Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1504681
1 4 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 The Paris Years How does one tell the tale about an artist who lived to the age of 95? This is the story of Ben Carré. He was born before film even existed. But based on his life story, it seems like destiny that he came to define it. This is a remembrance of one of the very first, and very best, Art Directors. Paris 1883 Benjamin Jules Carré was born into a working-class family living in the Belleville District of Paris. His father, Germain, was a master decorator and fine art painter who had participated in the restoration of the interiors of Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Sadly, Germain, was poisoned by the lead in his paints and died when Ben was 6. Germain's widow, Louise, owned a modest fruit and vegetable shop which now had to provide for Ben, his sister Jeannie and their extended family. Fortunately, they had many friends in their neighborhood who worked in the trades and in the performing arts. Their many gifts of kindness made it possible for the Carré family to remain together and permitted them the luxury to attend occasional entertainment at the theatre, opera and ballet. These outings raised their spirits all the while enriching Ben's fertile imagination. Birth of Cinema, Paris 1895 Engineer and inventor Léon Gaumont first used early motion pictures to demonstrate the potential of the cameras that he was manufacturing at his new factory located near Buttes Chaumont in Paris. As the length of the film stock increased, so did the opportunity for making longer motion pictures. In the beginning, short pictures were being made by the Lumiére brothers, Méliès, Pathé and Gaumont that documented moments taken from life, such as trains in motion or workers leaving a factory. Broad comedies were created from improvisation and simple stories that were B e n C a r r é : P a r i s i a n i n H o l l y w o o d M O T I O N P I C T U R E ' S P R E M I E R A R T D I R E C T O R B Y T H O M A S A . WA L S H , P R O D U C T I O N A N D S C E N I C D E S I G N E R A. BEN CARRÉ, AGE 36, HOLLYWOOD 1919. B. BENJAMIN JULES CARRÉ, AGE 3, PARIS 1886. C. GEORGES MÉLIÉS (FAR LEFT) WORKING IN HIS PAINT SHOP WITH SCENIC ARTISTS, STUDIO MONTREUIL, PARIS, CIRCA 1897. A B C