory, as well as his magic shows. Chip at top of spine affecting pages inside, else very good. A rare and important program for this seminal figure in the history of filmmaking. Though he started his career in entertainment as a magician, following in the steps of the great Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, Georges Méliès became one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation. Drawing on his experience as a conjuror, Méliès invented – seemingly from thin air – many special effects and techniques that became standard in the industry. His fruitful and wild imagination manifested itself in hundreds of classic films, most of them now lost to history. Even so, pictures including A Terrible Night, the Vanishing Lady, and his seminal Trip to the Moon, remain timeless classics, the latter hailed as one of the most significant and iconic silent movies of all time.