The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
About The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
Three mattress makers step into a cheap wine bar. A drunken tramp climbs into their unfinished mattress and falls asleep. They sew him inside. He wakes, and the mattress staggers down the street and into the bar. The customers flee. A policeman tackles it, the tramp rips his way out, and the furniture lands on the officer. A card reading "À Votre Santé, Good Health, Prosit!!!" cuts to the tramp raising a glass at the camera.
Cast & crew
More about The Tramp and the Mattress Makers
Georges Méliès sold it as Star Film 818–820. The French title is La Cardeuse de matelas. Manuel plays the tramp and Bruneval the bald barman. The only trick is a substitution splice. The toast card is lettered like the titles in The Witch and Soap Bubbles, two other Méliès films from 1906.
Themes
Making
The mattress gag needs no painted magic: the actor is inside the ticking, and a splice covers the moment he tears free.
Look
The street and the wine bar are framed straight on. The finish is a closer shot of the tramp's toast. A substitution splice is the only camera trick.
Preservation
A copy is on Wikimedia Commons as La Cardeuse de matelas (1906).
Notes
- Méliès does not play the tramp. The role is Manuel's.
- IMDb lists Bruneval as the coffee boy; the English Wikipedia calls him the bald barman.
- The action leaves the street for the bar, then ends on a medium shot, rather than one locked view.
Scenes
- The sewn mattress lurches into the wine bar and the customers run.
- The tramp, finally out, drinks under the three-language toast card.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (La Cardeuse de matelas)
Quotes
À Votre Santé, Good Health, Prosit!!!
