Cinematograph Dépose

The Cinématographe-Jouet Déposé is a toy that combines the flipbook and the mutoscope, an early motion picture device, to create a continuous moving image. The device is operated by using a hand-crank that triggers a weighted marble to rotate a loop of paper image frames within the box. Like stop-motion or cartoon animation, the fluidity of the subjects depends on the speed at which the user rotates the hand-crank. Traditionally, the toy was sold as a set with a variety of image loops depicting comedic stories rooted in theatrical movements of the body. The Cinématographe in the Menil Collection contains four image loops: The Boxers, The Acrobats, Clown with Hoop and Dog, and The Chefs. 

The Cinématographe was the only optical device of its time that made original animations in addition to appropriating scenes directly from popular motion pictures from the turn of the 19th century. For example, The Chefs and The Boxers are often attributed to French cinematographer Georges Méliès, while the Clown with Hoop and Dog is likely a cartoon specific to the toy. During this period, many flipbooks in France were produced by Léon Beaulieu who sourced imagery from Méliès as well as the Skladanowsky Brothers (early German filmmakers). After Beaulieu died in 1901, it is believed that his partner Noémie Alexandrine Porchel briefly continued commercial operations until around 1903; however, various manufacturers of the toy had already begun using clips from Méliès’s and Beaulieu’s different productions, often removing their names from the final products.