The only one I have ever come across. Considered to be the world’s first film star, one of the greatest of all silent comics, and an inspiration to Charlie Chaplin and other silent and sound comics. Although all too frequently neglected by fans of silent comedy, Max Linder is in many ways as important a figure as Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd, not least because he predated (and influenced) them all by several years and was largely responsible for the creation of the classic style of silent slapstick comedy. Linder started out as an actor in the French theatre, but after making his screen debut in 1905 he quickly became an enormously famous and successful film comedian on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to his character “Max, ” a top-hatted dandy. By 1912 he was the highest-paid film star in the world, with an unprecedented salary of one million francs. He began to direct films in 1911 and showed equal facility behind the camera, but his career suffered an almost terminal blow when he was drafted into the French army to fight in World War I. He was gassed, and the illness that resulted would blight his career. Although offered a contract in America, recurring ill health meant that his US films had little of the sparkle of his early French work, and a brief attempt to revive his career by making films for the recently-formed United Artists (one of whose founders, of course, was Chaplin) in the early 1920s came to little, although these later films are now regarded as classics. Pasted to a scrapbook page. On the reverse is an autographed photo of a French singer from that time, Jane Varenne. His onscreen persona “Max” was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the “first international movie star” and “the first film star anywhere”. Born in Cavernes, France to Catholic parents, Linder grew up with a passion for theater and enrolled in the Conservatoire de Bordeaux in 1899. He soon received awards for his performances and continued to pursue a career in the legitimate theater. He became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays by Molière, Pierre Corneille, and Alfred de Musset. From the summer of 1905, Linder appeared in short comedy films for Pathé, at first usually in supporting roles. His first major film role was in the Georges Méliès-like fantasy film The Legend of Punching. During the following years, Linder made several hundred short films portraying “Max”, a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. Starting with The Skater’s Debut in 1907, the character became one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies. By 1911, Linder was co-directing his own films (with René LePrince) as well as writing the scripts. Linder enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War, and worked at first as a dispatch driver and entertainer. During his service, he was injured several times, and the experiences reportedly had a devastating effect on him both physically and mentally. It was during this time he suffered his first outbreak of chronic depression. In 1899, Linder enrolled in the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and quickly won awards for first prize in comedy and second prize in tragedy. He continued to pursue a career in the theater and became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays by Molière, Pierre Corneille and Alfred de Musset. At the same time that he was performing in serious dramatic theater, he became friends with Charles le Bargy of the Comédie-Française. Le Bargy encouraged Linder to audition for the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904. Linder was rejected and began appearing in less prestigious theaters such as the Olympia Theater and the Théâtre de l’Ambigu. By 1905, he had adopted his stage name of Max Linder and used it in several theatrical performances. Also during this period, Linder applied for work at Pathé Frères in Vincennes at the suggestion of film director Louis Gasnier and began appearing in small bit parts, mostly in slapstick comedies. Linder continued to appear on the stage for the next two years and was not a significant film star at first. However, an often-told legend about the origins of Linder’s film career is that French film producer Charles Pathé personally saw Linder on the stage and wrote him a note that read In your eyes lies a fortune. Come and act in front of my cameras, and I will help make it. From 1905 to 1907, Linder appeared in dozens of short comedy films for Pathé, usually in a supporting role. His first noticeably larger film role was in The Young Man’s First Outing in 1905. He also appeared in Georges Méliès-like fantasy films such as Serpentine Dances and The Legend of Punching, his first leading role. His rise to stardom commenced in 1907 when Pathé’s slapstick star René Gréhan left the company to join Éclair. Gréhan’s screen character was Gontran, whose persona included high-society clothing and a dandy-ish demeanor. ” Linder made more than one hundred short films portraying “Max, a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. With this character, he had created one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies. Linder’s first appearance as “Max” was in The Skater’s Debut in 1907. Lake Daumesnil in Paris had frozen over and director Louis Gasnier filmed Linder in his new attire, with Linder improvising the rest. In the film, “Max” falls about and does a rendition of “the windmill routine” by spinning his cane around, predating Charlie Chaplin’s version in The Rink by nine years. Pathé was unimpressed with the film and re-shot parts of it, and it was not popular with audiences when released. Soon afterwards, Gasnier left Pathé and moved to Italy, leaving Linder without a supporter at Pathé; he made few films in 1908. His luck began to change when Pathé’s top comedy star, André Deed, left to work with the Italian film company Itala, leaving Linder as the company’s leading comedic actor. The team made several shorts in 1909 with Linder in various roles, such as a blind elderly man and a coquettish young woman. But they soon discovered that the character of “Max” was the most popular with audiences and stuck with him from then on. Among the popular “Max” films made by Linder and Grasnier in 1909 are A Young Lady Killer and The Cure for Cowardice. By 1910, Linder had proved himself to Pathé and was quickly becoming one of the most popular film actors in the world. When Gasnier was sent to the United States later that year to oversee Pathé’s productions there, Lucien Nonguet took over as Linder’s director. Together they made such films as Max Takes a Bath and the autobiographical Max Linder’s Film Debut, which fictitiously recreates the legend of Linder’s early film career and includes Charles Pathé as himself. By the end of the year, Linder had become the most popular film actor in the world. Although actress Florence Lawrence is often referred to as “The First Movie Star” in the United States, Linder appears to be the very first worldwide movie star with a major following. In Russia, he was voted the most popular film actor, ahead of Asta Nielsen. He also had a Russian impersonator, Zozlov, and a devoted fan in Czar Nicholas II. Another professed fan was British playwright George Bernard Shaw. The first feature film ever made in Bulgaria was a remake of one of Linder’s earlier movies. In France, a Max Linder movie theater had opened in Paris. At the height of his fame, Linder ended 1910 with a serious illness. He was forced to stop making films when appendicitis left him bedridden, and some newspapers reported that he had died. He eventually recovered the following spring and began making films again in May 1911. By 1912, he was the solo director of his films. Gaining complete control over his own films brought positive results both critically and commercially; the films Linder made during this period are generally considered to be his best. Max, Victim of Quinine is considered by film critic Jean Mitry to be his masterpiece. “[8] In the film, an intoxicated “Max gets into numerous fights with such dignitaries as the Minister of War, an ambassador and the police commissioner, all of whom challenge him to a duel and present him with their business cards. Eventually “Max” is apprehended by the police, who attempt to return him to his residence, but end up mistakenly taking him to the homes of the various men whom he had previously fought with. The universality of silent films brought Linder fame and fortune throughout Europe, making him the highest paid entertainer of the day, with a salary increase of 150,000 francs (the average monthly salary in France was 100 francs at the time). He began touring Europe with his films from 1911 to 1912, including Spain, where he entertained thousands of fans at the Barcelona railway station, Austria, and Russia, where he was accompanied on piano by a young Dimitri Tiomkin. In 1912 after the tour, Linder demanded and received a salary of one million francs a year, and Charles Pathé used the huge sum to generate publicity, with an ad reading We understand that the shackles which bind Max Linder have attained the value of one million francs a year… The imagination boggles at such a figure! ” This set a precedent in the entertainment industry for actors’ salaries that would become a staple of the Hollywood system, but privately Pathé nicknamed Linder “The Napoleon of the Cinema. The high point of Linder’s career was from 1912 to 1914. His films were made with increased skill and “Max” was at his funniest. He made such films as Max Virtuoso, Max Does Not Speak English, Max and His Dog, Max’s Hat and Max and the Jealous Husband. His ensemble of actors included Stacia Napierkowska, Jane Renouardt, Gaby Morlay, and occasional performances from the young actors Abel Gance and Maurice Chevalier. Linder had given Chevalier his start in movies, but the silent medium did not suit Chevalier, who stuck to the stage until the all-singing all-dancing features came in, many years later. The outbreak of World War I brought a temporary end to Linder’s film career in 1914, but not before he made the short patriotic film The Second of August that year. Linder attempted to enlist in the French army, but was physically unfit for combat duty. Instead he worked as a dispatch driver between Paris and the front lines. Many conflicting stories about the reasons behind his dismissal from the army exist, including that he was shot through the lung, and seriously wounded. Initially, it was reported by one newspaper that he had been killed; Linder actually phoned the offending publishers, leading them to run the headline “Max Linder Not Killed”. However, others have asserted that he became infected with pneumonia after hiding from a German patrol in icy water for several hours. It was also during this period that Linder suffered his first serious bout with chronic depression. In 1916, Linder was approached by American film producer George K. Linder was offered a new contract from Charles Pathé, but accepted Spoor’s offer and moved to the United States to work for Essanay later that year. Unfortunately his first few American-made “Max” films were unpopular both critically and financially. The first two, Max Comes Across and Max Wants a Divorce were complete failures, but the third film, Max and his Taxi was moderately successful. The financially troubled studio may have been counting on Linder to restore its flagging fortunes and cancelled production of the remaining films on Linder’s contract. Max and his Taxi had been shot in Hollywood and while there Linder had developed a close friendship with Charlie Chaplin. They would often attend events such as boxing matches or car races together, and according to writer Jack Spears, while working on a picture Linder would go next door to Chaplin’s home and discuss the day’s shooting. The two often sat until dawn, developing and refining the gags. Chaplin’s suggestions were invaluable, Linder said. However, due to his depression and anxiety about the still ongoing war, he was unable to continue making films on a regular basis, and was often quoted by journalists about the horrors of the front lines. After the Armistice in 1918, Linder was able to regain his enthusiasm and agreed to make a film with director Raymond Bernard, the feature length The Little Café in 1919. In the film, Linder plays a waiter who suddenly becomes a millionaire, but simultaneously is tricked into a twenty-year contract to be a waiter by the cafe owner. The film made over a million francs in Europe and briefly revived his career, but was financially unsuccessful in the US. Four years after failing to become a major star in the U. Linder made another attempt at filmmaking in Hollywood and formed his own production company there in 1921. His first film back in the U. Was Seven Years Bad Luck, considered by some to be his best film. The film contains one of the earliest examples on film of the “human mirror” gag best known in the scene between Groucho and Harpo Marx in Duck Soup twelve years later. Linder next made Be My Wife later that year, but again neither films were able to find a major audience in the U. Linder then decided to dispense with the “Max” character and try something different for his third (and final) attempt: The Three Must-Get-Theres in 1922. The film is a satire of swashbuckling films made by Douglas Fairbanks and is loosely based on the plot of Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. The film was praised by Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, but again failed at the box office. At the films premiere, Linder had said to director Robert Florey You see, Bob, I sense that I’m no longer funny; I have so many preoccupations that I can no longer concentrate on my film character… The public is mildly amused by my situations, but this evening where were the explosions of laughter that we hear when Charlie’s on the screen? … Make people laugh, its easy to say make people laugh, but I don’t feel funny anymore. For director Abel Gance. The film is essentially a horror film set in a haunted house, with occasional moments of comedy by Linder. Linder’s last film was The King of the Circus directed by Édouard-Émile Violet (with pre-production collaboration from Jacques Feyder) and filmed in Vienna in 1925. In the film, “Max” joins a circus in order to be closer to the woman that he loves. The film includes such gags as a hungover “Max” waking up in a department store and the film’s plot is similar to the Charlie Chaplin film The Circus (1928). In late 1925, Linder was working on pre-production for his next film Barkas le fol, which would never be made. As a consequence of his war service, Linder suffered from continuing health problems, including bouts of severe depression and several mental breakdowns. It has been said that he evoked “tantrum-like appearances at the studio”. Director Édouard-Émile Violet recalled that Linder seemed invariably unstable, worried… Linder also became a heavy user of opium in the 1920s, which could have further harrowed his mind. During his war service, Linder was involved in a car accident; he was thrown out of the vehicle and badly injured. In early April 1923, Linder was involved in a second near fatal car accident in Nice, which resulted in a head injury. He was arrested in Nice later that month for “kidnapping a minor”, who happened to be his future wife, the seventeen-year-old Hélène “Ninette” Peters. They had planned to run away to Monte Carlo. Upon Linder and Peters’ first encounter at a hotel in Chamonix, Linder was entranced by her, exclaiming to a friend, I spent the whole night in a hotel lounge talking to the most extraordinary girl I could ever imagine. Instantly I knew this to be the woman in my life. They married on 2 August 1923 at the Parisian church of St. The two lived in an apartment at 11 Bis Avenue Émile Deschanel. Linder is said to have been a fiercely jealous and mentally abusive husband. He would often accuse his young wife of being unfaithful and threaten to “end her”. Whenever he went to town alone in the evenings, he would call her to make sure that she had not gone out without his consent. Linder and his wife may have made a suicide pact. On 24 February 1924, they were both found unconscious at a hotel in Vienna, Austria, though this was explained as an accidental overdose of sleeping powder. The incident was covered up by the physician reporting it as an accidental overdose of barbiturates[citation needed]. In late October 1925, Max and Hélène reportedly attended a Paris screening of Quo Vadis (in which the main characters, as a reporter put it, “bleed themselves to death”), and died in a similar manner. They drank Veronal, injected morphine and slashed their wrists. [8][18] Peters died first, while Linder was unconscious throughout 31 October, with doctors fighting to keep him alive. He died after midnight on 1 November. There is still some question, however, as to whether the deaths were really a result of a suicide pact, or whether Max murdered his much-younger wife or pressured her into killing herself. On 2 November 1925, The New York Times reported that Hélène Linder had told her mother by letter that, He will kill me. ” The article also claims that “no one believes she herself opened her veins. ” Critic Vincent Canby acknowledged in 1988 that “Linder died with his young wife in what has sometimes been described as a suicide pact, and sometimes as a murder-suicide. In addition, Maud Linder reported in her memoir that the head of the workmen at Linder’s house in Neuilly overheard Max tell a friend, probably Armand Massard, that he planned to kill his wife along with himself, as he could not bear the thought of her belonging to another after he was gone. Linder was buried at the Catholique cimetière de Saint-Loubès. His wife is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Upon receiving the news of Linder’s death, Chaplin is reported to have closed his studio for one day out of respect. In the ensuing years, Linder was relegated to little more than a footnote in film history until 1963 when a Max Linder compilation film titled Laugh with Max Linder premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was theatrically released. The film was a compilation of Linder’s last three films made in Hollywood and its release was supervised by his daughter, Maud Linder. In 1983, Maud Linder made a documentary film, The Man in the Silk Hat, about Linder’s life and career. [8] It was screened out of competition at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. In 1992, Maud Linder published a book about Linder in France, Max Linder was my father and in 2008 she received the Prix Henri Langlois for her work to promote her father’s legacy. In his honor, Lycée Max Linder, a public school in the city of Libourne in the Gironde département near his birthplace was given his name in 1981. Linder’s influence on film comedy and particularly on slapstick films is that the genre shifted from the “knockabout” comedies made by such people as Mack Sennett and André Deed to a more subtle, refined and character driven medium that would later be dominated by Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and others. Linder’s influence on Chaplin is apparent both from Chaplin’s sometimes borrowing gags or entire plot-lines from Linder’s films, as well as from a famous signed photo that Chaplin sent Linder which read: To Max, the Professor, from his disciple, Charlie Chaplin. Mack Sennett and King Vidor also singled out Linder as a great influence on their directing careers. His high society characterizations as “Max” also influenced such actors as Adolphe Menjou and Raymond Griffith. This item is in the category “Entertainment Memorabilia\Autographs-Original\Movies\Photographs”. The seller is “pengang” and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped worldwide.
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