Comedian Paulus Singing

Comedian Paulus Singing French Paulus chantant was a series of five French short silent films made in 1897 by Georges Mlis, starring the popular cafconcert singer Paulus real name JeanPaul Habans, 18451908. The films were designed for a cafconcert stunt in which Paulus would sing behind the screen as the films were projected, giving the illusion of a sound film. All five films are currently presumed lost.

Paulus, then nearing the end of his long and celebrated career as a proBoulangist entertainer, approached Mlis with the concept for the stunt. The series was filmed at Mliss theater of illusions, the Thtre RobertHoudin in Paris. In order to provide enough light for his film camera, Mlis included fifteen arc lamps and fifteen mercuryvapor lamps in his setup, making the Comedian Paulus Singing series the first known use of artificial light in a motion picture.Three of the films Derrire lOmnibus, Coquin de Printemps, and Duelliste Marsellais were sold through the catalogs of Mliss studio, the Star Film Company, for both French and American film markets. The other two, which featured Paulus singing hymns of praise to the controversial political figure Georges Ernest Boulanger, were filmed for the cafconcert performance but not included in the Star Film catalogs, as Mlis himself was a fervent antiBoulangist. ........

Source: Wikipedia