Paul Sablon Explained

Paul Sablon (6 November 1888 – 3 November 1940), later Paul Bourgeois, was a Brussels-born actor, director, cinematographer, writer and animal trainer, who worked in the early film industry, including for Pathé Frères in Europe and Universal in the United States.^[1]

While working in the Netherlands, "Sablon became the regular cameraman for Alfred Machin’s tiger Mimir."^[2] He later toured with the Circus Hagenbeck, developing his animal training skills. During his American era he seems to have been a combination animal trainer, critically and commercially successful director, con man and workplace predator.^[3] “Bourgeois and his wife, actress Rosita Marstini, arrived in Hollywood in summer 1915” after he had worked with animals in New York and New Jersey. He was head animal trainer and Universal City Zoo superintendent from approximately 1915 to 1916.^[4] In 1916, he defrauded investors with an ice rink scheme and then absconded to Arizona with the money and his 19-year-old stenographer. He spent time in both Canada and the United States but died in his home country of Belgium.

Filmography

Actor:

• 1912: Het vervloekte Geld (The Curse of Money)
• 1913: Beasts of the Jungle^[5]
• 1915: The Prisoner of the Harem^[6]
• 1916: Hungry Happy’s Dream^[7]

Director or cinematographer, in Europe:

• 1912: Babylas va se marier
• 1912: L'Âme des moulins^[8]
• 1912: Calvaire du mousse
• 1912: L'Or qui brûle
• 1912: De Molens die juichen en weenen
• 1912: La Peinture et les cochons

Director, working in the United States under the name Paul Bourgeois:

• 1915: Joe Martin Turns 'Em Loose^[9]
• 1915: The Tiger-Woman^[10]
• 1916: Nadine of Nowhere^[11]
• 1916: The Whole Jungle Was After Him^[12]
• 1916: On the Trail of the Tigress^[13]

Further reading

• Book: Donaldson, Geoffrey . Of joy and sorrow : a filmography of Dutch silent fiction . 1997 . Stichting Nederlands Filmmuseum . 90-71338-10-X . Amsterdam . 39197409.

External links

• IMDb: Paul Bourgeois
• Nitrateville: The 1910s animal films of Paul Bourgeois

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2011-04-12 . Paul Sablon . 2022-12-14 . DEV EYE Filmdatabase . . en.
2. Web site: Engelen . Leen . ON THE TRAIL OF THE TIGRESS Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival . 2022-12-14 . en-US.
3. News: Johnston . Keith . 2021-10-03 . He made history as Hollywood's first animal trainer. Then he scammed L.A. with 'iceless ice' . en-US . Los Angeles Times . 2022-11-25.
4. Web site: Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1916) - Lantern . 2022-11-25 . lantern.mediahist.org.
5. Web site: Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List . 2022-12-14 . www.silentera.com . en.
6. Book: McMahan, Alison . Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema . 2014-08-22 . Bloomsbury Publishing USA . 978-1-5013-0269-5 . en.
7. Web site: Hungry's Happy Dream. ECHO (Early Cinema History Online). December 14, 2022.
8. Web site: Paul Sablon . https://web.archive.org/web/20221214145728/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba1addee8 . dead . December 14, 2022 . 2022-12-14 . . en.
9. Web site: Joe Martin Turns Them Loose. ECHO (Early Cinema History Online). December 14, 2022 .
10. Greenroom Jottings. Motion Picture. 127. 1915 . Macfadden-Bartell. . en.
11. Web site: Nadine of Nowhere. ECHO (Early Cinema History Online). December 14, 2022.
12. Web site: Whole Jungle Was After Him, The . ECHO (Early Cinema History Online). December 14, 2022 .
13. Web site: On the Trail of the Tigress. ECHO (Early Cinema History Online). December 14, 2022 .