Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1507937
B E N C A R R É | P E R S P E C T I V E 1 5 Mary Pickford's bedroom set for A Poor Little Rich Girl. The pair married in 1914 and their daughter, Evelyn, was born in 1918. Maurice Tourneur and Trilby, 1915 It was at Éclair and soon thereafter at Paragon- World Studio that Ben Carré began his long collaboration with French director Maurice Tourneur. Carré designed thirty-two feature- length films for Tourneur and influenced the visual style for which Tourneur became noted. This new style was first explored in their 1915 production of Trilby. Set in the Latin Quarter of Paris, it is a story about young artists, a world that Ben had lived in as a young painter in Paris. His sets were reminiscent of the studios of his friend and mentor, Jules Adler. The art students who participated as extras in the classroom scenes where all recruited from New York's Art Students League. One student in particular had the look of a matinee idol. A native of Brooklyn, and a department store window dresser by day, his name was Cedric Gibbons. The Tourneur—Carré Style Ben Carré and Maurice Tourneur had a mutual understanding. Tourneur would focus on the story and actors, the cameramen would manage the photography and lighting, and Ben would manage the sets and all the physical details. Their 1917 production of A Poor Little Rich Girl marked the beginning of Tourneur's and Carré's trademark styles. The 1918 production of The Blue Bird was recognized after its release for establishing a new creative standard for motion pictures. The film introduced new visual and story solutions never imagined or attempted before and remained one of Ben's all-time personal favorite pictures. C. MANSION FOYER UNDER CONSTRUCTION, PARAGON-WORLD PICTURES (1915–1919). D. LABORATORY SET, ÉCLAIR STUDIOS (1912–1914). BEN CARRÉ, RIGHT, DIRECTOR ETIENNE ARNAUD, LEFT. E. BEN CARRÉ PAINTING, OUTSIDE OF THE PARAGON, FORT LEE, 1916 (OIL ON WOODEN PANEL). F. BEN CARRÉ AND FIRST WIFE, PAINTER AND ILLUSTRATOR, JEANNE COTTREL (1914). C D E F