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B E N C A R R É | P E R S P E C T I V E 1 7 work studying art, architecture and literature in the library. He took the studio's art-box outdoors or to art classes in the evenings and on the weekends with great enthusiasm. This became a passion that he continued to do throughout his long life. Working at the Amable Studio was also where Ben formed his lifelong friendships with fellow scenic apprentices, and future pioneer French Art Directors, Henri Ménessier and Robert Garnier. Montmartre Years Over the next six years, Ben encountered many challenges both at work and in life. As a young freelance painter, he was faced with periodic unemployment. Ben entered a brief wilderness period searching for his identity and direction. Moving to the Montmartre District he made many bohemian friends, writers, journalists, political cartoonists, poets, performers, artists, and a gifted painter who became his lifelong teacher and mentor, Jules Adler. It was toward the end of this time that Ben's life was to be irrevocably transformed by a woman who was a true force of nature, Alice Guy. At 18, Alice had been hired by Léon Gaumont to be his secretary. After a few years, she was made the director of Gaumont's first cinema production department located at its new factory. Alice Guy was to quickly become the first woman to ever direct, write, and produce motion pictures in France and very soon after in America as well. F. CITÉ GAUMONT STUDIO, CAMERA FACTORY AND FILM LABORATORIES. PARIS, CIRCA 1906. G. CITÉ GAUMONT'S MAIN SHOOTING STAGE, PARIS, CIRCA 1906 (WATERCOLOR) BY ART DIRECTOR ROBERT GARNIER. H. JERUSALEM TOWN SET ON STAGE, THE BIRTH, THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST, ALICE GUY, DIRECTOR, HENRI MÉNESSIER, ART DIRECTOR, CITÉ GAUMONT, PARIS 1906. I. BETHLEHEM TOWN SET ON STAGE, THE BIRTH, THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST, ALICE GUY, DIRECTOR, CITÉ GAUMONT, PARIS 1906. J. PAINT STUDIO (BEN CARRÉ FAR RIGHT) CITÉ GAUMONT, PARIS, CIRCA 1907. F G H I J