Max Linder | |
|---|---|
 Linder in the February 1922 issue ofPhotoplay | |
| Born | Gabriel Leuvielle (1883-12-16)16 December 1883 Cavernes,Saint-Loubès,Gironde, France |
| Died | 1 November 1925(1925-11-01) (aged 41) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, comedian |
| Years active | 1899–1925 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Maud Linder |
Gabriel Leuvielle[1][2] (16 December 1883[3][2] – 1 November 1925), known professionally asMax Linder (French:[makslɛ̃.dɛʁ]), was a French actor,director,screenwriter,producer, andcomedian of thesilent film era. His onscreen persona "Max" was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the "first international movie star"[4] and "the first film star anywhere".[5]
Born in Cavernes, France to Catholic parents, Linder grew up with a passion for theater and enrolled in theConservatoire de Bordeaux in 1899. He soon received awards for his performances and continued to pursue a career in the legitimate theater. He became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays byMolière,Pierre Corneille, andAlfred de Musset.
From the summer of 1905, Linder appeared in short comedy films forPathé, at first usually in supporting roles. His first major film role was in theGeorges Méliès-likefantasy filmThe Legend of Punching. During the following years, Linder made several hundredshort films portraying "Max", a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. Starting withThe Skater's Debut in 1907, the character became one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies. By 1911, Linder was co-directing his own films (with René LePrince) as well as writing the scripts.
Linder enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War, and worked at first as a dispatch driver and entertainer. During his service, he was injured several times, and the experiences reportedly had a devastating effect on him both physically and mentally.[6] Linder later moved to the U.S. but was unable to achieve success. He died in 1925 in a purportedsuicide pact with his wife in Paris.
Max Linder was born Gabriel Leuvielle nearSaint-Loubès,Gironde. He was called "Max" from a young age. His parents, Jean and Suzanne (née Baron), were wealthyvineyard owners and expected Linder to take over the family business; his older brother Maurice (28 June 1881 – 14 December 1959) had become a celebrated national rugby player.[7] But Linder grew up with a passion for theater, and was enthralled by the traveling theater and circus performances that occasionally visited his town. He later wrote that "nothing was more distasteful to me than the thought of a life among the grapes."[8]
As a child, Linder fell victim to a severe case ofcholera. He survived by resting in the oven of the village baker. The heat from the oven supposedly brought down the infection to a manageable level.[2]
In the spring of 1888, the Leuvielle family's plantation was attacked bygrape phylloxera. Jean and Suzanne heavily considered emigrating to America, and embarked on a trip toNew York in search for propitious offers. During their trip, Max and Maurice remained in France with their grandmother Jeanne. Nothing became of Jean and Suzanne's plans to emigrate, as it was discovered that the French vines could be replaced with American plants, which were sturdier and resistant to phylloxera.
While in New York, Suzanne gave birth to Max's younger brother, Gérard. They returned to France, and, two years later, a sister, Marcelle, was born. Max developed a particular affection for her.[2] Marcelle, along with Suzanne and Jean, appeared in Max's filmMax Is Convalescent (1911)[9] and Marcelle starred alongside Max inMax, The Heartbreaker (1917).
In 1899, Linder enrolled in theConservatoire de Bordeaux and quickly won awards for first prize in comedy and second prize in tragedy. He continued to pursue a career in the theater and became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays byMolière,Pierre Corneille andAlfred de Musset. At the same time that he was performing in serious dramatic theater, he became friends withCharles le Bargy of theComédie-Française. Le Bargy encouraged Linder to audition for theConservatoire de Paris in 1904. Linder was rejected and began appearing in less prestigious theaters such as theOlympia Theater and theThéâtre de l'Ambigu.[8]
By 1905, he had adopted hisstage name ofMax Linder and used it in several theatrical performances. Also during this period, Linder applied for work atPathé Frères inVincennes at the suggestion of film directorLouis Gasnier and began appearing in small bit parts, mostly inslapstick comedies. Linder continued to appear on the stage for the next two years and was not a significant film star at first. However, an often-told legend about the origins of Linder's film career is that French film producerCharles Pathé personally saw Linder on the stage and wrote him a note that read "In your eyes lies a fortune. Come and act in front of my cameras, and I will help make it."[8]
From 1905 to 1907, Linder appeared in dozens of short comedy films for Pathé, usually in a supporting role. His first noticeably larger film role was inThe Young Man's First Outing in 1905. He also appeared inGeorges Méliès-likefantasy films such asSerpentine Dances andThe Legend of Punching, his first leading role. His rise to stardom commenced in 1907 when Pathé's slapstick star René Gréhan left the company to joinÉclair. Gréhan's screen character was Gontran, whose persona included high-society clothing and adandy-ish demeanor. Linder was chosen to take over the characterization for Pathé, and the style of dress and personality of Gréhan's character became his trademark. Film critic David Robinson described Linder's screen persona as "no grotesque: he was young, handsome, debonair, immaculate...in silk hat, jock coat, cravat, spats, patent shoes, and swagger cane."[8] Linder made more than one hundredshort films portraying "Max", a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. With this character, he had created one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies.
Linder's first appearance as "Max" was inThe Skater's Debut in 1907.Lake Daumesnil in Paris had frozen over and directorLouis Gasnier filmed Linder in his new attire, with Linder improvising the rest. In the film, "Max" falls about and does a rendition of "the windmill routine" by spinning his cane around, predatingCharlie Chaplin's version inThe Rink by nine years. Pathé was unimpressed with the film and re-shot parts of it, and it was not popular with audiences when released. Soon afterwards, Gasnier left Pathé and moved to Italy, leaving Linder without a supporter at Pathé; he made few films in 1908.[8] His luck began to change when Pathé's top comedy star,André Deed, left to work with the Italian film companyItala, leaving Linder as the company's leading comedic actor. Later in 1909, Gasnier returned from Italy and immediately began working with Linder again. The team made several shorts in 1909 with Linder in various roles, such as a blind elderly man and a coquettish young woman. But they soon discovered that the character of "Max" was the most popular with audiences and stuck with him from then on. Among the popular "Max" films made by Linder and Grasnier in 1909 areA Young Lady Killer andThe Cure for Cowardice.[8]
By 1910, Linder had proved himself to Pathé and was quickly becoming one of the most popular film actors in the world. When Gasnier was sent to the United States later that year to oversee Pathé's productions there, Lucien Nonguet took over as Linder's director. Together they made such films asMax Takes a Bath and the autobiographicalMax Linder's Film Debut, which fictitiously recreates the legend of Linder's early film career and includesCharles Pathé as himself.
By the end of the year, Linder had become the most popular film actor in the world. Although actressFlorence Lawrence is often referred to as "The First Movie Star" in the United States, Linder appears to be the very first worldwide movie star with a major following. In Russia, he was voted the most popular film actor, ahead ofAsta Nielsen. He also had a Russian impersonator, Zozlov, and a devoted fan inCzar Nicholas II. Another professed fan was British playwrightGeorge Bernard Shaw. The first feature film ever made in Bulgaria was a remake of one of Linder's earlier movies. He was offered $12,000 to spend a month in Berlin making public appearances with his film screenings, but had to decline for health reasons. In France, a Max Linder movie theater had opened in Paris.
At the height of his fame, Linder ended 1910 with a serious illness. He was forced to stop making films whenappendicitis left him bedridden, and some newspapers reported that he had died. He eventually recovered the following spring and began making films again in May 1911.[8]
In 1911, Linder returned to filmmaking and began co-directing his own films (with René LePrince) as well as writing the scripts. By 1912, he was the solo director of his films. Gaining complete control over his own films brought positive results both critically and commercially; the films Linder made during this period are generally considered to be his best.Max, Victim of Quinine is considered by film critic Jean Mitry to be "his masterpiece."[8] In the film, an intoxicated "Max" gets into numerous fights with such dignitaries as the Minister of War, an ambassador and the police commissioner, all of whom challenge him to a duel and present him with their business cards. Eventually "Max" is apprehended by the police, who attempt to return him to his residence, but end up mistakenly taking him to the homes of the various men whom he had previously fought with.[8]
The universality of silent films brought Linder fame and fortune throughout Europe, making him the highest paid entertainer of the day, with a salary increase of 150,000 francs (the average monthly salary in France was 100 francs at the time). He began touring Europe with his films from 1911 to 1912, including Spain, where he entertained thousands of fans at theBarcelona railway station, Austria, and Russia, where he was accompanied on piano by a youngDimitri Tiomkin. In 1912 after the tour, Linder demanded and received a salary of one million francs a year, andCharles Pathé used the huge sum to generate publicity, with an ad reading "We understand that the shackles which bind Max Linder have attained the value of one million francs a year...the imagination boggles at such a figure!"[8] This set a precedent in the entertainment industry for actors' salaries that would become a staple of the Hollywood system, but privately Pathé nicknamed Linder "The Napoleon of the Cinema".[8]
The high point of Linder's career was from 1912 to 1914. His films were made with increased skill and "Max" was at his funniest. He made such films asMax Virtuoso,Max Does Not Speak English,Max and His Dog,Max's Hat andMax and the Jealous Husband. His ensemble of actors includedStacia Napierkowska, Jane Renouardt,Gaby Morlay, and occasional performances from the young actorsAbel Gance andMaurice Chevalier. Linder had given Chevalier his start in movies, but the silent medium did not suit Chevalier, who stuck to the stage until the all-singing all-dancing features came in, many years later.
The outbreak of World War I brought a temporary end to Linder's film career in 1914, but not before he made the short patriotic filmThe Second of August that year.[8] Linder attempted to enlist in the French army, but was physically unfit for combat duty. Instead he worked as a dispatch driver between Paris and the front lines. Many conflicting stories about the reasons behind his dismissal from the army exist, including that he was shot through the lung, and seriously wounded. Initially, it was reported by one newspaper that he had been killed; Linder actually phoned the offending publishers, leading them to run the headline "Max Linder Not Killed".[10] However, others have asserted that he became infected withpneumonia after hiding from a German patrol in icy water for several hours. After being dismissed from his duties, Linder spent the remainder of the war entertaining the troops and making films. It was also during this period that Linder had his first serious bout withchronic depression.[8]
In 1916, Linder was approached by American film producerGeorge K. Spoor, the president of theEssanay Film Manufacturing Company, to make twelve short films for him in the US at a salary of $5,000 a week. Earlier that year,Charlie Chaplin, then the most popular comedian in the world, had left Essanay for more money and independence atMutual Film and Spoor wanted to replace Chaplin with Max Linder, whose pantomime skills were arguably equally accomplished. Linder was offered a new contract from Charles Pathé, but accepted Spoor's offer and moved to the United States to work for Essanay later that year. Unfortunately his first few American-made "Max" films were unpopular both critically and financially. The first two,Max Comes Across andMax Wants a Divorce were complete failures, but the third film,Max and his Taxi was moderately successful. The financially troubled studio may have been counting on Linder to restore its flagging fortunes and cancelled production of the remaining films on Linder's contract.[8]Max and his Taxi had been shot inHollywood and while there Linder had developed a close friendship with Charlie Chaplin. They would often attend events such as boxing matches or car races together, and according to writer Jack Spears, "while working on a picture Linder would go next door to Chaplin's home and discuss the day's shooting. The two often sat until dawn, developing and refining the gags. Chaplin's suggestions were invaluable, Linder said."[8]
Linder returned to France in 1917 and opened a movie theater, the Ciné Max Linder. However, due to his depression and anxiety about the still ongoing war, he was unable to continue making films on a regular basis, and was often quoted by journalists about the horrors of the front lines. After theArmistice in 1918, Linder was able to regain his enthusiasm and agreed to make a film with directorRaymond Bernard, the feature lengthThe Little Café in 1919. In the film, Linder plays a waiter who suddenly becomes a millionaire, but simultaneously is tricked into a twenty-year contract to be a waiter by the cafe owner. The film made over a million francs in Europe and briefly revived his career, but was financially unsuccessful in the US.[8]
Four years after failing to become a major star in the U.S., Linder made another attempt at filmmaking inHollywood and formed his own production company there in 1921. His first film back in the U.S. wasSeven Years Bad Luck, considered by some to be his best film. The film contains one of the earliest (though not the first[11]) examples on film of the "human mirror" gag best known in the scene betweenGroucho andHarpo Marx inDuck Soup twelve years later. Linder next madeBe My Wife later that year, but again neither films were able to find a major audience in the U.S.
Linder then decided to dispense with the "Max" character and try something different for his third (and final) attempt:The Three Must-Get-Theres in 1922. The film is asatire ofswashbuckling films made byDouglas Fairbanks and is loosely based on the plot ofAlexander Dumas'The Three Musketeers. The film was praised by Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, but again failed at the box office. At the films premiere, Linder had said to directorRobert Florey "You see, Bob, I sense that I'm no longer funny; I have so many preoccupations that I can no longer concentrate on my film character ... The public is mildly amused by my situations, but this evening where were the explosions of laughter that we hear when Charlie's on the screen?...Make people laugh, its easy to say make people laugh, but I don't feel funny anymore."[8]
With his depression making it difficult for him to work, Linder returned to France in 1922 and shortly afterwards made a semi-serious film:Au Secours! (Help!) for directorAbel Gance. The film is essentially ahorror film set in ahaunted house, with occasional moments of comedy by Linder. The film was released inEngland in 1924 and was critically praised, however the legal copyright of the film prevented it from being released in France or the US for several years. Linder's last film wasThe King of the Circus directed by Édouard-Émile Violet (with pre-production collaboration fromJacques Feyder) and filmed inVienna in 1925. In the film, "Max" joins a circus in order to be closer to the woman that he loves. The film includes such gags as a hungover "Max" waking up in a department store and the film's plot is similar to theCharlie Chaplin filmThe Circus (1928). In late 1925, Linder was working on pre-production for his next filmBarkas le fol, which would never be made.[8]
As a consequence of his war service, Linder had continuing health problems, including bouts of severedepression and several mental breakdowns. It has been said that he evoked "tantrum-like appearances at the studio". Director Édouard-Émile Violet recalled that Linder seemed invariably "unstable, worried..."[12] Linder also became a heavy user ofopium in the 1920s, which could have further harrowed his mind.[13]
During his war service, Linder was involved in a car accident; he was thrown out of the vehicle and badly injured.[14]
In early April 1923, Linder was involved in a second near fatal car accident inNice, which resulted in a head injury. He was arrested in Nice later that month for "kidnapping a minor", who happened to be his future wife, the seventeen-year-old Hélène "Ninette" Peters. They had planned to run away toMonte Carlo.
Upon Linder and Peters' first encounter at a hotel inChamonix, Linder was entranced by her, exclaiming to a friend, "I spent the whole night in a hotel lounge talking to the most extraordinary girl I could ever imagine. Instantly I knew this to be the woman in my life."[14] They married on 2 August 1923 at the Parisian church of St. Honoré d'Eylau. The two lived in an apartment at 11 Bis Avenue Émile Deschanel.[13]
Linder is said to have been a fiercely jealous and mentally abusive husband. He would often accuse his young wife of being unfaithful and threaten to "end her". Whenever he went to town alone in the evenings, he would call her to make sure that she had not gone out without his consent.[13]
Linder and his wife may have made asuicide pact. On 24 February 1924, they were both found unconscious at a hotel in Vienna, though this was explained as an accidental overdose of "sleeping powder."[15] In late October 1925, Max and Hélène reportedly attended a Paris screening ofQuo Vadis (in which two characters, Petronius and his slave Eunice, as a reporter put it, "bleed themselves to death"),[16] and died in a similar manner. They drankVeronal, injected morphine and slashed their wrists.[8][17] Peters died first, while Linder was unconscious throughout 31 October, with doctors fighting to keep him alive. He died after midnight on 1 November.[18]
There is still some question, however, as to whether the deaths were really a result of a suicide pact, or whether Max murdered his much-younger wife or pressured her into killing herself. On 2 November 1925,The New York Times reported that Hélène Linder had told her mother by letter that, "He will kill me." The article also claims that "no one believes she herself opened her veins."[16] Critic Vincent Canby acknowledged in 1988 that "Linder died with his young wife in what has sometimes been described as a suicide pact, and sometimes as a murder-suicide."[19] In addition, Maud Linder reported in her memoir that the head of the workmen at Linder's house in Neuilly overheard Max tell a friend, probably Armand Massard, that he planned to kill his wife along with himself, as he could not bear the thought of her belonging to another after he was gone.[20]
Linder was buried at the Catholique cimetière de Saint-Loubès. His wife is buried atPère Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.[21]
Upon receiving the news of Linder's death, Chaplin is reported to have closed his studio for one day out of respect.[22]
In the ensuing years, his jealous and alcoholic elder brother won custody of sixteen-month-old heiressMaud Linder to get the girl's fortune, before her grandmother (Hélène's mother) legally fought back and took over. Meanwhile, many of his films were lost because most reels had been buried unprotected in a garden. Max Linder had been relegated to little more than a footnote in film history until a compilation film titledLaugh with Max Linder premiered at theVenice Film Festival[23] and was theatrically released. The film was a compilation of Linder's last three films made in Hollywood and its release was supervised byMaud Linder.
In 1983, Maud Linder made a documentary film,The Man in the Silk Hat, about Linder's life and career.[8] It was screened out of competition at the1983 Cannes Film Festival.[24] In 1992, Maud Linder published a book about Linder in France,Max Linder was my father and in 2008 she received the Prix Henri Langlois[25] for her work to promote her father's legacy. In his honor,Lycée Max Linder, a public school in the city ofLibourne in theGironde département near his birthplace was given his name in 1981.[26]
Linder's influence on film comedy and particularly onslapstick films is that the genre shifted from the "knockabout" comedies made by such people asMack Sennett andAndré Deed to a more subtle, refined and character driven medium that would later be dominated by Chaplin,Buster Keaton,Harold Lloyd, and others. Linder's influence on Chaplin is apparent both from Chaplin's sometimes borrowing gags or entire plot-lines from Linder's films, as well as from a famous signed photo that Chaplin sent Linder which read: "To Max, the Professor, from his disciple, Charlie Chaplin."[8] Mack Sennett andKing Vidor also singled out Linder as a great influence on their directing careers. His high society characterizations as "Max" also influenced such actors asAdolphe Menjou andRaymond Griffith.[8]
In his heyday, Linder had two major rivals in France:Léonce Perret andCharles Prince. Perret later became a successful director, but his early career included a series of "Léonce" slapstick shorts that were popular but nowhere near the stature of Linder's films. Charles Prince, on the other hand, was gaining popularity during his career and was nearly equal to Linder by the beginning ofWorld War I. Prince's screen persona was "Rigadin", who like "Max" was a bumblingbourgeois socialite who always got into trouble. Both Linder and Prince were employed byPathé in the early 1910s and they often used the same story lines, sets and directors. Years after both comedians' careers were long over, Linder has received several revivals in interest while Charles Prince remains mostly forgotten.[8]
Linder is referenced inQuentin Tarantino'sInglourious Basterds where the owner of acinema inNazi occupied Paris in 1944, Shosanna Dreyfus, says that she will be having a Max Linder festival. The relative merits of Linder andChaplin are then discussed by the German soldier, Frederick Zoller, who argues that Linder is superior to Chaplin while also admitting that Linder never made anything as good asThe Kid.[citation needed]The documentary filmThe Mystery of the King of Kinema portraits Linder and his impact through interviews (including Maud Linder), silent film excerpts and the Spanish-American actorJulio Perillán characterized as Linder and voicing answers from old press interviews. Perillán was nominated to theGoya awards for best lead actor.[27]
Andrew Shail, senior lecturer in film at Newcastle University, has uncovered what appears to be the first film-star marketing: a poster for a Pathé Frères film featuring [Max] Linder called Le Petit Jeune Homme, released in Europe in September 1909. Whereas Linder had been known on-screen as a first-name-only character called "Max" since 1907's The Skater's Debut, this poster uses his full name, and is thus the earliest surviving European evidence of publicity for a regular film performer. [...] 'This makes Linder – as far as we can tell – the first film star anywhere,'
Max Linder, one of the earliest film comedians in the world, committed suicide this morning in a death compact with his lovely wife, formerly Miss Peters, a wealthy Paris heiress.
