Gaston Méliès
Gaston Méliès (12 February 1852 – 9 April 1915) was a French film producer and director who worked mainly in the United States during the silent era. He was the brother of pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès.
Biography
Gaston Méliès was born in Paris, where he and his brother Henri managed the family’s shoe factory under contract to the French War Ministry. When leather prices soared, the business failed, leading to its closure.[1]
His brother Georges had begun producing popular films in France, but unauthorized copies began to appear in the United States. To protect Georges’s copyright, Gaston traveled to New York in 1902 to establish the American branch of the Star Film Company and distribute his brother’s films. By 1903 Gaston had begun directing documentary films himself, but they met with limited success.
In 1907 he returned to France and married Hortense-Louise de Mirmont on 11 September. Soon after they sailed to New York and then moved the Star Film studio to San Antonio, Texas, establishing the "Star Film Ranch" on 20 acres of leased land. [2]He even appeared as an actor in his own productions, including the Alamo epic The Immortal Alamo (1911) and the drama The Kiss of Mary Jane (1911).
In April 1911 Méliès relocated the company to Santa Paula, California, and in 1912–1913 he led a film expedition through the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Southeast Asia, and Japan in search of exotic subjects.[3] Despite the ambitious travels, shipment damage and contractual issues with Edison’s company forced him to suspend production, sell the American branch to Vitagraph Studios, and return to Europe. The brothers never reconciled.
Gaston and his wife settled in Corsica in late 1913. He died in Ajaccio on 9 April 1915 from shellfish poisoning and was buried in Montmartre Cemetery in Paris in his wife’s family plot.
Selected filmography
All films released by Star Film Company.
As director, 1903–1909
- The Yacht Race (Reliance–Shamrock III) (1903)
- Inauguration Subjects: President-Elect Roosevelt, Vice-President Fairbanks and Escort Going to the Capitol (1905)
- The Catholic Centennial Celebration (1908)
- Boston Normal School Pageant (1908)
- The Stolen Wireless (1909)
- The Red Star Inn (1909)
- The Fatal Ball (1909)
Texas and California shorts, 1910–1912
A series of one-reel Western and documentary shorts produced in Texas and California, including:
- Cyclone Pete in Matrimony
- Making Sherry Wine at Xeres
- Branding the Thief
- ... (list continues; over 100 titles)
Pacific expedition films, 1912–1913
Documentaries shot across the South Pacific and Asia, such as:
- A Tahitian Fish Drive
- The River Wanganui
- Hinemoa
- How Chief Te Ponga Won His Bride
- Loved by a Maori Chieftess
- The Robber of Angkor
- Japanese Judo Commonly Known as Jiu Jitsu
- ... (dozens more titles)