Gabriel Veyre (1871-1936)
In April 1899, the fine hall of the French Municipality was crowned by residents of all nationalities invited by one Mr. G. Veyre to attend an exhibition of photographs in colors. After the exhibition, Veyre screened some films with his ―very well perfected cinematograph‖. The show was praised for the ―almost total absence of jiggling‖.371 Veyer was a Lumière cameraman. Between February and April 1899, he was in China.
He then travelled to Hanoi and stayed in Indochina. Gabriel Veyre‘s exhibition in April 1899 was supported by ―Shanghai amateur photographic society‖. Colored photograph was still a novelty back then. Gabriel was invited to explain to the public how colored photograph was produced. At this point, cinematograph was longer a novelty in Shanghai foreign society, but Lumière‘s cinematograph advanced other movie machines in regard of the picture quality. Veyre‘s cinematograph exhibition was likely an entertaining cabaret.
Veyre departed Shanghai for Indochina shortly thereafter. It remains unclear if Veyre had shot any films during his stay in China.372 The documentary ―The Lumière Brother‘s First Films‖ nevertheless introduced three Veyre films, which seem related to China.373 The first film shows two Chinese men lying and smoking opium in a typical Chinese décor room. The second shows two Western women, probably
370 Cf. Elssaesser, Film Geschichte und frühes Kino.
371 NCH 17 Apr. 1899, volume 79, issue 1654.
372 Phillipe Jaquier from Lumière des Roses, also the author of ―Gabriel Veyre, opérateur Lumière (editor Actes Sud), wrote in a Email to me that ―we don‘t know if he (Gabriel Veyre) shot a film in China.‖
373 It is a documentary about Lumière brothers, coproduced by Association Frères Lumière and Institut Lumière in 1996.
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missionaries, sprinkling grains in a Chinese yard. The third fragment shows a group of Chinese children running. It is noteworthy that this view was shot with camera movement. It is difficult to identify these views as Chinese films because they were possibly shot in Indochina. Here we meet the aforementioned problem again. As Fairbank says, China was such a big concept and in the colonial context, the situation was more complicated. Indochina was originally a part of the Imperial China but it later became a French colony. It was no longer the territory of Manchuria court, but we should not simply exclude it out of China sphere because it was still under Chinese influence.
Ernest Hatch (1859-1927): politician & businessman
The full name of Ernest Hatch was Sir Ernest Fredric George Hatch, a conservative M.
P (Member of Parliament) with a particular interest in foreign issues.374 Hatch travelled widely. Through 1899 to 1900, he made a world tour to the Far East and Canada. Hatch arrived in China with Hon. Arthur Crichton from Japan in early December 1899.375 According to records in NCH, Hatch travelled ―with a cinematograph and with an expert to take films illustrative of native life in the various places he visits.‖376 The record identified the expert as one Mr. Willen.377
Hatch and his team arrived in Tianjin per Str. Tungchow around Dec. 11, 1899.378 During his stay, they gave no less than three exhibitions. At least two exhibitions were held at the Customs Club, ―for the benefit of the Red Cross Societies, British and Dutch, now working in South Africa‖.379 NCH reported that the room was filled by an enthusiastic audience and the exhibition was very successful.380 Hatch‘s third exhibition was given for aiding the finances of Church Building Fund. However, the
374 NCH 19 Sep. 1900, volume 82, issue 1728.
375 Ibid.
376 Ibid.
377 According Hatch‘s stream records on NCH (to Tianjin, Shanghai, Hankou and Hong Kong), the cinematographer with Hatch was likely S. A. Millen. See NCH 18 Dec. 1899, volume 80, issue 1689.
378 NCH 11 Dec. 1899, volume 80, issue 1688.
379 NCH 18 Dec. 1899, volume 80, issue 1689.
380 Ibid.
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exhibition had to be cancelled at the last moment because ―the gear of the oxy-hydrogen plant went wrong‖ and the audience was disappointed.381
At the end of the month, Hatch and his team headed southwards to Shanghai and there they exhibited cinematograph at Lyceum Theatre. The exhibition was likely also a beneficial one. More than a thousand of children, including several midshipmen from H. M. S Bonaventure, were invited. The exhibition was a collectivization job. It was run by Mr. Willen, with one Mr. Nelson looking after the electric light and one Mrs. Petersen in charge of the musical arrangements.382 The show began with a piano duet and twenty views were screened afterwards, ―in batches of four, with a musical interlude by some of the girl pupils of the Public School between each batch.‖383 In the show, views shot by Hatch‘s cameraman during their global tour were screened.
Around Jan. 3, 1899, Hatch and his team left Shanghai for England via India per Str.
Parramatta.
During his global trip, Hatch and his cameraman shot about fifty films. Among them, about twenty films were shot in China, including Street Scene in Pekin and An Old Chinese Woman Spinning. In May 1900, Hatch and his team were back in the Great Britain. Two months later, Hatch gave an exhibition of his films at Lord Wimborne‘s house in Mayfair, London in aid of a charity. At this time, due to the Boxer fever, any visual reference to the events in China was hot news. Although Hatch‘s films had nothing to do with Boxers, they became popular in the market.
Harrison and Co. advertised Hatch‘s films under the head of ―Genuine cinematograph films of China‖ and in the following months, these views were shown at several London music halls. The company also released Hatch‘s other films, including panoramas taken from trains in the Rockies, Geisha Dances and several school scenes taken in Japan.
Hatch later published Far East Impression. The book was criticized as ―written by the glob-trotters and the circumambulating Members of Parliament after paying a
381 NCH 18 Dec. 1899, volume 80, issue 1689.
382 NCH 18 Dec. 1899, volume 80, issue 1689
383 Ibid.
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flying visit to this country.‖384 Although it did not record his film activities in China, the work reveals that beside Tianjin and Shanghai, Hatch and his team had visited many other parts of China, such as Beijing, Shanxi, Hankou, Hong Kong, etc.
384 ―Notice of Books‖, NCH 26 Aug. 1904, volume 90, issue 1933.
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