Starring: --- Mlle Barral (Cinderella) --- Bleuette Bernon (Fairy Godmother) --- Carmelli (Prince) --- Jehanne d'Alcy (Prince's mother, Queen) --- Depeyrou (a party guest) --- Georges Méliès (the genie of the midnight clock)
Georges Méliès Paris, December 8, 1861 - January 21, 1938, director of the 1899 film Cendrillon (Cinderella)
Production company: Star-Film
Distributors: Star-Film, Pathé Frères (France) - American Mutoscope & Biograph, Edison Manufacturing Company, S. Lubin (USA)
Released:October 1899 (France) - December 25, 1899 (USA)
Running time: 6 min.
Color: Black and White, partially hand-colored
Language: Silent
Summary plot:The film illustrates the essence of the classic fairy tale Cinderella in the version of Charles Perrault (1697). A fairy godmother magically turns Cinderella's rags to a beautiful dress, and a pumpkin into a coach. Cinderella goes to the ball, where she meets the Prince - but will she remember to leave before the magic runs out?
Interesting facts: Cendrillon (Cinderella) by Georges Méliès is the oldest known film adaptation of the homonym Charles Perrault's 1697 fairy tale. The film was extraordinary then for having multiple scenes, using six distinct sets and five changes of scene within the film; it is also the first movie to utilize a dissolve transition between scenes. Cendrillon was shot in the "glass house" studio designed by Méliès himself and located in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. In 1912 Méliès made another adaptation of the story, "Cendrillon ou la Pantoufle merveilleuse" (Cinderella or the Glass Slipper).
Property: Star-Film
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - first scene
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - the coach
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - dancing clocks
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - Barral as Cinderella and director Méliès as genie
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - final scene
Cendrillon (Cinderella), 1899 - complete film ready to play (5 min. 40 sec.)
Authors: --- René Goscinny (writer) --- Albert Uderzo (illustrator)
Country of origin: France
First format: Strip on French weekly comic magazine "Pilote"
Teaser issue: Early October 1959 - Pilote No. 0 / page 20 of 32
First issue: October 29, 1959 - Pilote No. 1 / page 20 of 32 (serial)
First editor: Société d'Edition Pilote - Paris, France
Background: «We are in 50 BC. All Gaul is occupied by the Romans. All? No! Because a village populated by irreducible Gauls still resists the invader. And life is not easy for the garrisons of Roman legionaries of the entrenched camps of Babaorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Petibonum...» (from the map of Gaul legend opening the Astérix volumes). This Gallic village resists the invader thanks to a magic potion prepared by the druid Panoramix (eng. Getafix), which temporarily gives superhuman strength to who drinks.
Main characters (in order of appearance): --- Astérix (eng. Asterix), first appearance in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote magazine No. 1, October 29, 1959. Astérix is the titular hero of the series, a generously-mustachioed Gaul warrior born in 85 BC. Small and thin, frail, Asterix is physically far from the stereotypes of the comics hero. Its distinctive dress consists of a black top, red trousers, a sword worn on the side and a helmet adorned with two pens that, according to their direction, reveal his mood. His name derived from "astérisque", meaning "asterisk", from the Greek word meaning "star", as the star of the series. --- Obélix (eng. Obelix), first appearance (along with Astérix) in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote magazine No. 1, October 29, 1959. Obélix is Asterix's closest friend and works as a menhir sculptor and delivery man. He is a tall, obese and ravenous, with a phenomenal strength acquired when he fell into Panoramix's magic potion cauldron as a boy. He wears trousers vertical white and blue stripes, stripped to the waist. His name derived from "obelisk", a massive monument, or the typographical symbol sometimes used to indicate a second footnote if the first footnote is indicated by an asterisk. --- Jules César (eng. Julius Caesar), first appearance (as well as Astérix and Obélix) in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote magazine No. 1, October 29, 1959. The character of Julius Caesar is a consistent but satirical representation of the historical figure of the same name former Roman consul, conqueror of Gaul. --- Panoramix (eng. Getafix), first appearance in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote magazine No. 3, November 12, 1959. Panoramix is the village druid: tall with a white beard, he is the only one to possess the recipe of the magic potion. --- Abraracourcix (eng. Vitalstatistix), first appearance in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote No. 6, December 3, 1959. Abraracourcix is the chief of the "village des fous" (fools' village). He is a middle-aged, bigbellied man with red hair, pigtails and a huge moustache. --- Assurancetourix (eng. Cacofonix), first appearance in the story "Astérix le Gaulois", Pilote No. 6, December 3, 1959. Assurancetourix is the village bard. He loves singing and playing musical instruments like lyre, bagpipes, drum and a Celtic trumpet... but his performances are unbearable. --- Idéfix (eng. Dogmatix), first appearance in the story "Le Tour de Gaule d'Astérix", Pilote magazine No. 179, March 28, 1963. Idéfix is Obelix's pet dog, a small white dog of unknown breed, accidentally met for the first time in this story.
Features: The duo René Goscinny (author) - Albert Uderzo (illustrator) formed in the early 1950s and quickly led many projects together. In 1959, the advertiser François Clauteaux decided to create a new magazine for children, funded by Radio Luxembourg and titled "Pilote". There were only three months until the trial edition of Pilote was due out, and the two authors were really under pressure: they had to create a completely original comic strip series based on French culture. Finally, they decided on the period of the Gauls. Within a few hours, they created the Gallic village and its inhabitants. René Goscinny imagines a wily character in the small form, taking the opposite of the usual comics hero; Uderzo adds a strong but dim companion to which Goscinny agreed. Astérix and Obélix are born. In early October 1959, the strip was tested in the teaser issue Pilote No. 0, around 200 copies printed. Astérix and Obélix made their first official appearance on October 29, 1959 in Pilote No. 1: around 300,000 copies, immediately sold out. The first story, "Astérix le Gaulois", was published weekly in Pilote magazine from No. 1 until No. 38 (July 14, 1960), with a rate of one/two pages per week. In 1961, the entire story was collected in the volume "Astérix le Gaulois", first of a series titled "Collection Pilote", by editor Dargaud.
Interesting facts: The launch of Pilote magazine was a success, as well as the adventures of Astérix; despite this, in 1960 the financial backing for the magazine ceased, and Pilote was taken over by publisher Georges Dargaud, for a symbolic franc. When Goscinny died in 1977, Uderzo continued the series alone, until September 2011, when he retired from drawing.
Introduction (translated from the first strip): «Astérix mischievously embodies all the virtues of 'our ancestors the Gauls'. The humor of René Goscinny and Uderzo will make you love this little mustached warrior, new character in comics».
Property: Dargaud - Hachette - Les éditions Albert René / Goscinny-Uderzo
Astérix and Obélix, early sketches by Albert Uderzo (1959)
Astérix, first print advertising (1959). The Radio Télé Luxembourg Almanach announces the imminent arrival of Pilote, a weekly comic magazine that covers the adventures of Astérix.
Astérix le Gaulois, the first strip was tested in Pilote magazine No. 0 (early October 1959, around 200 copies). Apart from a reference to the Astérix strip (bottom right), the cover shows a photo of a large group of collaborators, but most were just friends of the authors, in front row: writer René Goscinny (4th from left, with jacket in hand) and illustrator Albert Uderzo (6th).
Astérix le Gaulois, the first strip made its debut in Pilote magazine No. 1 (October 29, 1959, around 300,000 copies, immediately sold out).
Astérix le Gaulois, the first strip (October 29, 1959). Promoted through Pilote magazine No. 0 in early October 1959, the first story was launched as serial in Pilote No. 1.
Astérix and Obélix, the first appearance (Pilote magazine No. 1, October 29, 1959)
Astérix, characters in their first appearances. Jules César (Julius Caesar), Panoramix (Getafix the druid), Abraracourcix (Vitalstatistix the chief), Assurancetourix (Cacofonix the bard), and Idéfix (Dogmatix the dog).
Astérix and Obélix, first full cover in Pilote magazine (No. 21, March 17, 1960)
Astérix le Gaulois, first volume (Dargaud, 1961). This volume collects the first story distributed weekly in Pilote magazine from No. 1 (October 29, 1959) until No. 38 (July 14, 1960).
The creators of Astérix comics. Left: Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (Fismes, April 25, 1927 - Neuilly, March 24, 2020), comic book artist and scriptwriter. Right: René Goscinny (Paris, August 14, 1926 - November 5, 1977), comics editor and writer.
Astérix comics, the 50th anniversary(1959-2009). The 34th volume of the book series, released by Les Éditions Albert René on October 22, 2009, celebrates the first strip with a collection of short stories, all linked by the theme of Astérix's anniversary. Designed and written by Albert Uderzo, "L’Anniversaire d’Astérix et Obélix" also includes stories which were created jointly with René Goscinny.
Astérix comics, the 60th anniversary (1959-2019). Video by Les Éditions Albert René.
Producer:Société BIC (original name "Société PPA - Porte-plume, Porte-mines et Accessoires", founded on October 25, 1944 by Marcel Bich and Edouard Buffard, and renamed Société BIC on March 3, 1953)
Marcel Bich Turin, July 29, 1914 - Paris, May 30, 1994, inventor of the BIC ballpoint pen
Features: The BIC Cristal was designed by the Décolletage Plastique design team at Société PPA (later Société Bic). Marcel Bich invested in Swiss technology capable of cutting and shaping metal down to 0.01 millimetre, thus obtaining a stainless steel sphere of a millimeter in diameter that allowed the ink to flow freely. Bich also developed a viscosity of ink which neither leaked nor clogged. The hexagonal shape was taken from the wooden pencil and yields an economical use of plastic along with strength and three grip points giving high writing stability. The pen's transparent polystyrene barrel shows the ink-level. A tiny hole in the barrel's body maintains the same air pressure inside and outside the pen. The thick ink flows down due to gravity from a tube inside the barrel to feed a ball bearing which spins freely within a brass/nickel silver tip. Dimensions: 5 7/8 x 1/2" (14.9 x 1.3 cm).
Interesting facts: In late 1944 Marcel Bich started working with Edouard Buffard (1908-1996), manufacturing parts for fountain pens in a factory in Clichy, just outside of Paris (France). During this period, Marcel Bich realized the enormous potential for the ballpoint pen. Subsequently, he adapted and improved a process for making ballpoints invented by the Hungarian László Bíró and in December 1950, launched his own ballpoint pen in France under the BIC brand, a shortened and more memorable version of his own name. The pen quickly became an important export: called the "Atomic pen" in France, throughout the 1950s and 1960s the BIC Cristal's ballpoint writing tip and ergonomic design helped change the worldwide market for pens from fountain pens to mostly ballpoints. In 2005 the BIC Cristal pen was made a part of the collection of the Department of Architecture and Design of the Museum of Modern Art of New York (MoMA).
Slogan (1952): «Elle court, elle court, la Pointe BIC» - "It runs, it runs, the BIC Point"
Bic: the original headquarters of Société PPA (founded on October 25, 1944), which would later become Société BIC, in Clichy, France
BIC Cristal, the first ballpoint pen produced by BIC (December 1950)
BIC, the first advertising campaign (1952) by Raymond Savignac: "Elle court, elle court, la Pointe BIC" (It runs, it runs, the BIC Point)
BIC, Publicity Caravan at the Tour de France (1952)
BIC, Publicity Caravan at the Tour de France (1953, design by Félix Aublet)
BIC advertising (1956) by Raymond Savignac: "BIC ècriture souple" (BIC flexible writing)
BIC advertising (1961) by Raymond Savignac, to promote the new pen with the ball made of tungsten carbide: "Nouvelle bille" (new ball). Hoping to attract the attention of children, Savignac designed a schoolboy with his head replaced by the pen's ball and holding a pen behind his back.
BIC, iconic logo (1962) with the "BIC Boy" created by Raymond Savignac. Over time, this logo has been used to brand the entire range of BIC products, such as lighters and shavers.
First producer:Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France, founded by Eugène Schueller on July 30, 1909)
Invented in: 1907 (patent granted on March 24, 1908) - Paris, France
Production start: 1909 - 3 Rue d'Alger, Paris, France
Features:In 1907 Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist, created the first synthetic hair dye: L'Oréal, a blend of harmless chemical compounds. The dyes was an outstanding breakthrough at the time, providing a subtle range of colors in contrast to other methods on the market, which use henna or mineral salts but produce a bright, somewhat artificial look. Eugène Schueller registered two names for his product: "Black and Gold", a logical brand name for a hair colorant with black representing the spectrum of dark shades and gold the warm tones - a brand name which was however never used; "L'Auréale", a name inspired by a hairstyle in fashion at the time called "L'Auréole" from the Latin "aureola", a luminous halo. A few months later the name was simplified to "L'Oréal".
Interesting facts: In 1909, Eugène Schueller founded the company that will later become L'Oréal: Société Française des Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux. L'Oréal hair dyes obtained a great success, even beyond the borders of France, breaking new ground in Italy in 1910, Austria in 1911 and the Netherlands in 1913, even reaching as far afield as the United States, Canada, the UK and Brazil. The small company founded by Eugène Schueller in 1909 has become the number one cosmetic group in the world.
Slogan (1909): «L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur» - "L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor"
Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (Paris, March 20, 1881 - Aug. 23, 1957), the French chemist and entrepreneur who invented L'Oréal hair dye, and founded the company. Photo taken in his kitchen, then transformed into a laboratory, 1907.
L'Oréal advertisement (1909): "L'Oréal rendant aux cheveux leur couleur et leur vigueur" (L'Oréal makes the hair color and vigor)
L'Oréal, hair-coloring school advertisement (1910): "L'Ecole de Teinture L'Oréal" (L'Oréal hair-coloring school). Eugène Schueller sets up a hair-coloring school on Rue du Louvre in Paris, which he personally oversees, using a former hair stylist from the Russian Court to demonstrate his ideas.
L'Oréal advertisement (1911) from La Parfumerie moderne, Paris. "Si vous voulez vendre des Teintures pour Cheveux (...) Une seule marque: L'Oréal" (If you want to sell Hair Dyes ... A single brand: L'Oreal).
L'Oréal advertisement (Feb. 14, 1914) by M. Lancelevée, from L'illustration, Paris. "Ne vous désolez pas!... en 30 minutes L'Oréal vous rendra la couleur et la jeunesse de votre chevelure" (Don't worry!... in 30 minutes L'Oréal will make the hair color and youth).
L'Oréal advertisement (May 1, 1915) by Fromentgérald Pary, from L'illustration, Paris. "L'Oréal teint bien sans danger en toutes nuances" (L'Oréal colors good without damage in all shades).
L'Oréal celebrates 100 years (1909-2009) announcing the roll-out of 100 citizen projects around the world
Features: The Lacoste L.12.12 polo shirt was made from an entirely new fabric, "petit piqué". René Lacoste teamed up with loose-knit fabric expert André Gillier to fine-tune the design of his first polo shirts. Together, they created the famous piqué cotton - lightweight yet sturdy and breathable to let the body breathe while looking smart. Being a perfectionist, René Lacoste tested the first series of polo shirts himself, in search of any detail that could improve the design. The code name assigned was "L.12.12": L stands for Lacoste, 1 because it's totally unique, 2 was the factory code to say short sleeved, 12 for the winning prototype chosen.
Interesting facts:René Lacoste was a famous tennis player who achieved fame in two areas: tennis and fashion. Lacoste founded La Chemise Lacoste in 1933 with André Gillier, the owner and President of the largest French knitwear manufacturing firm at the time. In that year, they launch the revolutionary Lacoste L.12.12 polo shirt, and branded with the iconic crocodile. The true story of the "Crocodile" begins in 1923 after a bet that René Lacoste had with the Captain of the French Davis Cup Team, Allan H. Muhr, who promised him an alligator suitcase if he won an important game for the team. This episode was reported in an article in the Boston Evening Transcript, where his nickname of the «Crocodile» came to life for the first time. The American public grew fond of this nickname which highlighted the tenacity he displayed on the tennis courts, never giving up his prey. His friend Robert George drew him a crocodile which was embroidered on the blazer he wore on the courts. In 1951 the company began to expand as it branched from "tennis white" and introduced color shirts. The first Lacoste boutique opened in 1981, avenue Victor Hugo, Paris.
Slogan (1933): «Attention au crocodile... il n'y a qu'une CHEMISE LACOSTE» - "Beware of crocodile ... there is only LACOSTE SHIRT"
Lacoste: the original crocodile design (1926), ispired by René Lacoste nickname and designed by his friend Robert George
Lacoste: first appearance of the crocodile logo (1926), embroidered on the blazer of Jean René Lacoste (Paris, July 2, 1904 - Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Oct. 12, 1996), the French tennis player and businessman who invented the Lacoste polo shirt
Lacoste L.12.12: the original polo shirt, first Lacoste product ever (1933)
Lacoste advertising (1933): "Pour le tennis le golf la plage les véritables CHEMISES LACOSTE" (For tennis golf beach the real LACOSTE SHIRTS).
Lacoste advertising (1933): "Attention au crocodile... il n'y a qu'une CHEMISE LACOSTE" (Beware of crocodile ... there is only LACOSTE SHIRT).
