The One-Man Band
About The One-Man Band
Georges Méliès, as a bandleader, sets out seven chairs. He sits in the first and a cymbal player appears in the same seat, then moves to the next chair. A drummer takes the chair just left. The same multiplication continues until a full band is seated and ready to play. Every musician is Méliès.
Cast & crew
More about The One-Man Band
Méliès directed, wrote, photographed, and produced L'Homme-Orchestre. Star Film numbered it 262–263 in its catalogs. Wikidata times it at 2 minutes.
Themes
Making
Méliès walks from chair to chair and is photographed again in each one, so the cymbals, the drum, and the rest of the row are the same man.
Look
Méliès shot the row of chairs himself and superimposed a new exposure for each player.
Technique
Each new musician is a multiple exposure of Méliès, locked to the chair he has just left.
Preservation
The film survives. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The French title is L'Homme-Orchestre.
- The band is one actor repeated by multiple exposure, not a troupe.
- An Internet Archive copy is filed as LhommeOrchestre.
- A Commons file uses the French title and Méliès's name.
Scenes
- The cymbal player stands up and the drummer is already in the chair behind him.
- The row is full, and every face is Méliès.
Also available
- Internet Archive (LhommeOrchestre)
- Wikimedia Commons (L'Homme orchestre (1900) par Georges Méliès.webm)
