The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) [1 ed.] 9781527550735, 9781527549029

Citation preview

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One)

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) By

Peter Kardjilov Translated from Bulgarian by Ivelina Petrova

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) By Peter Kardjilov Translated from Bulgarian by Ivelina Petrova This book first published 2020 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2020 by Peter Kardjilov All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-4902-X ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-4902-9

TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume One Acknowledgements

ix

Chapter One.……...…………………………………………….. A Little Bit of History A Few Explanations....……………………………………. The Hectic Holidays of the Tumultuous 1903....………….

1 7 10

Chapter Two.………………………………………………...….. The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (the Summer of 1903) The Beginning and the End of The Epic Struggle…......….

16

Chapter Three…………………………………………………... The Echo in the United Kingdom The Balkan Committee…………………………………… British Correspondents……………………………………. Under Social Pressure……….……………………………. The Photochronicle of the Rebellion……………………… Illustrated Weekly Periodicals…………………………….. Books……………………………………………….……... Private Audiences and Public Events…………….……......

23

Chapter Four…………………………………………………… The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning Young and Innocent……………………………………….. The Detroit Prince of the Phonographs…………………… Kinetoscopes……………………………………………… Open Screen – Large Audience…………………………… Maguire & Baucus………………………………………... The Warwick Trading Company………………………….. The Urban Bioscope………………………………………. The Boer War: Films……………………………………… New Ideas – New People…………………………………. The Outcome……………………………………………… The Charles Urban Trading Company……………………. The Unseen World………………………………………… We Put the World Before You……………………………..

16

23 26 43 48 49 62 73 79 79 82 82 85 88 91 94 98 111 117 122 126 127

vi

Table of Contents

Chapter Five…………………………………………………….. Who Are You, Mr. Noble? 2008: an Email Odyssey………………………………….. Origins…………………………………………………….. A Man of the Theatre……………………………………... Sir Walter Gibbons………………………………………... 1900: Noble in South Africa……………………………… In Morocco (1901–3)……………………………………... Chapter Six……………………………………………………… Screenings in London (January 1904) Introduction……………………………………………….. In the Beginning was The Music Hall…………………….. The Macedonian Atrocities……………………………….. With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia……………………. The Premiere……………………………………………… The First Reviews………………………………………… The Show Must Go On – But For How Long?.................... February Projections – But Where?..................................... 1904 Press Comments in the 1905 CUTC Catalogue…….. Comments on the Press Comments……………………….. Chapter Seven…………………………………………………... 1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA……………………….. WITH THE INSURGENT BANDS OF MACEDONIA…. Ivancho Gevgelijsky………………………………………. General Ivan Tsonchev……………………………………. The Initiation……………………………………………… One of the Most Striking Pictures………………………… The Illustrations…………………………………………... The Photographs of Dilber (Good-looking) Ivancho……... General Tsonchev’s Photographs…………………………. Photographs of Colonel Anastas Yankov…………………. Photographs of Lieutenant Konstantin (Kocho) Nastev....... Photographs of Lieutenant Ilia Baltov……………………. Macedonian Insurgent Leaders……………………………

135 136 139 140 142 144 150 163 163 164 169 171 179 183 188 193 196 199 207 207 213 219 221 223 225 227 228 233 242 245 250 253

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One)

Chapter Eight…………………………………………………… Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904) Charles Rider Noble’s Return………………………………. English Correspondents in Sofia…………………………… The First Picture Show……………………………………... At the Military Club………………………………………... Sofia Officers’ Assembly…………………………………… An Extensive Advertising Campaign, a Crowded Hall, and Some Extra Profit…………………………………………... The Slavyanska Beseda…………………………………….. Official Documents Mentioning Noble’s Name……………. At the Request of the Audience…………………………….. The Bulgaria Circus Theatre………………………………... The Well-known Stranger…………………………………... The Content of the “Cinematograms”……………………… “Ownership,” Patents, and “Copyright”……………………. Ticket Prices………………………………………………... Reviews Provoking no Responses…………………………..

vii

259 259 261 263 265 267 270 274 276 278 279 282 284 288 291 296

Chapter Nine……………………………………………………. Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904) The Itinerary………………………………………………... In Vratsa…………………………………………………….. Visiting Vidin……………………………………………….. The Sea Battle of Port Arthur in Plovdiv…………..….…… In the City Under the Tepes…………………………….…...

299 299 299 300 302 308 314

Chapter Ten……………………………………………………... Re-enacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms” One of the Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in the World……………………………………………………….. The Five Insurgent Films…………………………………… The Time the Action Took Place…………………………… The Location Where the Action Took Place………………... Doubts: Well-founded or Unfounded…………..…………... Film Historians Have the Floor……………………...……... Reconstructed Actuality: the Pathé Genre………………….. The Assassination of the Serbian Royal Family…………….

324

326 330 333 335 343 348 351 353

viii

Table of Contents

Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia…………………...……... The Silence of the Catalogues…………………………….. Was a Feature Film Made in Bulgaria in 1903?................... The “Golden Key” to Charles Noble’s Inner Self…………

355 357 359 363

Chapter Eleven……………………….………………………… Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas The Arrival………………………………………………... The Bulgaria Hotel………………………………………... Far East War Pictures at the Military Club………………... The Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) Cinematographed......... The Last Picture Show……………………………………. Filming Near Sofia……………………………………..…. The Spectacular Military Parade of Sofia’s Garrison……...

367

.

367 368 370 374 379 381 387

Chapter Twelve…………………………………………………. February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue New Edition – Old Films…………………………………. The Surprises in the New Catalogue……………………… The Bottom Line…………………………………………..

393 394 397 400

Index of Proper Names………………….………………………

406

Film Titles Index…………………………..…………….….…...

413

Contents of Volume Two…………………….………………….

420

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author expresses his sincere gratitude to all those who helped him during the preparation, writing and publication of this book: Adam Rummens, Commissioning Editor of Cambridge Scholars Publishing í the man who first suggested the reckless idea of creating the book, the brilliant translator Ivelina Petrova, and the friends Ivan Pirovski, Peter Obbov, Velko Miloev, Ivan Aleksiev and Ivan Staykov Ivanov for their infinite responsiveness. He also thanks Antonija Kovacheva (Director of the Bulgarian National Film Archive), Krastina Ilieva, Ljudmila Boteva and Mariana Ahgelova, who provided him with access to the BNFA film collection, documentation and photo archive, as well as his colleagues at the Screen Arts Sector of Institute of Art Studies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Thanks also go to Stephen Bottomore (England), Bryony Dixon and Steve Bryant (The British Film Institute), Aleksandar Erdeljanovic (Serbia, The Yugoslav Film Archive), Vladimir Angelov and Igor Stardelov (Cinematheque of North Macedonia), and his wife Stela Kardjilova í for her love and patience…

CHAPTER ONE A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY …

Bulgaria has existed as a sovereign and officially recognized state (having the same name and occupying the same territories) since 681. Conquered by Ottoman Turks at the end of the fourteenth century, the country stopped functioning as a social and political entity for almost five hundred years, and its territory became part of the Exalted Ottoman State (historically known in Western Europe as the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Empire, or simply Turkey). However, Bulgarian people stayed in their homes, their place of origin, the lands they had inhabited for more than a thousand years. Even though, under the tyranny of the conquerors – who felt alien in not only their way of life, but also their language and religion (Muslim) – the Bulgarians managed to preserve their traditions, Slavic language, and Christian faith, and lived to see the day their kingdom was restored after the Russo-Turkish War (1877–8) by virtue of the preliminary (initial) peace treaty, signed in the village of San Stefano (near Istanbul) on February 19, 1878.1 Nowadays, that day – actually March 3 in the Gregorian Calendar – is celebrated by the country’s citizens as a national holiday – the Liberation Day. The provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano, which delimited the boundaries of the new “autonomous tributary principality” – temporarily, yet matching as closely as possible the borders of the Bulgarian ethnicity – were soon revised at the Congress of Berlin. After deliberating for exactly a month, that diplomatic forum of authorized representatives of the Great Powers (the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, Italy, 1

All the events mentioned in the book that took place in the Balkans (including Bulgaria) are dated according to the calendar currently used in the country – the Julian Calendar (the so-called Old Style – OS), which was in force until March 31, 1916; whereas the dates related to events in the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and the United States (including dates mentioned in periodicals from those countries) are in the Gregorian Calendar (the so-called New Style – NS). The difference between the two calendars in the nineteenth century was twelve days, and in the twentieth century thirteen.

2

Chapter One

and Russia) and Turkey ended its work on July 13, 1878 (NS) by signing the Treaty of Berlin, which divided the newly “liberated Balkan region” inhabited by a predominantly Bulgarian population (as stated in the official Turkish records) into five parts: the Vassal Principality of Bulgaria, the Autonomous Province of Eastern Rumelia, the lands within the territory retained by Turkey (Macedonia, Eastern and Western/Aegean Thrace), Northern Dobruja (awarded to Romania), and Pomoravie (given to Serbia).

Map of Southeastern Europe after the Congress of Berlin (1878)

It was a real slap in the face for the Bulgarians, who had just tasted freedom, but they learned their lesson. Therefore, the more alert of them continued the struggle by setting up committees, publishing newspapers, and writing unification programmes. In general, they started preparing themselves for a revolt, having realized that freedom would not come without a price. As early as October 5, 1878 the Kresna–Razlog Uprising broke out – a desperate and abortive protest against the unfair (according to Bulgarians) decisions of the Congress of Berlin. The Unification – the union of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia into one single state – took place on September 6, 1885. However, that daring political act, carried out against the will of the Great

A Little Bit of History …

3

Powers, affected neither Macedonia nor Adrianople Thrace, which remained under the Sultan’s rule. Thus, on October 23, 1893, in the hall of residence of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian Men’s High School in Thessaloniki (1880–1913) (within the borders of Turkey at that time), six young educated Bulgarians – Damyan Gruev, Dr. Hristo Tatarchev, Ivan Hadzhinikolov, Hristo Batandzhiev, Petar Pop-Arsov, and Andon Dimitrov – laid the foundation of the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO). In the course of time, the organization changed its name several times. In 1896 it became Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Committees (BMARC), whose member (according to Art. 3 of the statute) “can be any Bulgarian, independent of gender,” having the goal (Art. 1) “to secure full political autonomy for the Macedonia and Adrianople regions”2; in 1902, the name was changed to the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (SMARO); at the Rila Congress in 1905, from “secret” it became “internal” (IMARO – this abbreviation is used by most modern historians), and, in 1919, the organization split into the IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) and the ITRO (Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organization). What was meant by “secret” hardly needs detailed explanation. The meaning of “internal” is also clear – the organization was created by those Bulgarians who continued living “within” the borders of the Ottoman Empire. That was another reason why its headquarters remained in Thessaloniki during its existence, in spite of some of its leaders’ intentions to relocate it periodically, and its representatives in Sofia (the capital of Bulgaria) were called “external.” The following were some of the most prominent figures and leaders of the IMARO (members of the Central Committee [CC]) throughout the years: Damyan (Dame) Gruev (1871– 1906), Georgi (Gotse) Delchev (1872–1903) – “the gem of Macedonia,”3 as Andon Lazov Yanev-Kyoseto called him in his memoirs – Yane Sandanski (1872–1915), Georgi (Gyorche) Petrov (1865–1921), Ivan Garvanov (1869– 1907), Petar (Pere) Toshev (1865–1912), Hristo Chernopeev (1868–1915), Dimo Hadzhidimov, Krastyo Asenov, Aleksandar Protogerov, Todor Aleksandrov, and Ivan (Vanche) Mihaylov.

2

The Statute of BMARC, Auigust 15, 2018, http://www.anamnesis.info /node/715. 3 I. Burilkova, and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɩɥɚɦɴɰɢ (Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɢɬɟ ɨɬ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɫɩɨɦɟɧɢ ɧɚ ɞɟɣɰɢ ɧɚ ȼɴɬɪɟɲɧɚɬɚ ɦɚɤɟɞɨɧɨ-ɨɞɪɢɧɫɤɚ ɪɟɜɨɥɸɰɢɨɧɧɚ ɨɪɝɚɧɢɡɚɰɢɹ) [Macedonia in Flames (Bulgarians’ Liberation Fighting in Macedonia in IMARO Activists’ Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva Publishing House, 2003), 47.

4

Chapter One

Refugees from Macedonia and Adrianople Thrace also founded organizations in Bulgaria in the early 1890s. “Over twenty-five thousand of the seventy thousand inhabitants of Sofia are Macedonians,” the London Daily News4 wrote at the beginning of 1903. By “Macedonians” the newspaper meant immigrants from the geographical region of Macedonia (in 1900 the population of Sofia was 67,789 people, in 1906 81,921). Those (youth, student, women’s, charitable) societies, unions, committees, clubs, parties, and brotherhoods gathered at the First Macedonian Congress held March 19–28, 1895. They united and established their common governing body as the Macedonian Committee (MC). Trayko Kitanchev was elected its first president. However, he died of a heart attack on August 1, 1895 and in that very year was succeeded in his position by General Danail Nikolaev (1852–1942), who was elected President not of the MC, however, but the SMC (Supreme Macedonian Committee) during the Second Macedonian Congress (December 3–16, 1895).

The Bulgarian Men’s High School (1880–1913) in Thessaloniki, where the Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (MRO) was established on October 23, 1893

4

Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ. [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 35.

A Little Bit of History …

5

On June 17, 1897, seven junior officers from the garrison in Veliko Tarnovo founded a “brothership” that soon expanded into a network of brotherships (almost every garrison had one), a secret organization of active Bulgarian Army officers known as BLBs (Bulgarian Liberation Brotherhoods). Those worthy men happened to be “the only force that was able to spearhead and unite the Macedonian-Adrianople movement in Bulgaria.”5 Evidence of their growing influence is the fact that, at the beginning of May 1899, a few officers became members of the new board of the SMC, and Lieutenant Boris Petrov Sarafov (1872–1907) was elected president. The brother of the great Bulgarian actor Krastyo Sarafov was actively engaged in making the organization more popular, more united, and stronger. His efforts were rewarded in 1900 when, at the Seventh Congress (held from July 30 to August 5), Thracian immigrants joined the organization. That resulted in changing its name to the Macedonian-Adrianople Organization (MAO). Its governing body was also given a new name – the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC). However, what is more important is the fact that the organization consisted almost entirely of military personnel (including senior Bulgarian Army officers) who, “with very few exceptions,”6 came from Macedonia only. Thus, at the end of the nineteenth century, there were two powerful (parallel) organizations – the IMARO and the MAO (SMAC). In the beginning, the relations between “centralists” and “supremists”7 were normal. What was more, “the military” worked in close collaboration and mutual understanding with the “civilian” leaders of the IMARO. This is shown by the fact that, at the Sixth Macedonian Congress (held May 1–5, 1899), Sarafov was nominated for president and Gotse Delchev and Gyorche Petrov, external representatives of the “secret ones,” were elected full-right members of the SMC. However, disagreements gradually arose between the two structures. It was initially described as “tactical” – the aim of the IMARO was to set up a network of revolutionary committees in each town and village in order to strengthen the internal organization, 5

Ⱥɥɦɚɧɚɯ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɢɬɟ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɞɜɢɠɟɧɢɹ ɫɥɟɞ 1878 ɝ. [Almanac on Bulgarian National Movements after 1878] (Sofia: Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House [Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Historical Studies], 2005), 161. 6 D. Atanasov, ȼɨɣɜɨɞɢ ɫ ɩɚɝɨɧɢ [Voivodi with Shoulder Straps] (Sofia: Macedonia Press, 2003), 52. 7 The terms “centralists” and “supremists” referring to members of both organizations came from the names of their governing bodies (committees) – Central (of the first) and Supreme (of the second).

Chapter One

6

whereas the SMAC preferred “armed bands tactics” based on infiltrating illegal armed bands (cheti) in certain (particular) regions in order to oppose the official Turkish authorities. Over the years, the contradictions grew deeper and led to quarrels and squabbles, shoot outs, and bloody clashes that degenerated into fratricide and brutal terror, and were directed against those members who thought differently rather than against the oppressors. At first, the opposition resulted in changes within the SMAC: the writer Stoyan Mihaylovski (1856–1927) was elected president, and General Ivan Tsonchev (1859–1910) vice-president. Subsequently, it split into two factions (during the Tenth Congress held from July 28 to August 3, 1902). Thus, two committees saw the light of day. The president of the first (sharing IMARO ideas) was Engineer Hristo Stanishev (1864–1952), and its vice-president was Toma Karayovov. The other was led by Mihaylovski and Tsonchev in tandem. Being as energetic as any Bulgarian officer at that time, General Tsonchev set a course towards immediate preparation for armed struggle, accelerated the liberation processes, and, in spite of the split, in the autumn of 1902 he managed to organize the Gorna Dzhumaya uprising that broke out and spread throughout the Pirin region of Macedonia. The general’s name will be repeatedly mentioned in the book, but, at this point, I shall take the liberty of pointing out that, even though he was appointed “just” vice-president of the SMAC, he was in fact the frontman of the organization, and its real leader. On the other hand, the organization itself had its own official organ – the newspaper Reformi (Les Reformes) [The Reforms], which appeared on January 9, 1899. Its editor and founder was Andrey Lyapchev who, five years later, was called by the same newspaper “the phylloxera of the Macedonian cause.”8 From the beginning of 1900 to the beginning of 1903 the weekly newspaper had the following subtitle: “Organ of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee.” After the organization split, a separate newspaper appeared (under the same name); however, not a single copy has survived. Thus, SMAC infighting continued, as did the fight between supremists and the Secret Organization, of which Boris Sarafov suddenly became a supporter. The bone of contention was still the cheti, the weapon which General Tsonchev and his fellow fighters preferred. It was the infiltration of those paramilitary forces from Bulgaria into Turkey that worried the IMARO, which “kept” the Bulgarians in Macedonia but would not act. At 8

Reformi, vol. Vȱ, no. 30 (1904).

A Little Bit of History …

7

the same time, SMAC paramilitaries would raise spirits, give hope, and enjoy a good popularity among their fellow Bulgarians.

A Few Explanations

The seal of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC)

Although the words “Macedonian,” “Thracian,” “Adrianople,” “secret,” “exile,” “supreme,” and “central” appeared in the names of the abovementioned entities, they were all Bulgarian organizations, associations of people who identified themselves as ethnic Bulgarians. Macedonia, Thrace, and Adrianople are geographical regions which belonged for as many as two thousand years to three empires: Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman. The latter (successively) ruled over vast territories of the Balkan Peninsula during that period; except for a few centuries in the Middle Ages, when Macedonia, Thrace, and the Adrianople Region were annexed to the Bulgarian Kingdom (in the ninth to tenth centuries and in the thirteenth century), and when Macedonia became part of the Serbian Kingdom (in the fourteenth century). That was the reason why, at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Macedonia, Thrace, and the Adrianople Region were inhabited by a multi-ethnic population. In Macedonia,

8

Chapter One

The ferman establishing the Bulgarian Exarchate

A Little Bit of History …

9

in particular, at that time there lived Turks, Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Vlachs,9 Gypsies, Armenians, Jews, Pomaks (Bulgarian Muslims) and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). Cities and bigger villages were ‘multinational’, but usually divided into neighbourhoods (quarters) – Turkish, Bulgarian, Greek, etc. However, there were also ethnically “clean” villages: Turkish, Bulgarian, Greek, Vlach, etc. “I am calling the Christian Macedonians, who speak the same language, Bulgarians, for that is what they call themselves,” wrote Frederick Moore in the Daily Express on April 16, 1903. “Turks and Albanians born in the province are Macedonians. There is no difference between the Bulgarians on either side of the border, except that one is as free as the English villager and as happy, other than in his suffering for his brother, whereas the other is cowed, humble, and in abject despair, or desperate to the extreme. It is no wonder that Bulgaria opened her gates to the Christian Macedonians and aided and abetted them.”10 All of the IMARO leaders mentioned so far, who are nowadays admired as national heroes in both Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia, graduated from Bulgarian class schools opened in the Ottoman Empire by the Bulgarian Exarchate after its official establishment in 1870 by Sultan Abdul Asis’s ferman (1830–76). There they were taught literary Bulgarian. The majority of the revolutionaries worked as teachers at those schools: Damyan Gruev in Monastir (Bitola), Smilevo, and Prilep; Ivan Hadzhinikolov in Voden, Kukush, Lerin, and Thessaloniki; Hristo Batandzhiev at the Bulgarian Men’s High School in Thessaloniki, where he was also secretary of the Bulgarian Bishopric; Petar Pop-Arsov in Skopje, Thessaloniki, Veles, Prilep, and Shtip; Andon Dimitrov in Monastir and Thessaloniki, where he taught Turkish at the Bulgarian Men’s High School and Bulgarian at the Turkish High School – in 1903 he became principal of the Bulgarian schools in Prilep; Gotse Delchev in Shtip and Bansko; Gyorche Petrov in Shtip, Skopje (the Bulgarian Pedagogical School), Monastir (the Bulgarian Secondary School), and Thessaloniki (the Bulgarian Men’s High School); Ivan Garvanov was a physics teacher at the Bulgarian Men’s High School in Thessaloniki; Pere 9

Descendants of the Romanized ancient population of the Balkan Peninsula (Thracians, Dacians Illyrians), speaking a language similar to Romanian. They were also called Kutsovlachs, Karavlachs, Karakachans, Aromanians, Armani, and Cincari. They were mostly nomadic shepherds who travelled from place to place pasturing their flocks according to the seasons. 10 Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 49–50.

10

Chapter One

Toshev in Prilep, Skopje, Monastir, and Thessaloniki, where he was also a school inspector; Dimo Hadzhidimov in Dupnitsa; and Doctor Hristo Tatarchev was “just” a doctor at the Bulgarian Men’s High School in Thessaloniki.

The Hectic Holidays of the Tumultuous 1903 The year 1903 was really troublesome. At its very beginning, the revolutionary leaders did not stay too long at the Christmas and New Year’s tables, but dashed off to deal with committee matters. From January 2–4, 1903, “in one of the rooms of the Men’s High School [in Thessaloniki11]”12 or “in the physics study room of the Thessaloniki High School”13 a congress of the IMARO was convoked under the chairmanship of Ivan Garvanov, “President of the Central Committee.”14 Major issues were discussed, even though many of the leaders of the organization were missing among the delegates: Dame Gruev (exiled in Asia Minor), Gotse Delchev, Gyorche Petrov, and Pere Toshev (one of the creators of the rules for the armed bands); its external representatives at that time Hristo Tatarchev and Hristo Matov, and the armed band commanders (called voivodi) Yane Sandanski, Hristo Chernopeev, and Mihail Gerdzhikov. In spite of that, the Thessaloniki Congress adopted important resolutions. The most crucial of them was the plan for a “general and strategic”15 uprising in Macedonia and the Adrianople Region. But when? – it was not fixed, although there was an idea of staging it on St. George’s Day (the minutes of the “historic congress” state the encouraging, but indefinite and vague, “in the spring” or “in the near future of the present year”16). The Bulgarian government also took its own decisions at the beginning of 1903. On January 30 it adopted a decree, pursuant to which the offices 11

All ‘the writer’s notes’ in the present book will be enclosed in square brackets [...] 12 H. Silyanov, Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ [The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia] (Sofia, 1933), http://www.promacedonia.org/obm1/5_1.html. 13 L. Panayotov and Yordan Shopov (eds.), ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 (ɏɪɨɧɨɥɨɝɢɹ) [The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 (Chronology)] (Sofia: Dr. Petar Beron, 1983), 42. 14 H. Silyanov, Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ [The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia] (Sofia, 1933), http://www.promacedonia.org/obm1/5_1.html. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.

A Little Bit of History …

11

of both SMACs were locked down, their archives were seized by the police, and their members were arrested and exiled to the countryside – Hristo Stanishev and Colonel Anastas Yankov (1860–1906) to Balchik, and General Tsonchev to Dryanovo.17 Macedonian-Adrianople societies in the country shared the same plight.18 The “suggestion” for that police action was claimed to have come from the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Vladimir Nikolaevich Lambsdorff, who was a fierce opponent of the Bulgarian national liberation movement and paid an imperial visit to Sofia in December 1902. It was the Resurrection of Christ (April 6, according to the Orthodox calendar), but it did not bring the revolutionaries their feast day. Ten days after Easter, the leaders of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary District convoked the next IMARO congress in the village of Smilevo in the Monastir Region. Delegates from Monastir and the surrounding villages flocked there from April 17–24. Dame Gruev (born in Smilevo), who had already been given amnesty, as well as Boris Sarafov and Dimitar Dechev were the envoys of the Central Committee. In the midst of dramatic sessions, the alarming news came about the Thessaloniki bombings,19 followed by the terrible news of Gotse Delchev’s death (killed by a Turkish posse on April 21, 1903 near the village of Banitsa, located about 15 km north of the town of Siar – the present-day Serres in Greece).20 Those tense moments had an impact on the way the Smilevo Congress was carried out. Several resolutions were eventually adopted (on April 24) and meticulously recorded in Vasil Chekalarov’s diary (1874–1913): “The districts must be ready for an uprising by the end of May at the latest. The

17

I. Burilkova and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɉɬ ɋɨɮɢɹ ɞɨ Ʉɨɫɬɭɪ (ɋɩɨɦɟɧɢ) [From Sofia to Kostur (Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva, 2003), 75. 18 Ⱥɥɦɚɧɚɯ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɢɬɟ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɞɜɢɠɟɧɢɹ ɫɥɟɞ 1878 ɝ [Almanac on Bulgarian National Movements after 1878] (Sofia: Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House [Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Historical Studies], 2005), 163–4. 19 A series of terrorist acts, such as the Ottoman Bank fire, the explosion aboard the French vessel Guadalquivir, bombing the Alhambra Open Air Theatre, bombs outside the Noia Café and the Grand Hotel, and blowing up the water and gas pipelines in the city, carried out April 15–17, 1903 in Thessaloniki by a group of students of the local Bulgarian Men’s High School, most of whom died during or immediately after the actions. 20 ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ ɨɬ 1903 ɝ. ȼɨɟɧɧɚ ɩɨɞɝɨɬɨɜɤɚ ɢ ɩɪɨɜɟɠɞɚɧɟ [The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903. Military Preparation and Execution] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 1992), 72.

12

Chapter One

representative of the General Staff is to set the date of the uprising in view of the above circumstances.”21

December 1902 – Russian Foreign Minister Count Vladimir Nikolaevich Lambsdorff in Sofia

At the beginning of May, Bulgaria was shaken by a few days’ cabinet crisis, after which an “interim administration” was appointed. The government led by Doctor Stoyan Danev was replaced by that of General Racho Petrov (1861–1942), who was considered to be personally close to Prince Ferdinand I (1861–1948), and had already served once as Prime Minister in 1901 (this time, however, he returned to the post for a longer period, from May 6, 1903 to October 22, 1906). In fact, the cabinet was formed by the People’s Liberal Party, founded by Stefan Stambolov, which is the reason why some historians call it the “Second Stambolov Government.” This political crisis also had its impact on the events that followed. And they were more than turbulent! The outbreak of Turkish repression after the Thessaloniki bombings triggered the corresponding response – the cheti in Macedonia and the Adrianople Region were mobilized, fighting began (eighty-six battles during the first half of 1903 alone), “reprisals” were carried out, and streams of refugees began to flow into Bulgaria, mostly from Thrace initially.

21 V. Chekalarov, Ⱦɧɟɜɧɢɤ 1901–1903 ɝ [Diary 1901–1903], edited by Iva Burilkova and Tsocho Bilyarski (Sofia: Sineva, 2001), 229.

A Little Bit of History …

A page from Macedonia Album-Almanac, illustrated with photographs of the French vessel Guadalquivir and the surviving façade of the Ottoman Bank

13

14

The IMARO leaders

Chapter One

A Little Bit of History …

15

On and June 28, 29 (St. Peter’s Day), and 30, the Congress of the Adrianople Revolutionary District was held in the Petrova Niva area (in the foothills of the Strandzha mountain). A day after it ended, on July 1, 1903, part of the general staff of the Second Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary District (Monastir) met near the village of Buf (in the Monastir Region). Dame Gruev and Boris Sarafov were also there. It was decided to launch the uprising on July 20. The Central Committee in Thessaloniki and the Exile Office (EO) in Sofia were notified of the voivodi’s will. A ciphered message was sent to all regional committees, and two weeks later similar letters were written, as well as a short appeal to the people,22 which was supposed to be read on the appointed day. “Due to the rapid course of the events in Macedonia and the risk that the preparations for the uprising in the Adrianople Revolutionary District might be uncovered,”23 its “main governing body” met on July 19 in the village of Megalovo (Turkish, both now and then), and decided officially to launch the uprising in that region on August 5, before August 6. That closed the preparations. The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising started, named after the two Christian holidays that marked its beginning, on June 20 (Ilinden – Prophet Elijah’s day) in Macedonia and August 6 (the Transfiguration of Jesus) in the lands between Adrianople and Istanbul.

22

L. Panayotov and Yordan Shopov (eds.), ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 (ɏɪɨɧɨɥɨɝɢɹ) [The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903 (Chronology)] (Sofia: Dr. Petar Beron, 1983), 74. 23 Ibid., 79.

CHAPTER TWO THE ILINDEN–PREOBRAZHENIE UPRISING (THE SUMMER OF 1903)

The Beginning and the End of The Epic Struggle On July 20, 1903, at dusk, in a clearing at the Bigla mountain rising over the village of Smilevo (at that time Turkish, but now in the Republic of Macedonia), the members of the General Staff of the Monastir Revolutionary District, Dame Gruev, Boris Sarafov and Anastas Lozanchev (1870–1945), met with members of the cheti and peasants from the neighbouring villages. The flag of the General Staff was consecrated, and a signal was given for the uprising to begin. The Ilinden Uprising was large scale only in the Monastir Region, where all districts rose up simultaneously. Thus, the greatest success was achieved there – for a few days, they liberated the mountain villages in the kazi (districts) of Monastir, Lerin (where the famous St. Elijah Monastery is located), Kostur, Ohrid, Prilep, and Kicevo. A few villages (Neveska, Klisura, Smilevo) and a town, Krushovo (also known as Krushevo), were taken under control. On July 21 the rebels took over the hüküma (the town council building), severed telegraph lines, and took all registers and tax documents out of the building and burned them. While the bells of the churches were ringing over the liberated town, a provisional government was formed. It comprised representatives of the three Christian communities – Bulgarian, Greek, and Vlach. The political entity that was proclaimed under the name of the Krushevo Republic existed for only ten days.

The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (the Summer of 1903)

The document announcing the beginning of the Ilinden Uprising

The united cheti that took control of the village of Klisura

17

18

Chapter Two

One of the thousands of British newspaper reports dedicated to the Ilinden– Preobrazhenie Uprising (September 1903)

The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (the Summer of 1903)

19

There were also bloody clashes with the Turks in the regions that had not risen up massively, such as Yenidje-Vardar (the Lower Vardar River area), Boymitsa, Goumenissa near Kocani, and Kratovo. The rebel actions in the Adrianople Region of Thrace started on August 6. The Black Sea towns of Vasiliko (Tsarevo) and Ahtopol (both now Bulgarian), as well as several villages around the Strandzha mountain, were liberated and the Strandzha Republic was proclaimed (it existed for only twenty days). On September 14 (the Holy Cross Day – the Elevation of the Holy Cross), the Bulgarians in almost the entire Serres Revolutionary District (the town of Serres being its centre) also rebelled. Even though they did not proclaim a liberated territory in the region, historians describe their operations as an uprising in the full sense of the word, calling it the Holy Cross Day Uprising. On the eve of the insurrection, a voivodi’s council was summoned, during which the old opponents Yane Sandanski (leader of the Melnik Revolutionary District of the IMARO) and General Ivan Tsonchev (SMAC) were reconciled, shaking hands and embracing each other. The result of the truce was that “supremist” cheti, which were led by Colonel Anastas Yankov and Captain Yordan Stoyanov (1869–1910), took part in the battles together with Sandanski’s supporters. In the end, the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (badly planned and poorly organized) was violently suppressed when nearly three hundred thousand regular troops were sent against the slaves who had dared to break their chains. The rebels faced the modern armaments and artillery of the Turkish Army with their old rifles, worthless pistols, knives, axes, and scythes. All the time, “civilized Europe” was dawdling, gripped by the drowsiness allegedly typical of the Orient, calling it, in diplomatic terms, “the conflicting interests of the Great Powers in the Balkans.” In spite of that, the rebels, among whom were women, children, and old people, fought with unprecedented heroism and self-sacrifice, performing countless acts of legendary courage. The outcome was pitiful, however. “Of course, nothing special was done,” was how Anastas Lozanchev summarized the situation, clear-headedly. “No miracles were performed, but none had been expected anyway, because we could not crush the Turkish Empire, nor did we intend to. But on the whole, what had been planned happened.”1 1 I. Burilkova, and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɩɥɚɦɴɰɢ (Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɢɬɟ ɨɬ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɫɩɨɦɟɧɢ ɧɚ ɞɟɣɰɢ ɧɚ ȼɴɬɪɟɲɧɚɬɚ ɦɚɤɟɞɨɧɨ-ɨɞɪɢɧɫɤɚ ɪɟɜɨɥɸɰɢɨɧɧɚ ɨɪɝɚɧɢɡɚɰɢɹ) [Macedonia in Flames (Bulgarians’ Liberation Fighting in Macedonia in IMARO activists’ Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva Publishing House, 2003), 107.

20

Chapter Two

The insurgents’ flag with the words “For Macedonia! For Adrianople!” on it

In spite of their bravery, heroism, and selflessness, the rebels gradually ran out of vigour. Turkey took that into consideration and carried out a clever diplomatic demarche in August, announcing that the bloodshed would cease if the Great Powers forced Bulgaria to stop supporting the insurrection. Slow, long, and fruitless negotiations followed.

The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising (the Summer of 1903)

21

An armed-band in Adrianople Region

The uprising was suppressed, but the pursuit of freedom was not. “Throughout the entire Ilinden period in Macedonia and the Adrianople Region 239 clashes took place and 994 rebels fell down dead,”2 was how Hristo Silyanov (1880–1939), a journalist, publicist, historian, and chronicler of the epic, summarized the events, describing the events in his most famous work The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia: the Concise Bulgarian Encyclopaedia, a laconic work in which the following is written: “In Macedonia and the Adrianople Region 201 villages were burned down, approximately 12,440 houses were destroyed, 4,694 people were killed, slaughtered and burned alive, 70,835 were left homeless and 30,000 were forced to emigrate to Bulgaria.”3 Devastation was not only material, but also moral.

2 H. Silyanov, Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɋɨɮɢɹ [The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia] (Sofia, 1933), http://www.promacedonia.org/obm1/5_1.html. 3 Ʉɪɚɬɤɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɚ ɟɧɰɢɤɥɨɩɟɞɢɹ, ɬɨɦ 2 [Concise Bulgarian Encyclopedia, vol. 2] (Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Publishing House, 1964), 478.

22

Chapter Two

The sad result of the uprising, according to The Daily News (November 1903) On September 19, 1903, the General Staff of the Uprising met in the vicinity of Smilevo and took the dramatic yet logical decision to “cease rebel actions.”4 “It was decided to disband the cheti after having collected their weapons. The decision was taken by the three of us: Damyan Gruev, Boris Sarafov and me,”5 Anastas Lozanchev recalled. “The tragic decision was taken,” added Hristo Silyanov. “Cheti disbandment and weapon gathering started. Only old members of the cheti and more compromised local leaders refused to obey the order: some stayed, the majority went abroad. That was the end.”6

4

H. Silyanov, Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɋɨɮɢɹ [The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia] (Sofia, 1933), http://www.promacedonia.org/obm1/5_1.html. 5 I. Burilkova and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɩɥɚɦɴɰɢ (Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɢɬɟ ɨɬ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɫɩɨɦɟɧɢ ɧɚ ɞɟɣɰɢ ɧɚ ȼɴɬɪɟɲɧɚɬɚ ɦɚɤɟɞɨɧɨ-ɨɞɪɢɧɫɤɚ ɪɟɜɨɥɸɰɢɨɧɧɚ ɨɪɝɚɧɢɡɚɰɢɹ) [Macedonia in Flames (Bulgarians’ Liberation Fighting in Macedonia in IMARO activists’ Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva Publishing House, 2003), 109. 6 H. Silyanov, Ɉɫɜɨɛɨɞɢɬɟɥɧɢɬɟ ɛɨɪɛɢ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ (Sofia, 1933), http://www.promacedonia.org/obm1/5_1.html.

CHAPTER THREE THE ECHO IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

That was the end, but every end leads to the beginning of something new. The end of the historical event, called the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, gave birth to the beginning of legends and created myths about the rebellion – and myths are known to be eternal. The mortal remains of the 994 rebels who died for the freedom were buried in the enslaved black ground, but their feats were still alive after their heroic deaths, thanks to journalism. The events in the Balkans attracted the attention of the international press, and this grew in the first years of the twentieth century, especially during the summer of 1903, which happened to be quite hot on the northwest periphery of the Ottoman Empire – hot, yet curiosity stirring, mostly for reporters who went where it smelled of gunpowder and blood. That was why, after the uprising had been launched, lots of priests of the goddess news left the cosiness of the editorial office in order to replace it with life in the field, and even as part of the cheti. That was why a bunch of representatives of the world’s press flocked to the Balkans (and, above all, Bulgaria). Among them, the British were the largest group for several reasons: because they were representatives of a truth-seeking people, thus feeling great respect for Freedom of Speech; because public concern for the faith of the enslaved Bulgarians was voiced most strongly in this country, in comparison to the rest of the Great Powers; and because the United Kingdom’s interests in the unruly peninsula had been harmed. Thus, the drama turned into a media event.

The Balkan Committee It cannot have been by chance that a few prominent British public figures, politicians, aristocrats, and clerics formed the Balkan Committee 1 1

Macedonia, 1903 (London: The Balkan Committee; Bradbury, Agnew & Co., Ltd, 1903), 32, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112046976608;view=1up;seq=10.

24

Chapter Three

in London in April 1903. It was a non-governmental organization whose aim was to support the policy of the UK government in the Balkans (according to Noel Edward Buxton, this happened in the “early autumn of 1902” 2). Among the founding members stand out the names of Professor John Westlake (1828–1913), the first Chairman of the Committee; the Buxton brothers – Noel Edward and Charles Roden (the three of them graduated Trinity College, Cambridge, and Sir Charles was President of the Cambridge Union Society); the Oxford Professor James Bryce (1838– 1922), president; Henry Montagu Butler (1833–1918), master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1886–1918); the noted archaeologist Arthur John Evans (1851–1941); James David Bourchier; John M. MacDonald; and Henry Noel Brailsford.

The founders of the Balkan Committee

2

I. Ilchev (ed.), Ȼɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɢɹɬ ɤɨɦɢɬɟɬ ɜ Ʌɨɧɞɨɧ (1903–1946) [The Balkan Committee in London (1903–1946)] (Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2003), 7.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

25

The activity of the Balkan Committee did not go unnoticed by the British press – The Evening Star (September 1, 1903)

26

Chapter Three

Brailsford was elected secretary of the Relief Fund (called the Macedonian Relief Committee or the Relief Commission by the Bulgarian press), which was established in the summer as an offshoot of the Balkan Committee. Its aim was to “inform the English public on the situation in Macedonia and to gather aid for the population in the affected regions.” 3 Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Brailsford were the ones to lead the humanitarian mission that arrived in Bitola (called Monastir at that time, or “The City of the Consuls” because many European countries had their consulates there) on October 6. The married couple stayed there for five months and helped the victims of the uprising.

British Correspondents It cannot have been by chance that three of the abovementioned founders of the Balkan Committee were professional journalists. The Irishman James David Bourchier (1850–1920) was The Times special correspondent in the Balkans (living in Sofia from 1892 to 1915). He was one of the greatest experts on the issues concerning the peninsula, an excellently informed and influential publicist who could open any door (after all, the London daily newspaper – the flagship of the international press both then and now – was behind him). 4 Bourchier’s attitude towards Bulgaria is amply illustrated by the fact that, while he was alive, he wanted to be buried near the Rila Monastery. His wish was fulfilled and his eternal home is still to be found there. A boulevard and an underground train station in Sofia have also been named after him, as well as a peak in the Rila Mountains, and a cove in Antarctica (according to the resolution of the Antarctic Place-Names Commission of Bulgaria). In 1921, the General Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs in Bulgaria (1889– 1947) issued a postage stamp featuring his face. It has to be acknowledged that Noel Edward Buxton (1869–1948) and Charles Roden Buxton (1875– 1942) fall behind in this unofficial honour-winning race, consoling themselves with a residential area and a boulevard in Sofia. The local independent newspaper Dnevnik [Diary] informed about yet another of James Bourchier’s journeys to Sofia on May 9, 1903 (a long time before the outbreak of the uprising), even specifying his “residence” 3

Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 7. 4 For more detail on James Bourchier’s activity in Bulgaria see Ʉɨɪɟɫɩɨɧɞɟɧɬɴɬ ɧɚ “Ɍɚɣɦɫ´ ɫɴɨɛɳɚɜɚ ɨɬ ɋɨɮɢɹ [The Times Correspondent Reports from Sofia] (Sofia: Sofia Press, 1983).

The Echo in the United Kingdom

27

at the Bulgaria Hotel. Certainly, the Irishman did not stay too long in the capital, and started travelling around the troubled territories, as evidenced by dozens of his reports. In one of them (dated September 11, 1903, published in The Times three days later) he mentioned having a “man” of his own in Macedonia: “My correspondent, who endeavoured to visit the ruined village of Armensko [a Bulgarian-populated village within Lerin kaza, which nowadays belongs to Greece and whose name has been changed to Alona], was arrested and taken to the police-station.” 5 Another report, which was sent to Sofia on October 2, 1903, said: “My correspondent on the frontier has received a letter from General Tzontcheff [Tsonchev] giving details in regard to the progress of the insurrection in Northern and Central Macedonia.” 6

James David Bourchier (1850–1920)

John M. MacDonald arrived in Bulgaria at the very beginning of 1903. His first reports were written in January and published in February by The Daily News, which had sent him (this was the first British newspaper that started an aid-gathering petition for starving Macedonians). The journalist 5 6

Ibid., 241. Ibid., 266.

28

Chapter Three

stayed “on the scene” for a couple of months. On May 10 he met General Ivan Tsonchev, and his reports could be seen on the pages of the daily newspaper, which Charles Dickens founded in 1846, 7 in June. The Scotsman mostly travelled round the country, for instance to the Rila Monastery, Dupnitsa, Radomir, Kyustendil, the town of Rila, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, and Saranbey (nowadays called Septemvri). The omniscient and omnipresent Vecherna Poshta [Evening Post], a Sofia daily newspaper, informed its readers in its News in Brief column that he arrived in Sofia on May 15, but “immediately” left for Kyustendil. 8 However, he could not have entered Macedonia where he was claimed to have stayed presenting himself as a “special commissioner.” 9 Thus, MacDonald got to know the country and probably liked it – knowledge and love sometimes go hand in hand. He sincerely admired the social organization: “Bulgaria is a free State; erected on a democratic basis; administered by responsible Cabinets.” Moreover, he was the one to warn in The Daily News that refugees coming from Macedonia might become unemployed and turn into “paupers,” emphasizing that it was “a class of people hitherto unknown in Bulgaria.” 10 MacDonald shared his impressions of the Balkans in a series of reports titled Twenty-four Letters from Macedonia (1903), 11 and in his book Czar Ferdinand and His People (1913). 12 Henry Noel Brailsford (1873–1958), also a Scotsman, started his career as a journalist when quite young in 1890, when he became a foreign correspondent for The Manchester Guardian, specialising in the Balkans, France, and Egypt. In 1899 he moved to London where he worked for the newspapers the Morning Leader and then for The Daily News. Dnevnik informed on March 10, 1903 that, after having visited Macedonia, Mr. H. N. Brailsford, The Manchester Guardian correspondent, had arrived in Sofia.

7

Zlatina Nikolova included fourteen of John MacDonald’s articles, newspaper reports, and letters published in The Daily News from February to September 1903 in her book English Press of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903. 8 “News in Brief,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. IV, no. 663 (May 15, 1903), 3. 9 http://maviboncuk.blogspot.com/2004/06/twenty-four-letters-frommacedonia.html. 10 Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 35. 11 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/soc.culture.greek /UtU0o9ddvsw. 12 John MacDonald, Czar Ferdinand and His People (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1913), 344, https://archive.org/details /czarferdinandhis00macduoft.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

29

A page from Henry Noel Brailsford’s book, Macedonia. Its Races and Their Future (1906)

30

Chapter Three

His second stay lasted nearly five months. In the winter of 1903–4, he and his wife acted together on behalf of the Relief Fund (called the “British Relief Commission” by the Bulgarian press) in the Bitola Region. After having returned to his home country, Brailsford wrote and published in 1906 his book, Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future, 13 parts of which also appeared in The Manchester Guardian and The Fortnightly Review. The book was first published in Bulgarian in 2013. 14 According to the Reformi, the journalist Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856–1941) was also a “member of the Balkan Committee Relief Fund” sent by the Daily Chronicle to Sofia in order to find out about the Macedonian Movement. In 1903, five years after the Reformi was founded, its editor-in-chief was Iliya Gologanov (1865–1910), the secretary of the SMAC. The address was Sofia, 56 Alabinska Street. It had four pages and cost fifteen stotinki (there are one hundred stotinki in a BGN 1). The periodical continued being published every Saturday, but from May 2 it was available every day (for a short period), “due to the events that are currently unfolding in Macedonia and the Adrianople Region.” In this way, the journalists, whose names are closely connected with the birth and first steps of the Balkan Committee, paved the way that would soon be used by many of their colleagues and fellow countrymen. “Many English newspaper correspondents have come to the capital. They monitor what is going on here and telegraph to England,” as the Sofia daily newspaper Bulgaria (an organ of the Progressive Liberal Party) commented on the situation (even though there was no particular reason for doing so) in the middle of September 1903. 15

13

H. N. Brailsford, Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future (London: Methuen & Co., 1906), 340, https://archive.org/details /macedoniaitsrac00braigoog. 14 H. Brailsford, Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɇɟɣɧɢɬɟ ɧɚɪɨɞɢ ɢ ɬɹɯɧɨɬɨ ɛɴɞɟɳɟ. [Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future] (Sofia: Bulgaria-Macedonia Institute, 2013), 352. 15 “English Correspondents,” Bulgaria, vol. VI, no. 18 (September 16, 1903), 2.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

31

One of the numerous newspaper reports the Australian war correspondent, Hales, sent from Bulgaria

32

Chapter Three

“European public opinion is so strongly interested in the Macedonian Question and follows the developments so closely that almost all news agencies and major newspapers in Europe and America have sent their special correspondents to monitor the events in Macedonia and the Adrianople Region,” the Reformi observed at the same time in its Daily News column, not lacking in patriotic pride. Some newspapers and agencies have sent not only political correspondents, but also war correspondents. Mr. Hales is a war correspondent for The Daily News, entrusted exclusively with monitoring the insurgent movement in Macedonia. He has taken part in many wars and campaigns, as well as in the last Transvaal War [the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1904], where he was wounded. He has already written an excellent article about the Bulgarian Army and a few officers who took part in the Macedonian Uprising, which will soon be published by the Liberals’ organ. Another distinguished correspondent is Mr. Lynch, commissioned by important American newspapers, who has been to Cuba and Transvaal. The war correspondent of the Reuters news agency is Mr. A. Hamilton, also a remarkable man. Last Sunday, the 7th of September, the President of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee invited Mr. Hales and Mr. Linch for lunch at his place, where they discussed the situation with Mr. Mihaylovski and the Reformi’s Editor-in-Chief [Iliya Gologanov]. These gentlemen are impressed by the courage and perseverance of the Macedonians and love Macedonia like their own homeland. So far, dozens of correspondents have expressed their wish to visit General Tsonchev’s camp in order to keep track of his actions and to fight side by side with him. The war correspondents take a keen interest in the way Tsonchev’s comrades fight because, according to what the Turks themselves confessed (as reported by the Reuters news agency’s correspondent in Constantinople [Istanbul]), they inflicted heavy casualties on the Turks in Kresna Gorge, the valleys along the Struma River. 16

The Australian writer and journalist, Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales (1860–1936), was actually a war correspondent for the London Daily News. He covered the Anglo-Boer War, during which he was wounded and made a prisoner. In 1903 he found himself in Bulgaria (sent by The Daily News again) and took part in the uprising – he even commanded a small cheta. 17 After the insurrection had been suppressed, Hales left Bulgaria heading for the Far East, where the next armed conflict was awaiting him – the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5). 16

Reformi, vol. V, no. 40 (September 13, 1903), 4. Reformi, vol. V, no. 44, (October 11, 1903), 4; no. 45 (October 18, 1903), 4; no. 46 (October 26, 1903), 2–3; no. 47 (November 1, 1903), 1.

17

The Echo in the United Kingdom

33

Portraits of Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales (1860–1936) in The Daily News and the Reformi

Arthur Hales’s activity in Bulgaria was highly praised by General Tsonchev, who wrote a letter to the editor-in-chief of The Daily News on October 23 (November 5 NS). The London daily newspaper published it on November 11, 1903 (NS): GENERAL TZONTCHEFF THANKS “THE DAILY NEWS.” 18 We have received the following letter: To the Honourable Editor of “The Daily News,” London. Dear Sir, – True to its noble tradition to be everywhere the defender of the oppressed, “The Daily News,” as in the time of the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, has taken up the cause of the Macedonians. After Mister John Macdonald, for whom we keep good memory, you have sent for your 18

Original spellings are kept in all citations.

34

Chapter Three correspondent a noble man, who became our brother of arms, and fought in the fields of Macedonia with the greatest courage. The letters of Mister A. Hales, like the famous letters of MacGahan, stir up the conscience of the English nation for the Macedonians fighting for their liberty. It is a high pleasure for me and for my comrades that we had in the midst, of us a man of “The Daily News,” an Englishman, who made the cause of the Macedonians his cause, and was ready to sacrifice his life for their liberty. The subscription raised by your journal is another prove of your warm sympathy for the Macedonians, and we have the hope that you will continue to defend our cause until the dawn of liberty and justice in our country. Full of gratitude, I, in the name of the Macedonian organization, and in the name of my comrades, cry: Long live “The Daily News,” the defender of liberty and justice. Yours respectfully, Sub-President of the Committee, TZONTCHEFF. Haut Comité, Macédo-Adrinopolitain, No. 945, 5th Novembre, 1903. 19

The Sofia Reformi published it right away 20 – translated into Bulgarian, of course. Dnevnik provided scarce information about the journalist, presenting him as a “distinguished correspondent” and a commissioner of “important American newspapers.” The newspaper announced on September 7, 1903 that the English Military Attaché in Constantinople, Colonel Maxwell, had arrived in Sofia, accompanied by the Italian Captain Zampoli and the Irish-born American George Lynch, who reported for The New York Journal. The information was insufficient but accurate, including Lynch’s stay in the Transvaal, which he himself described in his book Impressions of a War Correspondent. 21

19

“General Tzontcheff Thanks ‘The Daily News’,” The Daily News, no. 17,985 (November 11, 1903), 9. 20 “General Tzontcheff Thanks ‘Daily News’,” Reformi, vol. V, no. 48 (November 8, 1903), 3–4. 21 George Lynch, Impressions of a War Correspondent (London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1903), 236.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

35

General Tsonchev’s letter to The Daily News

The third one, “also a remarkable man,” did not go unnoticed by the press in Sofia either. The Vecherna Poshta wrote on September 10, 1903 that on that day Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Hamilton appeared in the capital, both of them war correspondents for the English telegraph office of the Reuters agency. At that time, the international agency had its “agents” in the Balkans – as early as April it sent a “sensational story of a massive

36

Chapter Three

Bulgarian uprising in Macedonia” 22 from Thessaloniki. However, it is unknown whether the report was written by any of the two newcomers. What is known, though, is that A. Hamilton (who had spent so much time in the country that he was called “the local war correspondent of the Reuter’s agency’s English office”) was one of the first journalists who set off towards the Far East (maybe the first). “As ordered by his editorial staff,” the Vecherna Poshta wrote about him, “today [October 8, 1903] he left for Vienna. From there he will take the Trans-Siberian train to cross from Russia into Manchuria, where the English obviously expect the war between Russia and Japan to break out.” 23 This was the Reuters news agency after all. The Russo-Japanese War started only four months later. In spite of being well-informed, sometimes even looking like a prophet, relying on an army of correspondents in the Balkans, the majority of whom were sent by the agency itself, on August 19/September 1, 1903, the Reuters agency admitted: “News from the interior of Macedonia and Adrianople is scanty.” 24 More than a month later, again the Vecherna Poshta informed about the new guest coming from Foggy Albion: “The correspondent of the English Daily Mail, Mr. Reginald Wyon, has arrived in our capital from Macedonia. Mr. R. Wyon has written a lot about the sufferings of the Macedonians in the English newspapers and is one of those people who, with their articles, have turned public opinion in England in favour of the Macedonian cause. The Turkish government sought his expulsion, but the English consul stood up for him.” 25 The Sofia Nov Vek [New Age] (an organ of the People’s Liberal Party, published three days a week) confirmed the news: “The correspondent of the London Daily Mail, Mr. Reginald Wyon, coming from Macedonia via Adrianople, has arrived in the Capital.” 26

22

Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 47. 23 “From Sofia to Manchuria,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 799 (October 8, 1903), 3. 24 Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ ɋɨɮɢɹ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɫɤɢ ɧɚɭɱɟɧ ɢɧɫɬɢɬɭɬ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 187. 25 “An English Correspondent Arrived,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 792 (October 1, 1903), 3. 26 “News in Brief,” Nov Vek, vol. V, no. 652 (October 3, 1903), 3.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

37

Reginald Arthur Benjamin Wyon (1872–1921) was described as “one of the excellent English correspondents,” “a competent specialist in Balkan matters,” and “particularly devoted to the Macedonian cause.” The Sofia press also informed that, in 1903, he travelled around Macedonia and the Adrianople Region for “about 4 months” and, despite the obstacles on the part of the Turkish authorities, he “saw a lot.” The result of the journey was a number of “touching letters that made a great impression in England,” the Reformi assured its readers in February 1904. According to the newspaper, Wyon “loves Macedonia like his homeland.” It mentioned among other things that “a book of his on Macedonia is to be published in a couple of days.” 27 At the beginning of March, the same periodical specified the title of the book – The Balkans from Within – as well as the number of its pages (480). 28 Two weeks later Dnevnik published a long article, titled “A Friend of Bulgarians,” which said: The author of the book The Balkans from Within, 29 which caused a big sensation in England, has been in Sofia for some time. Mr. [Reginald] Wyon is a special correspondent for the London newspaper the Daily Mail. He was sent to Turkey by the editorial staff of the newspaper in question in order to report on the situation there in connection with the uprising in Macedonia. Both, the newspaper and the correspondent, Mr. Wyon, sympathised with the Turks at first. Mr. Wyon was expected to observe and describe the situation in favour of Turkey. But, after he had the opportunity to inform himself better and to witness the atrocities the Turks were committing against the Macedonians, he, as a real Englishman, stayed true to the truth and depicted the horrors, as well as the sufferings of the Bulgarian people in that country, in the Daily Mail. That was why the Turkish authorities persecuted him and several times tried to kill him. After having lived in Macedonia for some time and seen with his own eyes the hardships the people faced, he wrote the above-mentioned book, which has just been released causing quite a stir in England and which will certainly be of great benefit to the Bulgarians. 30

Reginald Wyon was so popular in Sofia that, in October 1903, the Vecherna Poshta published his pencil portrait. He was depicted fulllength, sitting on a chair (at that time, the press allowed itself such 27

Reformi, vol. 9ȱ no. 12 (February 14, 1904), 4. Reformi, vol. 9ȱ no. 15 (March 6, 1904), 4. 29 Reginald Wyon, The Balkans from Within (London: James Finch & Co. Ltd, 1904), 480, https://archive.org/details/aal0763.0001.001.umich.edu. 30 “A Friend of Bulgarians,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ no. 648 (March 21, 1904), 2. 28

38

Chapter Three

gestures only when it came to members of royal families and renowned political figures). The text of the portrait stated that he was “presently in Rila Monastery in order to collect more accurate information about the situation of thousands of miserable people who had managed to escape the wild Asian’s yatagan.” 31 On the eve of the uprising, the special correspondents of The Morning Post (Hugh Munro) and the Daily Express (Frederick Moore) 32 were living in Bulgaria. Hector Hugh Munro-Saki (1870–1916) preferred the capital, the diplomatic circles and the political elite, whose representatives he interviewed in May. The English journalist and writer was sent by his newspaper to cover the events in the Balkans (from 1902 to 1904), hence his familiarity with the Istanbul and Thessaloniki high life. His collection of short stories The Square Egg 33 has been translated into Bulgarian. Although Frederick Moore’s (1877–1956?) accommodation was also in Sofia, he mostly travelled around the countryside and visited the towns of Radomir, Dupnitsa, Kyustendil, Rila, and Samokov (as well as their surrounding areas). “Despite the Turkish authorities’ ban, he entered Macedonia, visited the destroyed town of Krushevo, Bitola [Monastir], as well as other places, where the heartrending scenes of Turkish atrocities took place not long ago,” the Vecherna Poshta spread the news in September 1903, presenting Moore as “an American newspaperman” working for “English illustrated newspapers.” 34 A month later, the periodical informed its readers about the departure of “Mr. Moore, the New-York Tribune’s correspondent.” Sharing some impressions of his stay in Bulgaria and Macedonia (the article was probably based on an interview), the “newspaperman” himself announced that he would set forth his experiences in “travel notes.” 35 And so he did – his book The Balkan Trail 36 was published in 1906.

31

Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 806 (October 15, 1903), 2. Z. Nikolova (ed.), Ⱥɧɝɥɢɣɫɤɢɹɬ ɩɟɱɚɬ ɡɚ ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ [English Press of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903] (Sofia: Macedonian Scientific Institute of Sofia, 1998), 84. 33 H. H. Munro [Saki], Ʉɜɚɞɪɚɬɧɨɬɨ ɹɣɰɟ [The Square Egg] (Sofia: Narodna Cultura, 1982), 176. 34 “Back from Macedonia,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3. 35 “A Correspondent’s Impressions,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 814 (October 23, 1903), 3. 36 Frederick Moore, The Balkan Trail (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906), 296, https://archive.org/details/balkantrail00mooruoft. 32

The Echo in the United Kingdom

39

Newspaper reports published in The Daily News (March 18, 1904) and the Reformi (March 6/19, 1904) that accompanied the release of Reginald Wyon’s book The Balkans from Within

40

Chapter Three

In mid-August 1903, The Daily Graphic’s correspondent (editor), Mr. V. Kirlton, stayed at a Sofia hotel, the Panahov (Vecherna Poshta [August 19, 1903]). According to Dnevnik (August 20, 1903), he was to meet Prime Minister Racho Petrov and Interior Minister Dimitar Petkov. A month later, a person with the same “job description” but a different name, Mr. Kurten, returned to Sofia from Lozengradsko, where he had “watched the uprising in the Adrianople wilayah” 37 (Dnevnik [September 19, 1903]). However, according to the same periodical, two days earlier Mr. Kurten (“The Daily Graphic correspondent”) left for the border areas in the Rila Mountains “to watch the uprising” (Dnevnik [September 17, 1903]), accompanied by Mr. Dillon, the correspondent for the London newspaper The Daily Telegraph. That last piece of information was also confirmed by Vecherna Poshta: “On the 19th this month, we were informed from Samokov that Mr. Kirton, a correspondent of the London illustrated periodical, The Daily Graphic, had already headed for Razlog in order to see the last insurrection activities and the sufferings of the fugitives, numbering 1,500 people only in this town [Samokov]. Mr. Kirton is a British Army Reserve Captain, who fought in the Transvaal.” 38 On October 3, the Vecherna Poshta published “A Letter of an English Correspondent to the Bulgarian Society,” in which Mr. Walser Kirton bid his Bulgarian and Macedonian friends farewell “before his departure”: I have lived among you and I have travelled with you, but only for a short period. I have been most cordially and affectionately received by you. I have done my best to describe the events and tell the English people about my impressions of the people I had the opportunity to meet and get to know in Bulgaria and Macedonia. I am leaving you unexpectedly due to circumstances most regrettable for me and I am asking you to forgive me for not being able to say goodbye to every one of you, my friends, whom I met on the battlefields in Bulgaria, as well as in Macedonia. Farewell! I am begging the Great Architect of the Universe, who watches over Macedonia, Bulgaria and England, to help you succeed in this unequal struggle and win your freedom. Having thanked you for your great hospitality, shown to me everywhere, I hope that in the foreseeable future you will enjoy this freedom for which so many innocent victims fell. 39 37

Wilayah (governorate, province), the biggest administrative division in the Ottoman Empire. 38 “Foreign Correspondents in Razlog,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3. 39 “An English Correspondent’s Letter to the Bulgarian Society,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 794 (October 3, 1903), 3.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

41

For his part, Emile Joseph Dillon (1854–1933), who happened to be a Russian correspondent for The Daily Telegraph from 1887 to 1914, returned from the Rila Monastery on September 22, 1903 (the Vecherna Poshta reported), “where he went a couple of days ago” together with the Russian professor, Mr. Miliukov, and Mr. Crep, who was “an American professor in Chicago.” Two days later, the same newspaper confirmed the news, adding that Miliukov [Pavel Nikolayevich Miliukov (1859–1943)] was an ex-lecturer at the Bulgarian School of Higher Education, and Mr. Charles Crane [Charles Richard Crane (1858–1939)] was a Professor in Slavic Literature in Chicago. It also explained that the three of them (together with Dillon) “came to Bulgaria in order to familiarize themselves with the situation on the Balkan Peninsula” (Vecherna Poshta, September 24, 1903). “The Times war correspondent, Mr. Lionel James, and the Italian correspondent, Doctor Benedetto de Luca, arrived in Sofia,” the Vecherna Poshta reported on September 24. 40 Two days later, the newspaper mentioned only Mr. Lionel of The Times, saying that the “English correspondent, James, left for Istanbul” 41 on October 7. On the next day, it informed its readers that “The Times and the Daily Mail correspondents, Mr. James and Mr. Vani [Wyon], are touring the western border areas in connection with the Macedonian uprising.” 42 “Last night [October 11], the English correspondents, Vani [Wyon] for the Daily Mail and Captain James for The Times, returned from their tour of the western parts of the Principality,” 43 the Vecherna Poshta claimed confidently, backed by the Nov Vek, which confirmed the information that the two journalists “returned to the capital yesterday” after having visited “several western border centres.” 44 On the following day, the Vecherna Poshta reported on their departure: The Daily Mail correspondent, Mr. Vapel [Wyon], and The Times correspondent, Captain James, asked us to convey their gratitude for the warm and cordial reception they had been given by the officers of the Kyustendil, Dupnitsa and Samokov garrisons during their travels along the border. The above-mentioned gentlemen also thank the rest of their

40

“Foreign Correspondents in Sofia,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 786 (September 24, 1903), 3. 41 “News in Brief,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 798 (October 7, 1903), 3. 42 Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 799 (October 8, 1903), 3. 43 “Foreign Correspondents,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 804 (October 13, 1903), 3. 44 “News in Brief,” Nov Vek, vol. V, no. 656 (October 13, 1903), 3.

42

Chapter Three Bulgarian friends for their hospitality. Mr. Vapel [Wyon] is going back to Vienna today. 45

His fellow traveller also left for his country ten days after him: “The Times war correspondent Captain James is going back to London today.” 46 Lionel James, who also happened to be an English Army Captain, was not an ordinary correspondent – he was a “chief war correspondent for The Times from 1899 until he resigned in 1913,” 47 and “one of the leading war correspondents of the Boer War.” 48 In fact, The Times was interested in the uprising in terms of “war” (which amply illustrates the interest of the English upper class in the event) as early as June, when the Vecherna Poshta (June 13, 1903) published the following, titled “An English Officer Arrived”: Lieutenant P. Honvel of the Queen’s Guard, the London Times special correspondent, left Macedonia and arrived in Sofia today after a threemonth journey around Macedonia by order of the English Defence Minister. He is staying at the Bulgaria Hotel and will be following the developments in Macedonia. Our Minister of Defence has had the kindness to appoint Lieutenant Pulev as his guide.

Two more Anglo-Saxons arrived “as war correspondents” – Mr. Butt (“for the illustrated London newspaper, the Black and White”) and Mr. Sell (for the New York Advertiser). 49 Forty-eight hours later, again the Vecherna Poshta explained that they were coming from Macedonia and “will be staying in Sofia for a few days to prepare their reports.” Informing its readers that the “ex-English Consul in Adana [a town in southern Turkey], Mr. Lieutenant-Colonel Massy has been appointed as English Consul in Varna,” the periodical added that “he was the first to visit Lozengrad and describe the atrocities the Turks were committing.” 50 45 “English Correspondents’ Gratitude,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 805 (October 14, 1903), 3. 46 “News in Brief,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 815 (October 24, 1903), 3. 47 Jacqueline Beaumont, “The Making of a War Correspondent: Lionel James of The Times,” in The Impact of the South African War (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), 125, https://link.springer.com/chapter /10.1057/9780230598294_7. 48 https://sunbeammuseum.wordpress.com/1901-gents-sunbeam-boer-warcorrespondent-with-blickensderfer-typewriter. 49 Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3. 50 “The English Colonel Massy,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

43

On the same day, Dnevnik (in its “News in Brief” column) confirmed the information about both Lieutenant-Colonel Massy’s new appointment and his official report on Turkish atrocities in Lozengrad, which he had duly sent to London. At the same time, Mr. Christiansen, a “correspondent for several English newspapers,” was also in the capital. According to Dnevnik (September 13, 1903), he was planning to meet the Bulgarian Minister of Defence, Colonel Mihail Savov (1857–1928), in connection with “the Macedonian Question and the intentions of the Bulgarian government with respect to Turkey.” Gram (or Graham), for his part, was a representative of The Glasgow Herald – “the most popular newspaper in Scotland.” In August, Mr. Hugh Burns arrived in Sofia (from Istanbul), “temporarily attached to the English diplomatic agency,” followed in September by the Military Attaché at Istanbul and Member of the General Staff, LieutenantColonel Maunsell (Francis Richard Maunsell, 1861–1936), who immediately presented himself to the Bulgarian minister of defence; the English Royal Guard Major, A. Hanbury-Tracy; the English Army Captain, F. W. von Herbert, 51 who stayed at the Panahov Hotel; the English General French (Sir John French, 1852–1925), Major Stanley Barry, and Captain H. Bettelheim who, after a short stay in Bulgaria “in connection with the Macedonian events,” caught the train for Paris on October 10.

Under Social Pressure In mid-September 1903 the Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper published its article, “Demonstrations in England in Favour of the Macedonian Question,” saying the following: The noble English people already strongly demonstrate their feelings in favour of the Macedonian cause. A massive demonstration took place in London and adopted the following resolution … A similar resolution was passed at another demonstration headed by the Bishop of Salford and was voted at a public meeting held on the same day in Manchester and chaired by the local major. 52

51

Frederick William von Herbert, an Anglo-German, who served in the Ottoman Army in 1877–8 and wrote The Defence of Plevna, 1877 (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1911). As a Captain with the Fourth Bn. Cheshire Regiment, he served in South Africa (1900–2). 52 “Demonstrations in England in favour of the Macedonian Question,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. XI, no. 203 (September 17, 1903), 2.

44

Chapter Three

At the end of the month the Sofia newspaper Pryaporets [Standard] (an organ of the Democratic Party) published a long article, which spread over two issues and occupied four pages, providing detailed information on the massive “public meeting” summoned by the Balkan Committee and held at St. James’s Hall, Piccadilly (the date was not stated again). Its goal was to “attract the attention to the current situation in Macedonia.” Chaired by Sir Edward Fry (an associated member of the committee), it gave the participants the opportunity to state their opinion on the issue in public. To support their views, many of the speakers quoted excerpts from the reports that had been sent from the Balkans and published in The Times (described as “an impartial witness”) and The Standard 53 (at that time, most Bulgarian newspapers referred to the British periodicals using their original names in English). On the eve of the meeting, the prime minister of the United Kingdom (from 1902 to 1905), Scotsman Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930), sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury a letter which The Times made public. I do not know whether the head of the Church of England replied personally, but I know that, on September 28, a group of British journalists sent to “the editor-publisher of The Times” their “answer to Balfour’s letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury.” The Pryaporets published it (in Bulgarian) in early October, announcing the names of the authors as well: H. N. Brailsford, J. E. Brailsford, Noel Buxton, Arthur Evans, Cecil Harris, F. B. Meyer, Edwin Pears [an Istanbul correspondent of The Daily News for many years], and J. Macdonald. 54 This pressure on the part of the society produced results – the UK sent a memorandum on the appointment of a Christian Governor General of Macedonia on September 29, and the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Emperors met in the Austrian town of Mürzsteg (near Vienna), where they signed an agreement proposing a series of reforms. At the end of the year, the Italian General Emilio De Giorgis (1844–1908) was appointed to command the Ottoman gendarmerie in Macedonia with the help of many European officers, among whom there were many Britons. And on October 6, the already-mentioned humanitarian mission arrived in Monastir, led by Henry Noel and Jane Esdon Brailsford (1874– 1937).

53 “The Demonstration at St. James’s-Hall,” Pryaporets, vol. VI, no. 42 (September 27, 1903), 2–3; no. 43 (October 1, 1903), 2–3. 54 “To the Editor-Publisher of The Times” (The English Journalists’ Answer to Balfour’s Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury), Pryaporets, vol. VI, no. 45 (October 8, 1903), 1–2.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

England and Macedonia (The Illustrated London News, October 3, 1903)

45

46

Chapter Three

Part of the text a group of British journalists sent as an answer to Balfour’s letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, which the Pryaporets published

Public meetings, like the one organized by the Balkan Committee at the London St. James’s Hall, were held in many other European cities at the same time. A protest rally took place at the hall of the Paris Geographical Society on October 23, 1903. The diplomat and the Nobel Peace Prize winner (1909) Baron Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant (1852–1924) opened the meeting, whereas the Jura Department MP and Professor of Philosophy Charles Dumont was its chairperson.

The Daily News about the Balkan Committee A comprehensive report on the situation in Macedonia was presented by Jacques Dumesnil. For about 10 months he had travelled around the places where the uprising had taken place and had photographed in person various sites and victims of the Turkish repression. During his speech, on a screen he projected photographs, showing the awful situation of the Bulgarian population. At the end of his lecture, the speaker called upon the French society to support the Bulgarian uprising by demanding the

The Echo in the United Kingdom

47

appointment of a Christian Governor General. The speech met great applause. 55

The new head of the Ottoman gendarmerie in Macedonia, Italian General Emilio De Giorgis, arriving in Thessaloniki

Zemedelsko Zname [Farmers’ Standard] reported in its “From Abroad” column a similar initiative held this time “in the Czech Kingdom, Prague”: “Here on 1 February (February 14 OS), the local deputy Mr. .ORXIDþ delivered a speech in favour of the Macedonian organization before a large audience …” After having described the speech in great detail, the anonymous reporter provided the following intriguing piece of information: After the speech, with a magic projector, he presented 160 images of Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Turkey. He showed Bulgarian mountains, peasant clothes, a couple of provinces, as well as Sofia, Plovdiv, Shipka, Tarnovo, Pleven and the Rila Monastery. From Macedonia, he displayed: Kukush, Skopje, Bitola, Thessaloniki, Macedonian clothing typical of a couple of provinces, as well as their miserable life. After that, he showed: General Tsonchev, Yankov, Boris Sarafov, Donchev, and a few more with their cheti. With his photographs, he assured the audience that the cheti were not bands of rogues (bandi), as Germans called them, but intelligent and responsible people who fought for their freedom that would guarantee their honour, life and property. The audience applauded many times being extremely grateful for his speech. The Czech people are very sympathetic to the Macedonians and wish their liberation. 56

55

L. Panayotov, and Yordan Shopov (eds.), ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɏɪɨɧɨɥɨɝɢɹ [The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising 1903 (Chronology)] (Sofia: Dr. Petar Beron, 1983), 141. 56 Zemedelsko Zname, no. 10 (March 8, 1904), 4.

48

Chapter Three

One hundred and sixty photographs of Sofia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Turkey, shown in Prague! But taken by whom? It turns out that the photographs were taken during the Ilinden– Preobrazhenie Uprising. 57 Apart from serving as illustrations (in periodicals, albums, almanacs, and even on postcards), they also served as direct, “live” propaganda, and quite successfully.

British officers in the Ottoman Gendarmerie (The Graphic, June 1904)

The Photochronicle of the Rebellion Thus, humanity was informed not only by means of words, but also by images that the long-time slave had rebelled. The images that could be created only in the magic “camera obscura” – the dark box where, as a result of the sinful copulation between light and darkness, the miracle, called photography, is born. Certainly, it turned out that the 57

For more information on the topic see Peter Kardjilov’s book Memorials of the Uprising on St. Elijah’s Day: Testaments of Pictures Taken in the Uprising on St. Elijah’s Day, 1903 (Sofia: Titra, 2009), 176.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

49

correspondents going to war took not only the “weapons” typical of their profession at that time, such as reporter’s notebooks and fountain pens, sketchbooks and pencils. Among the foreign legion of journalists that invaded Bulgarian lands in the troublesome 1903, there were many men with cameras and photosensitive films. They were the ones to become, as was the will of Clio, the Muse of History, the writers of the enthusiastic, memorable, dramatic, tragic, and, above all, lightly-written chronicle.

Illustrated Weekly Periodicals On August 13, 1903, the daily Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper (1893–1918), calling itself “an organ for politics, finance, commerce, agriculture, industry and communication,” as well as pro-German and proAustrian (it is no coincidence that it was edited in both German and Bulgarian), published a short message titled “The Grafic” [“The Graphic”], stating: “The latest issue of this well-known British illustrated magazine shows brilliant images of the events connected with the Macedonian uprising.” 58 The information appears to be reliable – in its August 22 (August 9 OS) issue, The Graphic (“an illustrated weekly newspaper”) did publish three photographs taken in Monastir (Bitola): two of them depicted town views and the third “Bulgarian school teachers taken prisoner at Monastir.” The author of the photographs was not stated, but the following sentence was placed under each of them: “Our photograph was supplied by the Illustrated Press Bureau.” 59 In its next issue, the periodical continued visualizing the “Macedonian Crisis” topic by means of two photographs showing the arrival of the Turkish troops at the port of Thessaloniki and an illustration by the painter George Soper (1870–1942), made “from a sketch by a correspondent” titled “Refugees Arriving at the Bulgarian Frontier.” 60 The terrifying faces of about thirty rebels appeared on page 308 of the September 5 issue, where the photograph, called “A Typical Insurgent Band” 61 operating in the Melnik area (at present, in Bulgaria), was published. Much larger and more impressive was the string of armed men going down a rocky slope. With the title “In the Perim [Pirin] Mountains: an Insurgent Band on the Warpath,” and published on October 24, the photograph was taken (as the accompanying text informed) by D. A. Karastoyanov (Dimitar Anastasov 58 “The Grafic,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. XI, no. 176 (August 13, 1903), 2. 59 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,760 (August 22, 1903), 247. 60 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,761 (August 29, 1903), 290. 61 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,762 (September 5, 1903), 308.

50

Chapter Three

Information about the Balkan Fund published in The Daily News (December 1903)

The Echo in the United Kingdom

51

Karastoyanov, 1856–1919), one of the most popular Sofia photographers at that time. The majestic view of “The Monastery and Village of Rilo [Rila],” 62 also taken by Karastoyanov, was underneath. In this issue, taking up all of page 544, a touching illustration can be seen called “The Burial Feast of a Little Fugitive,” drawn by the artist Balliol Salmon (1868–1953) “from photographs.” 63 On November 28, The Graphic offered a portrait (“General Tsoncheff: a Bulgarian Leader of the Macedonian Insurrection”), two landscapes (“Rilo Monastery and the Macedonian Revolution”), and the figures of two women warriors. “Our photographs of Rilo are by F. Moore,” the final lines of the editors’ text accompanying the illustrations said: The other two photographs, which have been sent from Macedonia by a correspondent, show that the women are helping the men in their struggle against the Turks. They don men’s clothes and carry rifles. To judge by appearances, ammunition is very plentiful, for each woman has two or three bandoliers of cartridges. 64

The front page of the issue published October 27, 1903 had the expressive illustration “Ready for the Turk: Macedonian Bombthrowers” 65; and that of November 7, 1903 was titled “With the Macedonian Insurgents: a Bird’s Eye View of a Turkish Outpost.” The text underneath said: A Correspondent with the insurgents having set out to cross the frontier to see what he could of the Raslog [Razlog], or district which is bounded on the north and east by the Rhodoppe and on the west by the Perim Mountains, thus describes his first sight of this Turkish outpost, when seen from a height of 10,000 feet above sea level. 66

Although the illustrations belonged to two different illustrators – the first being by the Briton William Hatherell (1855–1928) and the second by the American Frederick Judd Waugh (1861–1940) – both were created from the sketches “by Walter Kirton,” who happened to be “the special correspondent of The Daily Graphic.” 67 Thus, the identity of person the 62

The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,769 (October 24, 1903), 560. The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,769 (October 24, 1903), 544. 64 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,774 (November 28, 1903), 728. 65 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,768 (October 17, 1903), 502. 66 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,771 (November 7, 1903), 611. 67 “Notes of the Week,” Middlesex & Surrey Express, year 50, vol. LI, no. 5425 (January 6, 1904), 2. 63

52

Chapter Three

Bulgarian press called V. Kirlton, Kurten, Kirton, or Walser Kirton was established.

Two views of Monastir (Bitola) and a group of local Bulgarian school teachers taken prisoners (The Graphic, August 1903)

The illustrations “Exiled Bulgarians leaving Salonika [Thessaloniki]” 68 (by Frédéric de Haenen, 1853–1928), “Refugees in the Demir Kapu Pass [where a dirt road goes across Pirin Mountains and connects the towns of Razlog and Melnik], on the road to Rilo [Monastery]” 69 (based on photographs), and “A Curios Scene on the Macedonian Frontier: Bulgarian Troops Dancing the ‘Horo’ Round a Camp Fire” (F. de Haenen “from a sketch by Lionel James” 70) were the final efforts The Graphic at the end of 1903 in order to acquaint (in as much detail as possible) the British society with the drama that was unfolding in the Balkans. 68

The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,772 (November 14, 1903), 653. The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,775 (December 5, 1903), 757. 70 The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,776 (December 12, 1903), 797. 69

The Echo in the United Kingdom

53

Turkish troops at Thessaloniki (The Graphic, August 1903)

Four of the leaders of the Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee (SMAC)

The Illustrated London News (ILN), “registered at the General Post Office as a newspaper,” started its “photography exhibition” titled “The Rising in the Balkans” on August 22, 1903. It also took up the current topic unconfidently, probably taken aback by the sudden and quick developments, and published on the front page only one illustration by

54

Chapter Three

Richard Caton Woodville Jr. (1856–1927), titled “A Detachment of Turkish Troops Cut off in the Mountains.” It also had a page with six peaceful landscapes (“photographs by the Illustrated Press Bureau”) depicting the Macedonian towns of Monastir (Bitola) and Uskub (Skopje, the present-day capital of the Republic of Macedonia). 71 By contrast, its September issues compensated for this. The one published on September 5 provided the following three “scenes of the insurrection”: addressing the cheta “before an expedition,” processing dynamite and manufacturing bombs. 72 “The scenes” in the next issue were also three, but this time they presented “the revolutionary movement.” 73 The last issue for the month started with “An Attack on a Roumelian Village” by R. Caton Woodville on the front page and ended with four “photographs supplied by the Illustrated Press Bureau,” showing “Bulgaria, Military and Civil.” 74 At the end of the year, The ILN exhausted the topic, publishing an illustration, “The Arrest of an Insurgent Band Near Samokov” by Woodville (“from a sketch by an Eye-Witness”), 75 a page containing seven “scenes in the disturbed districts” (where nothing to be “disturbed” 76 about could be seen) and two interesting photographs – “An Insurgent Banner and Escort” and “Turkish and Bulgarian Sentries within Hail on the Frontier Bridge at Barakova.”77

“The Rising in Macedonia,” according to The Illustrated London News 71

The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,357 (August 22, 1903), 272. The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,359 (September 5, 1903), 340. 73 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,360 (September 12, 1903), 380, 381. 74 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,362 (September 26, 1903), 455. 75 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,364 (October 10, 1903), 527. 76 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,365 (October 17, 1903), 577. 77 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIII, no. 3,366 (October 24, 1903), 606. 72

The Echo in the United Kingdom

55

The Sphere (“an illustrated newspaper for the home”) also began with an illustration by the Englishman Ernest Prater (1864–1950), titled “The Outbreak in Macedonia. Sarafoff Rousing the Peasants against the Turks,” and published at the end of August. It was also accompanied by a short text saying: Boris Sarafoff [Sarafov] has been one of the most notable figures in the present revolutionary outbreak. He is supported by Gruyeff [Damyan Gruev] (the “Garibaldi of Macedonia”), Peter Toshoff [Petar Toshev], a schoolmaster whom the Turks have previously imprisoned (without effect), and A. Losantoff [Anastas Lozanchev], who was first a schoolmaster and then an agitator. Sarafoff has had the advantage of a military training, as he was an officer in the Bulgarian Army for five years. Sarafoff duly warned the Oriental railway companies that the revolutionists intended to blow up the bridges but they paid no attention. Sarafoff made a tour round the vilayets and mustered the most hesitating to his standard. He has recently signed mandates as “Boris, King of Macedonia.” 78

The periodical did not content itself with that illustration and, at the beginning of October, it published Boris Sarafov’s portrait drawn in a photographer’s studio, where the revolutionary posed “in national costume.” 79 The Sphere continued the topic by presenting (in late November) a dozen illustrations by a genuinely international team of artists: the Frenchmen Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun (1853–1941), Louis Rémy Sabattier (1863–1935), and Paul Thiriat, the Italian Riccardo Salvadori (1866–1927), the German Otto Gerlach (1862–1908), and the Briton Frederick Henry Townsend (1868–1920). No matter how masterful the illustrations were, they could not achieve the realism and authenticity of the photographs that the magazine started publishing at the beginning of September. The first four photographs depicted the cheti’s everyday life, two of them focusing on a less-known aspect – food provision and preparation. 80 Two views of Skopje followed of the railway station and the Turkish cemetery, 81 a panoramic view of the town of Krushevo 82 (prior to the uprising), two photographs of the Monastery of St. Barlaam at the Turkish-Greek border, together with two portraits of the old “voivoda

78

The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 188 (August 29, 1903), 195. The Sphere, vol. XV, no. 193 (October 3, 1903), 4. 80 The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 189 (September 5, 1903), 216, 220, 221. 81 The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 190 (September 12, 1903), 240. 82 The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 191 (September 19, 1903), 266. 79

Chapter Three

56

Dedo Simo” and “a woman insurgent,” 83 and a shot of the TurkishBulgarian border. 84

In The Tatler

A whole page of the September 19 issue showed not only the ruins of the town of Krushevo, devastated during the suppression of the uprising, but also something even more horrible – the heads of insurgents “exhibited by Turkish soldiers.” The text accompanying the seven illustrations started intriguingly: The most extraordinary details about the attack on the town of Krushevo are coming to hand. Over 200 Bulgarians attacked the Turkish quarter and shot down the officials. Ultimately a force of 7,000 Turks with two batteries of artillery was collected and began to attack early in the morning. They burned 366 houses occupied by Greco-Wallachs [Greco-Vlachs] and 83 84

The Sphere, vol. XV, no. 198 (November 7, 1903), 122. The Sphere, vol. XV, no. 199 (November 14, 1903), 146.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

57

looted the rest. Horrible atrocities are reported to have been committed on women and children. The description of the sack of the town, says the Times, has not been exaggerated. The dead have not even been buried. Some of the telegrams contain extraordinary statements, one of them that 60,000 Bulgarians have been slaughtered in the districts of Okhrida [Ohrid] and Leren [Florina, in present-day Greece]. 85

The next issue offered six “scenes in the Town of Monastir,” “from photographs by Reginald Wyon, the special correspondent of The Sphere and The Daily Mail.” 86 The illustrations in the October 3 issue were also six, thematically related and titled “The Crisis in Macedonia”: “Photographs Taken Specially for ‘The Sphere,’ showing both Monastir and the neighbouring villages of Smilevo and Bukovo (‘a Bulgarian village’).” The author of the photographs was not indicated, but, most probably, they were also taken by Wyon (like the ones in the previous two issues), because he can be seen in one of them: “The man in the white coat is Mr. Wyon, of the Daily Mail,” the text said, “who has had several adventures in Macedonia.” 87 On September 2, 1903 (Wednesday), The Tatler (“an illustrated journal of society and the stage”) published “A murdered Turk found lying in a side street at Monastir,” explaining the origin of the illustration briefly: “As seen by the correspondent who sent this photograph to The Tatler.” 88 The September 16 issue provided a much more shocking image of three Turkish soldiers posing behind three insurgents’ cut-off heads. “This photograph,” said the accompanying text, titled “Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia,” “was taken at Monastir, where it came into the possession of Mr. Reginald Wyon, the Daily Mail correspondent in Macedonia, who sent it to The Tatler from Monastir. Although these Turkish soldiers were proud to be photographed with their victims, the Turkish authorities did their best to prevent these pictures leaving the country and succeeded in destroying the negatives. Other pictures from the same source will appear in The Sphere of Saturday.” 89 And so they did – on September 19 (Saturday) The Sphere published the page containing the ruins of Krushevo and the three photographs of the chopped-off human heads, which turned out to have been photographed in one of the Monastir photography studios. Its owner had kindly given copies of the photographs 85

The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 191 (September 19, 1903), 261. The Sphere, vol. XIV, no. 192 (September 26, 1903), 287. 87 The Sphere, vol. XV, no. 193 (October 3, 1903), 11. 88 The Tatler, vol. IX, no. 114 (September 2, 1903), 415. 89 The Tatler, vol. IX, no. 116 (September 16, 1903), 457. 86

58

Chapter Three

(most probably not free of charge) to Mr. Wyon, who, in turn, sent them by mail to both The Tatler and The Sphere. In some way unfathomable, thanks to “international exchange,” one of the photographs found itself in the editorial office of a Bulgarian monthly magazine, Svetlina [Light] (“Svetlina Illustration”), which published it on November 3. 90 Even a humble daily newspaper, such as the Northern Whig (Belfast), mentioned the photographs of the insurgents published by The Sphere and The Tatler, presenting those two periodicals’ new issues in its “The Illustrated Weeklies” column. There the newspaper informed that the Black and White magazine 91 also offered up-to-date “Scenes in Macedonia.” 92 Some of these must have been “hot” because The Daily News stressed: The Turkish Embassy will no doubt be interested in the issue of “Black and White” for September 12th. An official denunciation was circulated by this Embassy last week as to the authenticity of an “atrocity” picture recently published in that paper. Our contemporary replies in to-day’s issue by publishing further photographs, and demanding further official denials. 93

This photoreport in The Sphere (September 1903) showed how so many young and hungry men had been fed

90

The Svetlina (Plovdiv), vol. XI, no. III (November 3, 1903), 13. Unfortunately, I have not been able to familiarize myself in detail with the content of the Black and White magazine because it is not among the periodicals available at The British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), the brilliant website I use. 92 “The Illustrated Weeklies,” Northern Whig (Belfast), no. 29676 (September 19, 1903), 3. 93 “The Massacres: Official Views,” The Daily News, no. 17,932 (September 10, 1903), 7. 91

The Echo in the United Kingdom

The legendary town of Krushevo

59

60

Chapter Three

Photographs made or provided by Reginald Wyon

The abovementioned reaction on the part of the Turkish authorities (that The Tatler hinted at and the respected London newspaper “officially” confirmed) was understandable, but not new. In March 1903 (in connection with some sporadic local incidents in Macedonia during that period), the Ottoman Embassy in Paris issued a Communiqué blaming the Agency Paris Nouvelle for the dissemination of the “so-called news about murders of Bulgarians and other inoffensive Christians said to have been committed by Turkish soldiers,” announcing the photographs depicting the already-mentioned violence, which some French newspapers had published, as “faked.” 94 Two weeks later, The Daily News brought up the same topic, not so much to confirm the presence of a series of Macedonian photographs in Black and White, but rather to assert that they had called forth a response on the part of the society and to emphasize their effect:

94

“The Balkan Crisis: the Reported Outrages. Denials by the Porte,” The Standard, no. 24552 (March 3, 1903), 5; “Manufactured Massacres,” The Banbury Beacon, no. 1955 (March 14, 1903), 2.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

61

But we may, perhaps, direct attention to the photograph of Krushevo in ruins which appears in last week’s “Black and White.” It is a picture eloquent and lamentable. To-day there is to be the great meeting at the City Temple. We wish it abundant success. It will be an inspiring prelude to the St. James’s Hall demonstration next week. In diplomatic circles it was hinted forty-eight hours ago that a more hopeful feeling reigned. 95

The response reached the Scottish city of Dundee, where the local newspaper The Courier published a letter received from London, whose author also expressed his opinion on the “faked photographs”: “Official denials” are so often falsified that they have come to be looked upon as very unreliable. Those from the Turkish Embassy in London are notoriously so. In fact, to contradict any statement reflecting upon the administration of the Sultan Abdul Hamid would seem to be the chief reason for the existence of this particular Embassy, which last week circulated a denunciation of the authenticity of an “atrocity” picture recently published in a London illustrated weekly. Further, similar photographs in this week’s issue of the same paper demand further official denials; but most people will back the camera for truthfulness against the Turkish Embassy. 96

The heroes and their trophies – the cynical “logo” of the suppressed uprising that The Tatler (London), Svetlina (Sofia), and I’llustration (Paris) disseminated around the world

95 96

“A Victory,” The Daily News, no. 17,944 (September 24, 1903), 6. “Our London Letter,” The Courier (Dundee), no. 15669 (September 10, 1903), 5.

62

Chapter Three

The Sphere and The Graphic demonstrated visually how photography turned into painting

After having returned home, some of the journalists in question read for the first time their reports on the insurrection and rethought their experiences in the Balkans. They sorted their notes and started writing books, in order to immerse themselves in their memories, to revive them, and to make them known to the reading public. Being convinced of the power of visual art, those reporters also dug out the photographs they had taken themselves or had acquired “in situ” from other photographers (I remember the euphemistic phrase The Tatler would use – “came into the possession of”), in order to add them to the fruit of their documentary journalism.

Books In its announcement of Reginald Wyon’s upcoming book, the Reformi mentioned that it, still title-less, would be “decorated with lots of photographs, most of which he himself took.” 97 Less than a month later, the newspaper made public the title of the book – The Balkans from Within, as well the number of photographs it contained (104). 98 One-third of them were taken in Bulgaria – the author was obviously impressed with the beauty of the Rila Mountains and the Rila Monastery – the rest in the Ottoman Empire (The Adrianople Region, Macedonia, Albania) and in Montenegro. Most of them were photographs of towns. Some depicted plundered and burnt-out villages in the area of the insurrection. The tragedy of thousands of wretched people that had been forced to leave their homelands after the suppression of the rebellion was also shown. Apart from the “scenes with fugitives,” only four other photographs were directly related to the Ilinden Uprising. 97 98

Reformi, vol. 9ȱ no. 12 (February 14, 1904), 4. Reformi, vol. 9ȱ no. 15 (March 6, 1904), 4.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

The front cover of the book

63

64

On the roads of Bulgaria

Chapter Three

The Echo in the United Kingdom

65

Wyon himself provided proof of his photographic activities in The Balkans from Within a couple of times. In “The Insurgents II,” a chapter in the first part of the book, titled “The Insurgent Provinces” and dedicated to Bulgaria and Macedonia, he confided that on his way to “Koestendil [Kyustendil], a border town,” he stopped and got off the carriage “for photographic purposes.” The reason was the “band of about forty men, disarmed and under escort of two gendarmes” he happened to meet. “At first he of the corporation [the leader of the ex-rebels] refused to be ‘snapped’,” Wyon admitted, “but a little persuasion soon brought him up to the camera and to a state of communicativeness.” 99 Thus, this accidental stopover gave birth to three illustrations: “Law and Disorder” (page 153), “He of the Corporation” (page 154), and “The Minister of Justice” (page 154). The first two preserved the face of the poet and revolutionary Petar Stoykov, and the first and the third that of the politician Nikola Genadiev (1868–1923), who was in charge of the Ministry of Justice from May 6, 1903 to January 30, 1904. With his book The Balkans from Within, Reginald Wyon added only 480 to the hundreds of thousands of pages written about the Ilinden Uprising. In comparison, the total number of photographs taken during that short period hardly exceeded a hundred and was more than modest. In spite of that, the photochronicle proved to be much more powerful and effective than the written word, probably because the nature of the former is expressed by means of both the simplicity and perfection of reality. Each writer’s text bears a personal mark; each memoir has a personal element. Even the most diligent scholarly writing is biased to a certain extent. Photography is unbiased, objective, and impartial. The camera is an indifferent device, an X-ray apparatus, a scanner. Being emotionless, it just detects someone’s presence at a certain place at a certain time. In the light of this, it can be said that the 104 photographs the Englishman used as illustrations in his book are priceless documents of both the epoch they depicted (the year 1903) and the region they tried to cover with their sweeping glance (the Balkan Peninsula) – “from within,” at that. Reginald Wyon confessed one more thing – in Bulgaria, he met “photographers” (not one, but several) who showed him, and probably gave him, visual “evidence” related to certain people or events.

99

Reginald Wyon, The Balkans from Within (London: James Finch & Co. Ltd, 1904), 153–4, https://archive.org/details/aal0763.0001.001 .umich.edu.

66

The military from within

Chapter Three

The Echo in the United Kingdom

The front cover of the book

67

68

Chapter Three

Frederick Moore was another journalist acting as a photographer. Going to Macedonia (Krushevo, Bitola), he managed to take “numerous shots.” 100 Leaving Bulgaria, he promised to describe everything he had seen in “travel notes, together with the photographs I have managed to take.” 101 And he kept his promise – The Balkan Trail is a book “with 62 illustrations and a map.” Sixteen of them were taken in Bulgaria – in Sofia, Samokov, the Rila Mountains, the Rila Monastery, and above all the Turkish border area, where he must have taken the page 292 photograph “Committajis off Duty” (comitadji – revolutionary, revolutionist, rebel, insurgent). In his absorbing story, Moore inserted a curious detail, enclosed in round brackets, providing evidence of one of the ways – light years away from modern copyright laws – in which foreign correspondents procured part of “their” photographs (as well as for the fate of some of them). He wrote in the chapter “The Trail of the Insurgent”:

Illustrations from the book The Balkan Trail (The last photo shows the building housing the British Agency in Sofia) 100 “Back from Macedonia,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3. 101 “A Correspondent’s Impressions,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱ9 no. 814 (October 23, 1903), 3.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

69

A photographer at Monastir has, in former years, taken many pictures of Turkish soldiers and officers standing behind tables on which were laid the battered heads of Bulgarians and other “brigands.” But heads are no longer brought into Monastir, and the photographer has been forbidden to display all pictures of this nature. I was able, however, to procure some. 102

Curiously, after having acquired a statement issued by Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (1855–1922), inspectorate-general of Macedonia (1902–1908) responsible for the vilayets of Thessaloniki, Bitola, and Kosovo, which document Moore described as “both an important admission and an interesting announcement,” he “sent it at once to the Times, for which I was now correspondent.” 103 During his stay in Sofia, Frederick Moore also managed to photograph the building of the British Agency, which does not exist nowadays (at that time, the United Kingdom and the Principality of Bulgaria set up agencylevel diplomatic relations). King Edward 9ȱȱ¶V birthday (September 9, 1841 NS) was celebrated at “an official reception” there on October 27, 1903. Sir Francis Edmund Hugh Elliot (1851–1940) – agent and consulgeneral in Sofia from 1895 to 1903 – hosted the celebration. The Times correspondent Frederick Moore was probably among the guests… Henry Noel Brailsford’s book Macedonia: Its Races and Their Future, was also illustrated with thirty-one photographs and two maps. All the photographs were taken in Macedonia – Skopje (Uskub), Ohrid (Ochrida), Bitola (Monastir), and the village of Zagoritchani – most likely in the period from October 1903 to February 1904, when the Scotsman stayed in Monastir. However, he cannot have taken all of them himself – “An Insurgent Band in the Rising of 1903” (page 148) must have been from the insurgent summer, whereas “Tchakalaroff, Commander of the Southern Insurgent Corps. Taken during the Occupation of Klissoura, 1903” (page 145) and “Tchakalaroff’s [Chekalarov’s] Staff during the Insurrection. He is seated on the Reader’s left” (page 150) were taken at a photographer’s studio, in all likelihood, at Ivan Karastoyanov’s – it is his artistically elaborate “business card” that takes up the entire back part of the photograph (10/13.5 cm format), kept at the Central State Archive (CSA). The white horse in the illustration “Tchakalaroff, Commander of the Southern Insurgent Corps” (to stick to the historical truth) was photographed from a different camera angle, but the rest of the features (background, clothes, weaponry, as well as Chekalarov himself) are the same. On the back of the photograph, Ivan Anastasov Karastoyanov (1853– 102 103

Frederick Moore, The Balkan Trail (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1906), 259. Ibid., 260.

70

The front cover of the book

Chapter Three

The Echo in the United Kingdom

71

Illustrations from the book Macedonia. Its Races and Their Future

1922), the elder brother of Dimitar Karastoyanov, proudly stated the fact that he was “a court photographer.” The handwritten text saying, “Vasil Chekalarov, taken in the captured Klisura, Kostursko Region, 1903, on the horse of the Sub-Governor of Klisura at the time,” 104 can also be seen there. This is the way myths are born. In order to finish with the books, I am going to mention John MacDonald’s Czar Ferdinand and His People (1913), illustrated with twenty-four photographs, most probably taken as many as ten years after the Ilinden events – except for one, titled “Macedonian Rebels during the Turkish Period” (page 322).

104

CSA, Archival Fund ɤ Inventory 1, ɚ ɟ

72

Chapter Three

The Illustrated London News had an entire page dedicated to the book Czar Ferdinand and His People (1913)

The Echo in the United Kingdom

73

Illustrations from John MacDonald’s book

Private Audiences and Public Events George Lynch, invited at Stoyan Mihaylovski’s place (the SMAC President), where, on September 7, 1903 (Sunday) he had lunch with the host, Arthur Hales and Iliya Gologanov (the SMAC Secretary and the Reformi editor-in-chief) having “long conversations on the situation,” also turned out to be one of the photochroniclers of the uprising. The Reformi reported in October that: Mister Lynch, commissioned by English and American newspapers, after having toured all border areas, returned to the capital a few days ago. With his reports and photographs, Mr. Lynch has contributed a lot to the Macedonian cause. On Monday, he set off, via Constantinople and Thessaloniki, to Bitola together with his wife. 105

George Lynch even showed his photographs to Pope Pius X. On December 18, 1903 the Holy Father received Monsignor Murphy, the Rector of the Irish College, at the Vatican. The latter presented Mr. and Mrs. Lynch of Cork, who were accompanying him, to the host. During the audience: Mr. Lynch who has just come from Macedonia … showed the Pope the photographs which he had taken of the poor fugitives, to whom the

105

Reformi, vol. V, no. 46 (October 26, 1903), 4.

74

Chapter Three Pope himself had been the first to give succour and hope. His Holiness followed Mr. Lynch’s account with most sympathetic attention. 106

In his next report from Bulgaria (which the Reformi took from The Daily News again), after having described in detail Colonel Anastas Yankov’s heroic deeds, the abovementioned table-companion Arthur Hales wrote the following: I sent you his portrait a few days ago, but it was not today’s Yankov; it was the then colonel of the Bulgarian Army, stylishly dressed up in his elegant military uniform. You have to see him now, wearing the clothes of the insurgents, his beard dishevelled and frightening, light, as agile as a bird. 107

Sending a photograph to the London newspaper does not mean having taken it. He himself admitted that it was an old one. However, there is proof that “Smiler” Hales had a camera during the uprising. The Reformi asserted at the beginning of November 1903 that: Mister Hales, The Daily News correspondent, was in Chepino [nowadays a residential district in Velingrad] last week … In the village of Ladzhene [also a residential district in present-day Velingrad] he found more than 800 fugitives, whom he had photographed. The picture during the snapping was moving. Miserable mothers tightly holding their starving children were crossing themselves, and fathers were bowing and taking off their hats and fezzes. Yesterday he left for Batak, Peshtera and, afterwards, via Plovdiv, he is going to Burgas to have a look at the situation of the refugees from the Adrianople Region. 108

On December 4, 1903 (Friday) at St. Cuthbert’s Hall, Bedford, Henry Nevinson, “the well-known war correspondent and author,” shared his impressions of the “disturbed provinces of Macedonia” he had recently visited. He illustrated his lecture with “about forty photographs that he had taken of the devastated country.” 109 A few days later, Mr. Nevinson

106

“The Rector of the Irish College at the Vatican,” The Derry Journal, Year 132 (December 24, 1903), 8. 107 A. G. Hales, “With the Cheti. Mountain Experiences. The Insurgents and Their Commander,” Reformi, vol. V, no. 48 (November 8, 1903), 2. 108 Reformi, vol. V, no. 48 (November 8, 1903), 4. 109 “Macedonian Massacres,” Ampthill & District News, no. 606 (December 5, 1903), 3.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

75

did the same during the public meeting in Newcastle, where he “gave a series of views of the condition of the Macedonians from photographs.” 110

“Mr. H. W. Nevinson gave a series of views of the condition of the Macedonians from photographs”

The Middlesex & Surrey Express announced on January 6, 1904 that Mr. Walter Kirton was getting ready to travel to the Far East, where he would inform British readers on the situation in the region that was pointing to the outbreak of a war between Japan and Russia. The newspaper added that it was Kirton “who was to have lectured on his experiences in Macedonia, at the Victoria Hall on Wednesday next.”111 On September 23, 1904 (Friday), the same periodical informed its readers that Mr. Walter Kirton, “special war representative for the Central News, and artist for the ‘Graphicæ publications … is to lecture on the Russo-Japanese War at the Victoria Hall on Tuesday, the 27th inst.” The newspaper added: Only last year he joined a band of belligerent insurgents in Macedonia as an independent and unbiased critic … His illustrated report, titled “Under 110

“The Vivisection Case,” The Daily News, no. 18,017 (December 18, 1903), 3. “Notes of the Week,” Middlesex & Surrey Express, Year 50, vol. LI, no. 5,425 (January 6, 1904), 2. 111

76

Chapter Three the Cross: An Englishman’s Experiences in Macedonia,” was one of the finest pieces of picturesque writing that appeared on the subject … Captain Kirton’s lectures on the Russo-Japanese War will be illustrated by pictures taken from photographs made by himself. 112

A similar text was provided by The Bradford Daily Telegraph two weeks later. The only differences were the time and the venue of the lecture – “next Friday” (October 14, 1904), “at St. George’s Hall.” 113 It turns out that Walter Kirton took the photographs during the RussoJapanese War – a fact that allows for the logical assumption that he had done the same a year earlier, during the Ilinden Uprising. A month after Kirton’s speech in Bradford, the already-mentioned Professor Miliukov opened “an exhibition of Macedonian pictures” in Kodak Limited’s London Hall (Kodak Gallery), 115 Oxford Street. “They illustrate,” The Dundee Evening Post wrote, “in a picturesque manner the architecture and the manners and customs of a land often in evidence, but of which little is known. The pictures have lost little, if anything, in detail through being enlarged, and show in a remarkable manner the possibilities of a small pocket camera in securing for one a work of art.” 114 The British press informed that the visitor was P. N. Milnkoff and described him as a “distinguished Russian Professor” and “famous historian.” It even mentioned the number of the photographs as seventy-nine. 115 Another professor – Anderson – delivered a lecture in Sheffield on November 14, 1903. Its topic was “The Frontier Line of Macedonia.” “The lecture was illustrated,” the local Daily Telegraph reported, “by a large number of lantern slides from photographs taken by Professor Anderson during his numerous visits to the Balkan Peninsula.” 116

112 “Mr. Walter Kirton,” Middlesex & Surrey Express, Year 50, vol. LI, no. 5,537 (September 23, 1904), 8. 113 “The Russo-Japanese War. Mr. W. Kirton’s Lecture,” The Bradford Daily Telegraph, no. 11,198 (October 8, 1904), 3. 114 “Photographic notes,” The Dundee Evening Post, no. 1516, (November 25, 1904), 4. 115 London Daily News, no. 18,270 (October 8, 1904), 4; no. 18,279, (October 19, 1904), 5; The Morning Post, no. 41,305 (October 15, 1904), 9; The Leeds & Yorkshire Mercury (Weekly Supplement), no. 20,760 (October 15, 1904), 7. 116 “The Frontier Line of Macedonia,” Sheffield Daily Telegraph, no. 15,085 (November 16, 1903), 8.

The Echo in the United Kingdom

77

The information about Professor Anderson’s lecture

The above information (despite being a modest amount of data) clearly demonstrates that some of the British journalists, who had been sent to Bulgaria to cover the Ilinden Uprising, both accidentally and logically turned from journalists into reporters, from chroniclers into photochroniclers, and illustrated the enthusiastic, memorable, dramatic, tragic, and above all visible fresco that impresses even today with its main characters’ heroism. This visual information travelled around the world, acquainted humanity with the situation in the Balkans, highlighted events, and shaped public opinion, which was becoming more and more sympathetic and compassionate

78

Chapter Three

towards the oppressed. Some of the photographs got even into the Papal Apartments, others into the most influential European monarchs’ offices inaccessible for the common people. On December 16, 1907, King Edward 9ȱȱ replied to Professor John Westlake, “President of the Balkan Committee,” who had sent to Buckingham Palace “copies of photographs taken by a European officer stationed in Macedonia under the Reform scheme.” In the king’s short letter, published in several newspapers, 117 the illustrations were characterized as “photographs of painful scenes which have occurred in Macedonia.” The islanders’ photographs followed the traditions handed down by the fathers of “that strange trade” but, at the same time, also set up new “rules” in the business. These light-drawing artists opened the way for the “living photography,” for the “living pictures,” for the cinema. And it did not take long (despite the turbulent times) to appear in the Balkans – in the person of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914). This Englishman differed from his colleagues in being the only one carrying a film camera – a type of photographic camera called a “Bioscope” and patented by an American. His name was also Charles; however, his surname was Urban. He was the one who sent Charles Noble to Bulgaria “to illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians,” because Charles Urban (1867–1942) was a film producer by profession.

117 The Belfast News-Letter, vol. CLXXII, no. 28,800 (December 20, 1907), 7; The Derry Journal, Year 135 (December 20, 1907), 8; The Lancashire Daily Post, no. 6,581 (December 20, 1907), 2; The Manchester Courier, no. 15,950 (December 20, 1907), 6; The Sheffield Daily Independent, no. 16,615 (December 20, 1907), 5; The Sheffield Daily Telegraph, no. 16,364 (December 20, 1907), 6.

CHAPTER FOUR THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES URBAN: THE BEGINNING

Young and Innocent Carl Urban was welcomed into the world on April 15, 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were German immigrants. His father, Joseph Urban (1833–?), was a sign painter from a small town in Bavaria, Ronsberg. His mother, Anna Sophie (1834–87), née Glatz, was from Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). They had ten children: Emma (1866–86), Carl, Clara (1869), Ida (1870) – who changed her name to Edith – Alfred (1872), Ernest (1874), Otto (1875–1933) – later known as Ralph – Robert (1876), Hilda (1878–1930), and Arthur (1885), who died in childhood. In 1871, the family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Joseph Urban started a window blinds and wallpaper business with Mr Tummel. Very soon, however, the latter absconded with all funds, the business collapsed, and Urban’s family returned to Cincinnati in 1872. Joseph Urban was seriously affected by his failure and became “a morose and vindictive character.” In the autumn of 1873, the six-year-old Carl Urban started school. He lost the sight in his left eye after a baseball accident in 1879. In 1880, the Urban family was living at 530 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, in the “Overthe-Rhine” district, where the main part of the German community was concentrated. Two years later, Carl left school, changed his name to Charles, and, at the age of fifteen, became an errand boy for the local News Company. Afterwards, he worked for Perry and Morton, J. R. Hawley & Co., and Woodruff Cox & Co. (all of them Cincinnati companies). His father left home in 1885 and Charles, being the eldest son, had to provide for the family.

80

Charles Urban (1867–1942)

Chapter Four

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

81

The Edison Standard Phonograph

In November 1886, Urban left his hometown and started working at Eaton and Lyons Book Store in Grand Rapids, Michigan. There he first met his future wife, Julia Lamoureux Emery (Avery). After his mother’s death he moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was employed by De Forges & Co. Book Store for nine months. After that, he became a travelling book agent in Chicago. He first moved to Des Moines, Iowa, then to St. Louis, Missouri, where he specialized in selling a luxurious book with illustrations titled The Stage and Its Stars. Julia Avery and Charles Urban got married (she was twenty-four, b. October 6, 1864, and

82

Chapter Four

he was twenty-one) in Grand Rapids on Christmas Eve in 1888. After that, they moved to Chicago.

The Detroit Prince of the Phonographs

The 1893 advertisement of the North American Phonograph Company

In the summer of 1889 Urban moved to Detroit, where he met John T. Doan, a former Eaton and Lyons employee. They formed a partnership and started selling Densmore typewriters, Edison mimeographs,1 and phonographs.2 Urban set up an independent phonograph agency in 1893, joining the North American Phonograph Company as a salesperson responsible for part of the Michigan territory. He sold phonographs as both office tools and entertainment devices, making some local recordings.3

Kinetoscopes In as early as the late 1880s, the brilliant American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) and his Scottish assistant William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (1860–1935) created the first film camera in the world, shot the first films in the world, and projected the first films in the world – 1

Mimeograph – a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper, invented by Edison in 1876, and licensed in 1887. Subsequently, it was replaced by the Cyclostyle. 2 Phonograph – a mechanical device, invented in 1877 by Edison, for recording and reproducing sound. It was the predecessor of the gramophone. 3 Luke McKernan, “Charles Urban: Chronology,” http://www.charlesurban.com/history_chronology.html.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

83

not onto a screen, however, but using the kinetoscope, a film-exhibition device that allowed films to be viewed through a peephole one person at a time, which turned out to be the wrong marketing strategy.

Kinetoscope interior

The kinetoscope was patented in the summer of 1891 and was first demonstrated to the public at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences on May 9, 1893. However, its mass production started in 1894. The “peephole” machine had its commercial debut again in New York at 1155 Broadway, on April 14. That very year its “copies” flooded the planet – parlours were opened in Chicago (with ten machines), San Francisco, London (at 70 Oxford Street on October 17, 18944 – it was the first kinetoscope parlour outside the United States5).

4

Frank Gray, “Franck Zeveley Maguire and Joseph Deyhoe Baucus. American businessmen,” in Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/maguire. 5 in Charles Musser, “An Edison Chronology (to January 1901),” in Edison Motion Pictures, 1890–1900: an Annotated Filmography (Gemona, Italy: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), 659.

Chapter Four

84

A kinetoscope parlour

Charles Urban wrote in his memoirs: Early in 1895 the first Edison motion pictures were on exhibition in a music publishers’ show rooms on Woodward Avenue, Detroit. These were in the form of an enclosed oak case with an eye piece, called the kinetoscope. You paid fifty cents (2/-) and had a peek of half a minute into six boxes showing Loie Fuller’s Skirt Dance, May Irwin and John Rice “The Kiss,” Approach of a Railway Train, Surf on Beach etc. These pictures created a sensation.”6

That first encounter with “the first Edison motion pictures” determined the rest of Urban’s life – a couple of days later, on behalf of the Michigan Electric Company, he was operating a kinetoscope venue which had thirty machines and was located at 101 Woodward Avenue. “It was beautifully decorated and lighted and became very popular,” Urban assured years later.7

6 Luke McKernan, A Yank in Britain: the Lost Memoirs of Charles Urban, Film Pioneer (Hastings: Projection Box, 1999), http://www.charlesurban.com/documents_memoirs.html. 7 Ibid.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

The kinetoscope (1891)

Open Screen – Large Audience Charles Urban continued his fascinating story: Later that year was announced the first exhibition of the Lumière Cinématographe at Koster and Bial’s Music Hall, New York City. Lumiere was sent from Lyons, France. This was preceded a few months earlier by Edison’s “Vitascope” at the Eden Musée West 23rd Street, New York. I took an early trip to New York [most probably in April and May 1896] to see their wonders, which were shown on an open screen before a large audience. I lost all interest ever after in slot machines and tried to acquire

85

86

Chapter Four one of these projecting machines but neither Lumière’s nor the Edison Vitascope could be bought, only leased.8

By the end of the century, the Edison Manufacturing Company had produced 973 kinetoscopes, selling them for $300 each. One of them appeared in Paris at the end of September 1894 and was bought by the French photographer and Lyon-based manufacturer of photographic products, Antoine Lumière (1840–1911), for six thousand francs. It was his sons, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (1862–1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (1864–1948), who ingeniously converted Edison’s apparatus into the cinématographe. They did one more thing (simple at first sight) – a white canvas was hung in front of their projector. Thus, by means of the screen, the only viewer of the kinetoscope was multiplied into an audience of thousands. That is why the date of their screening at the Paris Grand Café, December 16/28, 1895, is considered the birthday of the Seventh Art by many film historians (there is something symbolic in the fact that their surname, Lumière, means “light”). Right after the historic film session, the two brother’s company, Société anonyme des plaques et papiers photographiques Antoine Lumière et ses fils, specialized in filmmaking and flooded the market with its production. The success of the Lumière cinématographe, which allowed large audiences to watch films, made Thomas Edison realize his mistake and fix it by redesigning his kinetoscope. He and Thomas J. Armat (1866–1948) developed a new projector, which was first demonstrated in public on April 11/23, 1896 in New York9 as the Vitascope (constructed from the Latin word for “life” – vita – and the Greek word skopos, meaning “to look at”). Charles Urban did not waste his time, either. Soon, he acquired the agency rights to the Vitascope for the state of Michigan, exhibiting the apparatus throughout 1896. He also invited the New York phonograph engineer Walter L. Isaacs to design a projector for him. On that occasion, one of Urban’s specific character traits emerged which later marked his entire professional life – his tendency to encourage experimentation, which consisted in financing daring projects without necessarily expecting immediate results.

8

Ibid. “An Edison Chronology (to January 1901),” in Charles Musser, Edison Motion Pictures, 1890–1900: an Annotated Filmography (Gemona, Italy: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), 661. 9

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

Vitascope advertisement (1899)

87

88

Chapter Four

Maguire & Baucus

Urban (on the left) with Maguire and Baucus

In February 1897, Charles Urban quit the Michigan Electric Company and started working for Maguire & Baucus, the New York concessionaries for Edison motion-picture products abroad. In 1894, Edison’s agents were the phonograph speculator Franck Zeveley Maguire (1860–1910) and the lawyer Joseph Deyhoe Baucus (1864–1928), who were to market the kinetoscope outside North America. They founded a company for this purpose called the Continental Commerce Company.10 Focusing on European countries, Maguire went to London, whereas Baucus dealt with the USA affairs. After the kinetoscope business had declined, Maguire & Baucus started selling projectors, films, and phonographs in both Britain and the US, being the leading marketers of Edison and Lumière films for a short time.11 Charles Urban, who had grown up in the remote countryside, admired Baucus for his worldliness (the latter had graduated Princeton and practised law in Newark, New Jersey, and Wall Street), but had a low opinion of his business acumen. “He had a charming personality and only 10 Luke McKernan, “A Good Solid British Name: the Continental Commerce Company,” http://www.charlesurban.com/history _warwick.html. 11 Paul Spehr, “Maguire & Baucus: in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 411.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

The folder containing the agreement among the three of them

A document belonging to the Continental Commerce Company

89

90

Chapter Four

An advertisement of Maguire & Baucus films

applied himself to business, when finance had to be procured to pay for his many costly amusements and mode of living,” Urban recollected.12 After having completed a trial period in New York, Charles Urban went to London in August in order to become a general manager of the local branch of Maguire & Baucus. Urban wrote about his first working day at the new job: I had an early breakfast the next morning, with intention to get into early touch with the Maguire and Baucus office, which was located in Dashwood House, Broad Street, near Liverpool Street railway station. It was a nice day so I climbed to the top of an Oxford Street bus to the Bank, another one at Moorgate Street to the Station, where I had no trouble finding Dashwood House [9 New Broad Street]. I found the office in the hallway on the ground floor, but its door was still locked, although it was 8.45 am. About 9.30, a young man dressed in a frock coat with a silk hat (topper I think they call them) unlocked the door, picking up the mail as he entered. I addressed him and told him who I was. He seemed very pleased at my arrival, saying that I had been expected during the day – but hardly

12 Luke McKernan, “Joseph Deyhoe Baucus,” http://www.charlesurban.com/biographies.html.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

91

so early, he thought. He introduced himself as asst manager, book keeper, film salesman, machine demonstrator, packer and delivery clerk.13

Thus, Charles and Julia Urban moved into a new residence at 7 Gower Street, London, in 1897, and Urban began work as general manager at the Maguire & Baucus offices at Dashwood House.

The Warwick Trading Company As soon as he arrived, the energetic Charles Urban (already in his thirties) introduced a series of changes. First, in September, he moved the “head offices” to Holborn (an area in Central London) at 4-5 Warwick Court – he did this only a month after his arrival! The new location also brought about the new company name – The Warwick Trading Company, Limited (WTC), which was registered in May 1898. In this way, the branch was reorganized into a separate company. Even though Franck Maguire and Thomas Baucus kept their positions, both of them were side lined, focusing on their phonograph business. The driving force behind Warwick was the new managing director, who organized the activity in a new way, placing the emphasis on three main business areas: film distribution, technological development, and filmmaking.14 The Warwick Trading Company (“a good solid British name,” according to Urban) continued (following the traditions Maguire & Baucus had established), distributing American films, mostly Edison’s; French films produced by the distinguished companies Lumière and Star Films, founded by “the father of special effects” Georges Méliès (1861–1938); and, later, British films, made by the experienced photographers and early film pioneers James A. Williamson (1855–1933) and Frank Mottershaw (1850–1932).

13

Luke McKernan, A Yank in Britain: the Lost Memoirs of Charles Urban, Film Pioneer (Hastings: Projection Box, 1999), http://www.charlesurban.com/documents_memoirs.html. 14 Luke McKernan, “Warwick Trading Company,” in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 685–6.

92

Chapter Four

One of the numerous Warwick advertisements

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

Urban became popular (The Era, December 1, 1900)

93

94

Chapter Four

The Warwick Bioscope projector. Advertisements of Warwick films. Pages from the 1898 Warwick catalogue

The Urban Bioscope At that time, based on earlier Georges Demenÿ (1850–1917) patents, Walter Isaacs invented a film projector, an efficient 35mm fast-pull-down, beater-movement machine which Charles Urban called the bioscope (the name is still used as a synonym of the cinematograph). The word “bioscope” (coined from the Greek words bios meaning “life” and skopos meaning “to look at”) was first used in 1812 by the British scientist Granville Penn (1761–1844) in his theology tract The

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

95

Bioscope, or Dial of Life.15 Subsequently, it was often used to name various inventions that led to the birth of motion pictures – that was how, in 1852, the French optical equipment manufacturer Louis Jules Duboscq (1817–86) named his device which could show stereoscopic photographs16; his fellow countryman, the physiologist Georges Demenÿ, initially patented the phonoscope (an apparatus that projected images by means of rotating glass discs) but renamed it bioscope when launching it onto the market at the end of 189517; at the same time, the German Max Skladanowsky (1863–1939) named his projection device18 in the same way.

The Urban Bioscope advertisement

In 1898, the expert in photography Cecil M. Hepworth (1874–1953), one of the founders of the British film industry, made several practical and successful improvements to the bioscope projector, and Urban asked him to join Maguire & Baucus. Hepworth filmed (from Thornycroft’s Yard) 15

http://thebioscope.net/2007/02/06/the-bioscope. Stephen Herbert, “Louis Jules Duboscq,” in Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography (Bolton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2008), 445. 17 Laurent Mannoni, “Georges Demenÿ. French inventor, chronophotgrapher, filmmaker and gymnast,” in Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/demeny. 18 Scott Curtis, “Max and Emil Skladanowsky,” in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 593. 16

96

The Patent

Chapter Four

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

97

The growing need of Bioscope operators

the first production of the company on March 24, 1898 – the fifty-fifth Oxford and Cambridge universities boat race (its first projection took place on March 26).19 In fact, he became involved in British filmmaking as early as 1896, probably because he had already been initiated into the mysteries of photography.20 At first, both Maguire & Baucus and the WTC imported projection devices from the US. Later, the Prestwich Company manufactured the models for the renamed company. They were sold throughout Europe and became known as the Warwick bioscope projector.21 Hepworth constructed an automatic developing system for the company, but was sacked, and his position was taken over by George Albert Smith (1864– 1959) from Brighton. Over the time, Smith became Urban’s closest collaborator. Another Brighton citizen, the engineer Alfred Darling (1862– 1931), was in charge of the production of the bioscope and other Warwick film equipment. He is to be thanked for having improved the bioscope and inventing the small gauge (17.5 mm) Biokam projector for amateur use, which the WTC placed on the market in 1899.22 Interestingly enough, Urban did not mention it in his memoirs.

19

Denis Gifford, The British Film Catalogue. Volume 2. Non-Fiction Film, 1888– 1994 (London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), 17. 20 Luke McKernan, “Cecil Hepworth,” in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 297. 21 Stephen Herbert, “Warwick Bioscope Projector,” in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 685. 22 Luke McKernan, “Charles Urban. a View of Life. The Bioscope,” http://www.charlesurban.com/history_bioscope.html.

98

Chapter Four

The Boer War: Films Being a man of action and enterprise, energetic, inventive, resourceful, and willing to engage himself in risky operations, Charles Urban threw himself into filmmaking. His first undertaking in this field was (according to the Irish film historian Luke McKernan23) the abovementioned coverage of the Oxford and Cambridge boat race held in 1898. Urban’s reputation (as well as that of the Warwick Trading Company) as a producer, however, grew rapidly during the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902)24 – more commonly known as the Boer War, the Second Boer War, or the South African War – which started on October 11, 1899 when the Boer states bands (the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa) confronted the army of the British Empire. The interest of the English towards what was going on the “other side of the world” was enormous, and the fledgling film industry had the resources to cover the war, so it took advantage of that welcome opportunity. In order to satisfy the curiosity of the impatient audience, at the very beginning of the conflict Urban obtained documentary shorts shot in South Africa by the freelance cinematographer and war correspondent John Montague Benett-Stanford (1870–1947). Some of those productions were: Lancers Under the Earl of Airlie Fording the Modder River, Panorama of the Modder River, Troop Train Conveying the Seaforth Highlanders Across the Modder River, and Hospital Corps Attending Wounded on Battlefield (Ambalance Corps at Work). Most probably, they were filmed in November 1899, when the famous Battle of Modder River took place. Subsequently, Warwick sent out to Transvaal three more of his cameramen: Joseph Rosenthal, Sydney Goldman, and Edgar Hyman.25 When Charles Urban started working for Maguire & Baucus in London, Alice Rosenthal was responsible for film sales. Once the WTC started producing films in 1898 she told Urban that her brother, Joe, a pharmaceutical chemist, was interested in photography. Thus, Joseph Rosenthal (1864–1946) began working for the American (most likely around 1897), and soon became his “trusted,” “leading,” and “star” 23

Luke McKernan, “Twenty Famous Films,” http://www.charlesurban.com/films_twenty.html. 24 The topic is brilliantly explored by Stephen Bottomore in “Chapter 9. THE BOER WAR (1899–1902). I. The Emergence of Professional Cameramen,” of his doctoral thesis “Filming, Faking and Propaganda: The Origins of the War Film, 1897–1902” (Utrecht University, 2007), 1–55. 25 Luke McKernan, “The Biograph in Battle,” https://thebioscope.net /2009/05/23/the-biograph-in-battle.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

99

cameraman,26 and hence one of the first to be sent to cover the Boer War. He did that from January to May 1900, travelling with Lord Roberts’s column (Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1832–1914, one of the most successful British commanders). The film historian Stephen Bottomore wrote: Arriving in January 1900, Joseph Rosenthal initially went to the Natal front, before joining the rising star of General Roberts’ column pushing north from the Cape. Travelling with two mules and a cape cart, he could move relatively fast, sometimes even going ahead of the troops. He filmed several scenes around Bloemfontein, including Hoisting the Union Jack and The Balloon Contingent, though these and other films were lost when the ship carrying them back to England went down. However, other films arrived safely and showed such scenes as British troops on the march and fording rivers, and even included Boer Prisoners Under Escort. Camerawork could be a risky business: in filming one river crossing, Rosenthal records that “a shell exploded right in front of me, and it was very lucky indeed that I was not hit.” He was present at the various British victories which came in the second quarter of 1900, managing to film the surrender at Kroonstad in May, and the raising of the British flag over Pretoria the following month. To most people this seemed to be the end of the war (it was to continue until May 1902), and Rosenthal departed, leaving cameraman Sydney Goldman as Warwick’s representative in South Africa.27

After having returned to England, Joseph Rosenthal came into focus and the British press devoted several extensive articles to him. On August 3, 1900, not only did The Jewish World magazine show five photographs of his on its cover pages, but it also published a “special interview” with him.28 The Illustrated London News published seven photographs by Rosenthal on August 11, grouped under the title of “The Transvaal War.”29 In September, The Showman (“an illustrated journal for showmen and all entertainers”) published the article “How War Films are Made,” which traced the wanderings of that “animated photographer” on the

26

Stephen Bottomore, “Joseph Rosenthal,” in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema, edited by Richard Abel (London and New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005), 554. 27 Stephen Bottomore, “Joseph Rosenthal,” in Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/Rosenthal. 28 “Special Interview with Mr. J. Rosenthal,” The Jewish World, vol. LIV, no. 19 (August 3, 1900), 292–3. 29 The Illustrated London News, vol. CXVII, no. 3199 (August 11, 1900), 203.

100

Chapter Four

A military pontoon bridge in South Africa

Royal Irish rifles at the time of the Anglo-Boer War

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

Royal Engineers building a bridge over the Modder River

Boer prisoners of war under escort

101

102

Chapter Four

Four Boers (The Sphere)

frontlines of South Africa.30 “Concerning instruments,” the periodical assured, “we hear that Mr. Rosenthal has one for 165 feet of film, and another carrying 650 feet, besides the tent, portable dark room, and a few chemicals for testing the film before sending it home.”31 As for the cameraman who stayed in South Africa, this was Major Charles Sydney Goldman (1868–1958), a British journalist, writer and businessman, one of the Transvaal’s most mysterious historic figures, and a uitlander born in Cape Colony. During the Second Boer War, he became a war correspondent for The Standard (The London Evening Standard), as well as a major in the British army, assisting Winston Churchill as a war correspondent. At first, Goldman was attached to Sir Redvers Buller’s relief force and travelled with him to Ladysmith. Later, he transferred to the cavalry that was going north in order to report on its endeavours. His experiences served as a basis for his book, With General French and the Cavalry in South Africa. There are two films connected with Sydney Goldman’s name on the leading internet site The Internet Movie Database: 30 31

“How War Films are Made,” The Showman, vol. I, no. 1 (September 1900), 11–13. Ibid., 11.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

103

Annexation of the Two South African Republics, and The Annexation Ceremonies at Pretoria.32 Goldman made them as a cinematographer for the WTC in 1900.

J. M. Benett-Stanford Joseph Rosenthal with his Bioscope camera during the Anglo-Boer War

Edgar Hyman

32 IMDb. Sydney Goldman. Filmography, https://www.imdb.com/name /nm5311482.

104

Chapter Four

Edgar M. Hyman (1871–1936) was a South African theatrical manager (impresario) and showman, who also worked as a cameraman. He shot as many as forty-nine films and documentary shorts (according to IMDb) for Warwick between 1898 and 1900. In the 1890s he was the manager of the Empire Theatre of Varieties in Johannesburg, where Carl Hertz showed films for the first time in South Africa in May 1896. Being impressed by the film shows, Hyman got a camera from Charles Urban (with the help of his brother Sydney, his British agent) in 1897. Hyman must have started shooting films in the next year, some of which included Johannesburg street scenes. In 1899, just before the Boer War broke out, Hyman went back to South Africa after one of his regular London visits. When he arrived in Johannesburg the Empire Theatre was closed down due to the coming war, so Hyman had to move with the company to Cape Town, where he found another venue for his film shows. In this way, Hyman happened to see the arrival of the first British and colonial troops in South Africa – The Gordons Arriving at the Cape, Black Watch [Third Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland] Landing at Cape Town, Scots Guards Entraining at Cape Town Docks, and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Leading Their Charges (1899). He also filmed Sir Redvers Buller in Cape Town in November for Sir Redvers Buller Inspecting the Fighting Fifth, as well as many British and colonial troops debarking or going through the city in the following months – The Arrival and Reception of Lord Roberts at Capetown (January 10, 1900), Review of Troops by Lord Roberts, N.S.W. Lancers Marching Through Adderley Street, The Australian Mounted Rifle Volunteers, etc. Moreover, in December, Hyman accompanied the regents to the western front, where he must have joined Joseph Rosenthal at the Orange River. In June 1900 he managed to shoot the raising of the British flag over Pretoria33 in Entry of Lord Roberts into Pretoria and Entry of Troops into Pretoria. Hyman also filmed soldiers going to the front line – Cape Town Volunteers Leaving for the Front, Departure of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles (1899), Troops and Artillery to the Front, Royal Horse Artillery on the March to the Front (1900); shooting drills – Gordon Highlanders Bayonet Drill and Volley Firing, Volley Firing and Charge of the Cameron Highlanders (1899); transportation – Unloading Mules for the Front (Unloading a Cargo of Mules, 1899), War Supplies Drawn Over Pontoon Bridge (1900); inspection – General Sir Frederick ForestierWalker Inspecting Cape Town Volunteers (1899), and scenes of military life

33

Stephen Bottomore, “Edgar M. Hyman,” in Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/hyman.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

Joseph Rosenthal’s photographs of South Africa

105

106

Chapter Four

– Northumberland Fusiliers Waiting to Quench Their Thirst (1899), for example. Edgar M. Hyman did not miss the opportunity to make a “portrait” of Paul Kruger (1825–1904), the President of the Transvaal Republic: President Kruger Leaving the Volksrand and Animated Portrait: President Kruger (1898). Seeking political support in Europe, Kruger embarked on a trip, during which he visited France. There he was filmed by Pathé frères cameramen. The Arrival of Kruger at Marseilles (Arrivée de Krüger à Marseille) was made at the beginning of December 1900 and released in Paris in the same month.34 The following year, in summer, the film President Kruger’s Official Reception at Marseilles was shown in Sofia (“in the former circus of Vitali”) by the Slovak Georgi Kuzmik,35 a travelling showman living in Bulgaria. At the same time, in June 1901, the Patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov (1850–1921) wrote his short story “The Heroes of the Anglo-Boer War.” It was included in his collection Videno i Chuto [Seen and Heard] (1901) and published (abridged) in the only issue of the Filmov Pregled Tobis magazine [Tobis Film Review] (1942). This non-fiction is a clear testimony to the popularity of the raging conflict in South Africa and its heroes among the Bulgarians at the beginning of the twentieth century. Thus, thanks to the cameramen J. M. Benett-Stanford, Joseph Rosenthal, Sydney Goldman, and Edgar Hyman, the Warwick Trading Company came into possession of short documentaries, which it started distributing all over the world. A major advertising campaign was launched on February 3, 1900 when The Era (1838–1939) announced the titles of the “first animated pictures ever taken on the fighting line” – thirty in total. Each of them had a different catalogue number from 5423 to 5525, but they were randomly ordered and there were many gaps among the numbers. Although they were grouped under the heading “War with the Transvaal,” only twenty-five of the films happened to be shot in the troubled regions of the independent Boer state in question, in the period from October 14 to December 23, 1899. The WTC was glad to announce the names of the cameramen: “Our PHOTOGRAPHIC STAFF now in South Africa: – ORANGE FREE STATE: Mr. Benett Stanford. CAPE COLONY: Mr. Edgar M. Hyman. NATAL: Mr. J. Rosenthal.” “The length of each subject is 50ft.,” the text says, which means that at the “cinematic” frame rate of the time, i.e. sixteen frames per second, the fifteen-metre film lasted for about fifty seconds. In conclusion, it was 34

Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914, vol. I (1896–1906) (1996), 859. 35 Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. ȱɏ, no. 118 (June 6, 1901), 4.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

107

announced that “A Large Selection of NAVAL and MILITARY SUBJECTS, also SOUTH AFRICAN FILMS, are fully Described and Listed in our GENERAL FILM CATALOGUE. Catalogues Mailed on application.” At the end of the advertising we finally find out who was behind the campaign: “CHARLES URBAN, Managing Director.”36 The Warwick Trading Company continued advertising its “New War Films” in The Era every week. The films were new, made in 1900 in new (different) places in South Africa, and became longer than before, from 75 to 150 feet (50 ft. cost £2.10). Rosenthal’s name started appearing more and more often in the short annotations accompanying the new titles, whereas Benett Stanford’s gradually sank into oblivion. In February, the WTC mentioned “our New List of over 125 War Subjects.”37 At the beginning of April, their number rose to two hundred,38 and in July to three hundred.39 At the end of May, the advertisement placed the emphasis on Rosenthal’s work: “This view is photographed from the Cape Colony side, and shows the steep wooded banks of the Orange Free State in the background,” started film no. 5652, shot “ON THE WAY TO BLOEMFONTEIN” and titled War Supplies and Stores Drawn over the Pontoon Bridge, Orange River, by Mule Teams: A depression of the pontoons into the water as the heavy loads are drawn over them is distinctly depicted. The first person seen crossing the bridge and walking towards the camera is Mr Rosenthal, of our War Staff, he having just completed a series of pictures on the opposite side of the river, and is returning, carrying the Bioscope camera and tripod. Length, 125ft. Photographed by Edgar M. Hyman, of our War Staff.40

“As this scene was photographed from the Orange Free State side by Mr Rosenthal, of our War Staff,” the explanation to Thɟ South Australians Crossing over the Pontoon Bridge and Entering the Orange Free State (no. 5653) stated, “the Troopers are entering the enemy’s country the moment they step off the bridge.” “The clear South African atmosphere enables us to practically produce stereoscopic effects and clear, sharp photographs,” assured the annotation to Tommy Atkins Cutting Roads

36

The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,202 (February 3, 1900), 27. The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,203 (February 10, 1900), 27. 38 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,211 (April 7, 1900), 27. 39 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,225 (July 14, 1900), 24. 40 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,218 (May 26, 1900), 28. 37

108

Chapter Four

Advertisements of the Anglo-Boer War films

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

109

through the Brush (no. 5654, length 75 ft.) adding, “Photographed by J. Rosenthal, now with Lord Roberts’s Army.”41 On June 23, as an introduction to their traditional advertisement in The Era, the Warwick Trading Company published an “Official List of War Correspondents Issued at Headquarters in South Africa for Use by the Army Officials.” Among the listed envoys of the most prestigious British media, the names of the cinematographic team were presented in the appropriate way – “Messrs Rosenthal-Hyman.” The list was followed by the following boastful words: “It is the first instance in history where the Cinematograph is officially recognized by the War Office, and our Staff of Operators are the only ones accorded the privileges and facilities of regular correspondents during the War with the Transvaal.”42 Not lacking pride, yet containing a little professional spite, a text titled “NOTICE TO SHOWMEN” appeared in July: “We guarantee every War Film we have placed on the Market AS ABSOLUTELY GENUINE, taken by our War Staff now in S.A., and furthermore, POSITIVELY REFUSE TO DEAL IN FAKED WAR FILMS.”43 At the beginning of August, the WTC announced its new “IMPORTANT NOTICE”: Mr ROSENTHAL, who has secured such splendid results of the South African War, has been recalled, and is now on his way to China, where he will join our other photographer, Mr Semour, who left India for China on June 22d last. These two gentlemen will form our War Staff in China, and we hope to receive the first consignment of Genuine Chinese War Film Negatives the latter part of September. Mr SYDNEY GOLDMAN will replace Mr ROSENTHAL on our War Staff in South Africa, and will operate with Lord Roberts’s Army at the Front. Mr HYMAN will continue to photographically record all further important events in connection with the Transvaal War in South Africa.44

The Showman confirmed the news: “After the occupation of Pretoria there was little of importance for the cinematograph to do, so Mr. Rosenthal returned home, only to receive instructions to depart for China. Fully equipped, this enterprising cinematographer is now well on his way to the Far East.”45

41

Ibid. The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,222 (June 23, 1900), 24. 43 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,226 (July 21, 1900), 24. 44 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,228 (August 4, 1900), 24. 45 “How War Films are Made,” The Showman, vol. I, no. 1 (September 1900), 13. 42

Chapter Four

110

“WAIT FOR GENUINE CHINESE WAR FILMS,” The Era warmed up its readers at the same time: Do not discredit your Exhibits and the general Animated Picture Business by trying to fool the Public with FAKED WAR FILMS. You will be loser in the long run if you do. The “WARWICK” WAR FILMS ARE TAKEN ON THE SPOT, and are not made on Hampstead Heath or in somebody’s back garden. We will supply Chinese War Films as soon as any human agency can procure them, and will announce them to our Patrons in due course.46

An identical wave of advertising swept through the pages of The Stage (“Largest Circulation of all Dramatic and Musical Journals”), where Warwick’s campaign was launched on February 1547 and ended in early August.48 Interestingly enough, the number of the WTC “War Subjects” varied from 125 to 150 in that periodical. In fact, recording “animated pictures” in the Transvaal and exhibiting them on the island, as well as their advertising in the British press, continued until the end of the war, but in the autumn of 1900 the enthusiasm on the part of producers, audience, and journalists obviously started to abate. However, other turbulent events shifted the focus from South Africa to different parts of the planet attracting the curious “eye” of the film camera.

Travelling cinematographers 46 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,228 (August 4, 1900), 24; no. 3,231 (August 25, 1900), 24. 47 “New War Films,” The Stage, no. 991 (February 15, 1900), 24. 48 “The Latest Warwick Film Subjects,” The Stage, no. 1,012 (August 9, 1900), 20.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

111

New Ideas – New People In order to put into practice his new ideas concerning the Warwick Trading Company, Charles Urban needed new people. And he found them in the inventors Walter Isaacs, Cecil Hepworth, George Albert Smith, and Alfred Darling; and the cameramen Joseph Rosenthal, Edgar M. Hyman, John Avery, Frank Ormiston-Smith, Gregory Mantle, Harold Lomas, F. B. Stewart, and George H. Rogers. After returning from the Boer War, Joseph Rosenthal was given a new assignment – he went to China for the Boxer Rebellion49 (in mid-190050). After that (at the beginning of the following year), he covered the Philippine–American War (1899–1902), filming on the island51 known at that time as the Spanish East Indies, Fourth Cavalry U.S.A. Repelling Flank Attack, Seventh Artillery U.S.A. Charging, Seventh Artillery U.S.A. In Action, and Approaching Manila by the Pasig River. Joe made the film The Opening of the Australian Parliament by the Duke of Cornwall [later King George V] (May 9, 1901, Melbourne)52 and, in 1902, he headed a team of cameramen who produced a series of Canadian views (Living Canada) sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway.53 John Gilman Avery (1873–1927), known as Jack, met Charles Urban in 1886 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. At that time, the latter had a growing interest in Jack’s half-sister Julia, who later became his wife. Urban promised to do his best to help the young man, so, after becoming manager of the WTC, he invited him to work for him. Thus, Avery joined the company in 1899 and became one of Urban’s closest collaborators, being his brother-in-law, friend, and cameraman for many years.54 49 An anti-Western uprising that broke out at the beginning of 1900 in the Province of Shantung. The rioters, called Boxers by the European and American press, were cultists like present-day kung-fu and wu-shu fighters. In fact, by August 20 the Boxer movement had collapsed. 50 Stephen Bottomore, “Chapter 12. THE BOXER UPRISING (1900). I. Filming with the Allied Armies,” in Filming, Faking and Propaganda: the Origins of the War Film, 1897–1902 (Doctoral thesis, Utrecht University, 2007). 51 Stephen Bottomore, “Chapter 8. THE PHILIPPINE WAR (1899–1902): Moving Pictures for the American Military,” in Filming, Faking and Propaganda: the Origins of the War Film, 1897–1902 (Doctoral thesis, Utrecht University, 2007). 52 IMDb. Joe Rosenthal. Filmography, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0742777. 53 Greg Eamon, Farmers, Phantoms and Princes: the Canadian Pacific Railway and Filmmaking from 1899–1919. Cinémas (Québec, Canada), vol. 6, no. 1 (1995), https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/cine/1995-v6-n1-cine1500508/1000957ar.pdf. 54 Luke McKernan, “John Gilman Avery,” http://www.charlesurban.com/biographies.html.

112

Chapter Four

Joseph Rosenthal and his Canadian views series (a page from the WTC catalogue)

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

113

Frank Ormiston-Smith and his Alpine Bioscope expedition (WTC catalogue pages)

Frank Ormiston-Smith is praised as the “Young Father of the Mountain Film,” and for good reason. In September 1902 this outstanding climber, who lived and worked in Switzerland for the better part of the year, led the Bioscope Expedition to Mont Blanc, sponsored by the WTC and managed by the producer Charles Urban. The mountaineer was equipped with “a modified American Bioscope cine-camera” with an F5 aperture lens having a 3' focal length. The expedition consisting of seven men arrived in Chamonix on September 22, 1902, and over the following three days they succeeded in climbing Mont Blanc (4,808 m) and Schreckhorn (the Swiss

114

Chapter Four

Alps), filming themselves doing so. The outcome was the film The Ascent of Mont Blanc: 15,781 feet high, containing eighteen scenes, according to the programme, which has been preserved to the present day, scheduling its special screening at the Queen’s Hall with a total length of eight hundred feet.55 “The mountaineering filming is rudimentary by later standards,” Luke McKernan, who included the title in his “Twenty [Urban’s] famous films,” explained, “but in 1902 it gave audiences moving pictures of places, and altitudes, which they could never expect to witness otherwise.”56 J. Gregory Mantle (1853–1925) also set off on a long journey – as far as India, where, at the end of 1902, King Edward Vȱȱ and Queen Alexandra were crowned as emperor and empress of the huge British colony. The lavish celebrations began on December 29, 1902 and lasted for more than ten days (Edward Vȱȱ was officially given the title “Emperor of India” on January 1, 1903 in the Gregorian Calendar). In order to cover the event, Warwick sent their “bioscopist” the Reverend Mantle, who was called upon by providence to immortalize the ceremony. Its culmination was the mass assembly held at Delhi Durbar (meaning “Court of Delhi”) – a vast field located outside the Indian capital. Local people, intellectuals, maharajahs, the Viceroy of India, thirty-four thousand British troops and hundreds of richly adorned elephants took part in the imposing procession. Mantle came back with about ninety short (but authentic) reports filmed in India and Burma,57 later grouped under the title The Coronation Durbar at Delhi. Harold Mease Lomas (1873–1926) was a chemist who became a very skilled amateur photographer with a special interest in photographing hunting. In 1902, he suggested Charles Urban that they make a couple of hunting films “along similar lines to his photographic studies.”58 The idea was carried out, but two years later.

55 William Barnes, “Frank Ormiston-Smith. Young Father of the Mountain Film,” in Catalogo Le giornate del cinema muto (Pordenone: La Cineteca del Friuli, 2014), 149–50. 56 Luke McKernan, “Twenty Famous Films,” http://www.charlesurban.com/films_twenty.html. 57 IMDb. J. Gregory Mantle. Filmography https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4565278. 58 Luke McKernan, “Harold Mease Lomas,” http://www.charlesurban.com/biographies.html.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

115

J. Gregory Mantle’s actuality film, The Coronation Durbar at Delhi, also offered images like the ones in the photographs

116

Chapter Four

An advertisement for the films Harold Mease Lomas made in the Far East

F. B. Stewart’s filmography on IMDb includes thirty-nine titles – all of them produced by the WTC.59 They clearly show that he filmed in India from 1900 to 1901: Bombay – Fire Brigade Turnout, India Labourers Leaving Bombay Factory, Pyoowne, Plague Innoculation, Church Gate Street; Calcutta – Regimental Pipers, Mid-Day Siesta, Native Street Scene; and Pune – Arrival of Train, Street Scene in Poona. The cameraman handled skilfully “military scenes” (Review of the Second Rajput Light Infantry, Review of Fourth Goorkhas, March of the 14th Sikhs, 16th Field Battery, Bombay, in Action), “scenes with civilians” (The Twopenny Tube in India, Indian Laundryman and the European Clothes), “exotic motifs” (Hindoo Snake Charmer Performing the Mango, Gimpati Procession and Obstinate Bullocks, Indian Fox Hunt Meet Cross a River), and “sporting events” (Race for the Governor’s Cup, Steamers Following the Great International Yacht Contest), for example. F. B. Stewart went to Baluchistan (a vast area in modern-day Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan) and sent a few documentary shorts from there: Call to Arms of the Third Baluchis, Charge and Retirement of the Third Baluchis, March of the Third Baluchis (Third Battalion – 127th Queen Mary’s Own Baluch Light 59

IMDb. F. B. Stewart, Filmography, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5221914.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

117

Infantry), Detachment of Boer Prisoners Arriving at Ahmadnagar (today a town in Pakistan, in the Punjab Province), and Armed Guard of British Soldiers Conducting Boer Prisoners.

F. B. Stewart filmed the same “plot” in the same place

The Outcome Thus, from 1898 to 1902, Warwick specialized in filming documentaries, newsreels (actualités), events, wars, travelogues, expeditions, explorations, scientific and educational shows, etc. However, the company’s “repertoire” also included fiction films. At first, it only distributed them, but later started producing them itself (although not always on its own). The major filmmakers were Cecil Hepworth (who left Urban’s company in 1899 and started his own business) and George Albert Smith (one of the American’s loyal collaborators for many years), who specialized in making trick films, comedies, and adaptations of popular féeries (fairy plays) and tales. Cecil Hepworth was the director and the WTC distributor (in 1898) of Two Fools in a Canoe, The Quarrelsome Anglers, Exchange Is No Robbery, and An Interrupted Picnic. As for G. A. Smith, he challenged (successfully) the audience with his experimental film The X-Ray Fiend (1897), his comedy film The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899), and his dark comedy Mary Jane’s Mishap (or Don’t Fool with the Paraffin), nowadays described as “the first modern film,” even though it was made in 1902.60 60

John Barnes, “Brighton 30 Years After: Mary Jane’s Mishap; or, Don’t Fool with the Paraffin,” in Catalogo Le giornate del cinema muto (Pordenone: La Cineteca del Friuli, 2008), 120–1.

118

Chapter Four

Scenes from George Albert Smith’s films The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) and Mary Jane’s Mishap (1902)

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

119

The WTC had its own theatre and photographic “film factory” in Brighton where the company photographed its pictures and manufactured its finished film subject-rolls for the market. It also owned a large and growing plant in the outskirts of London for manufacturing machines and sensitized film stock. Part of this production, duly annotated, was included in the “Descriptive List of New Film Subjects issued by the Warwick Trading Company, Limited”61 in 1898. At the beginning of 1900 the company announced the upcoming release of “our Catalogue of 1,500 New Films of general interest,”62 whose number had reached 2,00063 by the summer. The catalogue was published on August 4 but, unfortunately, I do not have a copy of it. The illustrated catalogue The Bioscope and Warwick Films Embrace a Worldwide Reputation was published (also in London) in April 1901.64 Nowadays, the titles of 1,773 films65 distributed by the WTC during its “Urban period” can be found on the IMDb website. Their number in the British Film Catalogue66 is almost the same. Only thirteen of them were shown in the cinemas in 1897 (most probably “inherited” from Maguire & Baucus). There were 128 films in 1898, 365 in 1899, 367 in 1900, 501 in 1901, and 399 in 1902. After all, the outcome of Charles Urban’s management can easily be noticed due to the huge increase in sales figures from £10,500 in 1897 to £45,000 in 1901.67 The WTC expanded its activities so much that the UK appeared to be too small for its business ambitions. Hence, Urban decided to cross the Channel and set up a Warwick branch in Paris in 1902 (at 33 Passage de l’Opera). George Henry Rogers (1874–1912), one of the three Americans who worked for Urban (the other two were John Avery and Frank Ormiston-Smith) became office manager. Rogers joined the WTC in 1900 and, in the beginning, worked in the stores and shipping departments. He 61

Luke McKernan, “Charles Urban. Sources,” http://www.charlesurban.com/sources.html. 62 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,203 (February 10, 1900), 27. 63 The Era, vol. 63, no. 3,221 (June 16, 1900), 28. 64 Luke McKernan, “Charles Urban. Sources,’ http://www.charlesurban.com/sources.html. 65 IMDb. With Warwick Trading Company (sorted by year ascending), https://www.imdb.com/search/title?companies=co0110344&sort=year,asc&ref_=a dv_prv. 66 Denis Gifford, The British Film Catalogue. Volume 2. Non-Fiction Film, 1888– 1994 (London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), 10–92. 67 Luke McKernan, “A Good Solid British Name. Success,” http://www.charlesurban.com/history_warwick.html.

120

Chapter Four

spoke French, German and Russian – a skill that most likely led to his being elected to that high position. Meanwhile, the preparations started for the coronation of King Edward VII (1841–1910) – the first-born son of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (a dynasty that also ruled Bulgaria in the person of King Ferdinand I, King Boris III, and King Simeon II from 1887 to 1946). According to the original plan, the ceremony was supposed to take place in June 1902 at Westminster Abbey, where film cameras were not allowed. Therefore, Charles Urban, desiring to leave his competitors behind, decided to stage the event (a common practice at the time). He asked the Frenchman Georges Méliès to produce it in his film studio located in the Paris suburb of Montreuil. In one of the pavilions made entirely of glass and looking like a greenhouse, the doyen of the show filmed the “religious ceremony” with the help of sets, costumes, actors, and his usual company of dancing girls (everything was worked out down to the tiniest detail – at least, it was said to have been). However, when the film Le couronnement du roi Edouard VII (Le Sacre d’Edouard) was ready and even advertised, the sixty-year-old king suffered an attack of acute appendicitis. The monarch was successfully operated on, but his coronation was postponed. Urban put “the actuality” on the shelf, waiting for better times. And they soon came – the event eventually took place on August 9 (Gregorian Calendar). The film that had already “documented” it triumphed globally, although it competed with the authentic three-shot newsreel-style film Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (257 ft., 4 min. 30 sec.) that followed part of the official procession route across London.68 The success of the staging was due to both Méliès’s mastery and his popularity, which were outstanding at that time, whereas the producer of the documentary remained anonymous.

68

Leslie Anne Lewis, “The Corrick Collection (1901–1914). [Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra],” in Catalogo Le giornate del cinema muto (Pordenone: La Cineteca del Friuli, 2008), 140–1.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

121

Georges Méliès’s Le couronnement du roi Edouard VII

Charles Urban’s popularity was also growing – his name started appearing more and more often in the increasing WTC advertisements; London journalists started asking him for interviews illustrated with his photograph69; and his views on the present and future of cinema were positively received by the society. It is hardly surprising that, in 1902, the renowned journalist and innovative newspaper editor William Thomas Stead (1849–1912) wrote the essay “The Mission of the Cinematograph,” which he published in the monthly magazine he himself had founded, the Review of Reviews (1890–1936). The main topic the writer discussed could be summarized by the question “How do pictures (especially living pictures) educate the public?” Stead himself admitted that the thoughts he took the liberty of sharing with his readers were triggered by his visit to the Warwick Trading Company and dozens of lines were devoted to the company’s organization and filmmaking. His thoughts are also likely to be the result from the conversation he had with the company’s general manager. The fact remains that many of the essayist’s ideas later appeared 69

“A Chat with Charles Urban,” The Era, vol. 64, no. 3,245 (December 1, 1900), 22.

122

Chapter Four

(in one form or another) in Urban’s catalogues. The question of who influenced who remains open. What matters in this case is that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the cinematograph attracted intellectuals’ attention and they tried to analyse in depth its nature, essence, and potential. I would like to remind my readers that during Charles Urban’s time with the company, Warwick continued (together with its filmmaking) its work on improving the bioscope and the three-colour cinematography. In this way, step by step, thanks to his energy, entrepreneurship, determination, and strong character, probably forged in his difficult childhood, Charles Urban walked his thorny path from a common “slick salesman” to a managing director of a big international company. He became a successful film distributor and filmmaker, a skilful producer and businessman, a prudent investor and inventor, a bold innovator and experimenter, motivating and protecting his staff. He gained his “worldwide reputation” as an acknowledged “arbiter elegantiarum” (a recognized authority on cinematographic fashion and taste). Finally, his self-confidence resulted in his decision to found his own company.

The Charles Urban Trading Company It has already been mentioned that, after the registration of the new Warwick Trading Company, its managers Franck Maguire and Thomas Baucus were outshined by Charles Urban. However, they continued as his employers, and were quite critical of some of his actions and innovations. In order to “tame” their employee, in 1900, Maguire and Baucus appointed Alfred Jackaman Ellis as his co-managing director (executive). It must have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. The disagreement between him and the “triad” grew sharper, their business relations turning into interpersonal “animosity.” It became increasingly difficult for the “free-spirit cowboy” to be someone’s mercenary (even though a well-paid one). The restrictions that were imposed on him were like a burden and he started thinking about proving his independence in the business more and more frequently. Eventually, Charles Urban left Warwick in February 1903,70 establishing his own film company – the Charles Urban Trading Company, Ltd. (CUTC), which he managed to register in July (at the beginning of May, the press announced he was “the proprietor” of the new company, but it 70 Luke McKernan, “Afterword,” in A Yank in Britain: the Lost Memoirs of Charles Urban, Film Pioneer (Hastings: Projection Box, 1999), 75.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

123

also described him as “the man of movement”71). Maguire and Baucus brought insolvency proceedings against him,72 claiming Urban was indebted to their company. What two of Edison’s concessionaires did can be explained by both their hostility towards their ex-employee and their fear of his becoming a fierce competitor who could threaten their business (which he did – “When Urban left the company in 1903, Baucus slipped out of film history,” McKernan assures73). Charles Urban “ingeniously sold all his assets in the new company, so that Warwick could only make him personally bankrupt,” but the CUTC survived.

The Charles Urban Trading Company’s trademarks

71

“The Charles Urban Trading Co. A Chat with the Proprietor, The Era, vol. 66, no. 3,371 (May 2, 1903), 21. 72 Richard Brown, “‘England Is Not Big Enough,’ American Rivalry in the Early English Film Business: The Case of ‘Warwick v Urban,’ 1903,” Film History 10, no. 1 (1998): 21–34. 73 Luke McKernan, “Joseph Deyhoe Baucus,” http://www.charlesurban.com /biographies.html.

124

Chapter Four

Rupert Street: facade, offices, and rooms

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

125

After leaving the WTC, Urban launched his own version of the bioscope projector – the Urban Bioscope. The right to use the term “bioscope” was the reason why the two parties appeared in court again in January 1904. This time, Warwick lost the court case. Urban’s bankruptcy was annulled in June 1905 and he triumphed as he had both a new company and the exclusive rights to the name “bioscope.”74 However, the greatest treasure Charles Urban walked off with and took from Warwick Court to his new offices at 48 Rupert Street (in London’s West End) were a number of key staff members. Among them were Alfred Darling (“Urban’s regular engineer”), the prominent saleswoman Alice Rosenthal, her brother Joseph Rosenthal, John Avery, a cameraman, assistant manager and Urban’s brother-in-law, George Rogers, and Ormiston-Smith. Initially, the CUTC directors were Urban, Darling, Thomas Grant, and George Albert Smith (resigned on August 31). At the same time, Alfred Darling continued his engineering activity, specializing in cinematographic equipment. His business obviously flourished, because he started investing in the CUTC. Charles Urban attracted new people, too. One of his “finds” was Francis Martin Duncan (1873–1961) – a scientist and a recognized naturalist, and a specialist in photography and microphotography. Even before the “era of cinematography” he had made experiments with chronophotography (sequence photography) and showed the results on a zoetrope. After a lot of effort, Duncan managed to create a few popular science films, whose “main characters” were microscopic organisms he had succeeded in filming and “enlarging” by means of a microscope and a film camera. The rumour reached Urban’s ears. On August 17, 1903 the two of them started a series of projections, titled “The Unseen World,” at the Alhambra Music Hall in London.

74 Luke McKernan, “Afterword,” in A Yank in Britain: the Lost Memoirs of Charles Urban, Film Pioneer (Hastings: Projection Box, 1999), 75.

126

Chapter Four

The Unseen World

Francis Martin Duncan (1873–1961) in the shocking Cheese Mites

The Urban-Duncan Micro-Bioscope show drew crowds of spectators who were delighted with what they saw in the films The Octopus, Water Fleas, Rotifers, Circulation of Blood in a Frog’s Foot, and Red Sludge Worms. But they were also shocked by Cheese Mites, in which a scientist (played by Duncan himself) looked at his breakfast, Stilton cheese, by means of a magnifying glass (microscope) and saw mites moving across it, in alarming close-up. Duncan’s micro-cinematographic pictures turned what was invisible into visible, presenting it with both humour and horror, and the spectators were surprised and frightened at its sight, previously unimaginable. Thus, Charles Urban launched his “Urbanora” – a series of scientific and travel films, contributing to the development of this specific type of films.

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

127

The Unseen World

We Put the World Before You The Charles Urban Trading Company continued Warwick’s policy in the field of filmmaking and film distribution. Just like its predecessor, it specialized primarily in filming documentary “motion pictures.” Urban himself increasingly focused on the educational value of his production. The tempting advertising slogan of the CUTC – “We Put the World Before You” – seems to show best the producer’s professional “philosophy,” and his specific and logical way of thinking. It also reveals his exceptional ability to sense “the consumerist soul” of the audience and influence it with short but impressive and memorable phrases. Charles Urban’s company organizational structure was one of the most modern of its time, its “Offices, Sale Rooms and Exhibition Theatre” being concentrated in Rupert Street. It can even be said that he created it “in his own image.” The CUTC had at its disposal General and Accountaning

128

Various CUTC departments

Chapter Four

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

129

departments, and an office for the Managing Director. There were also several rooms: Sale, Show, Stock, and Film Exhibition. The most numerous were the departments: Correspondence, Experimental, Film, Film Testing, and Shipping, not to mention the laboratory. Urban’s team also had a few mechanical works in Tottenham, Brighton, and London, a film plant and a theatre studio in Southwick (belonging to George Albert Smith) and London, a scientific laboratory and studio in Reigate, Surrey, and a marine laboratory (aquarium) in Brighton and Plymouth. Although the Charles Urban Trading Company was registered in London and based in the United Kingdom, its interests went beyond their boundaries (Urban succeeded in turning even the Warwick branch in Paris, which did not change its address in spite of changing its ownership, into his own “Continental Agency”). His cameramen travelled all over the world, reacting at the speed of light to current political events worldwide. These provided coverage of military conflicts, official ceremonies, and exotic sites in remote countries; they lay like hunters in wait for wild animals in jungles and savannahs; they filmed popular sporting events (including football matches); they climbed high peaks and mountains; they peeped into the underwater world and, with the help of the microscope, even into the realm of microorganisms. In order to ensure his envoys quick and safe circulation from one place to another and from one continent to another, Charles Urban resorted to then unconventional means. One of them was the so-called “sponsored filmmaking” – the American would happily sign mutually beneficial contracts with shipping and railway companies in order to take advantage of the possibilities transportation companies offered, advertising in return their tourist (holiday) destinations in a modern, free, and generous way, by means of his travel films/travelogues. The clearest evidence of both the good organization Charles Urban established in the CUTC and the improved performance of the company is the fact that its first catalogue was published in November 1903.75 It cost one shilling and offered a variety of information over 204 pages, starting from page five with a “List of Urban Film Subjects,” which consisted of separate thematic sections. Each of the “Film Subjects” on the list (irrespective of whether it was a fiction film, a newsreel, a documentary or a popular science film) was titled, numbered, annotated (accompanied by a short description of its content) and strictly measured (its length given in feet). There were 223 titles in total, grouped in four sections, numbered from 1000 to 1148, 2000–2041, 2200–2208 and 2500–2522. 75 The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. General Catalogue Issue (London: Scott, Herbert & Co. [printers], November 1903), 204.

130

Chapter Four

Pages from The CUTC General Catalogue Issue (November 1903)

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

131

The first 149 are mostly “geography-related” (travel, travelogue, expedition, exploration): India, Burmah and Cashmere (nos. 1,009–33), “photographed by Dr. J. GREGORY MANTLE”; Living Canada (nos. 1,037–44) by Joseph Rosenthal, “photographer of Logging in Canada, Salmon Spearing, Fraser River Railway Panoramas, etc.; Catching Fifty-Thousand Salmon in Two Hours; on the Fraser River, Canada (no. 1,092–7), “by courtesy of the Anglo British Columbia Packing Co.”; The Rocky Mountains, Canada, “A series of Panorama Views taken from the front of the Express Train passing through the most gorgeous scenery of the Kicking Horse Canyon” (nos. 1,098–109) “by courtesy of the Canadian Pacific Railway” (a typical example of “sponsored filmmaking,” whose aim, in that case, was to present Canada as an attractive place for immigrants); The Wintry Alps (nos. 1,045–51), The Matterhorn (14,780 Feet). Conquered by the Bioscope (nos. 1,137–43), and Picturesque Switzerland (nos. 1,070–85 and 1,112–27), “photographed by Mr. F. ORMISTON-SMITH. By Courtesy of Herr H. Hartmann, Secretary to the Oberländishen Verkehrsrerein of Interlaken.” Among those “block-busters” were some reports grouped under the title of “MISCELLANEOUS” (nos. 1,000–8, 1,034–36, 1,056–69, 1,086–90, 1,128–36, and 1,144–8), covering the English and Italian kings’ official visits to Paris, military parades, firemen drills, circus and music hall performances – tightrope walking, elephant training, sporting events – football (a match at Crystal Palace), rowing, fencing, bob sleighing, lacrosse (Canada’s national game), and dances – Slavic and modern (cake walk). There were also some fiction films, such as the fifteen-minute Hiawatha (1903) – “a presentation in dramatic form of Longfellow’s poem ‘Song of Hiawatha,’ directed by Joseph Rosenthal; enacted by North American Indians of the Ojibway Tribe at Desbarats, Ontario” and credited as “the first dramatic narrative film made in Canada.” The second big section of the catalogue was “photographed by F. MARTIN-DUNCAN, F.R.H.S.”76 and titled “Studies of Natural History” (nos. 2,000–522). It consisted of five sub-sections: “Animal and Insect Life” (nos. 2,000–19), The Busy Bee – a sequence of fifteen scenes, which showed the phases of bee culture (no. 2,020), an untitled series of eighteen pictures showing reptiles and insects (nos. 2,021–38), Marine Studies – a series of twenty-one animated pictures presenting marine life (no. 2,200am –8), and The Unseen World (Copyright Title) – a series of microscopic studies which had been photographed by the Urban-Duncan MicroBioscope (no. 2,500–22). 76

F.R.H.S. – Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society.

132

Chapter Four

George Albert Smith (1864–1959)

Charles Urban was not indifferent to the praise given to his films by London periodicals in the summer and autumn of 1903. Carefully selected quotes from reviews were published in the catalogue under the title of “Press Notices and Testimonials.” There were so many of them that they were divided into two groups. The first one (pages 78–81) began with the

The Life and Times of Charles Urban: The Beginning

133

article “Nature on the Stage” (The Daily Telegraph, October 21, 190377), “reprint with kind permission of the Editor,” and continued with the feedback in The Sunday Times, the Daily Express, The Morning Post, The Standard, and The Globe, which focused on the August shows at the Alhambra music hall titled “The Unseen World.” The quotes in the second part (pages 89–94), which was titled “SIMPLY MARVELLOUS (Unanimous opinion of the Press and Public),” were in awe of the latest micro-bioscope series and that science could also be “taught” at a music hall. The conclusion of The Era (August 22, 1903) that “the Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited, whose premises in Rupert-street have been called ‘The World’s Animated Picture Headquarters’”78 is quite impressive. The fiction films Charles Urban distributed also have their due and proper place in his company’s catalogue. The list of producers included only “the usual suspects.” The “G.A.S. film subjects, arranged and photographed by G. ALBERT SMITH, F.R.A.S”79 in his Works, Laboratory and Studio in Southwick, Brighton, were exactly fifty (although their numbering 3,500–51 shows there are two more films). Three of them are included in all important early cinema history research: As Seen through a Telescope (The Professor and His Field Glass), Grandma’s Reading Glass (1900), and The Sick Kitten (1901). Neither did the CUTC catalogue omit those close-ups, which Smith had put together “into tiny narratives,”80 offering them to distributors under no. 3,518 (75 feet), no. 3,517 (100 feet), and 3,512 (50 feet) – a shorter version of The Little Doctor (no. 3,511, 100 feet).81 The “humorous & pathetic” films of the Scotsman James A. Williamson, “arranged and photographed by WILLIAMSON & Co.” in Hove, Brighton, were only thirty-four (no. 4,004–234).82 However, among them was the cult film Attack on a China Mission – Bluejackets to the Rescue (1900) – based on an incident during the Boxer Rebellion, but made in a derelict house called Ivy Lodge in Hove83 – the innovative trick film A Big Swallow (1901), and the social drama The Soldier’s Return (1902). 77

“Nature on the Stage,” The Daily Telegraph, no. 15,222 (October 21, 1903), 6. “The Unseen World,” The Era, vol. 66, no. 3,387 (August 22, 1903), 21. 79 Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS). 80 Martin Sopocy, James Williamson. Studies and Documents of a Pioneer of the Film Narrative (London: Associated University Presses, 1998), 37. 81 The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. General Catalogue Issue (London: Scott, Herbert & Co. [printers], November, 1903), 105–6. 82 Ibid., 112–26. 83 Georges Sadoul, ȼɫɟɨɛɳɚɹ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɤɢɧɨ [History of World Cinema] vol. 1 (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1958), 319. 78

134

Chapter Four

“We are the Exclusive British Agents for MR. G. MELIES, PARIS,” Charles Urban announced proudly before presenting (on as many as seventeen pages) the titles of “the Choicest films” of the Star Film Company; 139 of them were included in the catalogue (no. 26–499), together with all Georges Méliès’s previous hits: Cinderella (1899), Joan of Arc (1900), Trip to the Moon, Gulliver’s Travels (1902), Robinson Crusoe, and The Musketeers of the Queen (1903). The next nine pages advertised “A SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST LUMIERE FILM SUBJECTS”: comic, dancing, juvenile, military, marine, fire brigade series, railway and steamship panoramas, and foreign street scenes from all over the world. The rest was equipment: cameras (both the Urban Bioscope and the Prestwich Company’s device), projectors, lanterns, lenses, lamps, carbons (for lamps), outfits and accessories (for the bioscope), tripods, condensers, screens, reels (for films), wire, measuring machines, perforating machines, and printing machines. That was how the Charles Urban Trading Company started its activity, becoming (in a relatively brief period) “The World’s Animated Picture Headquarters.” Thanks to that very activity, the company’s commanding officer turned (quite quickly) into not only a celebrity, but also a recognized authority in the film world, and the present-day “grateful posterity” praises Charles Urban (and it is very well deserved) for being the “motion picture pioneer,” the “pioneer of the non-fiction film in Britain and America” (Luke McKernan), “one of the major figures in the early years of cinema,” “the most eminent film producer of Victorian cinema,” and “the most significant figure in the early British film industry” (Luke McKernan). “All Urban’s Men,” who constantly travelled the world, accompanied the British Army in India, Pakistan, and Baluchistan, and managed to cover the Boer War in South Africa, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and the Philippine–American military conflict, did not miss the Balkan Crisis, which broke out at the time their leader registered his company. The Uprising on St. Elijah’s Day in 1903, the heroic battles of insurgent bands in Macedonia, the Turkish atrocities, and the tragic fate of the thousands of refugees attracted Charles Urban’s attention, and he must have realized that his competitors, the illustrated weekly periodicals, would leave him behind as their photographers had already started to chronicle the uprising. Therefore, the producer sent one of his omnipresent cinematographers to the troubled region so that he could “illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians.” For that purpose, he “armed” him with his “bioscope camera.” And Charles Rider Noble used it, because he was a cameraman by profession.

CHAPTER FIVE WHO ARE YOU, MR. NOBLE?

Charles Rider Noble’s name was not mentioned in the few serious publications that appeared in Bulgarian periodicals before the end of the Second World War (1939–45) in an attempt to “revive” the history of early cinema in Bulgaria. Only in 1960, half a century later, was his name rescued from oblivion by the film historian Aleksander Aleksandrov (1926–2009), whom our national Film Historiography owes not only the discovery of nearly ten of about thirty (known) Sofia news reports that traced the Englishman’s work in our country in 1904, but also the first article dedicated to him.1 After him, the researcher Kostadin Kostov (1931–2009) added to these sources,2 and was the first to make public (in 1996) part of the information stored in the registers of the Charles Urban Trading Company, Ltd. In spite of all those endeavours (which my humble self joined in 19823), Charles Noble’s personality remained the greatest mystery in early film history for us. His date or place of birth were not

1

A. Aleksandrov, “ɂɫɬɨɪɢɱɟɫɤɢ ɤɚɥɟɧɞɚɪ,” [“Historical Calendar”], Kinoizkustvo, no. 2 (1960): 72. 2 K. Kostov, “Ɉɳɟ ɜɟɞɧɴɠ ɡɚ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɱɟɫɤɢɬɟ ɫɧɢɦɤɢ ɧɚ ɑɚɪɥɡ ɇɨɛɴɥ” [“Once Again on Charles Noble’s Cinematographic Pictures”], Kino i Vreme, no. 19 (1981): 115–17; “Ɇɚɥɤɚɬɚ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɧɚ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɚ ɜ ɉɥɨɜɞɢɜ ɢ ɝɨɥɹɦɚɬɚ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɧɚ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ ɜ Ȼɴɥɝɚɪɢɹ” [“The Tiny History of the Cinematograph in Plovdiv and the Great History of the Cinema in Bulgaria”], Kino i Vreme no. 21 (1983): 110; “Ȼɭɥɨɬɨ ɧɚɞ ɬɚɣɧɫɬɜɟɧɚɬɚ ɥɢɱɧɨɫɬ ɑɚɪɥɫ Ɋɚɣɞɴɪ ɇɨɛɴɥ ɫɟ ɩɨɜɞɢɝɚ. ȼ ɤɚɬɚɥɨɡɢɬɟ ɧɚ ‘ɑɚɪɥɫ ɍɪɛɚɧ Ɍɪɟɣɞɢɧɝ Ʉɴɦɩɚɧɢ’ ɢɦɚ 38 ɧɟɝɨɜɢ ɮɢɥɦɚ, ɫɧɢɦɚɧɢ ɜ Ȼɴɥɝɚɪɢɹ” [“Removing the Veil over Charles Rider Noble’s Mysterious Personality. In Charles Urban Trading Company Catalogues there are 38 Films by him, Made in Bulgaria”], Kino no. 3 (1996): 35–40; ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ ɜ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ (1903–1933) [The Ilinden Uprising in the Cinema (1903– 1933)] (Plovdiv: Veda Slovena, 2000), 96. 3 P. Kardjilov, “Ȼɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɢɹɬ ɯɪɨɧɢɤɚɥɧɨ-ɞɨɤɭɦɟɧɬɚɥɟɧ ɮɢɥɦ ɨɬ ɫɴɡɞɚɜɚɧɟɬɨ ɦɭ ɞɨ ɤɪɚɹ ɧɚ ɉɴɪɜɚɬɚ ɫɜɟɬɨɜɧɚ ɜɨɣɧɚ” [“The Bulgarian Actuality Film from its Creation to the End of the First World War”], Ʉɢɧɨ ɢ ɜɪɟɦɟ no. 20 (1982): 117– 19.

136

Chapter Five

known, nor the year when he died. We did not know what he did, or whether he had a family, children, or any other family.

2008: an Email Odyssey Due to that lack of information, in an act of desperation I decided to do something in May 2008. Thus, I wrote a couple of lines to the British Film Institute, which is an all-in-one institution: a film archive, a library, and a research centre. I addressed my first email to Mr. Steve Bryant, whom I knew from the International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) where we used to work together. He, in turn, referred me to his colleague Ms. Bryony Dixon – curator of silent film and co-director of the annual British Silent Film Festival. I emailed her on May 20 and got a reply that very day. It was quite discouraging: Dear Peter. I’m afraid we don’t have any further information about Charles Rider Noble. He doesn’t appear in the 1901 census and I have no biographical information on him at all. I think it will take a lot of deep research to find anymore. I have emailed a colleague who may know more and I’ll certainly let you know if I find anything. With best wishes, Bryony.

It turned out that one of the most influential audio-visual archives in the world, the empire that had a huge part of cinema and TV history data at its disposal, did not possess a single bit of “biographical information” on Noble! I was devastated. However, Ms. Dixon was not. Being a worthy representative of her people, predestined to be a missionary and not giving up easily, not only did she inspire hope in me, but, to my surprise, she was also very helpful. A one-line message materialized on June 5: “Hi Peter, you should be getting an email from Steven Bottomore about Charles Rider Noble soon. Hope it’s useful. Best, Bryony.” Stephen Bottomore’s name is a legend in our “weird business.” He is like Indiana Jones – an “archaeologist” bringing to light artefacts that have been considered non-existent, a studious researcher, and a brilliant film historian (I have used his articles, so I know). Two hours later on that very day, he emailed me. Yes, he had done some research in the archives of the United Kingdom and obtained some biographical data of Noble, including the dates of his birth and death, as well as the places where he lived, worked, and filmed. Mr. Bottomore, however, was going to include that information in a chapter of a book on the 1897–1913 cinema, which he was writing. Once again, private initiative was ahead of the cumbersome state apparatus, no matter how powerful the institution in question was.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

137

However, it did not concern me. I was excited about the fact that the bunny had sprung out, although I did not have a gun. I was holding the magic golden fish but it remained mute. I was standing in front of the treasure cave of the forty thieves but staring dumbly and helplessly for I had forgotten (or never known) the cave-opening words. I did not give up, however, so I sat down in front of the keyboard, pulled together all my intellectual power (quite weak lately), gathered my courage equalling at least three Spartans from the Battle of Thermopylae, and came up with a terrifying piece of writing – a volcanic mixture of southern temperament, sugary Slavonic melodrama, with a pinch of Balkan epicism. Besides, it was written in the most broken English you can imagine. Thus, a letter was born. Later, Mr. Bottomore, thanks to his good manners, characteristic of English people, and with some patriarchal kindness, patronizingly called it a “very enthusiastic email.” Anyway, my message did a good job. The gun was fired; the golden fish spoke; the cave opened. Water came out of the rock of desperation, which had been struck with the Biblical staff of Moses. On June 10, 2008 I received only one page from Mr. Bottomore, but it contained invaluable information on Charles Noble, which I immediately publicized.4 In 2012 Stephen presented the enigmatic cinematographer in Film History (an international journal, printed in the United States of America, Indiana University Press) in the essay “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: the Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),”5 and I took part with a supporting article, “‘Cinematograms’ of a Balkan Conflict: Charles Rider Noble in Bulgaria, 1903–1904.”6 My colleagues from the Cinematheque of Macedonia in Skopje, who had published an article of mine dedicated to Charles Noble in their magazine Kinopis, also manifested their interest in the topic.7

4

P. Kardjilov, “ɇɟɢɡɜɟɫɬɧɢ ɫɜɢɞɟɬɟɥɫɬɜɚ ɡɚ ɥɢɱɧɨɫɬɬɚ ɧɚ ɑɚɪɥɫ ɇɨɛɴɥ ɢ ɞɟɣɧɨɫɬɬɚ ɦɭ ɜ Ȼɴɥɝɚɪɢɹ. 105 ɝɨɞɢɧɢ ɨɬ ɡɚɫɧɟɦɚɧɟɬɨ ɧɚ ɩɴɪɜɢɹ ɮɢɥɦ ɭ ɧɚɫ” [“Unknown Evidence on Charles Noble’s Personality and His Activity in Bulgaria. 105 Years after Making the First Film in Bulgaria”], Kino, no. 4 (2008): 61–8. 5 S. Bottomore, “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: the Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 281– 301. 6 P. Kardjilov, “‘Cinematograms’ of a Balkan Conflict: Charles Rider Noble in Bulgaria, 1903–1904,” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 302–23. 7 P. Kardjilov, “Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ ɜɨ ɯɪɨɧɨɥɨɲɤɨ-ɞɨɤɭɦɟɧɬɚɪɧɢɬɟ ɮɢɥɦɨɜɢ ɫɧɢɦɟɧɢ ɨɞ ɑɚɪɥɫ Ɋɚjɞɟɪ ɇɨɛɥ ɜɨ 1903 ɝɨɞɢɧɚ” [“Macedonia in 1903 Charles Rider Noble’s Actuality Films”], Kinopis ɏɏȱV, no. 43–44 (2013): 13–31.

138

Chapter Five

The front page of the magazine that published Stephen Bottomore’s article “The Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914)”

In the introduction Stephen Bottomore revealed the nature of the problem – the information shortage that, like the sword of Damocles, was hanging over the personality of “one of the most mysterious” camera operators in the history of early cinema. He also described the journey he had made towards solving the mystery: Almost all that has been known about Noble until recently was derived from entries in film sales catalogues for short actualities that he shot in

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

139

various parts of the world during the first decade of the twentieth century. Yet details of these filming trips remained sketchy, and little was known of Noble himself, his origins, and his career outside the cinema. Using a variety of sources, from trade journals (photographic, theatrical and film) to Charles Urban’s film catalogues, as well as digitized books, genealogical websites and family history enquiries, I have managed to build up a broader picture of Noble, his family, his ill-fated marriage, his career in the theatre, and his later years as an actuality cameraman.8

As a result of that hard work, the most detailed account of Noble’s life ever has come to light. I therefore take the liberty of using it in order to answer the question asked at the beginning of the present chapter.

Origins The author starts his absorbing story stating that: Just to the west of the new town of Harlow in Essex (southeast England), set in the Lea Valley, lies the village of Roydon. It was here on 27 March 1854 that the man who would become known as Charles Rider Noble was born. It took me considerable time and effort to discover even this basic information, and I was only finally able to track Noble down with the help of the skilled genealogical sleuths at Rootsweb. They discovered that Noble was not recorded in the registry of births under this surname, the reason being that he was illegitimate. It is a somewhat tangled tale. Charles’ mother was called Eliza Jessie Rider (hence the additional name “Rider” which Charles later assumed). She first married a man called Cunnington in 1849, but he was sent to prison and in 1853 Eliza formed a liaison with Richard G. Noble, a farmer. Charles was born the following year to the unmarried couple. On Charles’ birth certificate, his given names were recorded as “Charles Noble,” his mother’s name as “Eliza Ashton,” and there is no name or occupation given for the father, perhaps part of an attempt to disguise the illegitimacy.9

In 1871, Eliza and Richard G. Noble (together with their five children Charles, Clara, Agnes, Urban, and Ida) moved to Islington, London. On March 23, 1880 (a couple of days before his twenty-sixth birthday), Charles Noble married Phoebe Prior (a year older than him) in the parish church of West Hartlepool.

8

S. Bottomore, “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: The Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 281. 9 Ibid., 281–2.

140

Chapter Five

A page from the magazine Film History

A Man of the Theatre After the wedding, Charles Noble adopted the name “Rider,” written before his surname either with or without the hyphen. That extra name might have been an attempt to add distinctiveness to his persona because, by the early 1880s, he had become an actor (“comedian”). In the following years, he and his wife (“part of a dance act for many years”) travelled

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

141

around the United Kingdom, presumably looking for theatrical work. They lived briefly in places like Stockton-on-Tees, Dublin, Southampton, Oxford, and Portsmouth. All that moving around the country must have put a strain on their marriage, and Phoebe and Charles eventually separated in 1886.

Evidence of Charles Noble’s theatrical activity

At the end of the decade (1889), Noble finally settled down (by the mid-1890s) in Northampton, where he became the manager of the town’s opera house. Documents from that time (found by Stephen Bottomore) describe him as a “theatrical manager, theatrical scene constructor, and painter and dramatic author” – something like “a theatrical jack-of-alltrades.” Furthermore, he had co-writing credits for stage productions and put on several pantomimes in his theatres. In September 1896, Noble became the first manager of a new venue in south London, the Brixton Theatre (near the present-day Ritzy Cinema). His pantomime Aladdin was a hit in the 1898–9 theatre season. It attracted the attention of both the audience and theatre critics who paid due attention to the show. However,

142

Chapter Five

in August 1899, Noble was replaced. A month later, his estranged wife Phoebe died.10 Those two events deeply moved Charles Noble and probably made him reconsider his “theatrical life” up to that point. The fact is that, soon after, he devoted himself to the cinema, becoming in 1900 a partner of Walter Gibbons (1871–1933), the owner of a number of music halls, a film producer, and Charles Urban’s ardent rival (an interesting fact is that the three of them were also freemasons). It was Gibbons that sent Noble on his first “mission” as a cameraman to South Africa so that he could film the Anglo-Boer War.

Sir Walter Gibbons Born in Wolverhampton, Walter Gibbons (he was subsequently awarded the title of “Sir,” as well as the military rank of “Lt.-Col.”) started his career as a touring music-hall singer. In 1898, he acquired an Urban Bioscope projector and established his own variety film show, which used mostly Warwick news subjects. In 1900, with the help of the Irish musichall manager George Adney Payne (1846–1907), Gibbons produced the Phono-Bio-Tableaux – a series of sound musical short films synchronized to phonograph cylinders presenting famous music-hall artists. He also experimented with artificial lighting. In 1901, he had a studio in London, as well as a plant that could process and despatch a film in sixty-five minutes (there are seventy-eight films on IMDb produced by Gibbons’s Bio-Tableaux11). Charles Urban, who considered Gibbons his protégé, accused him of making illegal dupes of Warwick films. Thus, Gibbons left the moving-picture business, married George Payne’s daughter and, on the death of his father-in-law, became manager of the London Syndicate Halls. In 1910 he opened the Palladium as the flagship of his empire. The music-hall magnate ended his connection with the Palladium in 1912. However, in 1928 he returned as the managing director of the General Theatres Corporation, which started a programme of cine-variety at the theatre. A few months later, a boardroom argument resulted in his resignation. He squandered his huge fortune on other theatrical projects and went bankrupt shortly before his death12 (October 22, 1933, in London13). 10

Ibid., 283. IMDb. Gibbons’ Bio-Tableaux. Filmography, https://www.imdb.com/search/title?companies=co0167901&sort=release_date,asc. 12 Luke McKernan, “Sir Walter Gibbons,” http://www.charlesurban.com/biographies.html. 13 “Obituary,” The Era, vol. 97, no. 4,961 (November 1, 1933), 18. 11

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

Sir Walter Gibbons (1871–1933) – a film producer and Charles Urban’s fierce competitor

143

144

Chapter Five

Evidence of Walter Gibbons’ popularity

1900: Noble in South Africa In mid-March 1900, the Warwick Trading Company and Charles Urban announced in their traditional advertising sections, regularly published in The Stage Magazine, that their “LATEST WAR FILMS ARE DAILY REPRODUCED BY GIBBON’S BIO-TABLEAUX at the

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

145

LONDON HIPPODROME.”14 In May, Walter Gibbons gave an extensive interview for The Music Hall and Theatre Review. The interviewing journalist, obviously enchanted by his interlocutor, whom he described as “quite a young man,” wrote: And then, of what immense interest and value are the scenes from the war in South Africa. What a clear idea is to be gained of the difficulties our troops must overcome, and how instructive it is to see, vividly presented, the actual country in which so many of us have friends and relations passing through such stirring times. All over England these moving pictures are to be seen, representing to the inhabitants of Birmingham, Hull, Bradford, Swansea, Newcastle, in fact, wherever a Moss Empire15 is to be found, scenes which otherwise they would have no chance of appreciating. Thanks for this is largely due to the enterprise of Mr. Walter Gibbons, whose Bio-Tableaux are going the round of the Moss circuit, besides being a most important feature of the programme at the London Hippodrome.16

Gibbons, not in the least ashamed, called the two cinematographers working for the WTC in South Africa at that time his “camera boys”: An amusing fact may be noted in reference to a view of some war supplies crossing a bridge on the Orange River. The very first person who goes over the bridge is Mr. Rosenthal, a noted photographer, who, having just taken a series of pictures on one side of the river, is crossing with his camera and tripod, and being taken by another celebrity of the photographic world – to wit, Mr Edgar M. Hyman, of the Empire, Johannesburg.17

14

The Stage, no. 991 (March 15, 1900), 24; no. 992 (March 22, 1900), 24; no. 993 (March 29, 1900), 24. 15 Sir Horace Edward Moss (1852–1912), a British theatre impresario, as well as the founder chairman and joint managing director of the Moss Empires Ltd, which was established in 1899. 16 “Bio-Tableaux. A Chat with Mr. Gibbons,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXIII, no. 587 (May 18, 1900), 315. 17 Ibid.

146

Chapter Five

The most advertised Gibbons’ Bio-Tableaux films were made during the Boer War in South Africa

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

147

The most advertised Gibbons’ Bio-Tableaux films were made during the Boer War in South Africa

148

Chapter Five

Neither did Walter Gibbons mention the producer of as many as fourteen titles, which he advertised at the beginning of November in The Era as “The Latest South African War Pictures” under the heading “Gibbons’ Latest Film Subjects.”18 They were most probably the WTC newsreels. Charles Urban cannot have liked that. There was likely to have been a quarrel between him and the distributor and, as a result, his “protégé” was forced to send his camera operators to South Africa, bearing their costs. The Era “special commissioner,” who interviewed Gibbons in October, informed: He has three persons in Africa taking war pictures: one leaving there in about two weeks’ time for an extended tour round the world in search of subjects; at least a dozen at the same business all over England, while his exhibitions of animated photography are to be found at the Cape, in Australia, and all over the Continent. Most of his representatives are supplied with complete photographic outfits, so the enormous expense of having to send out specially at different periods is obviated by the splendid collection of pictures which are obtained time after time by those on the spot.19

The name of at least one of the abovementioned “three persons” became known at the end of 1900. Placing a full-page ad in The Showman, announcing that his “Special Films from Pretoria just arrived,” Walter Gibbons added the following words of praise: “I have Three Photographers now in South Africa, my principal, C. R. Noble, being with Lord Roberts in Durban, so keep your eyes on me!”20 The identities of the other two camera operators are not known. Stephen Bottomore believes that it was a bluff, “apart from Noble.” He expressed his doubts in one of the footnotes accompanying his article in Film History: “Gibbons simply had an arrangement to acquire films shot by cameramen from other companies.”21 Besides, the film historian diligently enumerated the names of all the “eight cameramen [who] are known to have filmed in South Africa during the Boer War”: the four already mentioned, who cranked the cameras for the Warwick Trading Company, were John Montague Benett-Stanford, Joseph Rosenthal, Charles Sydney Goldman, and Edgar Hyman; William 18

The Era, vol. 64, no. 3,241 (November 3, 1900), 31; no. 3,242 (November 10, 1900), 30. 19 “A Chat with Walter Gibbons,” The Era, vol. 64, no. 3,239 (October 20, 1900), 22. 20 “Special Films from Pretoria,” The Showman, vol. I, no. 4 (December, 1900), 4. 21 S. Bottomore, “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: the Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 297.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

149

Kennedy Laurie Dickson (1860–1935) and his assistants William Cox and Jonathan Seward worked for the British Mutoscope and Biograph Company; Walter Calverley Beevor (1858–1927) and (perhaps) Sydney Melsom were sent out by Robert William Paul (1869–1943), and Charles Rider Noble was Walter Gibbons’s “photographer.”

Lord Roberts’s troops entering Pretoria

Stephen Bottomore even found Charles Noble’s name included in a “passenger list.” According to that document, the latter travelled on the Norman from Southampton to Cape Town on September 8, 1900. “This late date,” concluded Bottomore, “meant that Noble was probably the only cameraman to have filmed this middle stage of the war.”22 The author added: Actually, Noble ranged further than Durban, and while we do not have his actual credits, he was probably responsible for several films from southern Africa released by Gibbons late that year, mainly being official events involving troops … Several scenes showed the C.I.V. regiment gathered in Cape Town on 7 October, prior to departing on a ship called the Aurania. The troops were shown in procession and handing in their weaponry, and

22

Ibid., 284.

Chapter Five

150

being seen off by Sir Alfred Milner (British High Commissioner for South Africa) and other VIPs. Interestingly, one of the members of the CIV regiment, Erskine Childers (who later became a famous author), noticed some of this filming taking place at the harbour that afternoon and mentioned it in a book that he later published about his experiences of the war. He noted: “At about three there was a great shouting and heaving of the crowd, and the High Commissioner came on the scene, and walked down the quay through a guard of honour which we and the Infantry had contributed to form, industriously kinematographed on his progress by a fat Jew.” Was Rider Noble the “fat Jew” whom Childers saw in the act of “industriously” filming the High Commissioner at the departure ceremony? There are indications elsewhere that Noble was Jewish, and somewhat plump. And, as mentioned, Gibbons did release a film entitled C.I.V.s at Cape Town, of the High Commissioner at this ceremony. Childers states that the cameraman was working “industriously,” which was in character, for Noble did take his jobs as cameraman seriously. This assignment, however, did not present any great challenge because he was mainly covering planned events – there was no filming near the frontline. So Noble was starting his career as cameraman with a relatively straightforward task. Nonetheless, he performed well enough to generate further assignments, and after this initial job in South Africa he would work as a professional cameraman for another five years.23

In spite of all this abundant information, some things have remained a mystery: When and where did the “Man of the Theatre” master cinematography? Who did he learn that specific trade from in order to become so skilful that, at his first try at photography, he “industriously kinematographed” and managed to “generate further assignments.”

In Morocco (1901–3) In 1901, Charles Rider Noble lived in Lambeth, south London, and appeared in the census of March that year as a forty-seven year-old “Theatrical Manager out of employ.” However, by the middle of the year he had managed to find a job – quite a strange one – as Court Cinematographer for the Sultan of Morocco. Mulai Abd (Abdul) al-Aziz IV (1878–1943) was Sultan of Morocco from 1894 to 1908. He became notorious not only for his fabulous wealth, but also for his passion for technology. During his reign, the young ruler would buy all kinds of “gadgets” from Europe (mostly Britain): coaches 23

Ibid.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914) – the only confirmed image of him

151

152

Chapter Five

and automobiles, watches and telephones, grand pianos and barrel organs. He even ordered a lift for his one-storey palace (called the Cour des Amusements [Court of Amusements]). However, the sultan’s most passionate interest was the Seventh Art. He would spend a great deal of his time in the projection parlour of the palace. He had dozens of cameras, including one made of gold that cost £2,000. He would have lessons in order to capture the subtleties of photography and cinematography and to be able to operate his camera gear himself. The first to start working in the court parlour (most likely at the end of the nineteenth century) was John H. Avery – a London stills photographer, who (according to Stephen Bottomore) had nothing to do with the abovementioned WTC cameraman, the American John Gilman (“Jack”) Avery. In 1901, the ex-Lumière operator Gabriel Antoine Veyre (1871– 1936) started working there. He was in charge of projecting films to the young ruler and his numerous wives.24 Mr. Charles Rider Noble, “married” and a “photographer,” as the list stated, travelled on the Orotava from London to the town of Mazagan, Morocco, in 1901 (unfortunately, the passenger list has no date on it). Right then, Walter Gibbons provided a new projection machine for Sultan Abd al-Aziz.25 Noble is believed to have arrived (as part of the deal) in order to mount it in the Court of Amusements, where he stayed as a projectionist, as well as a court cameraman (photographer) until the end of 1902. The Edinburgh Evening News announced on December 30, 1902: The Daily Chronicle publishes an interview with Mr Charles Rider Noble, who relates his impressions of 18 months’ sojourn at the Court of Morocco. Mr Noble thinks the Sultan’s European sympathies and desire to introduce higher civilization continues to arouse a strong feeling against him. Conservative Moors look on all attempts at reform in a spirit of antagonism. The Sultan would like to visit England, but dare not.26

24

S. Bottomore, “Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema. Abd al-Aziz – Sultan of Morocco,” http://www.victorian-cinema.net/alaziz.htm. 25 S. Bottomore, “The Sultan and the Cinematograph,” Early Popular Visual Culture, 1746-0662, vol. 6, no. 2 (2008): 121–44, http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/ftinterface~db=all~content=a794360103~full text=713240928~jumptorefs=true. 26 “Sultan’s Innovations Cause Trouble. The Revolt in Morocco,” Edinburgh Evening News, no. 9,265 (December 30, 1902), 2.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

153

Noble’s eleven films about the Uprising in Morocco, listed in the Warwick Trading Company’s catalogue (January 1903)

“In an interview with a representative of the St. James’s Gazette, Mr. Noble said he did not take any serious notice of the report that the Sultan is besieged,” The Manchester Courier wrote a week later, reiterating the information published by another London (evening, this time) newspaper. The periodical depicted Mr. Rider Noble as: one of the few Europeans attached to the Moorish Court, [who] has arrived in London from Fez on a three months’ holiday … Mr. Noble says that much that is inaccurate has been written about the Sultan and his innovations – the statements, for instance, that Abdul Aziz appeared in the mosque in European dress, and had been seen with European ladies in the streets of Fez. His Majesty is most careful, Mr. Noble says, to observe all the laws of his religion and his people, and in following his hobbies be keeps within the palace grounds.27

It becomes absolutely clear that the sultan’s “innovations,” eccentric pastimes, and queer “hobbies” were not understood (let alone approved) by his subjects, who found them incompatible with Islamic traditions.

27 “Talk with a Recent Resident in Fez,” The Manchester Courier, vol. LXXIX, no. 14,403 (January 7, 1903), 7.

154

Chapter Five

The Sultan of Morocco, Mulai Abd (Abdul) al-Aziz IV (1878–1943)

At the same time, the Warwick Trading Company placed a full-page advertisement in The Era related to “a grand series of animated pictures,” titled The Uprising in Morocco. “The entire series,’ the text said, “[has been] photographed by Mr. C. R. Noble, who has been attached to the Sultan’s Court during the past two years, having just returned to England.”28 The Uprising in Morocco was advertised in the next two

28

The Era, vol. 66, no. 3,354 (January 3, 1903), 35.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

155

issues of the periodical, too. This time its title was “LATEST WARWICK FILMS.” Charles Noble’s name was mentioned again: Photographs taken by Mr C. RYDER NOBLE (who was attached to the Sultan’s Court for the past two years) by permission exclusively granted him by H.M.S. the Sultan of Morocco who also furnished Mr Noble with an able Escort of Tribesmen as a precaution against likely interference of the Natives, who do not take kindly to the Camera.

It also turned out that “the reproductions of the following subjects by the Imperial Bioscope at the Alhambra, Leicester-Square, are meeting with great success.” The titles of “the following subjects” were meticulously indicated.29 They totalled eleven in all, as in the catalogue Warwick Trading Co., Film Blue Book Supplement, No. 6, January 1903 (p. 2), and had the same numbering – from no. 7,033 to no. 7,043 (just as The Era promised on January 3, 1903 – “Detailed lists will be supplied on application”).

In the Court of Amusements 29 The Era, vol. 66, no. 3,355 (January 10, 1903), 32; no. 3,356 (January 17, 1903), 31.

156

Chapter Five

These films undeniably testify to other Charles Rider Noble’s responsibilities - apart from being the court projectionist, he was also the sultan’s personal cinematographer. The annotations to the films in turn help modern researchers to track down the Englishman’s celluloid career in Morocco. Besides, these brief entries outline the social and political situation in the country, which was shaken by a serious authority crisis at that time. At the end of 1902, the “uprising” in question broke out in the region around Taza, an important commercial town in the mountains approximately sixty miles east of Fez (a city in the north of Morocco and the capital of the Fez-Meknes administrative region), which was Sultan Abd al-Aziz’s principal seat of government. The leader of the rebellion was Mulai Muhammad, the rightful sultan Abd al-Aziz’s elder brother. However, the one who claimed the title of sultan was Jilali ibn Idris alZarhuni al-Yusufi (1860–1909), popularly known as Bou Hamar (Bou Hmara or Bu Himara). Until that time, he had been an obscure individual from the city of Meknes (in the catalogue, it was the “sacred Moorish City of Mequinez”). “In the 1890s he studied in the student engineer corps in Fez, served as a minor makhzan (the native Moroccan government) secretary, and was jailed for two years on a charge of forgery.”30 After his release, Bou Hamar went to Algeria. Later, he returned (on a donkey) to Taza, where he gathered his followers, armed them and raised the rebellion. Charles Noble added some information: Bou Hamar was at one time in the Sultan’s bodyguard. He crossed into Algiers, where he acquired some conjuring practices, and on his return succeeded by his magic in gaining a certain following. Bou Hamar means the donkey man, and it is assumed that this name was calculated to impress upon the people its owner’s humility.31

The pretender’s forces headed for Fez, but were intercepted not far from the city by the sultan’s army. A fierce battle followed, in which the insurgents were defeated.

30 Ross E. Dunn, “The Bu Himara Rebellion in Northeast Morocco: Phase I,” Middle Eastern Studies 17, no. 1 (January 1981): 31–48. 31 “Talk with a Recent Resident in Fez,” The Manchester Courier, vol. LXXIX, no. 14,403 (January 7, 1903), 7.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

Charles Noble’s statements in the press

157

158

Chapter Five

Charles Noble managed to film parts of those events – that is why most of his reports were defined as “war reports.” He succeeded in shooting both “The Berber and Beni Intir tribesmen (the Pretender’s followers) fording a river on the road between Mequinez and Fez” and “The Sultan’s soldiers’ drills,” as well as “Moorish troops on the march” and “Panorama of the Sultan’s troops forming a square,” as he had the permission “exclusively granted him by H.M.S. the Sultan of Morocco.” Another fact that proves the trust the sultan placed in the Englishman, especially in such fateful times for the former, was providing “an able Escort of Tribesmen” to Noble, “as a precaution against likely interference of the Natives, who do not take kindly to the Camera.” At the end of 1902, Charles Noble returned to his homeland and, obviously, still not having rid himself of his memories, warned the British public, “Conservative Moors look on all attempts at reform in a spirit of antagonism.” Apart from the message that he conveyed as a citizen, he also brought the films he had made in Morocco. He granted the rights of their commercial distribution to the Warwick Trading Company (which is to say, to Charles Urban), and they were shown at “the Alhambra, Leicester-Square,” “with great success,” “by the Imperial Bioscope,” the new name of the company – Warwick Bioscope projector-Urban Bioscope projector-Imperial Bioscope projector. The only disturbing fact in this case could be expressed by means of the following questions: provided that Walter Gibbons did send out Charles Noble to Morocco, why did the latter cede the distribution rights for The Uprising in Morocco to his benefactor’s greatest enemy, Charles Urban, after his return? Why did Noble’s employer, Sultan Mulai Abd alAziz IV, who was the actual producer of “the entire series” (even the camera they had been filmed with must have been his), allow his employee to have them at his disposal as if they had been his own? The above is a fact, for even the Bulgarian media reported on that in 1904: “On Wednesday evening [February 25], Mr. Charles Rider Noble will project at the Officers’ club his interesting cinematographic pictures taken in … Morocco, etc.”32 It is not of great importance whether the entire “Moroccan series” (or part of it) was projected in Sofia. What matters is the fact that Noble “made use” of those films not only as their camera operator and director, but also as their producer! With resignation, I acknowledge that I am unable to provide reasonable answers to these logical questions.

32

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 621 (February 23, 1904), 3.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

The Prestwich Manufacturing Co. established its prestige (reputation) using the name of HSH Sultan of Morocco

159

160

Chapter Five

A page from the Warwick Trading Co. catalogue

Sultan Abd al-Aziz’s passion for filmmaking gear became known (not only due to Noble) to cinematography professionals in 1902. Thus, The Showman (claiming to be “A Weekly Review of the World of Amusement” at that time) advertised Prestwich cameras and projectors and stressed the fact that they were “used by H.S.H. Sultan of Morocco.”33 The sultan’s 33

The Showman, vol. IV, no. 69 (March 28, 1902), 96.

Who Are You, Mr. Noble?

161

name also appears on the recognized site “Who’s Who of Victoria Cinema,”34 another proof that he deserves his place in early cinema history. Eventually, Abd al-Aziz was dethroned by his brother Abd alHafid (1875–1937) in 1908. However, he would not give up his enthusiasm for the cinema – in 1913, he ordered from Charles Urban the new Kinemacolor system, which was immediately installed in his Tangier residence (at that time under Spanish rule), where, after his abdication, he spent the rest of his life. Charles Noble’s holiday turned out to last for “three months,” indeed. On April 8, 1903 he travelled from London to Larache (Morocco) on the Zweena. His marital status can be seen on the passenger list as “single,” together with his occupation – “Lieutenant.”35 Had the uprisings been supressed, the Englishman would have probably spent the rest of his life in the luxury of the palace and in the sultan’s company. When he returned to Morocco, however, the people’s discontent was still going on. It is not known whether it was triggered by Abd al-Aziz’s eccentric passion for the “boxes of Satan” (which is what Muslims called cinematographs). It is only known that Noble left the troubled country in 1903 (probably, at the end of the summer or at the beginning of the autumn). Thus, he went from a thorn to a hawthorn (as the Bulgarian equivalent to “out of the frying pan into the fire” goes), from one uprising to another. Having turned his back on two of his previous “artistic life periods” as a camera operator, the “South-African” and “North-African” (“Arabic and Moorish”), he gloriously entered his “Bulgarian” period.

34 S. Bottomore, “Who’s Who of Victorian Cinema. Abd al-Aziz – Sultan of Morocco,” http://www.victorian-cinema.net/alaziz.htm. 35 S. Bottomore, “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: the Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 298.

162

Views of Morocco

Chapter Five

CHAPTER SIX SCREENINGS IN LONDON (JANUARY 1904)

Introduction Not only did Charles Urban found his own film trading company in 1903, but he also made considerable efforts to promote it in the periodical press with his interviews, numerous articles and, most of all, advertisements informing about the company’s film distribution and filmmaking activities. Such an advertisement appeared in The Era on October 3, 1903. It occupied one quarter of page 31 of the weekly newspaper, announcing “New Urban Film Subjects” and mentioning the titles of the following three “blockbusters”: The Unseen World, The Wonders of the Deep, and Living Canada. Three humble lines under them said: “Important. – Our Photographic Expeditions into Borneo and Macedonia are Reporting Splendid Progress. We will Detail the Results at an Early Date.”1 The same information (without any changes) appeared in the next issue.2 A week later, the same periodical announced The Macedonian Massacres in the same way, adding briefly: “Await Our Detailed Announcement of the Macedonian Series.”3 The same information (again without any modification) was reprinted in the next issue.4 On the last day of October, The Era ended yet another description of the “Latest Urban Film Subjects,” printing the following: “A grand Series of Bioscopic Pictures, taken in Canada, Switzerland, Borneo, and Macedonia (where our Staff of Photographers are now operating), will be fully described in our forthcoming Illustrated Catalogue Issue. Make application for a Copy.”5 The catalogue cover page appeared in the newspaper the following week.6 1

“New Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,393 (October 3, 1903), 31. “New Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,394 (October 10, 1903), 34. 3 “Latest Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,395 (October 17, 1903), 32. 4 “Latest Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,396 (October 24, 1903), 32. 5 “Latest Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,397 (October 31, 1903), 35. 6 The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,398 (November 7, 1903), 32. 2

Chapter Six

164

The introduction in The Era

In the Beginning was The Music Hall On November 20 the specialized London magazine The Music Hall (Music Hall and Theatre Review), published an advertisement titled “From the Kinetoscope To Mr. Charles Urban’s Bioscope,” which started with the following sentence: ‘“A NOVELTY holds the attention of people to day and is forgotten to-morrow,” says Mr. Charles Urban.’7 Thus, the very introduction of this long article implies that its author, who remained anonymous, wrote it on the basis of an interview with the film producer whose name can be seen in the headline. That is why it provided detailed, interesting, and, most of all, “first-hand” information, which allows us to track down the American’s career up until then.

7

“From the Kinetoscope to Mr. Charles Urban’s Bioscope,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review (November 20, 1903), 331.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

In the beginning was The Music Hall

165

166

Chapter Six

This original Charles Urban biography started from the very beginning – his birth in Cincinnati, Ohio; the problems his parents, who were immigrants, faced; and his initial steps in the business of books, phonographs, and kinetoscopes. It also mentioned Edison and Armat’s vitascope, which young Urban employed for his numerous projections in Michigan, after having obtained the rights to its use in that state in 1896. Urban became familiar with the advantages and disadvantages of that projection device – it being reliable, but weighing more than 200 kg, and requiring electrical power supply. He managed to design (with Walter Isaacs’s help) his own device, which he called the bioscope. Neither were his first steps as a manager in London skipped as they had taken him from Maguire & Baucus, through the Warwick Trading Co., to the Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. The Music Hall also recollected Charles Urban’s unquenchable passion for filmmaking, which made him the most important person in early British celluloid industry. The author states: He saw that everyone was heartily tired of the stereotyped routine into which the producers of films had dropped. Instead of working in an openair theatre, or in a narrow radius of a few miles, he sent operators into faroff countries, all over the world. They returned with pictures that compelled the interest and admiration of all who saw them. It was he who conceived the idea of illustrating the ascent of Mont Blanc, and other mountains. It was he, too, who equipped an expedition to South Africa during the war – one of the first attempts at serious animated photography. These gave the industry a new lease of life. His recent achievements have brought a Londoner, in his stall at the theatre, in touch with the four corners of the earth … He tells one of the present undertakings of his operators. Mr. Lomas, an intrepid photographer, has been sent to Borneo. Landing on the coast with a little party, he penetrated over three hundred miles into absolutely unknown land, passing through forests and crossing swamps in order to take Bioscope pictures of tribes who had never before seen a white man. A few of these films Mr. Urban has already received in London, and, when exhibited soon, they will prove to be some of the most interesting ever secured. Mr. Lomas has “captured” wonderful pictures of wild animals in the forests, lying in wait for them with his camera beside tracks and in clearings, protected from possible attacks by steel caging.

This is where (in the most interesting part of the article) the great surprise related to the subject of the book comes: Another operator has gone to Bulgaria, to illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians. The Turkish soldiers peremptorily refused to let him cross the frontier, and threatened, moreover, to destroy his apparatus.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

167

The earliest foreign newspaper report that bears witness to filmmaking on Bulgarian lands

Chapter Six

168

Nothing daunted, he took to horse, managed to evade the patrols, and successfully crossed the frontier, though at risk of being shot. His pictures will most likely be seen in the West-End music halls next week.

The name of the so-called “another operator” is not mentioned, but it becomes clear that he “has gone to Bulgaria” not on holiday, but on business – “to illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians.” He had to film the sufferings of those Bulgarians, who did not live in Bulgaria, but on the other side of “the frontier,” strictly guarded by “the Turkish soldiers” and “the patrols.” That northwestern part of the Ottoman Empire bordering Bulgaria included Macedonia – the geographical, cultural, and historical area to which Charles Urban and his company sent one of their timely “photographic expeditions.” It also turns out – and there is no doubt – that the operator, obviously part of the expedition, managed to do his job (making a “Splendid Progress”). He took “his pictures” and delivered “the Results” on time (most likely via the post office). The negative film was developed and edited (in a laboratory and by montage specialists); whereas some of the films had already been prepared for projection and they would “most likely be seen in the WestEnd music halls next week.”

The surprise…

These few lines in the “From the Kinetoscope to Mr. Charles Urban’s Bioscope” article, which Stephen Bottomore kindly gave me in 2009, are invaluable to early Bulgarian cinema history researchers, because they happen to be the first and, chronologically, the earliest data (known so far) published in a foreign periodical, attesting to motion pictures being taken in Bulgarian lands. Besides, they announced that fact in a language different from Bulgarian not ex-post, but at the time it happened or, at least, before its results saw the light of the day (in this case, the screen). What is more, the source of this information is highly reliable, being Charles Urban himself.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

169

The Macedonian Atrocities On the following day, The Era published an advertisement of the Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited, titled “THE MACEDONIAN ATROCITIES,” presenting the “LATEST URBAN FILM SUBJECTS.” These three lines (in the original advert) were followed by a fourth: “PHOTOGRAPHED BY MR C. RIDER NOBLE.” Finally, the British press announced the name of the fearless cinematographer who, in spite of being threatened by “the Turkish soldiers” and in spite of the “risk of being shot” by them, “managed to evade the patrols” and “successfully crossed the frontier” – riding on a horse like a real cowboy. At last, the anonymous “another operator” sent “to illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians” became known as Charles Rider Noble. The Era mentioned him for the first time (on November 21, 1903) as the author (“photographer”) of the “latest Urban film subjects” showing “The Macedonian Atrocities” – the violence the Turkish authorities used to suppress the Ilinden Uprising in Macedonia.

The Era (November 21, 1903)

The titles of the actuality films followed, eight in total: THE REFUGEES FROM MACEDONIA, who have fled from the Turkish Villages, seeking Protection of the Monks of Rylo [Rila] Monastery

170

Chapter Six (Bulgaria). H.E. MINISTER OF WAR, M. SAVOFF, OF BULGARIA, Holding a Consultation with his Staff Officers. SENTINELS AT POST ON THE TURKISH-BULGARIAN FRONTIER (Thirty-five Miles from Sofia), at Samokove [Samokov]. BULGARIAN INFANTRY DECLARING LOYALTY TO THEIR COUNTRY. PREPARING MOUNTAIN GUNS FOR ACTION, after Dismounting Gun Carriages from Pack Horses. INFANTRY MARCHING THROUGH A BALKAN PASS. EXILES FROM MACEDONIA being Fed on Bread and Soup once a day at Samokove. THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN AT RYLO MONASTERY. Procession of Monks and Refugees, &e.

At the end, the following was added: “NOTE. – The proceeding are the only Macedonian Bioscope Pictures in existence, and were secured at great risk and expense.”8 The Era continued advertising the films, which had been procured “at great risk and expense,” in the next two issues. They were presented in identical columns: ‘An Unique Series of Pictures of Life among the Macedonian Refugees and Bulgarian Troops,” this time under the title of “MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA.” Noble’s role was emphasized again: “PHOTOGRAPHED BY C. RIDER NOBLE, now with the Bulgarian Army.” In addition, the quality of his work was praised in a reserved yet favourable way: “All Excellent Photographic Quality. Price, 25s. per 50ft. Length.” The fact that the number of the titles increased to ten is also impressive. Moreover, the length of the films was stated, in feet. Besides, there was a four-digit number in front of each title coinciding with the number under which the films were later listed in the Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. catalogues (but this is yet to be verified). Here is the content of the next “Unique Series of Pictures,” called “Macedonia and Bulgaria”: 1154. THE REFUGEES AT RYLO MONASTERY. Length, I00ft. 1155. THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN AT RYLO MONASTERY. Length, I50ft. 1156. MACEDONIAN REFUGEES AT SAMOKOVE. Length, I00ft. 1157. OUTSIDE THE FRONTIER TOWN OF SAMOKOVE. Length, 75ft. 1158. TYPICAL STREET SCENE AT DOUBNITZA [Dupnitsa]. Length, 50ft. 1159. A TOBACCO FARM AT CRAPITS. Length, 75ft. 1160. THE BULGARIAN MINISTER OF WAR, STAFF, AND BODDYGUARD. Length, I50ft. 1161. BULGARIAN TROOPS DISMOUNTING AND FIRING MOUNTAIN GUNS. Length, 125ft. 1162. MOUNTED INFANTRY PATROLLING THE BULGARIAN FRONTIER. Length, 75ft. 1163. SENTRIES GUARDING THE BRIDGE 8

“The Macedonian Atrocities,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,400 (November 21, 1903), 35.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

171

AT COTCHARINOVA [Kocherinovo], WHICH SEPARATES BULGARIAN AND TURKISH TERRITORY. Length, 50ft.

There was also a note: “These Pictures are Absolutely Unique, and the only Films procured showing Scenes resulting from the Macedonian Atrocities.”9 In fact, there were three new titles: Outside the Frontier Town of Samokove (no. 1,157), Typical Street Scene at Doubnitza (no. 1,158), and A Tobacco Farm at Crapits (no. 1,159). However, Bulgarian Infantry Declaring Loyalty to Their Country, which was announced a week earlier, is not among the ten titles. Perhaps it was omitted on purpose, although I am not aware of the reasons for that if that is the case. Most probably, its celluloid “body” did not disappear but was made part (by means of montage techniques) of the other “Infantry” film, initially announced as Infantry Marching Through a Balkan Pass, but later renamed Mounted Infantry Patrolling the Bulgarian Frontier (no. 1,162). The short piece of information, as if accidentally inserted, is dedicated to Charles Noble, “now with the Bulgarian Army,” and this is not just an unusual detail – it implies that, at the end of November and even at the beginning of December, he was still marching next to “the Bulgarian Army,” and was still in the Principality of Bulgaria. This piece of information allows for the hypothesis that the Englishman made part of his films together “with the Bulgarian Army.”

With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia On January 2, 1904, a real torrent of information poured down on The Era readers. The newspaper presented all the films Charles Noble and the CUTC made in Bulgaria in 1903 at once (and on top of that, in detail). The films turn out to be seventeen in number. This advertisement is unique, so I am going to provide its entire content starting with the headline, which this time reads as follows: “WITH AN INSURGENT BAND IN MACEDONIA.” Once again, there is a preamble – a few introductory words that are an amalgam of data unknown so far – ecstatic praise, outright nonsense, and a prosaic price-list (business is business): The only genuine Animated Picture Series of Macedonian and Bulgarian Military and Civil Life during the period of the former’s Fight for Freedom from the Turkish yoke. Photographs by Mr. C. Rider Noble, who joined the 9

“Latest Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,401 (November 28, 1903), 31; no. 3,402 (December 5, 1903), 32.

172

Chapter Six Insurgent Band on their expeditions into Macedonia, for the purpose of securing for us a series of Bioscope Pictures, which will be shown Exclusively for Two Weeks at the Alhambra Theatre, London, Commencing Monday, Jan. 4th, 1904. These Pictures were secured at great expense to us, and much risk to Mr. Noble while crossing The Turkish frontiers and operating with the Bands in hostile territory. Prices, 21s. per 50ft. Lengths. Specials, 25s. per 50ft. Lengths. Longer Lengths in Proportion.

The content of this “series of Bioscope Pictures” is as follows: 1,154. REFUGEES AT RILO MONASTERY. Refugees from Macedonia who have fled from the Turkish village, now seeking the protection of the Monks of Rilo Monastery (Bulgaria). They are afraid to return for fear of massacre by the Turks, and are in a deplorable condition, having little money, and almost without clothing; in fact, they have nothing except what is given them by the Monks, and are seen in the same condition in which they made their escape, many coming from the district of Drama, hundreds of miles over rugged and snow-covered mountains. Length 100ft. Price £2 2s. 1,155. SPECIAL. THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN AT RILO MONASTERY. The Feast of St. John, which is held every year at Rilo Monastery to commemorate the reconstruction of the Monastery some 400 years ago. This picture shows the procession of Monks and typical Mass of Bulgarians and Macedonians, who travel many miles to be present. After prayer in the Church they all walk round the walls of the Monastery with the idea of blessing it and its purpose. Note the Band, which consists of a young man beating a piece of wood and another with a Bell. Length 150ft. Price £3 15s. 1,156. REFUGEES AT SAMOKOVE. Refugees at Samokove, which is only about 1½ hours’ march from the Frontier, having been exiled from the Villages in the district of Belitza, Cramen [Kremen], and Obedin [Obidim]. These poor creatures are now being fed on bread and soup once a-day; the money for this purpose has been subscribed by a Russian Society, the Bulgarian Government, and S.A.R. Princess Clementine de Saxe-CoburgGotha, Mother of the Prince of Bulgaria. Length 100ft. Price £2 2s. 1,157. OUTSIDE THE FRONTIER TOWN OF SAMOKOVE. The first section shows the Monks leaving Church after Prayer. Samokove stands 35 miles east of Sofia, an important post near the Turkish Frontier. This picture shows many poor Refugees seeking shelter and food, having fled from Macedonia to escape the Turk, some travelling a hundred miles, always at night, hiding during the day, and present truly a most pitiable sight. Length 75ft. Price £1 11s. 6d.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

A huge influx of information (The Era, January 2, 1904)

173

174

Chapter Six 1,158. TYPICAL STREET OF DOUBNITZA, BULGARIA. The buildings skirting the street are not of great architectural beauty, while the paving of the street does no credit to the municipality, although both most picturesque. Over these roughly paved streets are seen Oxcarts, PackHorses, &e., carrying casks of wine of the country. Length 50ft. Price £1 1s. 1,159. A TOBACCO FARM AT CRAPITS. This shows the Tobacco leaf strung in long garlands, being shaken during the process of drying by the farmer or grower and his sons, while the other members of the family are all occupied in spinning, carding wool, &e., convincing in itself that the Bulgarian peasant makes the best use of his or her time. Length 75ft. Price £1 11s. 6d. 1,160. SPECIAL. H.E. MINISTER OF WAR, M. SAVOFF, OF BULGARIA, HIS STAFF AND BODY GUARD. The first section shows a fine portrait picture of M. Savoff, and his staff, chatting and smoking. The next picture was secured in the Barracks inclosure [enclosure] at Doubnitza, and depicts the regiment of Bulgarian Troops lined up for inspection, while the Minister of War and his Staff Officers are seen issuing orders to the Commanders. The troops swearing loyalty to their country. The last section shows the march past of the Body Guard, a squad of men of great physique and fine bearing, carrying the conviction of welldrilled soldiers. Length 150ft. Price £3 15s. 1,161. MOUNTAIN INFANTRY IN DISMOUNTING AND FIRING GUNS. The first section shows the Bulgarian Infantry preparing their small mountain guns for action, and setting out to take up a position. The last [next] section depicts Bulgarian Infantry dismounting guns from pack horses, mounting guns on their carriages, taking up a position and firing. The last section shows a squad of the mounted patrol proceeding through a step defile, the path being too narrow to allow of other order of procedure, except in single file. Length 125ft. Price £2 12s. 6d. 1,162. BULGARIAN INFANTRY PATROLLING THE FRONTIER. At the Doubnitza Bulgarian Mounted Infantry march-past. These are picked men, and do duty along the different passes. They are all very fine horsemen, and keep an eye on miles of frontier. Length 75ft. Price £1 11s. 6d. 1,163. ON THE BULGARIAN FRONTIER AT COTCHARINOVA. This picture shows one of the most interesting posts on the frontier, as over this bridge the Turks must enter the Bulgarian country from the south-east, the Turkish Guard is keeping post where only some few feet separate the Bulgarian Guard which is seen patrolling the boundary line. This is really a most interesting picture, as one or the other dare not cross the line separating the two countries. Length 50ft. Price £1 1s.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

The building hosting the Alhambra Theatre, London 1,164. OPENING OF THE BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT, by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903, who granted us special permission and facilities tɨ Bioscope the event. Note. – This will become a most valuable picture in the event of War being declared between Bulgaria and Turkey, as it was decided at this meeting of Parliament that Bulgaria will stand by the Macedonians in their struggle for freedom. The action in this picture shows the arrival of troops, the advance guard, the body guard of the Prince, and the carriages drawn up at the stairs leading to the entrance. From these ascend Prince Ferdinand, the Minister of War, and other officials who are likely to come most prominently before the world by Spring, when it is expected that hostilities open in real earnest. Excellent portraits – unique. Length 125ft. Price £2 12s. 6d.

175

176

Chapter Six 1,228. AN INSURGENT BAND IN COVER. This picture shows a portion of Quevgueliisky’s Band around a camp fire in a clearing surrounded by heavy undergrowth. The men are constantly on the alert against surprises by the Turks, who are harassing them whenever possible. Length 50ft. Price £1 1s. 1,229. A MACEDONIAN INSURGENT BAND ON THE MARCH (under the Leadership of Tvantcho Quevgueliisky [Ivancho Gevgelijsky]). The idea of this picture was to produce a portrait likeness of each member of this famous band, and permission of the commanders was given to have his followers march towards and past the camera in single file. The brave bearing of each man, the resolute expressions of their faces as well as their peculiar uniforms lend themselves to the picturesque aspect of this subject. The last section depicts a group of the band surrounding their leader who is seen discussing the contents of a despatch with his lieutenant. Length 100ft. Price £2 2s. 1,230. A SKIRMISH WITH THE TURKS IN THE BALKANS, by one of the most important Insurgent Bands under the direct lead of General Tzontcheff, who is present, and seen giving orders. Also are present the officers who are fighting almost every day with this band. The first section gives a general view of the snow covered Balkan Mountains with the Insurgent Band wending their way through the deep snow. They rest in the middle of the day and light a fire. The man on the look-out gives an alarm to the General, who orders his men under arms ready for an attack. They take fresh cover and await the onslaught of the Turks, who fire at them from a distant knoll. The Insurgents now take matters in hand, and their mode of fighting is here shown to great advantage. Length 200ft. Price £4 4s. 1,231. SPECIAL. – MACEDONIAN INSURGENTS’ FIGHT WITH THE TURKS. An everyday incident with this Band, under the leadership of Quevgueliisky, during their progress through Macedonia. The opening section of this picture shows the precautions taken by the band in preventing being ambuscaded by the Turks. One of the band is sent in advance to throw a dynamite bomb into a clump of trees, to make certain that there are no enemy in hiding. He is seen lighting the fuse of a bomb, running towards the likely ambush, into which he throws the bomb. He drops to the ground, awaiting the explosion, and seeing no quarry the band moves on. This is a certain test as no Turk will face this terrible explosion of dynamite. We next see the band halting by the way, hidden in tall fir undergrowth. Some of the band are cleaning their guns, while others are on sentinel duty. The third picture shows the band making its way in single file through a wood, dodging from tree to tree, and cautiously looking from right to left for any sign of danger. The fourth scene depicts a clearing which the men must cross. While so doing one of the band is shot. His comrades, always ready in case of attack, quicken their pace and rush

Screenings in London (January 1904)

177

towards the cover from which the shot was fired. We now see them advancing in earnest, and, taking their position under the best cover at band, open fire on the squad of Turks. Four members of the band are seen to fall. Though wounded, they continue to pump lead into the enemy. An exciting picture. Length 225ft. Price £5 12s. 6d. 1,232. THE NATIONAL DANCE OF MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA. The young people are dressed in their best, and continue the same dance for hours together, on Sunday afternoon or any holiday occasions. Their attire is most picturesque. Length 50ft. Price £1 1s. 1,233. INITIATING A NEW MEMBER INTO AN INSURGENT BAND. Length 60ft. Price £1 6s. NOTE. – These pictures are supplied on condition that they are not to be exhibited within the one mile radius of the Alhambra, Leicester-square, until Jan. 18th, 1904.10

The same seventeen titles, numbered in the same way, accompanied by the same information on film length and prices, but without annotations, were announced by The Era on January 9. However, this time it was under a different headline: “WITH THE INSURGENTS THROUGH MACEDONIA.” The introduction was also slightly changed: “An interesting Series of Pictures depicting scenes among the Refugees, Bulgaria’s Preparations for War with Turkey, and Every-day Incidents with the Insurgents while Operating in Hostile Territory. Photographs by Mr C. Rider Noble.”11 The seven films added to the series can hardly be called “magnificent,” although two of them were described as “excellent,” “unique,” and “SPECIAL.” However, they enriched the “series,” adding five new insurrection scenes, a report of the opening ceremony of the Bulgarian Parliament (no. 1,164) and the folklore scene The National Dance of Macedonia and Bulgaria (no. 1,232). It should also be noted that the last six titles have higher catalogue numbers (from nos. 1,228 to 1,233). This inconsistent (or rather discontinuous) numbering, the mysterious “disappearance” of Bulgarian Infantry Declaring Loyalty to Their Country and the appearance of a similar scene (“The troops swearing loyalty to their country”) in H.E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Body Guard (no. 1,160), the lack annotation to Initiating a New 10 “With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,406 (January 2, 1904), 40. 11 “With the Insurgents through Macedonia,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,407 (January 9, 1904), 31.

178

Chapter Six

Member into an Insurgent Band (no. 1,233), the arrangement of the films (lasting from one to four minutes), first, into groups of eight, then of ten, and finally of seventeen, and the announcement of these series under four different headlines, “The Macedonian Atrocities,” “Macedonia and Bulgaria,” “With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia,” and “With the Insurgents through Macedonia,” prove that the filmed material would come from Bulgaria to Charles Urban’s offices in consignments (at least twice). Charles Noble must have sent them by post or by a casual courier. The Era announced something else – the already mentioned “series of Bioscope Pictures … will be shown Exclusively for Two Weeks at the Alhambra Theatre, London, Commencing Monday, Jan. 4th, 1904.” On November 20, 1903, Charles Urban said that the first performance would be “next week,” around November 27 – let us assume at the end of the month. The venue he mentioned was also unspecified – one of “the WestEnd music halls.” On January 2 1904, everything was fixed. However, that was a whole month later. Thus, the CUTC must have worked hard in December developing, editing, and copying the films. It also created their titles, annotations, and numbering. Some of the films were ready before the others, so their titles appeared on The Era pages earlier. The newspaper also published some information as “NOTE.” It was of the same importance and stated that “these pictures are supplied on condition that they are not to be exhibited within the one mile radius of the Alhambra, Leicester-square, until Jan. 18th, 1904.” Put simply, it meant that in this way Charles Urban guaranteed the exclusive status of the Alhambra Music Hall, which was the most popular entertainment establishment in London at that time. Therefore, the presenting of the series of seventeen bioscope pictures can be compared (under certain conditions) to a BBC primetime (“peak time”) broadcast nowadays. On the very first day of the new year in 1904, two announcements appeared in the London press – at least, I know of two of them, which does not exclude the possibility that their number could be much greater. The first, published in The Music Hall, reads: Mr. Charles Urban will show patrons of the Alhambra more pictorial wonders on Monday by means of the Bioscope. A series of pictures, entitled “With the Insurgents Through Macedonia,” will be exhibited for the first time. In order to secure them, the Bioscope operator had to evade Turkish troops, and ride across the border into Macedonia at the risk of his life.12 12

“The Music Hall Home,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXXI, no. 776 (January 1, 1904), 9.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

179

The Premiere

The Music Hall and Theatre Review (January 1, 1904)

The second one appeared in The Daily News: On Monday evening next there will be shown at the Alhambra, by arrangement with the Urban Trading Company, a remarkable series of bioscope pictures of Macedonia and Bulgaria. The films, which measure over 1,600 feet, were taken by Mr. C. Rider Noble, who, acting on behalf of the Urban Trading Company, attached himself to the followers of Tvantcho Quevgueliisky, the famous insurgent leader, with whose band he saw and photographically recorded many picturesque and stirring incidents of the insurgent movement. As a picture of guerilla warfare the series is altogether unique.13

The Era (January 2, 1904) 13 “Music and the Drama,” The Daily News (London Daily News), no. 18,029 (January 1, 1904), 5.

180

Chapter Six

On the following day The Era added its voice to the “chorus.” In the abovementioned “extraordinary” issue that announced in detail all seventeen films made by Charles Noble in Bulgaria, but on another page, dedicated to the “Music Hall Gossip” column, the periodical placed a curious advertisement: The management of the Alhambra has obtained through the Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited, a series of most interesting pictures of Bulgaria, which will be shown on the Bioscope for the first time on Monday evening next. Owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant passports in order to render facilities to obtain these pictures, the Urban expedition had, by stratagem, to get through the Turkish lines as best they could at great personal risk, and join issue with the Bulgarians, swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I. This new series of pictures will be shown, with descriptive lecture, under the title of “With the Insurgents through Macedonia.”14

The information in the Brighton Gazette, one of the first newspapers that spread the news beyond the capital, was more plentiful: The serious complications in the Far East have, to a certain extent, placed the Macedonian trouble, for the moment, in the background; but in face of the war that will surely occur sooner or later between Turkey and Bulgaria, and to draw attention to the misery endured by the Macedonian Refugees, the Management of the Alhambra have obtained through the Charles Urban Trading Company, Limited, a series of most interesting pictures of Bulgaria, which will be shown on the Bioscope for the first time on Monday evening next. Owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant passports in order to render facilities to obtain these pictures, the Urban expedition had by stratagem to get through the Turkish lines as best they could at great personal risk, and join issue with the Bulgarians, swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I. The Management of the Alhambra have again succeeded in obtaining exclusive use of this series of unique pictures, which following on the Micro-Bioscope pictures, and those of the Lumbering and Salmon Fishing, again exemplify the up-todatedness of the present management. The new series of pictures will be shown, with descriptive lecture (another unique feature peculiar to the Alhambra in the exhibition of animated pictures) under the title of “With the Insurgents through Macedonia.” In addition to the foregoing pictures, and the present strong programme, several new “turns” will be introduced on the same evening.15

14 15

“Music Hall Gossip,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,406 (January 2, 1904), 26. “London Alhambra Theatre,” Brighton Gazette, no. 6,225 (January 2, 1904), 2.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

181

The interior of the Alhambra Music Hall (1897)

In its “Merry Go Round” column, The Entr’acte (Theatrical and Musical Critic Advertiser), published and distributed both in London and across the country, was more sparing with its words: “The senior Leicester Square variety establishment maintains its great reputation, its present programme consisting of many attractive features … Mr. Cox promises new Bioscope Pictures on Monday, dealing with the Insurgents in Bulgaria.”16 That seems to complete the audience “warm-up” before the premiere. There were no newspaper advertisements on January 3 as it was Sunday and most periodicals did not come out on Sundays. However, on the following day, only The Scottish Referee and The Hackney and Kingsland Gazette published again (almost word-for-word) the above-quoted advertisement, which had appeared earlier in the “Music and the Drama” column of The Daily News and announced Ivancho Gevgelijsky as a

16

“Alhambra,” The Entr’acte (London and Provincial Entr’acte), Year 35, no. 1,801 (January 2, 1904), 7.

182

Chapter Six

“special guest star” of the anticipated “remarkable series of bioscope pictures of Macedonia and Bulgaria.”17

The Standard and The Daily Telegraph published this advertisement from January 4–9, 1904

By contrast, on January 4, 1904 both The Standard and The Daily Telegraph published the following text: “Alhambra. With the Insurgents Through Bulgaria. An entirely new and unique series of animated pictures will be exhibited by the Charles Urban Trading Company, on the Imperial Bioscope. Every Evening at 8.55.” Under it, both London daily newspapers printed the Alhambra Theatre “Tremendous Programme,” which started with an “Overture” at 7.55 and consisted of fifteen parts (music, dances, and sketches). Among them, number seven (in the middle of the performance) was the previously mentioned “Imperial Bioscope,” whose projection lasted from 8.55 to 9.20. Both The Standard and The Daily Telegraph announced the variety show programme on their pages, 17 The Scottish Referee (Stagland), no. 1,456 (January 4, 1904), 6; The Hackney and Kingsland Gazette, no. 5,246 (January 4, 1904), 3.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

183

traditionally assigned to information on theatre, cinema, and music-hall shows, in similarly shaped advertisement columns using the same font. That was the fourth time for the first periodical and the first one for the second. The headline “With the Insurgents Through Bulgaria” could be seen in six successive issues of the two newspapers18 until 9 January, and then it disappeared.

The First Reviews Early in the morning on January 5, 1904, The Morning Post was the first to share its impressions of the premiere under the title “Views from the Near East”: Last night the bioscope turned its attention and ours to the Bulgarian and Macedonian insurrection. The views are stated to have been taken by Mr. Rider Noble, who must in the battle scenes have run considerable personal risk, especially as, having taken the oath of loyalty to the insurgent chief, he was fair game to the Turks. The pictures vary greatly in merit, but all are interesting, and a lecturer adds to their interest by his comments. Very pretty is the national dance of Bulgaria as danced by young girls in their picturesque holiday clothes. Anything but pretty are the pictures of the Macedonian refugees as they herd to seek the protection of the Monks of Rilo. There is a strange view, too, of a frontier bridge, with the Turkish and the Bulgarian sentinels posted within a few feet of each other. And there are several scenes of actual skirmishing in which we see men fall. Some of these pictures are rather painful, but the biograph [bioscope] seems to have borne a charmed life. The whole collection is well worth seeing; the biograph tells you a wonderful lot in a very few minutes, and the lecturer helps where help is wanted. “The man in the Inverness cape,” he observed, “was a spy and has since been shot.” And truly he does not face the biograph with the same composure as the others. The display of these pictures is announced for a fortnight only, so those who wish to see them should lose no time.19

18

The Standard, no. 24,815 (January 4, 1904), 4; no. 24,816 (January 5, 1904), 4; no. 24,817 (January 6, 1904), 4; no. 24,818 (January 7, 1904), 4; no. 24,819 (January 8, 1904), 4; no. 24,820 (January 9, 1904), 4; The Daily Telegraph, no. 15,186 (January 4, 1904), 1; no. 15,187 (January 5, 1904), 1; no. 15,188 (January 6, 1904), 1; no. 15,189 (January 7, 1904), 1; no. 15,190 (January 8, 1904), 1; no. 15,191 (January 9, 1904), 1. 19 “Alhambra Theatre. Views from the Near East,” The Morning Post, no. 41,061 (January 5, 1904), 4.

184

The Standard (January 5, 1904)

Chapter Six

Screenings in London (January 1904)

185

The review of The Standard was also published later in the evening: One of the most interesting series of pictures which has yet been seen at the Alhambra was presented last night by means of the Imperial Bioscope. The subject dealt with was the disturbances, which have occurred in Bulgaria and Macedonia, and Mr. C. Rider Noble, who took the original photographs, must have been at considerable difficulty and in some personal danger to obtain them. All facilities were refused by the Turkish Government, and Mr. Noble had to join the Bulgarians, and the incident of his taking the oath to King Ferdinand I is thrown on the screen. First of all comes the opening of the Bulgarian Parliament at Sofia on November 15 of last year, and then follow a number of typical scenes of life in the Near East. Military pictures follow, and these are particularly interesting. A review of Bulgarian troops by M. Savoff, the Minister of War, is depicted, and the physique and bearing of the men, as far as can be judged, leave nothing to be desired. One of the best things shown is a famous Macedonian band of insurgents on the march, the features and varied attire of the members being easily distinguishable. Finally there is a skirmish between the insurgents and a detachment of Turkish troops, the irregulars advancing through bush and then in open order across exposed ground. The casualties which take place when the firing commences in earnest are almost too realistic. Several other new “turns” were also introduced yesterday evening, and assist to make up a strong programme for the present week.20

Two daily sports newspapers also added their favourable opinion. The Sporting Life wrote: At the Alhambra last night a programme of more than ordinary interest was presented by Mr. Douglas Cox. It need hardly be said that … the pictures by the Imperial Bioscope, “With the Insurgents through Bulgaria,” are also shown distinctly, and that they create a deal of interest. These pictures were taken under great difficulties, and are a faithful record of some of the scenes that have created horror in the breasts of Christians throughout the wold … A capital night’s entertainment may be had comfortably at the Alhambra.21

According to The Sportsman: The most notable attraction is the new series of Bioscope pictures in the shape of a vivid record of scenes on the Bulgarian frontier, and some 20 21

4.

“The Alhambra,” The Standard, no. 24,816 (January 5, 1904), 3. “Among the Variety Theatres,” The Sporting Life, no. 9,234 (January 5, 1904),

186

Chapter Six exceedingly sad pictures of the pitiable plight of the Macedonian refugees. It may be mentioned that these pictures were obtained under great difficulties. The Turkish Government refused to grant the representatives of the Charles Urban Co. facilities, and they had to adopt stratagem and run much personal risk to get through the Turkish lines and join issue with the Bulgarians, swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I.22

Facts are facts! And, according to them, the premiere of the film With the Insurgents through Macedonia (or With the Insurgents through Bulgaria) took place at 8.55 pm on January 4, 1904 in the London Alhambra Music Hall, whose general manager at that time was Mr. Douglas Cox. Of course, we are not talking about a full-length feature film like today’s movies, but about separate, short “films,” “film subjects,” a “series of pictures,” an “animated picture series,” a “series of bioscope pictures,” a “record of scenes,” and “photographs,” whose total length (according to The Daily News) was “over 1,600 feet” – 490 metres, running to twenty-seven minutes. According to The Era, which presented (twice) each of the seventeen titles, stating different lengths (the information most probably was given to the periodical by the CUTC), it was 1,760 feet (540 metres, twenty-nine minutes). The Alhambra session (according to The Standard and The Daily Telegraph) lasted twenty-five minutes (from 8.55 to 9.20 pm during the first two days, and from 8.50 to 9.15 pm during the rest of the days), which means that almost everything Charles Noble had filmed was shown there. Thanks to the announcements before the premiere, as well as the first reviews after it, we find that the actual films were “remarkable,” “original,” “unique,” and “genuine.” “These Pictures are Absolutely Unique, and the only Films procured showing Scenes resulting from the Macedonian Atrocities,” The Era stated: “The proceeding are the only Macedonian Bioscope Pictures in existence.” It also becomes clear that their producer was Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., which organized, equipped, and “seconded” a whole “Urban expedition” (“Our Photographic Expedition”) to the Balkans. “The Turkish Government refused to grant the representatives of the Charles Urban Co. facilities, and they had to adopt a stratagem …,” The Sportsman reported. The Brighton Gazette and The Era also implied that the “expedition” consisted of at least two members, informing that “they could be at great personal risk.” Unfortunately, apart from the above-quoted texts, which were mere advertisements, invented at the CUTC offices, there is no other evidence that Charles Rider Noble was accompanied by a colleague of his or an 22

“Theatricals. Alhambra,” The Sportsman, no. 10,725 (January 5, 1904), 3.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

The Brighton Gazette (January 7, 1904)

187

Chapter Six

188

assistant (assistant cameraman) while he was cinematographing the series. Therefore, he has always been considered as the only cameraman of the newsreels filmed with the bioscope camera (hence their name “bioscope pictures”) and projected, “shown,” or “exhibited” on the “Imperial Bioscope” (“by means of the Imperial Bioscope”).

The Show Must Go On – But For How Long?

The Music Hall (January 8, 1904)

The show did go on, as evidenced by a couple of announcements that appeared between January 7 and 10, 1904. The first, published in The Stage, was almost the same as the abovementioned advertisement in The Daily News (January 1, 1904) concerning “a remarkable series of bioscope pictures of Macedonia and Bulgaria,” filmed by Noble for the CUTC. The length of the films was the same – “over 1,600 feet,” and so was the name,

Screenings in London (January 1904)

189

Gevgelijsky, and the final words of praise: “As scenes of guerilla warfare the series is altogether unique.”23 On the following day, the same text was published in The Music Hall.24 On the other hand, the Brighton Gazette again provided more detail: The special New Year programme at the Alhambra Theatre, Leicester Square, includes a new series of Bioscope pictures from photographs procured by Mr Rider Noble in Bulgaria and Macedonia, which, though not quite as steady as they might be, are particularly fine reproductions of scenes of very special interest. Amongst these animated pictures are seen the opening of the Bulgarian Parliament at Sofia, November l5th. 1903, by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria; the national dance, with the young people of the Bulgarian and Macedonian villages, dressed in their best, assembled to participate on some holiday occasion; the monks at Samokov leaving their church after morning prayer; the Christian fugitives from the Turkish villages in fear of massacre seeking refuge and the protection of the monks of Rilo Monastery in the Balkans; the Bulgarian frontier at Cotcharinova, one of the most interesting pictures of the series, showing the Bulgarian and Turkish sentinels keeping post immediately on the frontier, only a few feet separating them. Then comes a portrait of M. Savoff, the Minister of War, cheerfully chatting with his Staff officers; mountain infantry dismounting, unloading guns and carriages from pack-horses, assembling and firing some; a Macedonian insurgent band on the march, with portraitlikeness of each member of the band, under the leadership of Tvantcho Quevgueliisky, the foremost revolutionary chieftain; and a skirmish with the Turks in Macedonia. The whole is a distinctly interesting series of pictures, which are claimed to be the first and only genuine ones portraying incidents of Bulgarian and Macedonian life yet procured. They will be exclusively exhibited at the Alhambra Theatre for two weeks only.25

Together with the “clichéd” text in question, The Music Hall published another announcement on January 8. Its aim was not only to advertise but also evaluate the series: Eleven different subjects are shown, several of them illustrating incidents in guerilla warfare. In one, Quevgueliisky’s band is seen crossing a clearing under the fire of the Turks. They rush to cover and proceed to return the enemy’s fire. The picture is wonderfully realistic. The insurgents

23

“Gossip,” The Stage, no. 1,190 (January 7, 1904), 21. “The Music Hall Home,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXXI, no. 777 (January 8, 1904), 25. 25 “The London Alhambra,” Brighton Gazette, no. 6,226 (January 7, 1904), 5. 24

190

Chapter Six on the march, and the initiation of a member into the band are excellent also. The new pictures are enthusiastically received.26

On Saturday (January 9, 1904) The Era, which mentioned some “Photographic Expeditions into Borneo and Macedonia” for the first time on October 3, 1903, fired its last advertising bullet, which still echoes even today. The announcement started in the typical Charles Urban-like manner: One of the great advantages of the Bioscope is that it “opens the minds” of the people, brings before them actualities and truths, and emphasises the importance of nations and movements which are often forgotten when other interests appeal to the public. What with the fiscal question and the threatened war in the East, the yearnings of the Bulgarians for freedom are apt to be overlooked, but the splendid series of films which have been taken by Mr C. Rider Noble, and were shown by the Imperial Bioscope at the Alhambra on Monday, recalls to us the fact that the Bulgarians are determined to exact reform, if necessary, at the point of the bayonet. Rarely has the strain on the relations between Turkey and Bulgaria been brought before our eyes as plainly as by the film showing the sentries of the two nations marching on either side of the boundary line on the frontier, and Turkish oppression is powerfully and properly exposed by the spectacle of the hundreds of wretched refugees at Rylo Monastery, the mothers with their babies in their arms, in rags, and all evidently half starved and exhausted. It is impossible not to sympathise with the efforts of the insurgent bands who have taken up arms to throw off the yoke of Turkish tyranny; and Mr Rider Noble is seen in the centre of one of these guerilla gatherings. He kisses the flag, and in the ceremony of initiation into the “brotherhood” which follows, the leaders of the insurgents kiss him. As illustrating the lighter and brighter side of Bulgarian life, the film devoted to the national dance of the country is excellent. The peasant girls, in their pretty costumes, join hands in a ring, and go through some quaint movements. How much civilisation, at least upon the surface, exists in Bulgaria, is brought home to us by the views depicting the opening of the national parliament, and the stalwart troops and their bluff, genial officers evidently constitute a force which may be destined to create important results in the history of Europe. The methods of the insurgents are explained in detail by the films which represent the guerillas advancing over streams and through woods, and engaging in a hot skirmish with the enemy. Very picturesque is the descent of a mounted party of inspection down a rugged mountain path. Altogether these Bulgaria views are a most

26

“The Music Hall Home,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXXI, no. 777 (January 8, 1904), 25.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

191

important contribution to contemporary enlightenment, besides being vividly and intensely interesting in themselves.27

The Illustrated London News (January 9, 1904)

The political element is also seen in the purely advertising text, published in The Illustrated London News: Extremely interesting, in consideration of the political tension which still exists in the Balkans, is the new feature of the Alhambra Theatre’s programme – to wit, a series of animated pictures illustrating the Macedonian and Bulgarian insurrection. For the most part, the biograph [bioscope] speaks for itself, and seems to suggest that its owner has been in many hot corners; but there is also a lecturer on the Alhambra stage to explain any obscurity in the views. We see Bulgarian girls performing prettily their national dance in picturesque gala attire, and we watch in grim contrast miserable Macedonian refugees seeking refuge in a monastery. Finally, after being shown a frontier outpost, we are plunged into the midst of skirmishers, and observe Turks and insurgents falling wounded or dead, and wonder how the biograph escaped the bullets of the combatants.28 27

“The London Music Halls. The Alhambra,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,407 (January 9, 1904), 21. 28 “The Playhouses: Macedonian Pictures at the Alhambra,” The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIV, no. 3,377 (January 9, 1904), 38.

192

Chapter Six

The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News did not add anything new to the general picture. “The special New Year’s programme at the Alhambra is rich in attraction,” the weekly magazine said. “A very interesting and realistic series of bioscope pictures from photographs by Mr. C. Rider Noble exhibits life ‘with the insurgents through Bulgaria’.”29 The last advertisement (known so far) that accompanied the projections at the Alhambra was provided by the London newspaper Referee: Through the enterprise of the Charles Urban Trading Company the management was enabled to present a series of animated pictures for the most part taken on the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier, and depicting incidents in which Macedonian refugees figured largely. One obtains quite a close insight into recent happenings in that part of Europe from these bioscopic reproductions, which are among the best yet shown in London by Urban Company.30

Although the projections were initially planned to last “a fortnight,” until 18 January, they must have finished on January 10 – why would The Referee advertise “these bioscopic reproductions” on the same day? It was Sunday, and neither The Standard nor The Daily Telegraph were published on that day, so they could not report that With the Insurgents Through Bulgaria was part of the “Tremendous Programme” at the Alhambra on that evening. However, both newspapers unanimously informed their readers that, on January 11, the music hall projected on its screen the already well-known “Interesting Series of Pictures on the Imperial Bioscope, illustrating Lumbering in a Canadian Forest, Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River, exhibited by the Charles Urban Trading Co.,”31 and, on January 18, An Expedition to North Borneo.32 On January 14 The Stage revealed a curious detail about the last title: “At the Alhambra, on Monday [January 18], some new and interesting bioscope pictures will be shown. The views are taken from parts of North Borneo, among them being strange native scenes in the interior of the island, which the Urban Trading Company’s representative was the first white man to explore.”33 29

The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (London), vol. LX, no. 1,582 (January 9, 1904), 798. 30 “The Alhambra,” The Referee (London), no. 1,378 (January 10, 1904), 4. 31 The Standard, no. 24,821 (January 11, 1904), 4; The Daily Telegraph, no. 15,192 (January 11, 1904), 1. 32 The Standard, no. 24,827 (January 18, 1904), 4; The Daily Telegraph, no. 15,198 (January 18, 1904), 1. 33 “Gossip,” The Stage, no. 1,191 (January 14, 1904), 18.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

193

February Projections – But Where? The CUTC advertising campaign continued throughout February – most likely because the projections themselves continued (somewhere else). However, the initial enthusiasm seemed to have faded away – what had to be said was said. The Talking Machine News (a monthly journal dealing with talking machines, cinematographs, and automatic amusement machines of all kinds) wrote, without adding a single bit of new information: The Chas. Urban Trading Company, Limited, have on at the Alhambra a series of interesting Bioscope pictures of Bulgaria. Owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant passports, the Urban expedition had to get through the Turkish lines as best they could at great personal risk, and join issue with the Bulgarians, swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I.34

Meanwhile, the Russo-Japanese War broke out on February 8, 1904 (January 26 in the Julian Calendar). The attention of the international public was focused on the Far East, and the viewers’ interest on the newsreels from that part of the world. Their advertisements started occupying the pages of the British press, replacing (gradually, yet irrevocably) the titles covering the Balkan conflict. On January 14, The Stage announced the following: “Mr. Rosenthal, the war correspondent and bioscopist of the Urban Company, is leaving for Tokio [Tokyo], in order, in the event of war, to secure accurate and faithful reproductions of the scenes.”35 Once again, Charles Urban was ahead of his competitors.

The Talking Machine News (February 1, 1904) 34

“Living Pictures,” Talking Machine News and Cinematograph Chronicle, no. X (February 1904), 209. 35 “Gossip,” The Stage, no. 1,191 (January 14, 1904), 18.

194

Chapter Six

The Era (February 20, 1904)

In spite of the changing situation, the CUTC tried to draw the attention of the cinema audience (in the country, most probably) to its BulgarianMacedonian pictures. Thus, in February, it published the following sentence in two advertising sections of The Era: “In the meantime, don’t

Screenings in London (January 1904)

195

forget that trouble is brewing nearer home, BULGARIA V. TURKEY RE MACEDONIA.”36 At the end of the month, the periodical announced the following: “NOTE. – Our War Correspondents in the Far and Near East are Men of vast Experience and Resource. They are now Operating with the Forces in RUSSIA, SIBERIA, MANCHURIA, JAPAN, KOREA, BULGARIA, and TURKEY. Enough said. Results will speak for themselves.”37 Those few lines put an end to the regular appearance of the geographical names of Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Turkey mentioned in the British press in connection with the seventeen films produced by the Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., made by Charles Rider Noble in the principality in the autumn of 1903 and shown (“by means of the Imperial Bioscope”) from January 4–10, 1904 at the London Alhambra Music Hall (Theatre). There, at the Alhambra, the premiere of the unique series of pictures, titled “With the Insurgents through Macedonia” (or “With the Insurgents through Bulgaria”) took place. There, in the most popular entertainment establishment in the United Kingdom, the march of the Macedonian insurrectionists and refugees, of the Bulgarian troops and the monks of Rylo Monastery, started. Those were the main characters of “these bioscopic reproductions,” procured “at great risk and expense,” whose exhibition turned into a sensation because the British society did not remain indifferent to the scenes “resulting from the Macedonian Atrocities.” Therefore, the event, which seemed entertaining at first sight, went beyond the West End of London and drew the attention of the inhabitants of both the capital and rural England. It aroused the interest of the press that ensured its five-month media presence – starting (according to the information available) on October 3, 1903 in The Era and ending in the same newspaper on March 5, 1904. As many as seventeen British periodicals followed and covered (some of them, repeatedly) the projections of both the dramatic revolutionary series and the typical scenes of the Near Eastern life. It has to be taken into account that the above number is a result of a research (though in-depth) carried out only within the limits of the website British Newspaper Archive (BNA).

36 The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,412 (February 13, 1904), 34; no. 3,413 (February 20, 1904), 34. 37 “New Urban Films,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,414 (February 27, 1904), 35; no. 3,415 (March 5, 1904), 31.

196

Chapter Six

1904 Press Comments in the 1905 CUTC Catalogue However, it turned out that those seventeen newspapers and magazines were not the only ones that manifested their interest in the series of projections concerned. The third Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. catalogue, Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films, was published in London in February 1905. It included part of the London press reviews from January 1904 for advertising (and commercial) purposes. The number of texts grouped in a special section, titled “Press Comments,”38 was thirteen, published by twelve periodicals. The present chapter has already cited six of the press releases published in The Era (January 9, 1904),39 The Illustrated London News (January 9),40 The Music Hall and Theatre Review (January 8),41 The Standard (January 5),42 and The Morning Post (January 5),43 divided into two parts in “Press Comments.” Thus, the new periodicals the catalogue provided information on turned out to be seven: Black and White, The Whitehall Review, Truth, Vanity Fair, Daily Chronicle, Pelican, and Financial News. Black and White (a weekly illustrated record and review) wrote that: A wonderful new set of bioscopic pictures, depicting the work of the insurgents in Macedonia is now on view at the Alhambra. Mr. C. Rider Noble, who took these pictures, was attached to one of the insurgent bands, and has certainly used his time to excellent purpose. One of the films represents an actual fight, while others, though less bloodthirsty are full of interest.44

The Whitehall Review stated that: 38

“Press Comments,” in Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films: the Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905), 166–7. 39 “The London Music Halls: The Alhambra,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,407 (January 9, 1904), 21. 40 “The Playhouses: Macedonian Pictures at the Alhambra,” The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIV, no. 3,377 (January 9, 1904), 38. 41 “The Music Hall Home,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXXI, no. 777 (January 8, 1904), 25. 42 “The Alhambra,” The Standard, no. 24,816 (January 5, 1904), 3. 43 “Alhambra Theatre: Views from the Near East,” The Morning Post, no. 41,061 (January 5, 1904), 4. 44 “Press Comments,” in Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films. The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905), 166.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

197

At the Alhambra, the ever popular Bioscope is showing views of the Bulgarian and Macedonian insurrection. The pictures are all very interesting, and a lecturer explains the various “points.” One of the most striking pictures is that of the national dance of Bulgaria as danced by young girls in their picturesque holiday clothes. The pictures of the Macedonian refugees as they seek the protection of the Monks of Rilo are provocative of many expressions of sympathy for the unfortunate people. There is a remarkable illustration, too, of a frontier bridge, with the Turkish and the Bulgarian sentinels posted within a few feet of each other. The display of these pictures is announced for a fortnight only.45

Truth, like many other periodicals, mentioned the hardships the CUTC “photographers” had to go through. It also gave details of their stratagem for the first time: The Alhambra Theatre announces for production this week a new series of bioscope pictures illustrative of the troubles in Macedonia. These pictures, it declares, have been obtained through the agency of the Urban Trading Company, but not without difficulty, owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to permit the photographers to penetrate the Turkish lines. This difficulty, the Alhambra assures us, was overcome “by stratagem”, which is, perhaps, another name for backsheesh judiciously distributed.46

Vanity Fair (a magazine whose subtitle was “A Weekly Show of Political, Social and Literary Wares”) was the wordiest. Unfortunately, it repeated the above information the Brighton Gazette printed: The serious complications in the Far East have, to a certain extent, placed the Macedonian trouble, for the moment, in the background, but in face of the war that will surely occur sooner or later between Turkey and Bulgaria, and to draw attention to the misery endured by the Macedonian Refugees, the management of the Alhambra have obtained through the Chas. Urban Trading Company, Limited, a series of most interesting pictures of Bulgaria which are shown on the Bioscope this week. Owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant passports in order to render facilities to obtain these pictures, the Urban expedition had by stratagem, to get through the Turkish lines as best they could, at great personal risk, and join issue with the Bulgarians, swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I. The management of the Alhambra have again succeeded in obtaining exclusive use of this series of unique pictures, which, following on the Micro-

45 46

Ibid. Ibid., 167.

Chapter Six

198

Bioscope pictures, and those of the Lumbering and Salmon Fishing, again exemplify the up-to-datedness of the present management.47

The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905, 166–7)

The Daily Chronicle (1872–1930) wrote ironically how: The Bioscope has become a war correspondent. Upon the screen on the Alhambra stage are now shown experiences with the insurgents in Bulgaria explained by a lecturer who says enough, but not a word too much … Upon securing such an interesting and instructive item as this vivid illustration of incidents of the Macedonian insurrection, Mr. Moul [Alfred Moul (1852–1924) became the managing director of the Alhambra in 1883] may be congratulated.48

The Pelican article started that: 47 48

Ibid. Ibid.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

199

Realism has assuredly reached somewhere very near its apex in the new Animated Pictures now on show at the Alhambra. In the space of a few minutes the audience is whirled through a goodly portion of that most distressful country, Bulgaria, in company with a number of Bulgarian irregulars, who in the matter of appearance and varied get-up, certainly do not belie their name. These brigands are seen skirmishing through woods and across fields, and at intervals pop goes a Turkish rifle and over rolls one of the Bulgarians. The spectacle of seeing men actually killed before one’s eyes on the field of battle has never before been shown, and it is at once gruesome and fascinating to a degree. The way some of the poor wretches drop and roll over and then come to an awful stop suggests popped-at rabbits more than anything else. It is remarkable to notice, too, that when a man falls he is left severely alone by his companions. No one goes to his assistance, and of medical staff and appliances there would seem to be none. One’s admiration certainly goes out to Mr. Rider Noble, who cinematographed the pictures, and who in the accomplishment of his arduous and peculiarly dangerous task, must have run a most excellent chance of getting his machine smashed and himself riddled with Turkish bullets.49

The opinion of the Financial News (a daily British newspaper published in London from 1884 to 1945) can be seen at the end of the section. In its tight and unemotional style, typical of financiers, it reviewed Charles Noble’s films: “Few more interesting pictures have been exploited by the cinematograph than those now on view at the Alhambra, illustrating the insurrection in Macedonia.”50

Comments on the Press Comments “Eleven different subjects are shown,” The Music Hall claimed on January 8, 1904, thus being the only periodical mentioning the number of the films shown at the Alhambra. It is quite unlikely that six of Charles Noble’s seventeen film subjects were not projected, but it is quite possible that some of them were combined, hence the series consisting of eleven “different subjects.” Together with this “quantitative” characteristic, a few “qualitative” evaluations appeared in the second half of the premiere week: “Extremely interesting, in consideration of the political tension which still exists in the Balkans, is the new feature of the Alhambra Theatre’s programme” (The Illustrated London News); “altogether these Bulgaria views are a most 49 50

Ibid. Ibid.

200

Chapter Six

important contribution to contemporary enlightenment, besides being vividly and intensely interesting in themselves” (The Era); “splendid series of films” (The Era); “wonderfully realistic” and “excellent also” (The Music Hall); “these bioscopic reproductions, which are among the best yet shown in London by Urban Company” (The Referee). The scant information on audience response in the press is also indicative of the artistic value of the “series”: “The new pictures are enthusiastically received,” The Music Hall observed; whereas The Era was even more zealous: “The … Pictures are Exhibited at the Alhambra Every Evening with Great Success.”51 The words of praise do not surprise – the bulk of them were most probably written by CUTC employees or assistants having some experience in the advertising business and knowing how to take as many people as possible to the Alhambra box office. The voice of the film critic feeling righteous or unmotivated anger was not to be seen in any of the twenty-four periodicals. Therefore, the following sentence is somewhat surprising: “The pictures vary greatly in merit, but all are interesting.” The Morning Post review indicated in a delicate way that the artistic qualities of the different films varied, as did their emotional impact on the audience. Although the press comments quoted so far are advertisements – or maybe because of that – they focus on the most significant things the seventeen film subjects offered. On the one hand, journalists manipulated the audience, directing its interest towards certain episodes, thus predetermining their success. On the other hand, though, they determined (quite impartially) its response to those episodes. It can be seen (from the texts) that the Alhambra’s visitors paid greater attention to the nine bioscope pictures showing “the work of the insurgents in Macedonia” or “the insurgent movement,” and offering “hot skirmish with the enemy,” “actual fight,” as well as “bloodthirsty [scenes].” Probably these pictures made the Daily Chronicle remark that: “The Bioscope has become a war correspondent,” while The Daily News summarized: “As a picture of guerilla warfare the series is altogether unique.” In five (of these nine) scenes (nos. 1228–31, 1233), Charles Noble managed to chronicle the last moments of the Ilinden Uprising, and the return of some of the SMC (Supreme Macedonian Committee) bands to Bulgaria. The other four films (nos. 1154–7) depicted the “Macedonian trouble” (Vanity Fair and the Brighton Gazette), refugees’ hardships, and “some exceedingly sad pictures of the pitiable plight of the Macedonian refugees” (The Sportsman).

51

The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,407 (January 9, 1904), 31.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

201

As a matter of fact, no “atrocities” were described even in the most detailed annotations.

SAR Princess Clementine de d’Orleans de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – “all refugees’ mother”

202

Chapter Six

Four other film subjects represented “direct news reports” of events related to the Bulgarian Army (nos. 1160–3). Three “photographs” can be described as ethnographic (no. 1158, no. 1159, no. 1232), “illustrating the lighter and brighter side of Bulgarian life” by means of vivid “peasant girls, in their pretty costumes,” an excellent “national dance of the country” and the daily life on “a tobacco farm.” One subject was about political life in Bulgaria – Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament (no. 1164), showing “how much civilisation, at least upon the surface, exists in Bulgaria.” The information The Standard provided on the order of the scenes projected at the Alhambra is very useful for contemporary researchers: First of all comes the opening of the Bulgarian Parliament at Sofia … and then follow a number of typical scenes of life in the Near East. Military pictures follow … A review of Bulgarian troops … is depicted … One of the best things shown is a famous Macedonian band of insurgents on the march … Finally there is a skirmish between the insurgents and a detachment of Turkish troops …

Some of the periodicals emphasized that the projections were accompanied by a “descriptive lecture,” a fact described as “another unique feature peculiar to the Alhambra in the exhibition of animated pictures” (the Brighton Gazette). “The lecturer helps where help is wanted” (The Morning Post), “explains the various ‘points’” (The Whitehall Review), and “any obscurity in the views” (The Illustrated London News), “says enough, but not a word too much” (Daily Chronicle), contributing to increasing the interest in the film “by his comments.” This “narrator,” however, was not Charles Noble. Nowadays, it is still unknown whether he attended any of the shows. However, it can be assumed that the comments were based on the valuable information provided by the notes Noble must have taken in connection with the events he had filmed in Bulgaria. Promoting the final results of Urban’s expedition, led by its desire to present as much as possible the content of all the seventeen films Charles Noble and the CUTC made in Bulgaria in 1903 to its readers, the British press mentioned some names: S.A.R. Princess Clementine de SaxeCoburg-Gotha (1817–1907) – mother of the Prince of Bulgaria; Prince/King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria; H. E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria; General Tsonchev (“Tzontcheff”); and Ivancho Gevgelijsky (“Tvantcho Quevgueliisky”). It also used three toponyms: Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Turkey – the triad eternally bound by a historic event, the

Screenings in London (January 1904)

203

Ilinden Uprising. It appears (from the above quotes) that, in 1903, English journalists always mentioned Macedonia in connection with Bulgaria.

Foreign journalists showed great interest in the Bulgarian Army (an illustration from The Balkan Trail)

It is also important for the subject matter under consideration to mention the names of those places where Charles Noble made the “bioscopic reproductions”: the villages of Kocherinovo (“on the Bulgarian frontier”) and Crapits, as well as the towns of Sofia, Dupnitsa, and Samokov. It allows for the English cameraman’s filming route to be determined (albeit roughly for the time being). It is even more important (in order to establish the historical truth) that the five towns and villages in question were (and still are) part of Bulgaria. The same goes for other geographical entities, also mentioned by Albion periodicals, such as the Balkan Mountains,52 which Charles Noble did not even approach in 1903 (but crossed on several occasions in 1904), and the Rila [Rilo/Rylo] Mountains, the highest massif in the Balkans (whose highest peak is Musala at 2,925 metres), where the Rila Monastery is situated.

52 Balkan (with a capital B) is used in Bulgarian to name only the Balkan Mountains (or Stara planina – Old Mountain) extending in Bulgaria and Serbia; balkan (with a small b) is another word for “mountain”; the Balkans are also known as the Balkan Peninsula.

204

Chapter Six

It is true that, in connection with the films shown at the Alhambra, the British press mentioned the names of four towns and villages in the geographical region of Macedonia, which, back in 1903, were part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey): Drama (nowadays, it is a city in northeastern Greece), Belitza, Kremen, and Obidim (villages in present-day southwestern Bulgaria). However, they were mentioned only when the suffering of the Macedonian refugees driven out of those very places was described. Charles Noble neither saw nor visited or filmed those places. In the light of this, the fact that not a single toponym was mentioned in any of the annotations or descriptions of the five films about the insurgents is surprising (as well as puzzling), as if those films had been filmed in the middle of nowhere. The place in which the action took place was mentioned only in the description of A Skirmish with the Turks in the Balkans (no. 1,230) – the “Balkan Mountains,” as explained before, does not mean the Balkan Mountains, but a mountain, one of the thirty-nine (according to geographers53) in Bulgaria. The periodicals willingly presented the sensational “information” about the heroic “crossing [of] the Turkish frontiers” undertaken by Charles Noble, who, thanks to his masterly riding under “Turkish bullets,” managed to save his own life, as well as that of “his machine.” Furthermore, the cameraman joined the insurgent bands and, together with them, worked in “hostile territory” (i.e. in Turkey), filming everyday incidents “during their progress through Macedonia” (i.e. through Turkey). However, all this is present only in the advertisements. And even they disagreed on the answer to the question where the action of the insurgent band series had taken place. Some assured it had happened in Macedonia (Turkey). Thus, they named the series “With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia” or “With the Insurgents through Macedonia.” Others claimed it was in the Principality of Bulgaria, hence the advertisements “With the Insurgents in Bulgaria” or “With the Insurgents Through Bulgaria.” However, at that time (i.e. throughout 1903), no rebel action took place in the territory of Bulgaria. Therefore, we must trust those periodicals claiming that the guerrilla films were made by Charles Noble in Macedonia (Turkey). There (in the Serres Revolutionary District) the third stage of the uprising (the Holy Cross Day Uprising), which “faded” (according to historians) a month later, started in mid-September 1903. It is true that there were “quite a few” armed bands in the area in October, but it is also true that there were armed conflicts in some places, even though they were 53

http://www.planinaria.bg/newsbg.php?n=36.

Screenings in London (January 1904)

205

“isolated.” Two shoot-outs took place on October 3 (16). The cheti of Lieutenant-Colonel Stefan Nikolov, Lieutenant Hristo Sarakinov, and Second Lieutenant Iliya Baltov (ninety people in total) fought “for a few hours” against the “numerous” Turkish troops in the Dobro Pole area (the southeastern Rila Mountains) on October 8 (21). There were also skirmishes at the village of Zarnovo (Nevrokop District) on November 11 (24) and 21 (3), and October 26 (November 8).54 It is also worth mentioning that the Serres Revolutionary District was bordered by the Principality of Bulgaria, and the military action in question took place only a few kilometres away from the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier at the time. It is this frontier that captured Charles Noble’s attention over and over again. It is hardly a coincidence that this word appears in the titles of five of his films: Sentinels at Post on the Turkish-Bulgarian Frontier (at Samokov), Outside the Frontier Town of Samokove, Mounted Infantry Patrolling the Bulgarian Frontier, Bulgarian Infantry Patrolling the Frontier, and On the Bulgarian Frontier at Cotcharinova (“Sentries guarding the bridge at Cotcharinova, which separates Bulgarian and Turkish territory”). The scene (the “strange view,” the “remarkable illustration”) with “a frontier bridge, with the Turkish and the Bulgarian sentinels posted within a few feet of each other” impressed the press and, probably, the audience. In the same vein, it will not be an overstatement to say that the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier is one of the main characters in Noble’s films. Thus, in February 1904, the advertising campaign trying to draw the audience’s attention to Charles Noble’s films not only faded away, but disappeared altogether. However, at that very moment, in the middle of the month, the CUTC announced the upcoming release of its new (second) catalogue: “See our Catalogue, containing descriptive list of scenes from RUSSIA, JAPAN, CHINA, BORNEO, CEYLON, CASHMERE, INDIA, TIBET, MACEDONIA, TURKEY, BULGARIA, etc.”55 This is how The

54

ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ 1903 ɝ. ɉɨɞɝɨɬɨɜɤɚ ɧɚ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɱɟɫɤɚɬɚ ɚɪɦɢɹ ɢ ɯɨɞ ɧɚ ɛɨɣɧɢɬɟ ɞɟɣɫɬɜɢɹ [The Ilinden– Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903. Military Preparation and Execution] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 1992), 265. 55 The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,412 (February 13, 1904), 34; no. 3,413 (February 20, 1904), 34.

206

Chapter Six

List of the Latest Urban Film Subjects. Forming Supplement No. 1 to our General Catalogue Issue of November, 1903 came into being.56

An illustration from The Balkan Trail

56

Catalogue List of Film Subjects, Produced by The Charles Urban Trading Co Ltd, London, 1903–1904, 204 pages, illustrated. Plus supplements nos. 1 to 5 (52 p, 8 p, 4 p, 20 p, 24 p, illustrated).

CHAPTER SEVEN 1904: THE FORMING SUPPLEMENT NO. 1 TO THE CHARLES URBAN TRADING CO. LTD. GENERAL CATALOGUE ISSUE

In spite of all my efforts, I have not managed to get hold of the complete edition of The Forming Supplement No. 1 (1904) presenting “The Latest Urban Film Subjects,” which were shot during the short period (most probably) from September/October 1903 to February/March 1904. However, I have copies of its pages dedicated to the seventeen films Charles Noble made in Bulgaria. The titles of eleven of them (nos. 1,154– 64) are included in the separate “Macedonia and Bulgaria” section occupying pages 10–12. The other six films (nos. 1,228–33) appear in the “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia” section (p. 32–5). Although these films have been repeatedly mentioned, I am going to take the liberty of presenting them again as they were “officially” announced for the first time in the 1904 Charles Urban Trading Company Ltd. Catalogue. MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA. Photographs by Mr. C. Rider Noble, our Bioscopic Representative, now operating with the Bulgarian Army. These pictures were secured at great expense and risk, and are the only Animated Pictures of Macedonian and Bulgarian Scenes in existence. 1154 REFUGEES AT RILO [RILA] MONASTERY. These poor Christian fugitives from the Turkish villages of Macedonia have fled, in fear of massacre, across the frontier into Bulgaria, seeking the protection of the Monks of Rilo Monastery, in the Balkans. They are in a deplorable condition, with little or no money, and almost without clothing, many having crossed the rugged and snowy mountains (in the clothing they are here depicted, some being barefooted), fleeing from districts hundreds of miles from their present sanctuary. Length 100 feet.

208

Chapter Seven

The front cover of the first CUTC catalogue (November 1903) The solemn opening of the Inaugural Session of the Thirteenth Ordinary National Assembly (Sofia, November 2/15, 1903) A catalogue advertisement page The title page of the thematic section

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue 1155 Special … THE FEAST OF ST. JOHN AT RILO MONASTERY. Rilo Monastery was founded 400 years B.C., but on various occasions was destroyed by fire. The present building was erected some 400 years ago, and its reconstruction is celebrated each year, after service in the Church, by a procession of monks, joined by Bulgarian and Macedonian peasants, who perform a pilgrimage to Rilo to be present on this occasion. The band consists of a young man beating a piece of wood and another with a bell. Excellent photographic quality. Length 150 feet. 1156 REFUGEES AT SAMOKOVE. Refugees at Samokove seeking protection in this small town, which is only about 1½ hour’s march from the Frontier, having been exiled from the villages in the district of Belitza, Cramen and Obedin. These poor creatures are now being fed on bread and soup once a day. The money for this purpose has been subscribed by a Russian Society, the Bulgarian Government, and S.A.R. Prince[ss] Clementine de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, mother of the Prince of Bulgaria. Length 100 feet. 1157 OUTSIDE THE FRONTIER TOWN OF SAMOKOVE. Thirty-five miles east of Sofia, an important post near the Turkish frontier. The first section shows the monks leaving church after prayer. This picture shows many poor refugees seeking shelter and food, having fled from Macedonia to escape the Turk, some travelling a hundred miles, always at night, in hiding during the day, and present truly a most pitiable sight. Length 75 feet. 1158 TYPICAL STREET OF DOUBNITZA [DUPNITSA], BULGARIA. The buildings skirting the streets are not of great architectural beauty, while the paving of the streets does no credit to the municipality. Over these roughly paved but picturesque streets are seen oxcarts, pack-horses, &e., carrying casks of wine of the country. Length 50 feet. 1159 A TOBACCO FARM AT CRAPITS. This shows the tobacco leaf strung in long garlands being shaken during the process of drying by the farmer or grower and his sons, while the other members of the family are all occupied in spinning, carding wool, &e., convincing in itself that the Bulgarian peasant makes the best use of his or her time. Length 75 feet. 1160 Special … H.E. MINISTER OF WAR, M. SAVOFF, OF BULGARIA, HIS STAFF AND BODYGUARD. The first picture shows M. Savoff, the Minister of War, cheerfully chatting with his Staff Officers. The next shows a regiment of Bulgarian troops lined up for inspection, while the last section shows the march past of the bodyguard, a squad of men of fine physique and training, carrying the conviction of high military training. Length 150 feet.

209

210

Chapter Seven

The refugees at the Rila Monastery 1161 BULGARIAN MOUNTAIN INFANTRY IN THE BALKANS. A troop of Mountain Infantry unloading guns and carriages from pack-horses, assembling and firing same. These men are noted for the expeditious manner in which they perform their duties. The last section shows a squad of Frontier Patrol descending steep defile. Length 125 feet. 1162 BULGARIAN INFANTRY PATROLLING THE FRONTIER AT DOUBNITZA. Bulgarian Mounted Infantry march past. These are picked men, and do duty along the different passes. They are very fine horsemen, and keep an eye on miles of frontier. The last section shows a squad of this mounted patrol proceeding through a steep defile, the path being too narrow to allow of other order of procedure except in single file. Length 75 feet. 1163 THE BULGARIAN FRONTIER AT COTCHARINOVA. This picture shows one of the most interesting posts on the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier, as over this bridge the Turks must enter the Bulgarian country from the south-east. This is really one of the most interesting pictures of the series, as it shows the Bulgarian and Turkish sentinels keeping post immediately on the frontier, only a few feet separating them. Should either cross the line, these opponents would, without hesitation, open fire upon them, which would practically mean a declaration of war. Length 50 feet. 1164 OPENING OF THE BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT BY PRINCE FERDINAND OF BULGARIA, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903. Who granted us special permission and facilities tɨ Bioscope the event. Note. – This will become a most valuable picture in the event of War being declared between Bulgaria and Turkey, as it was decided at this meeting of

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue Parliament that Bulgaria will stand by the Macedonians in their struggle for freedom.

“This is really one of the most interesting pictures of the series …” The action in this picture shows the arrival of troops, the advance guard, the body guard of the Prince, and the carriages drawn up at the stairs leading to the entrance. From these ascend Prince Ferdinand, the Minister

211

212

Chapter Seven of War, and other officials who are likely to come most prominently before the world by Spring, when it is expected that hostilities open in real earnest. Excellent portraits, unique. Length 125 feet.1

Mihail Savov (1857–1928) as a young man

1

List of the Latest Urban Film Subjects. Forming Supplement No. 1 to our General Catalogue Issue of November, 1903 (London: The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., 1904), 10–12.

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

213

The above text finishing on page 12 is followed (on the same page) by a new thematic section, which is titled “MISCELLANEOUS.” It contains the following five titles: A Bun-Eating Competition (no. 1,165), Training of Our Bluejackets (no. 1,166), Drill and Play on a Training Ship (no. 1,167), Vagaries of Animated Photography (no. 1,168), and A Troupe of Russian Dancers (no. 1,169). The “NORTH BORNEO” section starts right after the last film (on page 13) – “A Grand Series of unique Pictures, photographed by Mr. H. M. Lomas (Member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain).”2 Even a cursory comparison of the above extended quotation and the information in The Era advertisement columns, published from November 21, 1903 to January 9, 1904,3 shows that there are several differences between the texts. However, they are not significant. Therefore, I will save myself the effort of carrying out an in-depth comparative analysis, which is pointless in the present case. Nevertheless, I will not deny myself the pleasure of presenting the second thematic section, comprising six titles, five of which are the insurgent films that have been repeatedly mentioned. WITH THE INSURGENT BANDS OF MACEDONIA Photographed by Mr. C. Rider Noble. 1228 AN INSURGENT BAND IN COVER. This picture shows a portion of Quevgueliisky’s Band around a camp fire in a clearing surrounded by heavy undergrowth. The men are constantly on the alert against surprises by the Turks, who are harassing them whenever possible. Length 50 feet. TVANTCHO QUEVGUELIISKY AND HIS BAND Tvantcho Quevgueliisky is a native from the village of Kara-Souli [Karasouli], near Salonica [Thessaloniki]. He is now in his 27th year. When a lad of 19 he entered the Macedonian revolutionary organization, and was one of the ablest and most daring courriers. In 1896 he was taken prisoner, tried, and condemned for life. After seven months he made his escape, fled to the mountains, and became the leader of an insurgent band. He is now the revolutionary chief of the Guevgueli [Gevgelija] district. His exploits are in the Kojouh [Kožuf] and Meglen Mountains. He has often made attacks on the garrison near Salonica. In the insurrection this autumn he has lead more than sixteen terrible fights, among which in the villages 2

Ibid., 13. “The Macedonian Atrocities,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,400 (November 21, 1903), 35; “Latest Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,401 (November 28, 1903), 31; no. 3,402 (December 5, 1903), 32; “With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,406 (January 2, 1904), 40; “With the Insurgents through Macedonia,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,407 (January 9, 1904), 31.

3

214

Chapter Seven

The title page of the thematic section

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue Petrovo (district of Enidje Vardar), Gorgofik (district of Guevgueli), in the Ridge of Kezless, near the Payak Mountains, etc., at the head of these fights – Tvantcho, with only a small band. He has shown himself a born leader. Surrounded several times by large Turkish forces, has given them heavy losses, and could always at the right moment make his escape with his men. His movements are very quick, and the population adore him. General Ivan Tzontcheff. – “Man of Duty.” With these three words can be characterized the General of the Bulgarian Army Reserves. He was born on the 29th of August, 1859, in the Bulgarian town of Drenoro [Drenovo]. It was there he received his early education. At the commencement of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877, when only 18 years of age, he entered the Russian Army, joining the Company of Bulgarian Champions, and fought at the summit of Shipka. When peace was declared he entered the Military Academy at Sofia, and graduated in 1879. With commission of sublieutenant in 1883, he joined the Russian Army, serving two years with the 12th Division. In 1885 he was promoted to the rank of captain, and in the Serbian-Bulgarian War he commanded a company of the Preslav’s regiment, and took part in the three days’ fight of Slionitza [Slivnitza], when was decided the honour and the future of the Bulgarian principality. In the famous attack of his regiment, Tzontcheff exhibited wonderous bravery, the young commander only leaving the field of battle when severely wounded through his breast, but thanks to kindly care and a sound constitution he was spared death. From 1890 to 1898 he was the chief of the Iskir’s [Iskar’s] regiment. From 1898 to 1901 was the commander of the Vidin’s Fortress, and soon after was the chief of the 2nd Brigade, Vidin’s Division. In the month of February, 1901, he retired into the Reserves with the rank of GeneralMajor, since which time he has been at the head of the Macedonian Revolution. In disguise he entered Macedonia, saw the sufferings of his brothers, and observing their thirst for liberty from that moment devoted himself entirely to the Macedonian cause and her struggle for freedom. During the Revolution of 1902, he, with his band, entered Macedonian territory, and during a fight with the Turks was again badly wounded. And now where the Macedonians and Andrinopolitans have spread their banner for Liberty, Ivan Tzontcheff is at their head. 1229 A MACEDONIAN INSURGENT BAND ON THE MARCH (Under the leadership of Tvantcho Quevgueliisky). The idea of this picture was to produce a portrait likeness of each member of this famous band, and permission of the Commander was given to have his followers march towards and past the camera in single file. The brave bearing of each man, the resolute expressions of their faces as well as their peculiar uniforms lend themselves to the picturesque aspect of this subject. The last section depicts a group of the band surrounding their leader who is seen discussing the contents of a despatch with his lieutenant. Length 100 feet.

215

216

Chapter Seven

Ivan Hristov Ordzhanov (1875–1905), also known as Ivancho Gevgelijsky

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue 1230 A SKIRMISH WITH THE TURKS IN THE BALKANS. By one of the most important Insurgent Bands, under the direct lead of General Tzontcheff, who is present and seen giving orders, also present are the following officers (who are fighting almost every day with this band) (see illustration, page 33) – Col. Anastas Yancoff [Yankov], Lieut. Ilia Baltoff [Baltov] and Lieut. Kotcho Nasteff [Kocho Nastev]. The first section gives a general view of the snow covered Balkan Mountains with the Insurgent Band wending their way through the deep snow. They rest in the middle of the day and light a fire. The man on the look-out gives an alarm to the General, who orders his men under arms ready for an attack. They take fresh cover and await the onslaught of the Turks, who fire at them from a distant knoll. The Insurgents now take matters in hand, and their mode of fighting is here shown to great advantage. Note. – There is much snow on the mountains, and our operator, Mr. Noble, endured many hardships and suffered intensely with the cold in order to procure these pictures. He entertains great admiration for the men who do not seem to mind the cold in the least, and the way they get about in the deep snows with which all passes are blocked. Length 200 feet. 1231 Special. MACEDONIAN INSURGENTS’ FIGHT WITH THE TURKS. An every day incident with this Band under the leadership of Quevgueliisky, during their progress through Macedonia. The opening section of this picture shows the precautions taken by the band in preventing being ambuscaded by the Turks. One of the band is sent in advance to throw a dynamite bomb into a clump of trees to make certain that there are no enemy in hiding. He is seen lighting the fuse of a bomb, running towards the likely ambush into which he throws the bomb. He drops to the ground awaiting the explosion, and seeing no quarry the band moves on. This is a certain test as no Turk will face this terrible explosion of dynamite. We next see the band halting by the way, hidden in tall fir undergrowth. Some of the band are cleaning their guns while others are on sentinel duty. The third picture shows the band making its way in single file over a mountain stream. One of the men is seen to fall, his companions taking a hurried look at him, and then pass on quickly to revenge themselves on the Turk who fired the shot. The fourth scene shows the band making through a wood, dodging from tree to tree, and cautiously looking from right to left for any sign of danger. The fifth view depicts a clearing which the men must cross. While so doing another of the band is shot. His comrades always ready in case of attack, quicken their pace and rush towards the cover from which the shot was fired. We now see them advance in earnest and taking their position under the best cover at hand, open fire on the squad of Turks. Four members of the band are seen to fall though wounded they continue to pump lead into the enemy. An exciting picture. Note – This incident was not arranged for the benefit of our photographer, but was secured at great risk to himself, as he had no guarantee from the leader of the band of absolutely coming through

217

218

Chapter Seven unscathed. The only promise he had, when he joined the band, was that if he was after exciting bioscope pictures, his opportunities would be many. Mr. Noble succeeded in securing this picture, which is absolutely unique, showing the fighting methods of the band and their manner of causing consternation amongst the Turkish outposts in their path. Length 225 feet. This and the preceding three are ABSOLUTELY the only Genuine Animated Pictures in existence of Macedonian Insurgent Bands operating in hostile territory. 1232 THE NATIONAL DANCE OF MACEDONIA AND BULGARIA. The young people are dressed in their best, and continue the same dance for hours together, on Sunday afternoons or any holiday occasions. Their attire is most picturesque. The music, as shown in the picture, is furnished by a soldier, who plays a strange tune on a sort of home-made fiddle, which has but two strings. This picture was taken in the village of Gornia Bania [Gorna Banya], about three hours’ drive from Sofia. Length 50 feet. 1233 INITIATING A NEW MEMBER INTO AN INSURGENT BAND. The joining member is taken blindfolded to a meeting place of the Insurgents in the Balkan Mountains, where he is put to severe tests as to his faithfulness and loyalty to the cause, after which the oath is taken, and he then receives the salutations of his brothers in arms. Length 60 feet.4

This section also repeats the texts already known from the periodicals, but only in terms of titles, film annotations, film numbering, and length (in feet). The biographical data (original verbal portraits) of the two leaders of the insurgents – Ivancho Gevgelijsky and General Ivan Tsonchev – can be perceived as new and absolutely unknown so far against this unvaried background. An annotation, so far unknown, accompanying the film subject Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band (no. 1,233), appeared for the first time in “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia.” The fact, otherwise prosaic, that the ethnographical and folklore film The National Dance of Macedonia and Bulgaria (no. 1,232) “was taken in the village of Gornia Bania” – one of present-day Sofia’s residential areas – is also surprising. The most impressing feature in The Forming Supplement No. 1, however, are the photographs illustrating both sections.

4

List of the Latest Urban Film Subjects. Forming Supplement No. 1 to our General Catalogue Issue of November, 1903 (London: The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., 1904), 32–5.

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

219

Ivancho Gevgelijsky Ivan Hristov Ordzhanov (1875–1905) was born in Karasuli (or Rugunovec) – at that time, it was a village of the Gevgelija Municipality (part of the Salonica Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire). Nowadays, it is the town of Polykastro in northern Greece. That is why he was called Ivancho Karasulijata (“Ivancho” is the diminutive of the male given name “Ivan”), Ivancho Gevgelijsky, or Dilber Ivancho (“Good-looking Ivancho”). He grew up in a poor Bulgarian rural family and was orphaned at an early age. Having no education, still a boy, he became a haidouk, making a living by plundering and racketeering. After managing to escape from Salonica prison, Ivancho joined the IMARO (Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization), serving as a messenger, but also carrying out “wet jobs” (even though he was later described as “simple-hearted,” “innocent,” and “as shy as a peasant girl”). Turkish authorities found out about his terrorist activity and started persecuting him. Thus, he had to go underground. He formed an armed band in 1897. His cheta operated in Kožuf Mountain and Meglen field, as mentioned in the annotation. At the turn of the century, Ivancho Gevgelijsky left for Sofia, where he became a close friend of Ivan Tsonchev and joined the SMAC (Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee) the general led. He returned to his homeland as a supremist commander of an armed band in the spring of 1902, but got into an argument with the local leaders of the IMARO, who prevented his band from taking part in the Gorna Djumaya Uprising. During the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, Gevgelijsky fought several successful major battles: on September 12 against 1,200 Turkish soldiers at Gandach Peak in the Payak Mountains (Mountain Paiko or Pajak in present-day Greece); and on October 13 his cheta (joined by two other voivodi armed bands) defeated the infantry and cavalry sent out against them. After the end of the rebellion, Ivancho Gevgelijsky went to Bulgaria, where Charles Noble must have photographed him (as well as his armed band). A “reckless daredevil” and born commander, he died on March 21, 1905 in the battle of Dzharlov Hill, near the village of Leskovo (“Tria Elata” in Greek). An interesting fact connected with the revolutionary is that his nephew (his sister’s son) was Anton Yugov (1904–91), a Bulgarian politician, one of the leaders of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), and Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1956–62).

220

Chapter Seven

Ivancho Gevgelijsky-Karasulijata – one of the SMAC commanders

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

221

General Ivan Tsonchev Ivan Stefanov Tsonchev was a Bulgarian volunteer in the RussoTurkish War (1877–8), military officer (1879), war hero of the SerbianBulgarian War (1885), General-Major (1901), revolutionary, founder of the Secret Brotherhoods of Officers (1897), vice-president of the SMAC (1901), main organizer of the Gorna Djumaya Uprising (“the Revolution of 1902”), and participant in the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in the Serres Revolutionary District (1903). Many Bulgarian officers fought for the liberation of their brothers in Macedonia, but only Ivan Tsonchev was a general. Moreover, he did that in spite of the threats, arrests, internment, and repression he was subjected to by the ruling Russophiles. All that damaged his health, and he spent the last two years of his life in Sofia Military Hospital. General Tsonchev died there on December 16, 1910 due to “progressive paralysis of the brain.” He closed his eyes there “quietly and silently,” having donated everything he had earned during his successful military career to the Bulgarian liberation and unification struggle. “It would be desirable,” the Sofiyski Novini [Sofia News] editors appealed to their readers, “that the state should pay for the funeral of the late general.”5 Due to the ideological prejudice and political leanings imposed on Bulgarian historians by the Communist regime, which was forcibly established in the country after the Second World War for nearly half a century, Ivan Tsonchev was doomed to oblivion. His name was hardly mentioned in historiography and was always accompanied by words such as “supremist,” “courtier,” or “reactionary.” Only in 2003 did Professor Svetlozar Eldarov manage to present Tsonchev’s personality objectively in his book General Ivan Tsonchev: a Biography of Two Lives. However, even before that, a few historians – who could avoid the total national memory amnesia – considered the general a “hero,” a “giant,” and a “knight.” Even a foreigner, who cannot have known General Tsonchev very well, such as Charles Noble did not hide his sympathy and respect for him, calling him a “Man of Duty.” His notes gave the people, who prepared the catalogue, the opportunity to present the Bulgarian’s biography as faithfully and as fully as possible. Besides, he did that in a very emotional and biased way, which was unusual for the otherwise impartial Englishman.

5

“† General Tsonchev,” Sofiyski Novini, vol. V, no. 54 (December 15, 1910), 3.

222

Chapter Seven

General Ivan Stefanov Tsonchev (1859–1910)

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

223

The Initiation

Oath-taking symbols – a revolver, a dagger, and the Bible

The peak of this strange yet absolutely logical relationship is the act depicted in the film subject called Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band (no. 1,233). Five periodicals – The Era, the Brighton Gazette, The Sportsman, Vanity Fair, and the Talking Machine News and Cinematograph Chronicle – mentioned “swearing allegiance to King Ferdinand I.” A sixth, The Standard, wrote about “the oath to King Ferdinand 1.” The Morning Post, however, put it in other words – “the oath of loyalty.” Moreover, it emphasized the fact that it had been given “to the insurgent chief.” The Era (January 9, 1904) provided the most detailed information: “It is impossible not to sympathise with the efforts of the insurgent bands who have taken up arms to throw off the yoke of Turkish tyranny; and Mr Rider Noble is seen in the centre of one of these guerrilla gatherings. He kisses the flag, and in the ceremony of initiation into the ‘brotherhood’ which follows, the leaders of the insurgents kiss him.” This is not only the wordiest text, but also the closest to the “original” one (the official version), published in the catalogue.

224

Chapter Seven

Kneeling before the flag and kissing it are also elements of the insurgents’ oathtaking ritual

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

225

According to it, “the joining member” (most likely Charles Noble) was “taken blindfolded [a new detail] to a meeting place.” After being subjected to “severe tests,” he took “the oath,” and only then did he receive “the salutations of his brothers in arms.” Who was that “insurgent chief”? Who were those “leaders of the insurgents” or “brothers in arms” who kissed the cameraman in one of the versions, and in the other only saluted him? It must have been General Ivan Tsonchev – his photographs show he had a beard at that time, and its shape and length somehow looked like King Ferdinand’s. The similarity between the two men was not obvious, but enough to mislead people, especially foreigners who had only seen them at a distance. Besides, the general would often appear in public with his staff. He would be photographed surrounded by “the following officers” or “leaders of the insurgents,” whereas Ivancho Gevgelijsky was a single commander. There is also a third reason – the vague toponym, the Balkan Mountains, appeared in the CUTC catalogues in connection with the whereabouts of Tsonchev’s detachment, but not Gevgelijsky’s armed band. And one more issue remains pending – if the “new member” mentioned in the title was Charles Noble, then who filmed that impressive scene?

One of the Most Striking Pictures

Gorna Banya – a village in the foothills of Vitosha at that time; nowadays, a residential area in the capital

226

Chapter Seven

Bulgarian peasants dancing the horo

“As illustrating the lighter and brighter side of Bulgarian life,” The Era wrote on January 9, 1904, “the film devoted to the national dance of the country is excellent. The peasant girls, in their pretty costumes, join hands

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

227

in a ring, and go through some quaint movements.” “The national dance” (“of Macedonia and Bulgaria” or “of Bulgaria” only) was also mentioned by The Morning Post, the Brighton Gazette, The Illustrated London News, and the Whitehall Review that called it “excellent” and “very pretty.” The annotations in the catalogue added a new detail: “The music, as shown in the picture, is furnished by a soldier, who plays a strange tune on a sort of home-made fiddle, which has but two strings.” This is most probably a gadulka (a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument), though it may be a gusla (a single-stringed musical instrument of ancient Slavic origin). However, what is interesting here is the fact that “one of the most striking pictures” turns out to have been filmed “in the village of Gornia Bania [Gorna Banya], about three hours’ drive from Sofia.” Nowadays, Gorna Banya is one of the residential areas of the Bulgarian capital, located approximately 7 km from the city centre.6

The Illustrations Both thematic sections in The Forming Supplement No. 1 advertising Charles Noble’s films are illustrated with photographs. There is one in “Macedonia and Bulgaria” on page 10 accompanied by the following short text: “The Monks at Rilo Monastery, Bulgaria …” The photograph is a full-length portrait of twelve Orthodox monks standing in a row at the entrance of the main temple in the monastery (katholikon) – the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Two photographs are included in “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia.” The first, on page 32, has no accompanying words, but obviously shows Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s cheta – nineteen men in “their peculiar uniforms,” most of them holding rifles in their hands. Eight of them are seen squatting or sitting on the ground (in the foreground). The other eleven are behind them in a row. There is a young man right in the centre of the photograph, and a hand-drawn arrow is pointing at his head. “Tvantcho Quevgueliisky” is written, also by hand, above the arrow. The outline of a two-storey building is seen in the background (although with difficulty) – an indication that the picture was taken in an urban setting, not in some wild or uninhabited balkan.

6

http://bg.guide-bulgaria.com/SW/sofia-city/stolichna/sofia/gorna _banya?t=distances.

228

Chapter Seven

“Macedonian Insurgent Leaders – Genl. Ivan Tsonchev, Col. Anastas Yankov, Lieut. Konstantin Nastev and Lieut. Ilia Baltov” (according to the 1904 CUTC catalogue)

The second photograph included in the section is on page 33. Four armed men dressed in paramilitary clothes are seen standing and there is a mountain ridge in the background. There is a short text under the photograph stating “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders,” and everyone’s name is written above each of the men, preceded by the corresponding military rank – “Col. Anastas Yancoff. Genl. Ivan Tzontcheff. Lieut. Kotcho Nasteff. Lieut. Ilia Baltoff.”

The Photographs of Dilber (Good-looking) Ivancho Five portraits of Ivancho Gevgelijsky have been engraved and preserved for future generations by means of photographic equipment. This fact seems paradoxical given his predominantly underground life. The first of the above portraits to appear accompanied the notice (confirmation) of his death. It was published by the Reformi [Reforms] in

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

229

the summer of 1905.7 The photograph shows the commander standing up, holding his rifle, dressed in traditional clothes. The illustrated book, Macedonia in Pictures [La Macedoine illustree], also printed (under no. 293) a photograph of the revolutionary, taken at a photographic studio and titled “Commander Ivancho Karasulijata.” The book was published in May 1919 by Prof. D-r. Lyubomir Miletich (1863–1937) and the Committee of Studies of Bulgarian Lands, whose president the former was (the royal court publishing house in Sofia was responsible for its production).8 The magazine Ilinden Illustration (published by the Ilinden Organization) offered its readers the same portrait in the summer of 1927.9 So did Macedonia Album-Almanac10 (no. 241, table LXVȱ),11 published in Sofia in 1931, after having been revised and approved by the Macedonian National Committee – “supreme leader of Macedonian emigration.” A version of the same photography (obviously taken in the same studio, but showing the voivoda holding his rifle differently) illustrated the article “Ivancho Karasulijata (Dilber Ivancho)” that commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the revolutionary’s death. It was published on the cover page of one of the issues of Makedonski Vesti [Macedonian News]12 – a weekly “magazine of science, history and literature.” At least two more Ivancho Gevgelijsky photographs are known. In the first one, an exterior (outdoor) photo most probably taken in 1897, he is seen standing next to the famous Postol Voivoda (Apostol Petkov Terziev, 1869–1911). In the second, taken at the studio of Aleksandar Vladikov (1874–1942), a famous Sofia photographer and SMAC activist, he is together with his deputy voivoda Gogo Kirov (they were together even in death, which happened at the same time during the battle near Leskovo).

7

Reformi, vol. Vȱȱ, no. 33 (July 30, 1905), 2. Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɨɛɪɚɡɢ [Macedonia in Pictures] (Sofia: Committee of Studies of Bulgarian Lands, 1919), no. 293. 9 Ilinden Illustration vol. ȱ, no. 4 (August 2, 1927), 16. 10 The book was criminalized and systematically removed from libraries and private individuals from 1944 to 1989, thus becoming an out-of-commerce book. In 2008, the album was reprinted. 11 Ⱥɥɛɭɦ-ɚɥɦɚɧɚɯ “Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ” [Macedonia Album-Almanac] (Sofia: Urezhda Editorial Board, 1931), no. 241, table LXVȱ. 12 Makedonski Vesti, vol. ȱ, no. 24 (July 3, 1935), 1. 8

230

Chapter Seven

Ivancho Gevgelijsky (on the left) with a member of his cheta

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

The Makedonski Vesti (Sofia) commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of Commander Gevgelijsky’s heroic death

231

232

Chapter Seven

Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s armed band

Some Bulgarian periodicals and journals illustrated their pages with the “group portrait” of Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s cheta. Ilinden Illustration, for example, did so in the spring of 1930, but added text saying that the twenty-five-man armed band was not led by him only: “The united cheti of the Kostur commander Dyado Stefo and the Gevgelija commanders Ivan Karasulijata and Lazo Delov – Gevgelijsky.”13 In fact, the photograph showing only Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s armed band appeared earlier, in May 1905, when the Reformi tried to refute the news other newspapers announced – that the voivoda had been killed.14 The same photograph, titled “Iv. Karasulijata’s Cheta,” also appeared in Macedonia in Pictures (no. 294)15 and Macedonia Album-Almanac (no. 240, table LXVȱ).16 However, the big surprise came from The Forming Supplement No. 1, which printed that very photograph on page 32 a year before the Reformi in order to announce three films: An Insurgent Band in Cover, A Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March (Under the leadership of Tvantcho Quevgueliisky) (a peculiar “personal” portrait of the band – 13

Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 7 (27) (1930): 14. Reformi, vol. Vȱȱ, no. 21 (May 7, 1905), 2. 15 Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɨɛɪɚɡɢ [Macedonia in Pictures] (Sofia: Committee of Studies of Bulgarian Lands, 1919), no. 294. 16 Ⱥɥɛɭɦ-ɚɥɦɚɧɚɯ “Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ” [Macedonia Album-Almanac] (Sofia: Urezhda Editorial Board, 1931), no. 240, table LXVȱ. 14

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

233

each member approaching the camera and going past the lens in single file), and Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks. An every day incident with this Band under the leadership of Quevgueliisky, during their progress through Macedonia. Thus, one of the many mysteries, which Charles Noble, Charles Urban, and his company left modern researchers, arises – who took this photograph? Was it a scene taken from one of the above films and used as an illustration? If we agreed with this otherwise logical assumption, we should ascribe its authorship to Noble, who had generously given it to the Reformi. Or, maybe, it was quite the opposite – the editorial team of the newspaper had the photograph and gave it to the Englishman (during his stay in Bulgaria in 1903).

General Tsonchev’s Photographs The photograph “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders,” which preserved the faces of General Ivan Tsonchev, Colonel Anastas Yankov, Lieutenant Konstantin (Kocho) Nastev, and Lieutenant Ilia Baltov, is no-less mysterious. Unlike the previous one of Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s cheta, it was not reprinted or publicized outside the CUTC campaigns (and no “clone” of it has been found so far). This fact makes it unique. However, there is nothing extraordinary about the military “foursome” seen in the photograph – throughout his career, General Tsonchev made friends with military officers from Macedonia and the Adrianople Region, activists of the Brotherhoods and the Macedonian-Adrianople movement. Anastas Yankov and Stefan Nikolov were his classmates at Sofia Military Academy; Aleksandar Protogerov and Dimitar Dumbalakov were part of his military unit during the battles of Slivnitza; Ilia Baltov and Ivan Kamburov did their military service with him in Shumen, where the Seventh Preslav Infantry Regiment was located; and Nikola Dagaradinov and Aleksandar Protogerov were under his commandment in the Second Iskar Infantry Regiment (Konstantin Nastev later joined it). This happened in Sofia, Lovech, Ruse, Tarnovo, and Vidin.17

17 S. Eldarov, Ƚɟɧɟɪɚɥ ɂɜɚɧ ɐɨɧɱɟɜ 1859–1910 [General Ivan Tsonchev 1859– 1910: a Biography of Two Lives] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 2003), 75–6.

234

Ivan Tsonchev as a line officer

Chapter Seven

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

235

It is a common practice nowadays to illustrate the text presenting a certain film with a scene or scenes from it. However, the three pictures the CUTC used to illustrate the two thematic sections in question cannot have been from the “Bulgarian films” listed in The Forming Supplement No. 1. The mise en scène of the three photographs was not very ingenious – the twelve Orthodox monks, the nineteen members of Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s band, and the four “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders,” standing in a row. This may be appropriate when taking a simple, static amateur picture, but is absolutely insufficient when it comes to professional motion pictures, let alone cinematographic pictures meeting the specific requirements of one of the most difficult genres – “war films,” such as (according to their annotations) the films about Ivancho Gevgelijsky and General Ivan Tsonchev. Besides, those films were made successfully, as the words of praise used by the London press covering their projections at the Alhambra Music Hall show. That is why I do not exclude the possibility that those three pictures repeatedly mentioned were taken not by Charles Noble himself, but by another photographer – a foreigner or Bulgarian who took them before their English colleague arrived in Bulgaria, and later kindly gave them to him so that he would use them. As a vice-president of the SMAC and the de facto leader of the organization, Ivan Tsonchev often communicated with European journalists. After the outbreak of the uprising, those contacts became more frequent – especially with war correspondents, who had been sent out to cover the event. It has already been mentioned that the subjects of King Edward VII were the most numerous among the journalists. One of them was Reginald Wyon – the author of The Balkans from Within. The portrait “General Tzontcheff” (no. 2, p. 10) can be seen at the very beginning of the book. In fact, a version of this photograph, which was the most popular one of the general, appeared in The Sphere at the beginning of October 1903 when the magazine printed the portraits of four insurgent leaders: Ivan Tsonchev, Toma Davidov (1868–1903), Aleksandar Protogerov (1867– 1928), and Boris Sugarev (1878–1903). The text above them read: “Some of the Leaders of the Macedonian Insurrectionists who are Ex-Officers of the Bulgarian Army.”18 The pictures must have been given to the editors of the London magazine by Reginald Wyon, whose full-length figure is seen (“The man in the white coat”) in one of the six pictures – “Photographs Taken Specially for The Sphere on the next page (11) under the headline ‘The Crisis in Macedonia’.”19 18 19

The Sphere, vol. XV, no. 193 (October 3, 1903), 10. Ibid., 11.

236

Chapter Seven

General Ivan Tsonchev (on the left) and Colonel Anastas Yankov

The photograph “A Band of Insurgents” (no. 43), showing a numerous cheta consisting of more than seventy men sitting and even lying in a large glade, was printed in The Balkans from Within on page 146. Even though Tsonchev’s name was not mentioned in the title of the photograph, later reprints show that it depicted “the united cheti of General Ivan Tsonchev,” and that the Australian Arthur Hales and the Russian Boris Tageev20 were among the “actors” together with the Bulgarian officers Stefan Nikolov, Ilia Baltov, Lyubomir Stoenchev, Hristo Sarakinov, Tsonchev himself (the man lying in the front row – Hales and Colonel Stefan Nikolov are on his left and Second Lieutenant Ilia Baltov is on his right). They all can also be identified in the illustration “Taking the Oath” (no. 52, p. 166) that has preserved one of the most exciting rituals of the insurgents. However, 20 Boris Leonidovich Tageev (1871–1938) was a famous war writer and correspondent, orientalist, and explorer. He fought in the Russo-Japanese War, but was captured in July 1904. During the First World War (1914–18) he joined the British Army and was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel. He sent regular reports from the frontline to the Daily Express. After the war he worked in the United States for the trade union of newspaper journalists at Henry Ford’s financial group.

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

237

photograph no. 65 (p. 198), titled “General Tzontcheff Reconnoitring,” seems to be the most interesting one. The faces of ten armed men dressed in paramilitary clothes, which insurgents used to wear, can be seen in this group portrait with a huge rock in the background. Of course, the general was also among those people. If the few “refugee scenes” in The Balkans from Within are not to be considered, it turns out that these four illustrations are the only photographs in the book directly related to the Ilinden Uprising and that they all depict General Ivan Tsonchev.

General Tsonchev (in the foreground) with insurgents of his military unit

However, the author of the book admitted the following: I was unlucky in not meeting any of the great leaders in Bulgaria. General Tzontcheff, the greatest and most chivalrous of them all, was “across the border,” though I met him afterwards in Vienna; Yankoff, Boris Sarafoff, and all the rest of them, likewise. They were busy tidying up for the winter, so to speak. I am, however, looking forward keenly to the spring, when I trust to see them at work.21

21

Reginald Wyon, The Balkans from Within (London: J. Finch & Co., 1904), 154.

238

Chapter Seven

How, then, did Reginald Wyon happen to have the photograph “General Tzontcheff Reconnoitring,” which was probably taken in the autumn in 1903? Someone must have given it to him. Who? This might have been the author of the unique photochronicle, whose identity and nationality have so far remained unknown. Even a poorly-informed newspaper such as the Reformi did not rule out the possibility. Regarding the illustrations in The Balkans from Within, it mentioned that “most” of them had been “taken by the author himself,”22 meaning Wyon. Most of the photographs – but not all! The mystery is even greater due to the fact that the author did not mention in his book anything about the time and place of the event. By contrast, Ilinden Illustration, the magazine that printed the photograph at least twice,23 assured its readers that it was taken “during the Ilinden Uprising,” and managed to identify meticulously the ten men seen in it. In the early 1940s, a periodical – which I have unfortunately not managed to identify – also printed the photograph and established where the action took place – “near the village of Pirin” (a detail unknown until that moment). At the beginning of the autumn of 1903, Reginald Wyon did not succeed in meeting Ivan Tsonchev in person, but eventually they met “afterwards in Vienna.” However, the general met John MacDonald on May 10; got in touch with A. Hamilton, the war correspondent of Reuters who often received news for the agency from the Bulgarian; sent a letter (most probably, in September) to James Bourchier’s correspondent, in which he analysed the course of the uprising; and publicly addressed The Daily News editor-in-chief on October 23/November 5. “So far, dozens of correspondents have expressed their wish to visit General Tsonchev’s camp in order to keep track of his actions,” the Reformi wrote on September 13, “and to fight side by side with him.”24 One of those who had the honour of fighting “side by side with him” was Arthur Hales. He described the general as “one of the most remarkable people in the Balkan Peninsula,” “a very noble gentleman,” “a glorious soldier, the prince’s favourite,” and “the idol of his soldiers.”25 The words the Australian used to describe Tsonchev’s appearance also deserve attention: “this short, lean man, who looked like a well-educated Englishman,” “he was a short, good-looking man, with fair hair, beard and moustache,” and “he did not seem to be more than thirty-six or thirty22

Reformi, vol. Vȱ, no. 12 (February 14, 1904), 4. Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 3 (23) (February 1930), 15; vol. Vȱȱ, no. 6 (66) (April 1935), 9. 24 Reformi, vol. V, no. 40 (September 13, 1903), 4. 25 “With the Cheti,” Reformi, vol. V, no. 46 (October 26, 1903), 2–3. 23

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

239

seven years old”26 (at that time, Tsonchev was forty-five). The description must be objective as it was provided by a foreigner, whereas Bulgarian ones were rife with prejudice. The General’s men praised him as if he had been a god, while his enemies defamed him and scoffed at him (mainly because of his short stature – “maybe less than 1.70 m”27). Talking about human weaknesses, I was reminded that Ivan Tsonchev’s enemies accused him of being vainglorious. If the number of his photographs can serve to prove this “weakness” of his then, honestly speaking, the general was quite a humble man, because his entire “career as an actor” ended with the pictures mentioned so far. “The English link” of the general can be attributed to his desire to attract the attention of the Great Powers, among which the United Kingdom had “the most radical views”28 regarding the Macedonian question. Therefore, he made serious efforts to win the support of UK public opinion and established the most active contacts with British journalists. As a result, British periodicals often mentioned his name. In mid-August 1903 they informed the British society on the progress of “The Bulgarian Insurrectionary Movement in Macedonia,” saying that “General Tzontcheff and his friend Colonel Jankoff” had been arrested “near the Macedonian frontier” by the Bulgarian police “under suspicion of going to join the revolutionists.”29 This (foreign-policy) perspective could explain why the general and some of his closest collaborators won Charles Noble’s favour (hardly by chance), and he filmed them. Tsonchev might have seen some of the films during his visit to London at the end of 1903.30

26

Ibid. S. Eldarov, Ƚɟɧɟɪɚɥ ɂɜɚɧ ɐɨɧɱɟɜ 1859–1910. Ȼɢɨɝɪɚɮɢɹ ɧɚ ɞɜɚ ɠɢɜɨɬɚ [General Ivan Tsonchev 1859–1910: a Biography of Two Lives] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 2003), 63. 28 Ibid., 136 29 “Foreign and Colonial,” The Daily News (August 14, 1903), 6; “Arrests in Bulgaria,” The Daily News (August 14, 1903), 7; The Citizen (Gloucester), vol. 28, no. 193 (August 14, 1903), 3; Sheffield Daily Telegraph (August 14, 1903), 5; “Ex-Bulgarian Officer Arrested,” The Globe (August 14, 1903), 3. 30 S. Eldarov, Ƚɟɧɟɪɚɥ ɂɜɚɧ ɐɨɧɱɟɜ 1859–1910. Ȼɢɨɝɪɚɮɢɹ ɧɚ ɞɜɚ ɠɢɜɨɬɚ [General Ivan Tsonchev 1859–1910: a Biography of Two Lives] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 2003), 134–6. 27

240

Chapter Seven

Newspaper reports about General Tsonchev published in British periodicals

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

241

At the beginning of December, Ivan Tsonchev “hit the road.” His tour was covered by the periodicals in the United Kingdom and his itinerary throughout Europe was meticulously traced (some periodicals asserted he might even drop in to the United States). The general’s first stopover was Belgrade, where he stayed for three days. After that, on December 7, he left for Vienna where he was interviewed by the local Reuters correspondent. The interview was published (abridged or unabridged) in a number of British newspapers31 on December 11 thanks to the Press Association, which immediately disseminated it. On December 10, late in the evening, Tsonchev went to Paris32 where he met Théophile Delcassé (1852–1923), the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1898–1905)33 on December 15. The Bulgarian was warmly welcomed in London where he attended the Sunday mass at “the majestic St. Paul’s Cathedral” on December 20; published a manifesto to the British people on the following day34; and took part in a dinner organized in his honour at the National Liberal Club on December 28 by Mr. A. G. Gardiner, together with “a number of wellknown sympathizers with the Macedonians in their struggle against Turkish misrule,” where Mr. Charles Roden Buxton was among the guests.35 The British press covered Ivan Tsonchev’s visit, publishing nearly a hundred news reports – The Times telegrams, which other periodicals happily reprinted, were the most numerous. The newspapers described the guest as “the gallant general,”36 “the commander-in-chief of the insurgents in Eastern Macedonia,”37 “the supreme military chief of the Macedonian insurgents,”38 “a national hero,”39 and “the Macedonian Garibaldi.”40 31

The Daily News (December 11, 1903), 9; The Standard, p. 7; Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, p. 7; The Dundee Courier, p. 5; Sheffield Daily Telegraph, p. 7; Belfast News-Letter, p. 7; Leeds Mercury, p. 5; Aberdeen Daily Journal, p. 4; Eastern Daily Press, p. 6; Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, p. 7; Derby Daily Telegraph, p. 2; Sheffield Independent, p. 5; The Scotsman, p. 4. 32 The Standard (December 11, 1903), 7. 33 “Macedonia’s Future: a Decisive Step. Tzontcheff Sees M. Delcasse.” The Daily News (December 16, 1903), 9. 34 “General Tzontcheff’s Manifesto,” The Daily News (December 23, 1903), 10. 35 “A National Hero: Dinner to General Tzontcheff,” The Daily News, no. 18,026 (December 29, 1903), 16. 36 St James’s Gazette (December 17, 1903), 4. 37 Bolton Evening News (December 21, 1903), 2. 38 Witney Gazette and West Oxfordshire Advertiser (December 26, 1903), 5. 39 “A National Hero: Dinner to General Tzontcheff,” The Daily News, no. 18,026 (December 29, 1903), 16.

242

Chapter Seven

Photographs of Colonel Anastas Yankov Colonel Anastas Yankov Dinkov (1860–1906) can also be called a “Man of Duty” – and deservedly so. He was a worthy Bulgarian Army officer, supremist, and General Tsonchev’s trusted brother-in-arms. It cannot have been a coincidence that British periodicals almost always mentioned their names together.41

Cabinet cards of Colonel Anastas Yankov (1860–1906)

Anastas Yankov was born in the village of Zagorichani, Kostur District – a stronghold of Bulgarian national spirit until the 1940s, hence its sobriquet “Little Sofia” (the present-day Vasiliada Kastorias in Greece). He took part in the Serbian-Turkish War (1876) and the Russo-Turkish War (1877–8) as a volunteer. The third armed conflict, in which Yankov showed his courage, was the Serbian-Bulgarian War (1885), which took place after he had graduated Sofia Military Academy (in 1880). As a 40

A. G. Hales, “Ivan Tzontcheff: the Macedonian Garibaldi,” The Daily News (December 16, 1903), 16. 41 “Foreign and Colonial,” The Daily News (August 14, 1903), 6; “Arrests in Bulgaria,” The Daily News (August 14, 1903), 7; The Citizen (Gloucester), vol. 28, no. 193 (August 14, 1903), 3; Sheffield Daily Telegraph (August 14, 1903), 5; “Ex-Bulgarian Officer Arrested,” The Globe (August 14, 1903), 3; “Macedonian Crisis,” The Leeds & Yorkshire Mercury (September 1, 1903), 5; “Bulgarian War Preparations,” The Londonderry Sentinel, year 74 (September 1, 1903), 3; “Insurgent Leaders Take the Field,” The Leeds & Yorkshire Mercury (September 7, 1903), 5; “The Balkan Crisis. Times Special Telegram. Per Press Association,” The Western Morning News, no. 13,593 (September 7, 1903), 8; “News from Macedonia,” The Belfast News-Letter, vol. CLXVII, no. 27,460 (September 8, 1903), 5; A. G. Hales, “A Brilliant Deed,” The Daily News (September 29, 1903), 7; “The Balkan Outbreak,” Aberdeen Daily Journal, year 156, no. 15,198 (October 6, 1903), 6.

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

243

SMAC activist, he tried to organize a rebellion in the regions of Kostur and Lerin in 1902.42 Although it failed, there are still many legends about his march in his homeland.

Studio photographs of Colonel Yankov

During the Ilinden Uprising, Yankov’s armed band operated near Razlog, striking terror into the Turks, who respected him and called him “Yanko Pasha.” The fact that the photographer S. Marinov, who published (in the first decade of the twentieth century) a photo album dedicated to “His Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand I of Bulgaria,” placed his portrait next to that of General Tsonchev, also bears testimony to his leading role in the SMAC. In the album, titled Pictures of the Lives of Macedonian-Adrianople Insurgents in 1903, but called “the King’s Album” by archivists, the following is written in calligraphy under the names of the two heroes: “Major Macedonian Revolutionary Activists.”43 Another heroic portrait of Colonel Yankov was probably taken at the same time and in the same place (S. Marinov’s photographic studio). He was in the same clothes, with the same backdrop (American shot, again, but this time Yankov was standing). 42

I. Burilkova and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɉɬ ɋɨɮɢɹ ɞɨ Ʉɨɫɬɭɪ (ɋɩɨɦɟɧɢ) [From Sofia to Kostur (Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva, 2003), 115. 43 CSA, Archival Fund 3ɤ, Inventory 7, ɚ. ɟ. 420

244

Chapter Seven

Only the upper part of the first photograph (published in “the King’s Album”) was later used. It shows the sturdy body of the commander waistup (the same dagger is clearly visible as in the prototype).44

Colonel Yankov’s cheta

Two more portraits of Yanko Pasha (all waist-up shots) have survived thanks to the periodicals.45 Most likely, the Australian sent one of them, in which the colonel is seen “in his smart uniform” (according to Arthur Hales) and his chest is decorated with decorations and medals, to The Daily News. I would dare to provide a clarification on the abovementioned uniforms – many Bulgarian Army officers would enter enslaved Macedonia wearing those clothes and fight in the cheti, thus having a strong psychological impact on local people who reverentially called them “voivodi with shoulder straps.” Quite naturally, Anastas Yankov’s outdoor photographs taken during the rebellion arouse the greatest interest. Unfortunately, there are also only a few of them – at least, I know of only four such photographs: the one in The Forming Supplement No. 1; two more published in Ilinden Illustration (“The Cheta of Commander-Colonel Anastas Yankov”46 and “Cheti under the Common Command of Colonel Yankov in 1903”47); as well as one more (the fourth photograph) printed on a postcard (size 14/9 cm), which was most probably taken at the same time as the third. On the other hand, there were hundreds of publications in the British press mentioning the Bulgarian’s name. Besides, there was more than one 44

Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɨɛɪɚɡɢ [Macedonia in Pictures] (Sofia: Committee of Studies of Bulgarian Lands, 1919), 65, no. 265; Macedonia Album-Almanac (Sofia: Urezhda Editorial Board, 1931), no. 974/no. 86, table ɏɏȱV, and no. 1,048/no. 160, table ɏLVȱ. 45 Reformi, vol. V, no. 40 (September 13, 1903), 1; Ilinden Illustration, no. 3–4 (73–4): 15. 46 Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱV, no. 10 (40) (June 1932), 13. 47 Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱX, no. 10 (100) (1938), 6.

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

245

line dedicated especially to him. The most impressive was what Arthur Hales, who was also a poet, wrote. On Christmas Day 1903, the Australian wrote the poem “Yankoff’s Address to His Men. A Story of Macedonia,” which The Daily News illustrated with a graphic picture and published on January 29, 1904.48

British press materials dedicated to Colonel Anastas Yankov

Photographs of Lieutenant Konstantin (Kocho) Nastev Konstantin Nastev’s face (1880–1916) appeared not only in the illustration in The Forming Supplement No. 1 of the CUTC, but also in Ilinden Illustration.49 The photograph “The Voivoda – Lieutenant Colonel Kocho Nastev (in the Middle) with his Comrades” shows five insurgents. One of them is wearing a winter military uniform, another (Nastev) is in paramilitary clothes, and the rest are dressed in the eclectic cheta style. 48

A. G. Hales, “Yankoff’s Address to His Men: a Story of Macedonia,” The Daily News, no. 18,053 (January 29, 1904), 12. 49 Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱV, no. 6 (36) (November 1931), 16.

246

Chapter Seven

Lieutenant Konstantin Nastev (1880–1916)

Nastev’s name also appeared in an interesting memoir, titled From the Diary of a Cheta-Member and published in the Reformi. It attested to an entire photography session that took place on August 8, 1903. On that day, Captain Yordan Stoyanov’s band, numbering “more than 150” people, was having a rest “under the pines in a dense forest” (in the Rila Mountains). One of Stoyanov’s Deputy Commanders was Konstantin Nastev himself. This is where I should mention that IMARO and SMAC cheti had a

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

247

similar organization and structure – they were led by a voivoda and “platoon leaders,” and there were also “a deputy voivoda, a secretary and a colour-bearer.”50 The anonymous author – who turned out to be Georgi Ivanov Belev (1868–1945), an SMAC activist and paymaster – wrote at the end of 1903: I woke up at around noon. Some of the boys were still sleeping, others were cleaning their rifles, yet others were training … At last, the last-night order arrived – three loads of bread, one load of wine, a gas tin full of rakia [home-made fruit brandy], some tobacco, etc. Together with these, a photographer arrived with his camera … At about 4 [pm], everyone put on their uniforms and got ready to set off. Each cheta stood apart in a small clearing and here the photographer took a few photos of us.51

At least four pictures taken during that photography session survived. They were later published by the Bulgarian press. However, the British press would simply print short similar reports in about twenty newspapers, mostly from September 28 to October 3, 1903, praising Konstantin Nastev’s courage and announcing the fact that he was wounded in a skirmish with the Turks.52

50

ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨ-ɉɪɟɨɛɪɚɠɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ ɨɬ 1903 ɝ. ȼɨɟɧɧɚ ɩɨɞɝɨɬɨɜɤɚ ɢ ɩɪɨɜɟɠɞɚɧɟ [The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903: Military Preparation and Execution] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 1992), 101. 51 “From the Diary of a Cheta-Member,” Reformi, vol. Vȱ, no. 2 (December 6, 1903), 2–3. 52 Edinburgh Evening News (September 28, 1903), 3; Lancashire Evening Post (September 28, 1903), 3; Manchester Evening News (September 28, 1903), 6; Newcastle Evening Chronicle (September 28, 1903), 4; Bradford Daily Telegraph (September 29, 1903), 3; Coventry Evening Telegraph (September 29, 1903), 2; Dublin Daily Express (September 29, 1903), 5; Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (September 29, 1903), 10; Irish News and Belfast Morning News (September 29, 1903), 5; Leeds Mercury (September 29, 1903), 5; London Daily News (September 29, 1903), 7; The Scotsman (September 29, 1903), 6; Irish News and Belfast Morning News (September 30, 1903), 4; Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette (September 30, 1903), 6; Aberdeen Daily Journal (October 1, 1903), 5; The Belfast News-Letter (October 1, 1903), 5; Bromyard News (October 1, 1903), 7; Dundee Courier (October 1, 1903), 5; Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette (October 1, 1903), 3; Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser (October 1, 1903), 7; Boston Guardian (October 3, 1903), 2; Larne Times (October 3, 1903), 7; Tamworth Herald (October 3, 1903), 6.

248

Chapter Seven

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

249

Two of the numerous newspaper reports that praised Lieutenant Konstantin Nastev’s heroism published in more than twenty British newspapers in the autumn of 1903

250

Chapter Seven

Photographs of Lieutenant Ilia Baltov

1902: Lieutenant Ilia Baltov (dressed in a dark jacket, in the centre of the first row), sitting on the right of Captain Yordan Stoyanov, the armed band commander

Towards the end of the brief overview of the photochronicle dedicated to the officers I will just say that Ilia Petrov Baltov (1877–1934) can be seen not only in Urban’s catalogue, but also in two of the illustrations in The Balkans from Within – the abovementioned photographs “A Band of Insurgents” (Baltov is sitting in the first row, on the left) and “Taking the Oath” (Baltov is kneeling on Arthur Hales’s right). At the same time (most likely, on the same day) and in the same place, where the two photographs Reginald Wyon included in his book were taken, one of the most popular pictures, which covered the Ilinden Uprising, was created. It was published many times in the past53 and was given many titles: “General Iv. Tsonchev’s Cheta and Correspondents Hales and Tageev,” “The Armed Band of General Tsonchev Ivan and Foreign Correspondents,” “General Iv. Tsonchev’s Cheta,” and “General Ivan Tsonchev’s United Bands and Foreign Correspondents in Pirin Taking the Oath in front of the Revolutionary Flag.” More than seventy cheta-members can be enumerated in this “panoramic” mass photograph. Most of the men are bending one knee, and only those in the back rows are standing. Ivan Tsonchev is in front, the colour-bearer is standing behind him, Stefan Nikolov, Ilia Baltov, and Boris Tageev are on the right of the general, and the sturdy figure of the Australian, Arthur Hales, can easily be seen on the left. 53

Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɹ ɜ ɨɛɪɚɡɢ [Macedonia in Pictures] (Sofia: Committee of Studies of Bulgarian Lands, 1919), no. 384; Ilinden Illustration, vol. ȱ, no. 1 (April 1927), 11; Macedonia Album-Almanac (Sofia: Urezhda Editorial Board, 1931), no. 971/no. 83, table ɏɏIII; Ilinden Illustration, vol. V, no. 7–8 (47–48) (June-July 1933), 29 (commemorative edition dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising).

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

251

Lieutenant Ilia Baltov (1877–1934) – the second from left to right

Ilia Baltov was made immortal by two more photographs taken in Rila after the suppression of the Gorna Djumaya Uprising (late October or early November 1902). In the first he is accompanied by Captain Yordan Stoyanov, Todor Mitsev (1868–1930), a voivoda from Melnik, and Gorna Djumaya Commander Georgi Yanakiev (1857–?). Thirty-nine armed men are seen in the second, and the handwritten text under it says that the photograph depicts “Captain Yordan Stoyanov’s Cheta, his Assist[ant]. Second [lieutenant]. Baltov,” on their “way back after the uprising.” A

252

Chapter Seven

One more of Arthur Hales’s odes, dedicated this time to the Hero Baltov

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

253

heroic full-length representation of Commander Stoyanov himself illustrates his short biography, titled “Captain Jordan Stoyanoff” and published in The Graphic. The inscription under the photograph reads: “Captain Jordan Stoyanoff. One of the Leaders of the Macedonian Insurrection.”54 Another poetic creation of Arthur Hales made Ilia Baltov immortal. The epic poem “The Hero Baltoff. A Macedonian Episode” was published in The Daily News on January 7, 190455 and reprinted a month later by the Enniscorthy Guardian.56 The visual similarity between the first two letters of the forename “Ilia” and the letter “H” must have misled the printers who set up the letters, which often resulted in misspelling the Bulgarian’s first name as “Hia”!

Macedonian Insurgent Leaders The photograph “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders” illustrating the section “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia” has turned out to be really unique – it was published only in the Charles Urban Trading Company Ltd. editions and nowhere else. On top of that, it also happens to be mysterious because, of all four men “participating” in it, only General Ivan Tsonchev was mentioned in the annotations in the CUTC catalogues (not just The Forming Supplement No. 1), and in those British periodicals advertising the five insurgent films by Charles Noble before, during, and after their projections at the Alhambra Music Hall. The other three men’s names, those of Colonel Anastas Yankov, Lieutenant Konstantin (Kocho) Nastev, and Lieutenant Ilia Baltov, were connected only with the illustration. They seem to have remained “hanging” in the information space, which was occupied by the films. Their names could not be seen in the catalogue annotations, and neither were they mentioned in a newspaper, magazine, announcement, advertising, or review. Because the three officers did not take part in any of the films, they were probably not filmed by Charles Noble’s bioscope and had nothing to do with his filmmaking, perhaps because the photograph depicting their faces was a mere illustration that happened to be in the catalogue and was in no way related to any of the films dedicated to the uprising (let alone to the three of them). Even if it was the case, establishing the time and place of the photograph could give 54 “Captain Jordan Stoyanoff,” The Graphic, vol. LXVIII, no. 1,766 (October 3, 1903), 462. 55 A. G. Hales, “The Hero Baltoff. A Macedonian Episode,” The Daily News, no. 18,034 (January 7, 1904), 12. 56 “For Home and Country,” Enniscorthy Guardian (Supplement to The Guardian), year 24 (February 6, 1904), 9.

254

Chapter Seven

us more information on both the Englishman and his films and would help us solve the mystery after all.

General Ivan Tsonchev (the bare-headed man in the centre) with part of the insurgents’ commanders

I have read hundreds of pages of journals and memoirs, but I have not managed to find out when and where the four men were together – dressed in the same clothes and carrying the same rifles as in the photograph that has preserved their faces and survived for more than a century.

The portraits of the four voivodi with shoulder straps in The Sphere (November 1903)

The photography session might have been held during the first half of August 1903 – before the men were infiltrated in Turkey. At that time, the

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

255

main SMAC forces were gathered in the Rila Mountains (near the town of Dupnitsa). They bivouacked near the Fish Lakes (over 2,100 m above sea level) under the leadership of General Ivan Tsonchev. Colonel Anastas Yankov and Captain Yordanov Stoyanov’s bands were also among them. However, most of the bands arrived at and left the “base camp” on their way to Macedonia at different times. Yankov himself admitted that he managed to “organize an armed band in Rila as early as 14 August 1903.”57 In the afternoon on that very day, “after the cheta took an oath,” the colonel and his brave men (134 in total) set off for the Fish Lakes, arriving on August 16. On the night of August 19, his band entered Macedonia.58 General Tsonchev “left for Razlog” on August 18. In fact, only few of the armed bands managed to penetrate into the “hostile territory” – some of them were not even able to cross the border as either Bulgarian or Turkish patrols would chase them out of the country; others got through but stayed in Macedonia only for a day or two, since the first clash with the regular Turkish Army would force them back. The four Macedonian insurgent leaders, however, succeeded in penetrating the Serres Revolutionary District, but they operated in different places. Therefore, there was very little likelihood that they would have happened to meet in the same place at the same time. However, Tsonchev and Yankov did meet on August 25 near the village of Godlevo. They also met on August 29 near Bansko, where two IMARO bands arrived from Bulgaria – “about 300 men.”59 Professor Eldarov explained the situation: In early September, most of the cheti of the Supreme Committee, numbering up to 400 people, concentrated in the south slopes of Pirin, in the Papazchair locality (Popovi Livadi), over Nevrokop. After the battle near the village of Pirin, in the Breznishko Lake locality, near the village of the same name, the greater part of the Supreme Committee and the Internal Organization gathered.60

According to the memoirist Georgi Belev, the number of the insurgents was 720, and General Tsonchev and Yordan Stoyanov were among them. This happened on September 5. It is quite possible that the session, whose 57

I. Burilkova and Tsocho Bilyarski (eds.), Ɉɬ ɋɨɮɢɹ ɞɨ Ʉɨɫɬɭɪ (ɋɩɨɦɟɧɢ) [From Sofia to Kostur (Memoirs)] (Sofia: Sineva, 2003), 181. 58 Ibid., 182. 59 Ibid., 186. 60 S. Eldarov, Ƚɟɧɟɪɚɥ ɂɜɚɧ ɐɨɧɱɟɜ 1859–1910. Ȼɢɨɝɪɚɮɢɹ ɧɚ ɞɜɚ ɠɢɜɨɬɚ [General Ivan Tsonchev 1859–1910: a Biography of Two Lives] (Sofia: Military Publishing House, 2003), 124–5.

256

Chapter Seven

Captain Yordan Stoyanov in The Graphic (November 1903)

1904: The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue

257

result were the two photographs Reginald Wyon used as illustrations in The Balkans from Within, took place during that very period from September 1–5. Kocho Nastev, who remained in the colonel’s band until the end of the fighting, joined Tsonchev and Yankov (in early September) near the village of Pirin. Nevertheless, Ilia Baltov was far away in Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Nikolov’s cheta (Ohrid’s armed band). So was Hales – on September 7 he was still in Sofia, where he met Stoyan Mihaylovski.61 The Australian took part in the attack on the Turkish barracks in Dobro Pole/Tsarev Vrah only on October 8. Afterwards, he fought under the command of Stefan Nikolov together with Hristo Sarakinov, Lyubomir Stoenchev, Tageev, and Second Lieutenant Baltov (all of them “actors” in the “staging” titled “A Band of Insurgents,” “Taking the Oath,” and “General Iv. Tsonchev’s Cheta and Correspondents Hales and Tageev”) until mid-October. It turns out that the assumed period (September 1–5) must be moved later in time, from mid-September to mid-October. Eventually, the four of them (Tsonchev, Yankov, Nastev, and Baltov) met in Sofia at a dinner party held on October 25, 1903. Twelve more Macedonian insurgent leaders and Arthur Hales, as well as the Russian correspondents Tageev, Romuald Grigoriewicz Przewalski (1870–1904), and Petr Petrovich Orlovets (1872–?) were also there. The Reformi editor Iliya Gologanov, who must have written the article published in the newspaper on November 1,62 was also among them. In spite of the above, the question of how and where the photograph “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders” – which eternalized the four Bulgarian officers – was taken remains. There is also a short yet quite possible period during which it might have been taken (from October 15 to 25). At that time, the four voivodi with shoulder straps must have had joint operations near the Rila Monastery, where, on October 19, 1903 (the day of Reverend Saint John of Rila the Wonder-Worker), Charles Noble filmed the religious ceremony dedicated to the day of the patron saint of the Bulgarian people and cloister. The Englishman not only filmed the “special” subject The Feast of St. John at Rilo Monastery, listed under no. 1,155 in The Forming Supplement No. 1 of the CUTC, but also included it in the “main menu” of his projections in Bulgaria in 1904.

61 62

Reformi, vol. V, no. 40 (September 13, 1903), 4. Reformi, vol. V, no. 47 (November 1, 1903), 4.

258

Chapter Seven

The British press praised the Macedonian insurgent leaders

CHAPTER EIGHT SCREENINGS IN SOFIA (FEBRUARY TO MARCH 1904)

Charles Rider Noble’s Return

“Living pictures” at the Orient Hotel

On February 13, 1904 (in the Julian Calendar, because those events already took place in Bulgaria) a Sofia “political and business daily newspaper,” the Bulgaria (the organ of the Progressive Liberal Party), announced the following: Motion pictures. Tonight, at 7 o’clock, at the Orient Hotel, Maria Luisa street, the special correspondent for the London illustrated magazine Black and White, Mr. Charles Rider Noble [his name was written the way it is done here – in Latin letters and in English], will be projecting the animated pictures, which he has filmed during his journeys around the world and which can be considered fine examples of the art of photography.1 1

“Motion Pictures,” Bulgaria, vol. Vȱ, no. 138 (February 13, 1904), 3.

260

Chapter Eight

The first time the word “cinematograms” was used by the Dnevnik (February 14, 1904) The information about the first Noble’s picture show in the Vecherna Poshta (February 15, 1904)

On the following day, the Dnevnik [Diary] (a single newspaper used to cost five stotinki [BGN 0.05]) confirmed that the advertised screening happened at the place and time previously announced. It published the following story, whose headline was “Cinematograms”: The correspondent of the English magazine Black and White, Mr. Charles Noble, who actively participated in last autumn’s Macedonian uprising, also took the opportunity to film some interesting scenes in Macedonia and near the Bulgarian-Turkish border. Mr. Noble arrived here a couple of days ago and he will be showing the above-mentioned cinematograms, as well

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

261

as many other pictures he has taken all over the world, to the spectators in the capital and in the provincial towns. Last night, Mr. Noble projected his most interesting cinematograms to the representatives of Sofia periodicals in a lounge at the Orient Hotel. They made the best impression on all those present. We are confident that the audience will soon respond positively to Mr. Noble’s invitation, because the cinematograms he is projecting are worth seeing.2

The Vecherna Poshta [Evening Post] (the second flagship of the independent press in Bulgaria after the Dnevnik) not only confirmed the above information, but also added some interesting details: The English correspondent and photographer Mr. Noble, invited representatives of the periodicals from the capital to a demonstration of cinematograph pictures taken by him last summer, during his stay in Bulgaria. Mr. Noble showed us scenes of the opening of the National Assembly by the Prince, the changing of the guard at the Palace, mountain infantry drills, images of the refugees at the Rila Monastery and of the inspection of the Minister of War at our frontier. Those who were present were impressed by both the scenes projected [and the] accurate and lively reproduction. They unanimously appreciated the photographic art of the English correspondent and photographer. As far as we know, the audience in the capital will also be able to applaud Mr. Noble at the Military Club, where he is expected to project his films to the general public.3

English Correspondents in Sofia That was the headline of one of the numerous stories published by the Vecherna Poshta. The article appeared on February 10, 1904: The last initiatives undertaken by the Government, especially the declaration of martial law at the border, must have been seen in England as indicators of the Balkan situation being exacerbated, as well as of future complicated relations between Bulgaria and Turkey. This should explain the arrival of two English correspondents in Sofia, one of them being the likeable Vienna representative of the Daily Mail, Mr. Wyon.4

2

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 612 (February 14, 1904), 3. “Mr. Noble’s Cinematograph,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 922 (February 15, 1904), 3. 4 “English Correspondents in Sofia,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 917 (February 10, 1904), 3. 3

262

Chapter Eight

The announcement about Wyon and Noble’s arrival in Sofia (Reformi, February 14, 1904)

It results that one of the abovementioned “two English correspondents” was Reginald Wyon. The identity of the other was disclosed a few days later by the Reformi: “On the 9th, the Daily Mail correspondent for the Balkan region, Mr. Wyon, and the Daily Chronicle correspondent, Mr. Noble, arrived in Sofia.”5 Thus, Charles Noble appeared in Bulgaria for the second time on February 9, 1904, together with his fellow countryman, Reginald Wyon. The event was modestly covered by Sofia periodicals, without any unnecessary pomposity. However, where did the two of them come from? They cannot have arrived from Macedonia, where the winter was severe and eventless. It was also unlikely that they had arrived from England – Noble did not attend the January projections in London (at least the British press did not mention his name in connection with their organization and management). Yet he brought “motion pictures” ready to be shown – most probably processed, printed, and edited at the Charles Urban Trading Company laboratories. There is something else, too – the narrator at the Alhambra projections obviously used a text written or retold by an eyewitness – Noble, in that case. Briefly, Charles Noble must have nipped to London (once or repeatedly) in order to take part in both processing his 5

Reformi, vol. Vȱ, no. 12 (February 14, 1904), 4.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

263

films and preparing the “descriptive lecture” which impressed the audience. However, it was also possible that he had received the ready films by post and sent his notes to them in the same way. Therefore, the most logical answer to the question “Where did the two English correspondents arrive from?” is from Vienna, where Reginald Wyon, “the Daily Mail correspondent for the Balkan region,” resided habitually.

Vienna – London for 29 hours – an advertisement in the Mir

The First Picture Show On February 13/26, Charles Noble projected his films in Bulgaria for the first time – at least, in 1904, if we assume, though hypothetically, that he showed some as early as 1903. He did that in Sofia, at Maria Luisa street, “in one of the lounges of the Orient Hotel,” where he must have stayed with his film gear (it is reasonable to suppose it was kept handy when he projected his film subjects). The street was named in honour of the deceased Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma (1870–99), who was the first wife of Ferdinand I, Prince of Bulgaria. However, only two months later it was declared a boulevard – it was publicly mentioned as such on March 23, 1899 in the

264

Chapter Eight

record of proceedings of Sofia Municipal Government (SMG).6 The Orient Hotel (as its advertisements published in Den [Day] said) used to be “in the city centre,” “next to Holy King Square,” “near the Baths” (medieval Turkish baths built on ancient Roman thermae), and next to “the tramway” (officially launched on January 1, 1901). When Noble checked in at the hotel, it had been “newly refurbished” and famed for “its great cleanliness, quick and honest service, and reasonable prices.”

An advertisement of the Orient Hotel, where Charles Noble first exhibited his films in Sofia on February 13/26, 1904

The Englishman gathered “the representatives of Sofia periodicals” in one of the hotel lounges – spacious rooms, usually occupying hotel ground floors. He must have got in touch with them or informed them somehow – at that time, most editorial offices in the capital had landlines (the telephone number of the Dnevnik was 75). The newcomer managed not only to organize the projection for only four days, but also to invite journalists to it – a clear proof of his remarkable business qualities and organizational skills. Charles Noble was also a “visionary.” He arrived in Sofia with pre-planned strategies – both an advertising one, starting by “courting” reporters, and a marketing one, initially aimed at “the audience in the capital,” yet looking forward to including spectators from “provincial towns.”

6

The 1899 Sofia Municipal Government Record of Decrees – Sofia State Archives, Archival Fund 1ɤ, Inventory 1, ɚ. ɟ. 48, unit 25.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

265

It was with regards to that “first picture show” (as well as in connection with Noble’s films) that the Dnevnik used for the first time the word “cinematograms” – the Greek word ȖȡĮȝȝĮ/gramma (letter) was often used to coin new terms for graphic images or recordings of something (telegram, radiogram, telephoned telegram).

At the Military Club The Dnevnik reporters obviously liked the newly coined word, because they started using it repeatedly, trying to not only introduce it, but also make others employ it. It is no chance that the periodical titled its second announcement dedicated to the Englishman and his “projection” events “Cinematograms,” too: Mr. Charles Rider Noble will be showing his interesting cinematograms filmed in Macedonia, Bulgaria, Morocco, etc. at the Military Club on Wednesday evening. This show will be held exclusively for the officers, their families and guests. The prices of the tickets, which are already on sale at the Military Club, are quite reduced. The projection starts at 9 pm sharp. Mr. Noble has asked us to draw his favourable audience’s attention to the fact that they should abide by the time the show starts.7

The Vecherna Poshta announced almost the same on that day: On Wednesday, the 25th, a dinner party and a concert of the military band will be held in the Military Club canteen at 6 pm. At 9 pm, a cinematograph show, with which the audience was very satisfied last night, will be presented at the request of the public in the big hall. Prices: first eight row seats cost 2 leva [BGN 2], and the rest – 1 lev. Children’s tickets cost 50 stotinki.8

7

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 621 (February 23, 1904), 3. “Cinematograph Show,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 930 (February 23, 1904), 3. 8

266

Chapter Eight

The second announcement, titled “Cinematograms,” inviting the public to the film projection at the Military Club

The two advertisements show quite clearly that “a cinematograph show will be” held at the Military Club on February 25, and they also imply that such a show had already been held there “last night” (February 22). The audience was “very satisfied” – so much so that they wanted to enjoy once more the “interesting cinematograms filmed” by Mr. Noble. And, being a good-hearted man, he immediately met the demand voiced by the public and one more projection was scheduled. It was organized “exclusively for the officers, their families and guests.” This special audience could not be irresponsibly thrust into the “canteen.” Thus, a special venue – “the hall” – was provided for it, probably by the management of the club. Noble, in turn, announced (in one of the most popular Sofia daily newspapers), as a gesture of altruism towards the army’s elite, that the “prices of the tickets, which are already on sale at the Military Club, are quite reduced.” However, there was no compromise on traditional English behavioural customs, suggesting punctuality and accuracy even for the day-to-day relationship among community members. Even though he had some experience with “the Orient” (in Bulgaria in 1903, and earlier in Morocco)

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

267

and knew that Bulgarians tended to arrive late without reason, Noble, being an Englishman, dared to shake his finger at “his favourable audience,” kindly drawing their attention to the fact “that they should abide by the time the show starts.”

The building housing the Military Club in Sofia

Sofia Officers’ Assembly One of the centuries-old traditions in the armies of the Great Powers was service far from home. The British officer usually started his career in India, the French in the Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) and African colonies, and the Russian in the Far East. Although Bulgaria is neither an empire, nor a vast country (95,223 km2), its professional officer corps9 also performed their duty in various garrisons and regiments, often situated in border areas or hard-to-reach mountain regions. Lack of their own home and relatives was compensated by the “regiment family” – the community of garrison officers, and their wives and children. The centre of this “family” used to be the building of the local “Officers’ Assembly,” a.k.a. the Military Club. 9

According to the military historian Professor Svetlozar Eldarov, the Bulgarian Army had 4,030 officers on January 1, 1903: 2,129 on active duty, 1,154 military reserve, 687 reserve force, 31 volunteers, 27 disabled, and 2 retired.

268

Chapter Eight

Bulgarian military clubs, springing up like mushrooms during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, appeared to imitate the English clubs that were quite popular at the time. They tried to adopt the imported principles and to continue foreign traditions, but in an absolutely different environment. The Bulgarian Military Club was “all in one” – a hotel, a restaurant, a place for social interaction and information, a library, and a cultural centre. Newly appointed officers were accommodated there until they found a private residence. Their travelling colleagues, who visited the town on business, also stayed there. Furthermore, it was the place where the military received their post, read periodicals, discussed news, and borrowed books. The officers not only communicated with one another in the club but also had the opportunity to meet their duly invited relatives, friends, or acquaintances in a refined setting. Dancing parties, celebrations, and balls, quite popular at that time, were organized there on New Year’s Eve, on St. George’s Day, when the prince or the heir to the crown had celebrations (a birthday or name day, or an anniversary of their ascension to the throne), when a regiment commemorated an important event in its history. Talks and lectures were also given there, concerts and theatrical performances took place, and even films were projected.

The interior of Sofia Officers’ Assembly (Military Club)

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

269

Military clubs were usually housed in impressive buildings situated in city centres. So was Sofia Officers’ Assembly – located in a luxury building in the “heart” of the capital, at the crossroads of Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard and Georgi S. Rakovski Street. The Czech architect Václav Antonín KoláĜ (1841–1900) started constructing the building, but abandoned the project in 1896 when he left the country.10 The building was finished by the Bulgarian architect Nikola Lazarov (1870–1942).11 Both the facade and the interior were in neo-Renaissance style (or German Renaissance). Even today, the “big lounge” (or “big hall”) impresses with its dimensions – 24 m long, 12 m wide, and 7 m high12 – and its beauty. The staircase leading to the lounge is clad in black Italian silver-streaked marble. The interior of the lounge was richly decorated by the Viennese sculptor Andreas Greis (1843–1925), who lived in Sofia. The walls are covered with ornaments of cartouches and griffins.13 The furniture is French, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian. The pattern of the parquet symbolically shows the outline of the Cross of St. George. An enormous bronze chandelier descends majestically from the ceiling. After several delays,14 the official opening of the monumental building took place on November 15, 1900.15 Nowadays, the Military Club is called the Central Military Club (known as the Central House of the People’s Army under socialism). Its building is still one of the most imposing ones in Sofia, one of the sights of the Bulgarian capital and even one of its “symbols.” That is why it has been declared part of Bulgaria’s architectural and artistic cultural heritage. In one of the several halls of the magnificent building the tradition of screening films is still continued – as started by Charles Rider Noble at the beginning of 1904. He hosted not just one but two public projections in 10

Marcella Stern, “Ingenieur und Architekt Adolf Václav KoláĜ,” in Österreichische Architektureinflüsse in Sofia. Museum für die Geschichte von Sofia (Sofia, 1998), 36–7. 11 I. N. Avramov, ɇɢɤɨɥɚ Ʌɚɡɚɪɨɜ – ɥɢɱɧɨɫɬ, ɬɜɨɪɱɟɫɬɜɨ, ɨɛɳɟɫɬɜɟɧɢ ɩɪɨɹɜɢ [Nikola Lazarov – The Person, His Work and Social Engagement] (Sofia: Tehnika Publishing House, 1983), 20–1. 12 V. Branekov, “ɋɬɪɨɢɬɟɥɫɬɜɨ ɧɚ ɫɝɪɚɞɢ ɡɚ ɤɭɥɬɭɪɚɬɚ (1878–1944)” [“Cultural Buildings Construction (1878–1944)”] in Ⱥɪɯɢɬɟɤɬɭɪɚɬɚ ɜ Ȼɴɥɝɚɪɢɹ 1878– 1944 [Architecture in Bulgaria 1878–1944] (Sofia: BAS, 1978), 118–19. 13 Marcella Stern, “Bildhauer Andreas Greis,” In Österreichische Architektureinflüsse in Sofia. Museum für die Geschichte von Sofia (Sofia, 1998), 47–8. 14 “The Opening of the Officers’ Club,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. VIII, no. 132 (June 22, 1900), 2. 15 “Military Club,” Bulgaria, vol. IV, no. 99 (November 11, 1900), 4.

270

Chapter Eight

front of “the officers, their families and guests,” converting the spiritual centre of all Sofia officers into a cinema hall. Thus, “the audience in the capital” did have the chance to “applaud Mr. Noble at the Military Club,” and the Vecherna Poshta was right once again. As for Mr. Noble, he must have had the chance to visit “the Military Club canteen.” According to the advertisements in Sofia newspapers at that time, the abovementioned “canteen” (from the Latin word canthus, which means “corner”) was just a restaurant, where not only officers but also civilians (ordinary people) could go. So, Noble was lucky – just as he arrived in Sofia for the second time, Colonel Kraev became manager of the Military Club (in February 1904), and he enthusiastically ordered “huge amounts of foreign wines (champagne, etc.) that will be sold to clients at quite reasonable prices” (three of the words in this sentence are also of Russian origin).

An Extensive Advertising Campaign, a Crowded Hall, and Some Extra Profit The Vecherna Poshta announced on February 29: On Monday, 1 March, at 9 pm, in the hall on Slavyanska Beseda Street [Slavic Talk Street], the excellent photographer and artist, Mr. Charles Rider Noble, a correspondent for the English illustrated magazine Black and White, will be hosting a special cinematograph show. Mr. Noble has already presented one at the Military Club. In particular, the audience will be able to enjoy the B u l g a r i a n s e r i e s of his cinematograph pictures at the Beseda Hall. They represent the opening of the Parliament, Macedonian refugees at the Rila Monastery, the Father’s Day at the Rila Monastery, monks leaving the same monastery, Bulgarian mounted patrol, and many others. We hope that the Beseda Hall will fill up with lovers of Mr. Noble’s motion pictures.16

The Dnevnik echoed the news: Mr. Charles Rider Noble, who has been well-known among Bulgarians since the uprising, will be hosting an extraordinary cinematograph show at the Slavyanska Beseda tonight. The photographs Mr. Noble took in person in Sofia and the Rila Monastery stand out in the extensive program of the show. The audience in the capital will see a unique show.17 16

“Cinematographer Charles Rider Noble,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 936 (February 29, 1904), 3. 17 “Cinematographer Noble,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 628 (March 1, 1904), 3.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

271

As for the Den (“an independent public paper”), it attested (on March 4) that the “special cinematograph show” in fact took place: The other night, the extra cinematograph show was presented in the hall on Slavyanska Beseda Street by Mr. Noble. Thanks to the extensive advertising campaign accompanying the cinematograph, the hall was extremely crowded and Mr. Noble’s profit must have been exceptional, too. Unlike the subjects, which were too ordinary and could have been shown to the “unpretentious” theatregoers at prices lower than the ones charged that night … This is the opinion of the majority of the spectators, at least of those who, as I was told, stayed until the end of Mr. Noble’s show.18

The announcements of the Slavyanska Beseda shows

The daily newspaper Den was the fourth Sofia newspaper after the Bulgaria, the Dnevnik, and the Vecherna Poshta that published information on the film show hosted by Charles Rider Noble. What is more, it was the first one that dared to criticize “the subjects” (the films shown), which were “too ordinary,” according to the anonymous reporter. The same journalist also considered some of the “unpretentious” spectators to be discerning and probably dissatisfied with the show – the 18

“Cinematographer Noble,” Den, vol. ȱ, no. 93 (March 4, 1904), 3.

272

Chapter Eight

above text implies that some of them did not even stay “until the end of Mr. Noble’s show.” The Den’s reaction is impressive, because it published the only article (known so far) that dared to question the high quality of both the guest’s “projection” show and his “motion pictures.” The situation is idyllic because all seven advertisements published before March 4 in Sofia periodicals used openly laudatory terms. Those texts were written (or at least produced) by Noble himself and translated by a Bulgarian, then taken or sent to the corresponding editorial staff and paid for by the Englishman, who was the advertiser in this case (for example, the Dnevnik charged fifty stotinki per line published on the first page, twenty-five stotinki per line on page four, and the price per line on page three was negotiable). This “unfavourable” review, however, is more valuable than the rest of the abovementioned announcements, because the contributor, in spite of being ill-disposed, acknowledged (indirectly) Noble’s skills as a film distributor. The show he had hosted was “extraordinary” (unique, unusual), its advertising campaign “extensive,” the hall “crowded,” the revenues “exceptional, too.” The unflattering attitude of the Den correspondent – provided that the author of the critical review was a correspondent – could be explained (although simplistically) by the prosaic fact that the Englishman did not advertise the show in his newspaper, but in his competitors’. It is also possible that the author of the lampoon did not attend the screening at the Slavyanska Beseda, for he resorted to the “opinion of the majority of the spectators.” Referring to them, he used a verb inflected for evidentiality (“I was told, [they] stayed”) instead of using the indicative “stayed,” which is used when a speaker has witnessed an event! The Den coverage gives us information on something else – at the beginning of 1904, the cinema was not a novelty (at least in Sofia). Travelling cinematographers, who visited the city every year from 1896 to 1903, formed aesthetic criteria that allowed Sofians to compare the qualities of different shows – otherwise, the “film critic” would not have known that “the subjects” were “too ordinary.” Furthermore, the cinema already had (at least in the capital) its “lovers” (fans, followers), who had even divided themselves (which takes some time) into “pretentious” and “unpretentious”! Both groups were invited by the Vecherna Poshta to “the last farewell show,” which “Mr. Noble will be hosting tonight having prepared a most selected programme.” “The programme contains very interesting pictures,” the newspaper assured.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

The building of the Slavyanska Beseda Society I. From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents: (A cinematogram belonging to Mr. Noble, whose reproduction and projection is patented and copyrighted). A march, a camp, in single file, getting ready for an attack, a skirmish, thro[w]ing a bomb, over a mountain stream, taking the oath. The story of a cryme [crime]. II. 2 Scenes from the Life of English Mariners. Loading coal on the steamship, che[c]king clothes, loading the cannons, blue jackets performing a cyremonial [ceremonial] march, maritime cadets marching, rifle drill display, torpedo and mine boats, firing a salvo of guns. ȱȱȱ. French Naval Squadron on Manoeuvres.

273

274

Chapter Eight Mr. Noble’s show is of great interest to the audience that visits them in great numbers.19

This text not only lacks style and contains misspelt words, which was unusual for the Vecherna Poshta, but it also omits the venue, which once again was the Slavyanska Beseda Hall.

The Slavyanska Beseda The Slavyanska Beseda Society was founded in 1880 and its goal was to “encourage Slavic reciprocity among its members and organize and improve their social life” (according to Art. 1 of its statutes). Towards the end of the nineteenth century the organization had 420 members – both foreigners of Slavic origin and Bulgarians. Over time, the Slavyanska Beseda became a cultural and educational centre that formed the spiritual aspect of the “young” Bulgarian capital. The new solid building, constructed on Georgi S. Rakovski Street in 1891, had two halls (a small one and a big one), a library, a reading room, a cafeteria, a terrace, and even a bowling alley. The stage of the big hall (with over two hundred seats) has always hosted the Salza&Smyah [Laughter&Tears] National Theatre Company (renamed the National Theatre in 1904), whose directors had had a contract and rent agreement with the society’s board of trustees since 1897. It has turned out that the society contributed to the arrival of the Seventh Art in Bulgaria, too. The “patriarch” of Bulgarian cinema, Vasil Gendov (1891–1970), is credited with the first evidence of screenings of films in the Slavyanska Beseda Hall, as he mentioned in his memoirs that shows hosted by “two French cameramen from the Lumière Company in Paris” took place there “from late September 1897” to the “beginning of 1898.” Furthermore, as they had the “Réforme model,” “one of the Lumière brothers first devices” which could be “both a filming and projection device,” the foreigners “made various film subjects around Sofia and sent them to the Lumière Company in Paris.”20 Vasil Gendov assured:

19

“Cinematographer Charles Rider Noble,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 940 (March 4, 1904), 3. 20 V. Gendov, Ɍɪɴɧɥɢɜɢɹɬ ɩɴɬ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɢɹ ɮɢɥɦ 1910–1940 (ɪɴɤɨɩɢɫ) [The Thorny Way of the Bulgarian Film 1910–1940 (manuscript)], (Bulgarian National Film Archive Fund, 1949), 17.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

275

The second event took place in Sofia in 1899 when the two French brothers rented the Slavyanska Beseda Hall. At first, they installed an engine in the cinema and then used a transformer to provide electricity. The shows were organized only in the evening and consisted of projecting landscapes and Pathé Frères comedies. However, few people went to the cinema, although there was only one screening per night.21

The reaction of the Den (March 4, 1904)

The creator of the first Bulgarian feature film also recalled having been “marched into the Slavyanska Beseda Hall together with other students” in 1903, when he was “in his third year of junior high school.” There, for ten stotinki, he saw “a film show for the first time. The programme consisted of some short films, one of which showed whale fishing in the northern seas, the other was a mountain landscape with lots of cows and sheep, and there was also a comedy, but I do not remember the story.”22 Before the construction of the Military Club, the hall of the Slavyanska Beseda Society (or just the “Beseda Hall”) was the most spacious, luxurious, and sophisticated in Sofia. Foreign guest actors would act on its stage (like those of Frédéric Achard’s French theatre in 1902); touring 21 22

Ibid., 9. Ibid., 10.

Chapter Eight

276

Italian opera companies would perform there; and symphonic concerts, lectures and, of course, talks would also be organized. In 1904 Andrija Fijan’s performances (together with Noble’s projections) took place there. Andrija Fijan was a Croatian drama theatre actor at the National Theatre in Zagreb who captivated Sofia audiences in William Shakespeare’s Othello, Maxim Gorky’s The Philistines and Heinrich Laube’s Graf Essex, for which he was even given an award by Prince Ferdinand.

The Slavyanska Beseda hall

The hall was used not only for the members’ needs but was also rented by people and institutions having nothing to do with the society for lectures, talks, concerts, dancing parties, meetings, sessions (including ministerial ones), congresses (including those of political parties), public dinners, wedding parties, and fairs. It is no accident that the rent and membership fees were the two items that would bring the greatest income – about BGN 15,000 a year each. Therefore, that was one of the main tasks of the management of the society, called the board of trustees – discussing the applications in connection with renting the hall and allowing its renting or use (rent-free). Fortunately, the minutes of the numerous and regular meetings of the board have been preserved in the repositories of the Public Record Office in Sofia. That is where I found the big minute books that had recorded the history of the Beseda Society on its pages. I was rather disappointed that Vasil Gendov’s words concerning the screenings in the late nineteenth century had not been confirmed. However, I came across some much more interesting facts related to Charles Rider Noble’s work.

Official Documents Mentioning Noble’s Name In fact, there were only three small pages in the society’s minute books, but they are the only public documents in Bulgarian known that mention the Englishman’s name. The earliest document dates back to

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

277

February 11, 1904. On that day, the board of trustees held its fifth annual meeting. There were only two items on the agenda. Under the first, the board considered the applications regarding hall use presented by the management of the First High School for Young Girls of Sofia and Charles Noble (unfortunately, there is no information on the way he stated his intention to rent the hall – in person or by a representative, in writing or orally, and in what language?). At least the decision the board made is there: “The hall is to be rented … by Charles Rider Noble for shows on the 16th and 20th in the evening in exchange for 110 [BGN] per evening.”23 The shows did not take place in the Slavyanska Beseda Hall on those two days (at least the Sofia periodicals did not mention any), be it for the rent required (quite high for that time) or because of other reasons.

The minute books of the sessions of the Slavyanska Beseda board of trustees – the only official documents in Bulgarian mentioning Noble’s name

Therefore, the case was referred back for a fresh decision. On the seventh meeting, held on February 25, the society’s management decided the following: “8. To give the hall to Mr. Charles Rider for evening cinematograph shows on the 1st of March this year [the current year].”24 23 Sofia State Archives, 1318 K, Inventory 2, ɚ. ɟ. 16, unit 152 – Minutes V. Meeting – February 11, 1904, vol. 1. 24 Sofia State Archives, 1318 K, Inventory 2, ɚ. ɟ. 16, unit 154 – Minutes Vȱȱ. Meeting – February 25, 1904, vol. 8.

278

Chapter Eight

Thus, the phrase “cinematograph shows” was mentioned for the first time in the minute books of the Slavyanska Beseda Society, and its big hall threw its doors wide open to the cinema25 – thanks to an Englishman, who hosted his “extraordinary cinematograph show” on March 1. However, he did not stop and, again, “attacked” the board that, on March 3 (during its eighth session) for the third time let “the hall to Mr. Charles Rider Noble” for an evening show in exchange for BGN 9026 (the rent going down from BGN 110 to 90 is good evidence of bargaining). Announcing this very show, which took place on March 3, the Vecherna Poshta published its programme. It turned out to be “rich,” “selected,” and full of “very interesting pictures.” That newspaper article was also the second most detailed piece of information (Georgi Kuzmik’s 1901 announcement being the first27) on a film show in Bulgaria – informative, professionally written, and well-organized (although grammatically incorrect). In 1908 and 1909, similar texts on regular everyday programmes of the Modern Theatre Cinema started to appear in Sofia periodicals. Thus, Charles Rider Noble was also a pioneer in the field of newspaper advertising! And his second screening at the Slavyanska Beseda was not the “last farewell show.”

At the Request of the Audience The proof is provided by the Dnevnik. On March 5 it published not just an announcement, but an “Important Announcement”: At the request of the public, on 8 March 1904, Monday, at 9 pm, Mr. Charles Rider Noble will be hosting his very last cinematograph show at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre at reduced prices. He will be presenting very interesting subjects, among which the Macedonian Insurgents series stands out. Ticket prices: Box seat BGN 6 and 5, Reserved seat BGN 2, 1st seat BGN 1, 2nd seat BGN 0.50 and Back seat BGN 0.30. The tickets go on sale on Sunday at the Macedonia Cafe[teria] and from 5 to 10 pm at the Cherven Rak Beer House [the Red Crab Beer House], as well as on Monday all day long at the box office of the theatre.28 25

P. Kardjilov, “‘ɋɥɚɜɹɧɫɤɚ ɛɟɫɟɞɚ’ – ɩɴɪɜɢɹɬ ɤɢɧɨɫɚɥɨɧ ɜ ɋɨɮɢɹ” [“The Slavyanska Beseda – the First Cinema in Sofia”], in Ʉɭɥɬɭɪɧɨɬɨ ɧɚɫɥɟɞɫɬɜɨ ɜ ɫɴɜɪɟɦɟɧɧɢɹ ɝɪɚɞ [The Cultural Heritage of the Modern City] (Sofia: New Bulgarian University, 2009), 134–60. 26 Sofia State Archives, 1318 K, Inventory 2, ɚ. ɟ. 16, unit 155 – Minutes Vȱȱȱ. Meeting – March 3, 1904, vol. 8. 27 Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. ȱɏ, no. 118 (June 6, 1901), 4. 28 “Important Announcement,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 632 (March 5, 1904), 1.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

279

The last cinematograph show (Dnevnik, March 8, 1904)

The announcement is not only “important” but also unique – Noble’s advertisement was published on the front page of a Bulgarian periodical for the first time. Apart from its “farewell” tone, the text is different from the previous ones because it was republished (without any changes) in the next issue of the newspaper.29 On the following day it was the Dnevnik that again produced the last advertising squib, putting an end to the February to March advertising campaign in Sofia: “Mr. Charles Rider Noble will be hosting his last cinematograph show at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre tonight. It starts at 9.”30

The Bulgaria Circus Theatre On May 27, 1901 the Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper published the following article, titled “Great Circus in the Capital”: The Potaynikovi brothers are undertaking the construction of a big circus, which will seat an audience of up to 1,300 people. The building will be located on a huge empty site opposite the mosque and will be surrounded by a garden. The interior of the circus building. which will have a state box and a two-level gallery, will be quite elegantly furnished and, at the beginning of June, a forty-five-member circus company will start performing in it under the management of Mr. Giuntini … The audience of the capital will have one more spacious and fashionable entertainment establishment where to enjoy themselves in the evening. The circus will be lighted by electricity.31

29

“Important Announcement,” Dnevnik, vol. III, no. 634 (March 7, 1904), 1. “Last Cinematograph Show,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 635 (March 8, 1904), 2. 31 “Great Circus in the Capital,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. IX, no. 110 (May 27, 1901), 5. 30

280

Chapter Eight

A month later, the same periodical made public both the name of the “entertainment establishment” and its opening date: “On Saturday [June 30], Pirentoni Circus Company, which is arriving tomorrow, will start giving its performances at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre, a new, solid, beautifully furnished and electrified building erected by the Potaynikovi brothers opposite the mosque.”32 At the beginning of June 1901 a Sofia resident, Kosta Potaynikov, applied for a license at the local authority council. His “drinking establishment,” where he intended to sell “alcoholic drinks,”33 had to be classified. It turns out that alcohol was allowed at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre – probably to make the evenings spent there even more “enjoy[able].” Apart from drinking alcohol, visitors were also allowed to smoke in the circus! Until July 21, when the Sofia Police Department issued Order no. 125, which required “the policemen in charge of the peace and order in the circus not to allow smoking inside.”34 In October, it became clear that the smoking ban was not obeyed. Thus, the chief of the Sofia Police Department had to issue a special “order” – “against smokers.”35

The wooden building of the Bulgaria Circus Theatre

Towards the end of the year, the already-mentioned “state box” was finally warmed by the physical and spiritual presence of Ferdinand I. Nov Vek [New Age] informed on December 10 that: Last night, HRH the Prince and HRH his august mother attended a show in the circus, where they stayed until the end of the performance. When their Royal Highnesses entered and left the building, the orchestra played 32

“Bulgaria Circus Theatre,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. IX, no. 138 (June 29, 1901), 2. 33 The 1901 Sofia Municipal Government Record of Decrees – Sofia State Archives, Archival Fund 1ɤ, Inventory 1, ɚ. ɟ. 50, units 50–50. 34 The 1901 Sofia Municipal Police Record of Decrees – Sofia State Archives, Archival Fund 1ɤ, Inventory 1, ɚ. ɟ. 5, unit 237. 35 “Against Smoking,” Bulgaria, vol. IV, no. 131 (October 25, 1901), 3.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

281

“Shumi Maritsa” [the national anthem at that time] and the whole audience rose to its feet.36

The Bulgaria Circus Theatre continued being a cultural and entertainment centre in 1902, but, at the same time, it played a major role as a social and political hub. The board of the Bulgarian Typographical Society hosted a literary and musical evening “in support of suffering Macedonian refugees,”37 P. Zagorov gave a lecture “on the Macedonian question,”38 Iliya Gologanov delivered a speech “on the developments in Macedonia,” members of the Osogovo Youth Athletic Association organized a party,39 and their colleagues from the Yunak-Shipka Sportsman Association in Sofia demonstrated “sports games.”40 Professional actors also gave performances: Salza&Smyah National Theatre Company, which usually used the hall on Slavyanska Beseda street41; the Italian Opera Company of Giuseppe Gonzales42; the Theatre Company of Matey Ikonomov (in October); and the Italo-Oriental Theatre Company.43 However, the grandest project of the enterprising Potaynikovi brothers was the visit of the Austrian composer and conductor Eduard Strauss (1835–1916), Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss’s brother. The Bulgaria wrote the following about it on October 15, 1902: The famous orchestra of the Vienna Court Opera led by the renowned composer Strauss will be arriving on 17 October (on its way from Istanbul to Vienna via Sofia). It will be staying for a night in the Capital, where it will be giving a concert at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre with a speciallyselected programme … Tickets will be sold in Panahov’s Coffee Shop and at the box office of the theatre.44

36 “News in Brief. The Prince in the Circus Theatre,” Nov Vek, vol. III, no. 395 (December 10, 1901), 3. 37 “Daily News. Musical Evening,” Mir, vol. VIII, no. 1,199 (November 21, 1902), 3. 38 “Daily News. Lecture in Support of Suffering Macedonian Refugees,” Mir, vol. VIII, no. 1,200 (November 23, 1902), 3. 39 “News in Brief. Osogovo Games,” Bulgaria, vol. V, no. 487 (April 20, 1902), 8. 40 “Today, Wednesday, 1st May,” Nov Vek, vol. IV, no. 450 (May 1, 1902), 4. 41 “News in Brief. Theatre,” Bulgaria, vol. V, no. 480 (March 28, 1902), 5; “News in Brief. Frolic at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre,” Bulgaria, vol. V, no. 482 (April 2, 1902), 3. 42 “Daily News. Farewell Show,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. X, no. 61 (March 18, 1902), 2. 43 “News in Brief. Circus,” Bulgaria, vol. V, no. 580 (December 21, 1902), 4. 44 “News in Brief. Strauss in Sofia,” Bulgaria, vol. V, no. 553 (October 15, 1902), 3.

282

Chapter Eight

Charles Rider Noble plunged into this “orientalism unexperienced so far” and, as his fate had willed, he hosted a couple of cinematograph shows in Sofia. They turned out to be the first for each of the four different places. In June 1905, Kosta Potaynikov died. The local authorities allocated 50 leva for “funeral assistance,” after the late man’s family had asked for financial help as “he had left four minors and a wife in extreme poverty.”45 “The other day, the demolition of the Bulgaria Circus Theatre and its adjoining buildings started,” Den46 announced on May 13, 1907. Pryaporets [Flag] confirmed the information four days later.47 Thus “the wooden building,” one of “the capital’s cultural centres,”48 remained in the past. The “modern building of the Central Sofia Covered Market” was soon erected in its place.49 It is still to be found there, known as the Central Market Hall.

The Well-known Stranger From February 9, 1904, when arriving in Bulgaria, to March 8, when giving “his last great cinematograph show,” Charles Rider Noble hosted six screenings in Sofia: “in a lounge at the Orient Hotel” for “the representatives of Sofia periodicals” (on February 13), in the big hall of the Military Club – the home of Sofia officers (on February 22 and 25), in the big hall of the Slavyanska Beseda Educational Society – the spiritual home of the intelligentsia in Sofia (on March 1 and 3), and at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre, seating “an audience of up to 1,300 people” (on March 8). All four buildings were located in the centre of the Bulgarian capital, made available to the public, visited by citizens every day, and all of them provided recreation, entertainment, cultural events, and, sometimes, even an intellectual feast as a result of their contact with “high art.” In spite of many years of experience within “the entertainment industry,” all four “institutions” faced for the first time the magic called the cinematograph, thanks to the Englishman’s film projections. Noble had the white screen hung in the four halls for the first time. I would not be surprised to find out that he brought a piece of cloth from the UK for that purpose! Later on, 45 Sofia Municipal Government Record of Decrees (1905–8) – Sofia State Archives, Archival Fund 1ɤ, Inventory 1, ɚ. ɟ. 53, unit 16. 46 “The Demolition of the Bulgaria Circus Theatre,” Den, vol. IV, no. 1,199 (May 13, 1907), 3. 47 “News in Brief,” Pryaporets, vol. X, no. 56 (May 17, 1907), 4. 48 A. Monedzhikova, ɋɨɮɢɹ ɩɪɟɡ ɜɟɤɨɜɟɬɟ [Sofia over the Centuries] (Sofia: Fakel, 1946), 158. 49 “Central Sofia Market Place Construction,” Nov Vek, vol. IX, no. 1,175 (April 15, 1907), 3.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

283

the cinema settled permanently in three of the four venues for decades. Moreover, as has already been said, there are still screenings at the Military Club to this day.

Princess Maria Luisa Boulevard in Sofia and Charles Noble’s potential public

The British citizen managed to attract the attention of Sofian society for less than a month. In 1903, Bulgarian periodicals mentioned him in one single announcement. In 1904, there were nearly thirty pieces of writing dedicated to him (thirteen of them were published from February 14 to March 8). His name also underwent some changes – from Noble (in the Reformi) through Charles Noble to Charles Rider Noble (and it was written correctly in English). In spite of all that, he remained an enigma. Some periodicals presented him as the “special correspondent” or just a “correspondent” for the “English magazine,” “English illustrated magazine,” or “London illustrated magazine” Black and White. According to the Reformi, he was “the Daily Chronicle correspondent.” In its turn, the Vecherna Poshta put the emphasis on his career as a “photo chronicler,” calling him “the English journalist and photographer,” “the English correspondent and photographer,” or “the excellent photographer and artist.” It cannot be excluded that Charles Noble did work as a correspondent for some British periodicals. However, Stephen Bottomore did not find any publications by Noble during his thorough study of both Black and White and the Daily Chronicle. “While Noble might have been writing some articles,” the film historian concluded, “it certainly seems that film work was his top priority.”50 The amount of information trying (in good faith) to throw some light on Charles Noble’s stay in Bulgaria in 1903, and even make it look heroic, 50

P. Kardjilov, “‘Cinematograms’ of a Balkan Conflict: Charles Rider Noble in Bulgaria, 1903–1904,” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 318–19.

284

Chapter Eight

cannot be called abundant. The Vecherna Poshta, praised as “omniscient,” obviously had no idea of the length of that period, “extending” it in a vague, Balkan-like manner to “last summer.” The Dnevnik assured that the newcomer was “well-known among the Bulgarians since the uprising,” and explained (in the same groundless manner) that his active participation “in last autumn’s Macedonian uprising” accounted for that popularity. The Reformi’s endless silence is a mystery in this case, as its Editor-in-Chief Iliya Gologanov, a close friend of General Ivan Tsonchev, accompanying him during his European tour, was supposed to know best what great deeds the Englishman had done. The otherwise pedantic board of trustees of the Slavyanska Beseda Society did not consider it necessary to enter the foreigner’s nationality in its official documents. However, it wrote (maybe as compensation) his full name not only in its minute books, but also in the history of early cinema in Bulgaria. The blame for the existence of this factual vacuum, however, does not rest with Sofian journalists, because the provider of the scarce information, which they only spread, was Charles Noble himself. He was the one who did not mention the epic moments of his filmmaking activity during the 1903 uprising in the advertisements he sent to the editorial offices of the abovementioned newspapers – those “great deeds,” which London periodicals published willingly only a month before. He was the one who did not share with the Bulgarians the story of his heroic “crossing the Turkish frontiers” by riding a galloping horse, surviving the “Turkish bullets.” He seemed to have forgotten the dangerous situations when he ran the risk of being shot. He passed over in silence his joining the insurgent bands and did not say a word about his sensational infiltration and “operation” in “hostile territory.” Why? Due to his modesty or for another reason?

The Content of the “Cinematograms” On the other hand, Charles Rider Noble focused on the “ownership” of the films shown in Sofia, stressing several times that they were his. Although he did not say he was the cameraman, which he was, but just a “photographer,” he stated in his first announcement that he would be “projecting the animated pictures” which he had “filmed during his journeys around the world” (the Bulgaria). The Dnevnik also mentioned “cinematograms,” “taken all over the world” (February 14, 1904). Subsequently, the emphasis was shifted onto what he had filmed in Bulgaria. It was “during his stay in Bulgaria” (“last summer”) when he took “cinematograph pictures” he showed “representatives of Sofia

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

285

periodicals.” During the same period (“last year”), he took advantage of his active participation “in last autumn’s Macedonian uprising” to “film some interesting scenes in Macedonia and near the Bulgarian-Turkish border.” It was the Dnevnik again (February 23, 1904) that assured that the Englishman was planning to project “his interesting cinematograms filmed in Macedonia, Bulgaria … etc.” at the Military Club. “The photographs Mr. Noble took in person in Sofia and the Rila Monastery stand out in the extensive program of the show [at the Slavyanska Beseda Hall]” (Dnevnik, March 1, 1904). There are details in some of the announcements that refer to the order (positioning) of the films in the different programmes. Some publications inform about their provisional titles, others about the places where the pictures were taken. On March 1, Charles Noble screened part of his film subjects at the Slavyanska Beseda Hall, grouping them in a series he advertised as “The Bulgarian Series.” In the same hall, on March 3, his programme consisted of three parts, the first of which was called “From the life of Macedonian insurgents.” On March 8, “very interesting subjects, among which the Macedonian Insurgents series stands out,” were screened at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre. As early as on February 15, the Vecherna Poshta informed Sofians about the first Charles Noble show and provided the most detailed list of the titles (in Bulgarian) of his “scenes” (films): “the opening of the National Assembly by the Prince, the changing of the guard at the Palace, mountain infantry drills, images of the refugees at the Rila Monastery and of the inspection of the Minister of War at our frontier.” Almost the same film subjects were presented in “The Bulgarian Series”: “the opening of the Parliament, Macedonian refugees at the Rila Monastery, the Father’s Day at the Rila Monastery, monks leaving the same monastery, Bulgarian mounted patrol, and many others” (Vecherna Poshta, February 29). The same periodical also described (on March 4) the content of the part, called “From the life of Macedonian insurgents”: “A march, a camp, in single file, getting ready for an attack, a skirmish, thro[w]ing a bomb, over a mountain stream, taking the oath. The story of a cryme [crime].” No matter how scarce that information squeezed out of a dozen of short newspaper announcements is, it allows us to identify some of the Bulgarian titles because it coincided with the content of the detailed annotations in The Forming Supplement No. 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue, which was published in London at the time when Charles Noble toured Sofia with his films. The thematic section “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia” peeps out indeed from behind the Bulgarian titles From the Life of Macedonian

286

Chapter Eight

The eastern entrance of the Palace in Sofia, where Charles Noble filmed the scene of the changing of the guard

Insurgents and Macedonian Insurgents, because each of the keywords used by the Vecherna Poshta to announce laconically the “libretto” of the first part of Noble’s programme presented at the Slavyanska Beseda Hall on March 3 can be found in five of its parts: “camp” in An Insurgent Band in Cover (no. 1,228), “march, in single file” – A Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March (no. 1,229), “getting ready for an attack, a skirmish” – A Skirmish With the Turks in the Balkans (no. 1,230), “thro[w]ing a bomb, over a mountain stream” – Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks (no. 1,231), “taking an oath” – Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band (no. 1,233). The subtitle “The story of a crime” is in a sense analogous to the example given by The Morning Post when describing the lecturer at the Alhambra, who “helps where help is wanted.” “The man in the Inverness cape,” he observed, “was a spy and has since been shot. And truly he does not face the biograph with the same composure as the others.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

287

The display of these pictures is announced for a fortnight only, so those who wish to see them should lose no time.”51 The similarity between “The Bulgarian Series” and the catalogue section, titled “Macedonia and Bulgaria,” is also obvious. It is so close that it could be called kinship. Here, “the opening of the National Assembly” or “the opening of the Parliament” corresponds to Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 (no. 1,164), “the refugees at the Rila Monastery” or “Macedonian refugees at the Rila Monastery” – Refugees at Rilo [Rila] Monastery (no. 1,154), “the Father’s Day at the Rila Monastery” – The Feast of St. John at Rilo Monastery (no. 1,155), “monks leaving the same monastery” – Outside the Frontier Town of Samokove (no. 1,157), “mountain infantry drills” – Bulgarian Mountain Infantry in the Balkans (no. 1,161), “Bulgarian mounted patrol” – Bulgarian Infantry Patrolling the Frontier at Doubnitza [Dupnitsa] (no. 1,162), “the inspection of the Minister of War at our frontier” – H. E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Bodyguard (no. 1,160). Those “interesting scenes” filmed by Noble “near the Bulgarian-Turkish border” could be added to this line of identification argument as they correspond to The Bulgarian Frontier at Cotcharinova (no. 1,163). Even this superficial “comparative analysis” shows that, from February 13 to March 8, 1904, Charles Noble screened in Sofia at least thirteen “cinematograms” filmed by him in Bulgaria in 1903. I would not be surprised if their number turns out to be seventeen, like the number of all his films in The Forming Supplement No. 1. However, that could be proved only if we managed to find out the titles of the other four, hidden behind those scenes of “The Bulgarian Series” that Noble himself described as “and many others” in the Vecherna Poshta (thus making it hard for future researchers). In fact, the only “scene” that cannot be found in the CUTC catalogue is “the changing of the guard at the Palace.” Probably, it is part of Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903, filmed in the centre of the Bulgarian capital, where the building of the former palace of the Prince (later – from 1908 to 1946 – of the Tsar) is still to be found accommodating the National Art Gallery (National Museum of Bulgarian Fine Arts). The film is also unique for another reason – apart from the place of shooting, the time the film was made is also known – November 2/15, 1903. The “birthdates” of the rest 51 “Alhambra Theatre. Views from the Near East,” The Morning Post, no. 41,061 (January 5, 1904), 4.

288

Chapter Eight

of the film subjects are hidden in “the information fog” dissipated by the Vecherna Poshta – “the Father’s Day at the Rila Monastery.” The venerable John of Rila (876–946) was a Bulgarian cleric, monk, hermit, wonderworker, and saint. He founded the Rila Monastery circa 930, the largest monastery in Bulgaria, whose patron saint he is. When he was still alive people called him an “earthly angel” and a “heavenly man.” From 969 to 972 his holy relics were taken from the Rila Mountains to Sofia.52 He must have been canonized during that period. He is considered the greatest Bulgarian saint, heavenly protector and patron saint of the Bulgarian people, and patron of Bulgarian revivalists. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church commemorates its saint three times a year: on July 1, 1469 his relics were returned from Veliko Tarnovo to the Rila Monastery; August 18 is the day of the Assumption (death) of the saint; on October 19, in the tenth century, his relics were taken to Sofia. The last date is an Orthodox holiday, officially called Venerable John of Rila and informally known as the Father’s Day. The origin of the unofficial name of the holiday is difficult to translate into English. It implies the spiritual celebration of the Day of the Patriarch, the Father, and the Heavenly Protector of all Bulgarians. However, the word in Bulgarian is phonetically similar to the Bulgarian word for “eye,” hence the belief that the saint could cure people with eye problems. On that day in 1903 Charles Noble most probably filmed The Feast of St. John at Rilo Monastery (the day of both the saint and the monastery he founded). Nowadays, October 19 is also the day of the town of Dupnitsa, and the people from the village of Skrino hold their traditional fair on this day.

“Ownership,” Patents, and “Copyright” Charles Rider Noble’s travelling cinema did not confine itself to showing the “cinematograms” he made in Bulgaria in 1903. It also exhibited the “motion pictures” which the cameraman “filmed during his journeys around the world.” For example, the Englishman “projected” subjects “filmed in … Morocco, etc.” at the Military Club, whereas in the Slavyanska Beseda Hall he screened 2 Scenes from the Life of English Mariners and French Naval Squadron on Manoeuvres. Bulgarian periodicals did not provide a single piece of information about the content of the “Moroccan series,” which makes it impossible to answer the question of whether the whole series was shown to Sofians, or 52

I. Duychev, Ɋɢɥɫɤɢɹɬ ɫɜɟɬɟɰ ɢ ɧɟɝɨɜɚɬɚ ɨɛɢɬɟɥ [The Rila Saint and His Monastery] (Sofia: Zlatni Zyrna Publishing House, 1947), 191, 197.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

289

only part of it. However, there is no doubt that we are dealing here with “The Uprising in Morocco” – a series of eleven film subjects which Charles Noble made for Walter Gibbons in 1902 and, later (at the beginning of 1903), the Warwick Trading Company projected in London (and included in its catalogue). Cinematographer Will Barker filmed a 300-foot chronicle called Drill Work and Pastimes of the British Bluejacket (“Naval display by Crew of HMS Excellent” or “HMS Excellent crew at Military Tournament”) for the same company in the spring of 1903. Noble probably screened it on March 3 under the Bulgarian title 2 Scenes from the Life of English Mariners.53 Nine of the pages of the first Charles Urban Trading Company, Ltd. catalogue, which was released at the end of 1903, present a long list of films, titled “A Selection of the Choicest Lumiere Film Subjects.” The title of the film subject Ironclads of the French Squadron at VILLEFRANCE,54 which could be seen as a “prototype” of French Naval Squadron on Manoeuvres, is to be found in one of its sections, “Marine Subjects.”55 To put it in a nutshell, it is possible (quite possible, in fact) that some of the films Charles Noble projected in Sofia were not made by him but by other cameramen and even other (non-British) companies. Regardless of this, he announced that others’ (and even foreign) productions were his own. The Englishman not only advertised “his own goods” but also “exploited” the films as their cameraman and director. He even pretended to be their producer! It is true that he allowed himself to do that explicitly only once. When presenting From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents, he clearly stated the following: “A cinematograph picture, belonging to Mr. Noble, whose reproduction and projection is patented and copyrighted.” It is one thing to tell journalists that you have taken the pictures in Sofia and in the Rila Monastery yourself; that you have made them on your own “during his stay in Bulgaria”; that, while participating “actively” in the uprising, you showed initiative and “also took the opportunity” to cover and promote a historical event. However, talking about “ownership,” patents, and “copyright” is a different matter. It is one thing to be an author, but quite another to be a producer, even at that time, during the first years of the twentieth century. The official producer of The Uprising in Morocco was the Warwick Trading Company, and that of With the 53

Denis Gifford, The British Film Catalogue, Volume 2: Non-Fiction Film, 1888– 1994 (London–Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2000), 97. 54 Villefranche-sur-Mer is a resort on the French Riviera. 55 The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. General Catalogue Issue (London: Scott, Herbert & Co. [printers], November 1903), 148.

290

Chapter Eight

Charles Noble exhibited 2 Scenes from the Life of English Mariners – probably, as part of the newsreel Drill Work and Pastimes of the British Bluejacket

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

291

Insurgent Bands of Macedonia and Macedonia and Bulgaria the CUTC. Charles Urban was behind all three films. However, Sofia periodicals (that is Charles Noble) did not say a word about any (present or past) professional relationships between the two of them. The Englishman did not even mention that he filmed in South Africa in 1900, being Walter Gibbons’ “principal photographer” during the Anglo-Boer War, and that a year later he was sent to Morocco by the same person. Noble was the one to distance himself from Charles Urban, too, having forgotten filming for him and his companies. He also skipped the small detail that the American was his employer and sent him out to Bulgaria in 1903! And that is not all. On February 14/27, 1904, when Charles Noble published his first advertisements in Sofia, the London newspaper The Era announced, in connection with “New Urban Films,” the following: “NOTE. – Our War Correspondents in the Far and Near East are Men of vast Experience and Resource. They are now Operating with the Forces in RUSSIA, SIBERIA, MANCHURIA, JAPAN, KOREA, BULGARIA, and TURKEY. Enough said. Results will speak for themselves.”56 It turns out that one of those “War Correspondents in the Near East,” one of the anonymous “Men of vast Experience and Resource,” one of the daredevils who “are now Operating with the Forces in … BULGARIA,” was Charles Rider Noble himself.

Ticket Prices Even these few lines show that the second of Charles Noble’s arrivals in Sofia was also due to the American’s will. As a film producer, he had to provide his New Urban Films to distributors regularly (every week). Therefore, he sent his “war correspondents” to half of the world, from the Balkans to the Far East, “arming” them with his Bioscope. And they “operated” as they were “camera operators.” One of them was Charles Noble, sent out to Bulgaria to provide the already-mentioned New Urban Films for his employer. However, the Englishman passing as a “correspondent,” “photographer,” or “artist,” but not a CUTC camera operator, started making money by distributing, instead of making, films. Did Charles Urban give his consent or was he unaware of this? The answer to this question is to be found among the reasons for preparing and hosting the projections in Sofia from February to March 1904. The answer to this question could provide a logical explanation for 56 “New Urban Films,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,414 (February 27, 1904), 35; no. 3,415 (March 5, 1904), 31.

292

Chapter Eight

the sudden “amnesia” Charles Rider Noble suffered. However, there is no information that could allow for such an analysis. Thus, I will allow myself to remind the commercial goal of those screenings. Even the first of them, which was probably free of charge, was organized because of self-interest – to attract Sofia journalists’ attention, as well as gain their approval. The advertisements that followed announced the rest of the projections, strictly obeying the “general policy.” The prices of the tickets for the second show at the Military Club, which were already on sale on February 23, were “quite reduced,” according to the Dnevnik. It is not clear by how much they were reduced, because the newspaper did not say how much the first show at the Military Club on February 22 cost. The comparison could not be made without that information. On the other hand, the Vecherna Poshta gave a more detailed account of the forthcoming screening on February 25 at 9 pm: “first eight row seats cost 2 leva, and the rest – 1 lev. Children’s tickets cost 50 stotinki.” The ticket prices for both shows at the Slavyanska Beseda were not announced by the press. Den did not provide any detail, either. It contented itself with assumptions using critical yet vague words, such as “Mr. Noble’s profit must be exceptional, too,” the films “could have been shown … at prices lower than the ones charged that night.” The newspaper did not mention the prices of the tickets, but implied that they must have been high, since they should have been “lower.” The information concerning the prices “charged that night” allows for the hypothesis that screenings were held at the Slavyanska Beseda not only “that night” but also on other occasions (before that) and at lower prices. According to the minute books of the society, however, the hall was rented out to the cinematographer for the first time on March 1, 1904. The same official documents explained (to a certain extent) the reason for the expensive tickets. At first, the Slavyanska Beseda board of trustees let out the spacious hall to Noble for BGN 110 per night. About twenty days later it reduced that amount to BGN 90 – maybe after some bargaining? The Dnevnik was the second newspaper in Sofia that specified: “Ticket prices: Box seat BGN 6 and 5, Reserved seat BGN 2, 1st seat BGN 1, 2nd seat BGN 0.50 and Back seat BGN 0.30,” when advertising the “very last cinematograph show” Noble was hosting in the Bulgaria Circus Theatre on March 8 – full of “very interesting subjects,” “at the request of the public,” and “at reduced prices.” The fact that ticket prices this time varied from BGN 6 to BGN 0.30 is impressive! The 20:1 ratio (which was 4:1 at the Military Club) amply illustrates the diverse audience that would visit the Potaynikovi brothers’

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

293

entertainment establishment, and its financial, social, class, and caste stratification. The “farewell” announcements in the Dnevnik also provide indirect information about the “hierarchy” of the interior design of the Bulgaria Circus Theatre with “box seats,” “a gallery,” and two types of seats – first and second, which could be reserved. At that time, “pricing” depended mostly on the owners, managers, or renters of the entertainment establishments. The prices at both the Military Club and the Slavyanska Beseda were determined not by the market but by the administration. In the case of the Military Club it was the managing director (always an officer) who set the prices, whereas in the second establishment it was the board of trustees (which was elected). However, this time, Charles Noble himself must have set the prices of the tickets since he was the one to reduce them at the time (according to the announcements published in the periodicals). Besides, he was blamed (fairly or not) by the author of the Den article for having fixed prices that should have been “lower,” which the criticaster, looking enviously at “Mr. Noble’s profit,” described as “exceptional.” Logically, Charles Noble enjoyed most of the profit. Firstly, because he hosted the celluloid show. He and no one else “projected” his “motion pictures.” He would “be showing” his “cinematograms.” He himself exhibited his “interesting cinematograms.” He hosted the shows and decided which of them were “exclusively for the officers,” and which would be for civilians. He (by means of the press) asked his (Noble’s, not the Military Club’s) “favourable audience” not to be late for his projections. The Slavyanska Beseda board of trustees gave its hall to him, “Mr. Charles Rider Noble” or “Mr. Charles Rider.” It was the Englishman who ordered the eleven short advertisements, published in three Sofian newspapers, and most likely paid for them. He was in charge of the advertising campaign, which was more than humble according to modern standards. However, from the standpoint of film history, it can be considered as unparalleled. As a good PR person, Charles Noble determined which announcement was important and which was not. He flirted with the audience, fooling it that the film programmes suited its taste or depended on it – at least for two of the shows (at the Military Club and the Bulgaria Circus Theatre) Noble announced that they would take place “at the request of the public”! He decided which show was the first, the second, or the “last,” which was a “farewell” or “very last.” This skilful “flirting with the public” allowed Charles Noble to attract diverse audiences for his film projections in Sofia. He managed to fascinate the elite (at the Slavyanska Beseda) and win the popular vote (at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre).

294

Chapter Eight

The advertisement published in the Vecherna Poshta on March 4, 1904

In the end, Charles Rider Noble’s advertising campaign, marketing strategy, and cinematograph shows in Sofia turned out to be successful, and the guest artist’s profit was even “exceptional,” perhaps because he

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

295

himself managed the multifaceted process. He was his own boss – there was no one to twist him round his little finger, no one to share his profit with (no matter how much it was). Noble set both the venues of the film projections and the prices of the tickets. He himself ran the business, earning his own profit only for himself. He would not help “suffering Macedonians” or give money to charity or “free lunches.” That is why, from the very beginning, the Englishman’s aim was to convince Sofian society that what happened from February 13 to March 8, 1904 was his initiative, that the film projections and even the films were his. Not only did he distribute or bring them, but he also filmed and produced them. There was neither amnesia nor sudden memory loss. There were previously prepared and absolutely conscientious professional actions, the drive to be independent and break the chains of the producers. Charles Rider Noble fulfilled himself as an independent actor, filmmaker, and film distributor. He was the “blade runner” from a world that, wishing to impose its restrictive measures, rules, regulations, and laws, led to the Thomas Alva Edison vs. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson case in the courtroom, as well as Warwick Trading Company, Ltd. vs. the Charles Urban Trading Company, Ltd., and Charles Urban vs. Maguire & Baucus. Charles Noble was a lonely cowboy who, as Providence would have it, found himself in the Bulgarian Wild West, which was not invaded by celluloid sheriffs, pedantic judges, or merciless keepers of the law that regulated the rights of authors, producers, and distributors of the Seventh Art. He was an adventurous “stalker,” who found himself in a postapocalyptic region with deadly traps that protected the room and hoped to get to that utopian zone. He was the alien in the free-trade zone, a market without any absurd principles, paradoxical requirements, or ridiculous bans, a virgin territory in terms of laws, where even films were not called films but “cinematograms.” Did Charles Rider Noble come back from the zone with a precious gift? Did he gain anything during the adventure? Hardly! At most, he might have visited the Military Club restaurant where, thanks to Colonel Kraev, he probably had a glass of high-quality champagne at a bargain price. There is no information on how much the wine cost, but, according to the periodicals of that time, “the three-course set menu [at the Sofia Officers’ Assembly] is just 1 lev.” Was that expensive or cheap? If, on February 25, the Englishman managed to attract one hundred people, seated on the first eight rows, then he must have made BGN 200 only from them. He could have had two hundred meals at the club restaurant, trying three courses! At that time, the Kyustendil Municipality needed a civil engineer and offered the applicants an annual wage of BGN 3,600 (for

296

Chapter Eight

category ȱ),57 which meant BGN 300 per month. However, the Englishman would not have felt comfortable at the Slavyanska Beseda Restaurant, if he had had that money. He would not have been satisfied with the service there, if he’d been forced to have a meal there before or after the shows, because, during his stay at the building on Georgi S. Rakovski street, the board of trustees itself took a decision to reprimand the person who rented the restaurant “for the dirty kitchen and tableware, for the low-quality beer and snacks sold to customers at the restaurant.”58

Reviews Provoking no Responses The living pictures Charles Rider Noble “projected” to Sofian audiences “can be considered fine examples of the art of photography.” The people who “were present” at the first projection “were impressed” not only by the scenes that had been shown, but also by their accuracy and liveliness (a high-quality film projection), and “unanimously appreciated the photographic art of the English correspondent” (his skills as a cameraman). Therefore, the show “made the best impression on” the spectators and convinced everyone that “the cinematograms he [Noble] is projecting are worth seeing.” After that first film projection, the press continued to praise the pictures, stating that they were “interesting,” taken by the foreigner himself – “in particular,” those from “The Bulgarian Series.” The newcomer’s shows were “unique,” “of great interest to the audience” that visited them “in great numbers” and was “very satisfied” with them. To sum up, there was a reaction. There were “positive reviews,” praising advertisements, and invitations. There was no response on the part of the society. The film projections did not provoke, inspire, or arouse any reaction, even though they were projected by the author himself! Response and echo does not mean resistance and counteraction. These are different things. Only Den stated its own opinion and said Noble’s projections and films were “too ordinary.” However, it went further, saying the tickets and their prices should have been “lower.” The rest of the publications were the same trivial advertisements. Not a single Sofian newspaper announced that the cinematograph (the Urban Bioscope in this case) had crossed the threshold of the Orient Hotel for the first time. Maybe this was because it was a middle-class hotel and projections had already taken place at the Macedonia Hotel and the 57 58

Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 775 (August 1, 1904), 3. Sofia State Archives, 1318 K, Inventory 2, ɚ. ɟ. 16, unit 155.

Screenings in Sofia (February to March 1904)

297

Bulgaria Hotel (1896), as well as at the Luxembourg Hotel (1899) and at the Boulevard Hotel (1900). However, it is difficult to explain why the projections held at the Military Club, the Slavyanska Beseda, and the Bulgaria Circus Theatre were not mentioned. Those were quite popular cultural institutions, in whose halls (lounges) Charles Noble’s screenings were the first film projections.

Princess Maria Luisa Boulevard, where Charles Noble first stayed in 1904 (at the Orient Hotel) and exhibited his films (at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre); this is where the Modern Theatre, the first stationary cinema in Bulgaria, opened at the end of 1908

In addition, leaving aside the article “Varna Harbour” (1896),59 it turns out that Charles Noble’s “cinematograms” were the earliest actuality films made and projected in Bulgaria. The film historian Aleksandar Aleksandrov is quite objective, classifying them as “historic for the

59 The first film made (most probably in the summer of 1896) not only in Bulgaria (Varna), but also in the entire Balkan Peninsula (Peter Kardjilov, “The First Filming in the Balkans (1896–1900),” in Film and Cinema: Past, Present and Future Perspectives, edited by Joanne Copeland (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2017), 1–22. It was projected in Sofia on December 8, 1896 (P. Kardjilov, Ɉɡɚɪɟɧɢɹ ɜ ɩɨɥɢɬɟ ɧɚ ȼɢɬɨɲɚ. Ʌɟɬɨɩɢɫ ɧɚ ɪɚɧɧɨɬɨ ɤɢɧɨ ɜ ɋɨɮɢɹ (1896–1915) [Dawn at the Foot of the Vitosha Mountains. Chronicle of early cinema in Sofia (1896–1915)] [Sofia: Prof. Marin Drinov Publishing House of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2016], 13–34).

298

Chapter Eight

Bulgarian cinema.”60 Thanks to the “unique” projections, Bulgarians saw for the first time on the screen their home country (its beautiful nature, mountains, forests, and rivers), their cities and holy places (the Rila Monastery), their army (which, in 1903–4, totalled 102,000 people), and their leaders (King Ferdinand, Mihail Savov, the Minister of War). Noble’s camera not only filmed a “panorama” of the land but also focused on its people’s faces (i.e. their souls). Thus, Bulgarians saw themselves on the screen for the first time, and were looking at themselves in his mirror! We do not know whether they liked themselves, but we assume that those films must have awakened, surprised, and inspired them. However, at that time there was no one to enlighten them and explain that this was a real event. The press kept silent. There was no enthusiasm or fanfare. No one shouted “Hurrah!” And they should have, because we are talking about the first series of films made in Bulgaria. There is one more thing which, in my opinion, is most surprising – not a single Bulgarian periodical that advertised celluloid Noble-run shows mentioned the names of General Ivan Tsonchev or Ivancho GevgelijskyKarasulijata. In London, both were announced as the “stars” of the “Unique Series of Pictures.” Thanks to British periodicals, their names reached the most remote corners of the Island, and their detailed biographies were published in the catalogue of one of the most influential film companies. The Bulgarian press, however, ignored them, as if they had not existed. Even if we assume that this could be due to some change in Noble’s attitude towards his former “brothers in arms,” we should not forget the fact that, at that time, both revolutionaries were alive and kicking, and popular among the people. However, there was not a single newspaper that would write about them and inform its readers that they, who everybody knew, were shown on the screen the previous night. And Tsonchev and Gevgelijsky being filmed in the “cinematograms” was a real event! The Bulgarians, who had attracted the cinematographer’s attention until that moment, were quite few. Moreover, on February 22 and 25, Noble hosted shows at the Military Club, where mostly officers, among whom General Tsonchev was quite popular, gathered. As early as February 14, 1904, the Dnevnik announced that Charles Noble, who had arrived in Sofia a couple of days earlier, intended to exhibit his “cinematograms” to “the spectators in the capital and in the provincial towns.” And the newspaper did not lie to its readers, since the Englishman set off for the Bulgarian countryside. 60

A. Aleksandrov, “Ƚɨɞɢɧɚ ɩɴɪɜɚ ɡɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɨɬɨ ɤɢɧɨ” [“Year One of the Bulgarian Cinema”] Kino i Vreme, no. 18 (1980): 11.

CHAPTER NINE NOBLE’S SCREENINGS IN THE PROVINCES (MARCH TO JUNE 1904)

The Itinerary

Charles Noble’s itinerary in the country announced by the Dnevnik on March 14, 1904

On March 8, 1904, Charles Rider Noble exhibited a “cinematograph show” at the Bulgaria Circus Theatre in Sofia. It had been announced as the “very last” one. This must have referred to the Englishman’s activities only in the capital, because his intention to show his “cinematograms” in

300

Chapter Nine

the “provincial towns” was made public in the Dnevnik as early as February 14.1 Therefore, it was no surprise that just a month later the same newspaper announced the following: “Today [13 March], Mr. Charles Noble, well-known to the Sofian public, left for the provinces in order to present his wonderful cinematograph shows. He is going to visit: Vratsa, Pleven, via Somovit – Vidin, Lom, Oryahovo, Svishtov, Silistra, Ruse, Tarnovo, Razgrad, Shumen, Varna, Burgas and, following the southern route, all railway towns.”2 No sooner said than done.

In Vratsa Thus, the Noble-run shows continued in the provinces, where the Briton stuck (quite strictly) to his strategies – both the advertising and the marketing ones. The Dnevnik provided the evidence again, publishing in its “Provincial News” column a message sent from the town of Vratsa on March 15. “Mr. Charles Noble,” the anonymous contributor informed laconically, “hosted the first cinematograph show here last night [March 14]; tomorrow evening [March 16], he will be presenting the second one and leaving Vratsa.”3 Nowadays, Vratsa, located 112 km north of Sofia, is the biggest town in northwestern Bulgaria. The railway connecting it with the capital was built at the beginning of the twentieth century – the journey along this railway line (via Mezdra) was described by Aleko Konstantinov (1863– 1897).4 Therefore, the English camera operator must have arrived in Vratsa as the Bulgarian writer did on March 7, 1897 – by train. The four lines the Dnevnik published were hidden between two other announcements: the first one concerning the concert held on March 13 at the “Razvitie Hall” [Progress Hall] by the “Women’s Charity Society” supporting “Russian soldiers wounded in the Far East”; the second – the lecture about “the Russo-Japanese War” delivered by the teacher Mr. Spasov “yesterday morning at the Art Hall of the girls’ school.” The travelling cinema-man must have projected his films in the hall of the local cultural club, Razvitie, which opened as early as in 1869. Although 1

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 612 (February 14, 1904), 3. “Mr. Noble in the Provinces,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 641 (March 14, 1904), 2. 3 “In the Provinces. Concert supporting wounded Russian soldiers. – Lecture. – Cinematograph. Vratsa, 15 March 1904.” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 644 (March 17, 1904), 2. 4 A. Konstantinov, ɋɨɮɢɹ–Ɇɟɡɞɪɚ–ȼɪɚɰɚ. ɉɴɬɧɢ ɛɟɥɟɠɤɢ [Sofia–Mezdra– Vratsa. Travel Notes], http://www.slovo.bg/showwork.php3?AuID=169&WorkID=4969&Level=1. 2

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

301

his shows were accurately described as “the first” and “the second,” it is not very clear whether this “order” refers to Noble’s film projections in particular or to Vratsa film projections in general. The lack of enthusiasm due to the fact that the first cinematograph show took place in the town, whose population amounted to nearly fifteen thousand people, does not imply poor local patriotism, but justifies the assumption that the mountain town had already seen such a show! On the other hand, presenting two shows (on March 14 and 16, 1904) for just three days means that the local audience was interested in the foreigner’s activities.

The announcement of the guest-performance in Vratsa (Dnevnik, March 17, 1904)

302

Chapter Nine

Visiting Vidin

The first newspaper report from Vidin (Dnevnik, March 30, 1904)

The second of Charles Rider Noble’s stopovers (according to the press) was Vidin – a port city on the Danube with more than sixteen thousand inhabitants at that time. However, there was no railway from Vratsa to Vidin. Thus, it took the Englishman more than a week to travel the distance between the two towns. He might have undertaken a tiresome 143 km journey by carriage (or cart). However, it is more likely that he continued by train along the route, which he himself announced in the Dnevnik: Vratsa to Pleven to Somovit (the only Bulgarian village with a railway station and a harbour). Noble must have travelled from Somovit to Vidin on one of the steamships, shuttling on the Danube, eventually arriving in Vidin. The local correspondent for the Dnevnik, who wrote under the pen name “Report,” immediately informed its readers about what had happened: “Mr. Charles Noble, who presented his cinematograph shows containing important European events, in particular, the Macedonian misery, to Sofian public not long ago, has been in our town for a few days. Tonight he will be hosting a matinée at 4 o’clock and another

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

303

The second newspaper report from Vidin (Dnevnik, April 3, 1904)

– in the evening.”5 The newspaper report was from Monday March 29, which means that the Englishman organized two film projections in Vidin – one during the day, at 4 pm, and another in the evening. Back then, the 5

Report. “Yunak Association Meeting. – Cinematograph Show. – Earthquake. Dnevnik Correspondent. Vidin, 29 March 1904.” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 655 (March 30, 1904), 3.

304

Chapter Nine

French word matinée [morning] was used in Bulgarian as a synonym of both “a day performance” and “a morning show.” Obviously, the loanword is not used correctly here, especially in respect with the evening show.

During Charles Noble’s stay in Vidin, a sequence of earthquakes rocked the country, causing panic mostly among the citizens of Sofia

At the end of Report’s correspondence there was a six-line text, titled “Earthquake”: “Yesterday [March 28] at 7 to 11, a minor earthquake was registered in the city. It made some people go out into the streets and others talk about its horrors.” It turned out that Vidin was shaken at the time Noble was there. In spite of that, he was lucky, because the earthquake in Sofia was “powerful,” causing “the ground to undulate.” In fact, the series of earthquake shocks started on March 22, at noon, when the minaret of the Banya Bashi Mosque in Sofia shook and the mineral water level in the nearby public bath rose! That obviously impressed the public, because a postcard was issued to commemorate the event. The seismic waves did not bypass Vidin, from where a newspaper report was sent to the Vecherna Poshta on the same day. The newspaper immediately published it: “Today [March 22] at 11 am, a minor earthquake was

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

305

registered and, at 12.55, a powerful one occurred … which lasted for a minute and a half.”6 There were more earthquakes during the week. The one on March 28, which was “minor” in Vidin and described by Report in the Dnevnik, caused panic mostly in Sofia. According to the Den, many Sofians left their homes, semi-naked people ran out of the public bath, and a tram stopped “as a result of a pole having fallen down.” There were cracks in the walls of the Slavyanska Beseda building, many of the decorations in the big hall of the Military Club fell down, and the “water level [at the thermae] increased.”7 “On 1 April, in the evening, Mr. Noble left from Vidin to Lom after having hosted his cinematograph shows for two evenings,”8 Report assured the readers once again. Should we trust the information he provided, it turns out that, after the two screenings on March 29 that took place during the day and the evening, the Briton presented at least one more show in the evening of either March 30 or 31. Thus, he must have hosted three film projections in the Danube town. Maybe that is why “notable citizens of Vidin, led by the mayor and Mr. Hadži-Ivan Valchev on the one hand and the division commander and the president of the provincial court on the other did not want to let him leave like that,” as Report – who turned out to be eloquent – vividly described the situation. “So they organized a party for him in the restaurant of the Boulevard Hotel.” The newspaper report, titled “Charles Noble’s Visit to Vidin,” continued in the following way: There were more than 30 people at the party – all the officials of the town, some lawyers, etc. During the party, the mayor drank to the health of the English people. N. Panov also enthusiastically thanked the citizens of Albion, who had always sincerely taken to heart the cause of the Macedonian slave. Mr. Noble was grateful and touched, and he read a letter written by his 82-year-old mother, who persuaded him not to go to the Far East but stay in the Balkans, where he could be more useful, all the more because the Macedonian people needed defenders and friends. Later, at 1 o’clock, the party was transferred to the port, where Mr. Noble, happy and full of best memories, got on an Austrian steamship. The people of Vidin were saying good-bye to him as he left for Lom.9

6

Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 961 (March 25, 1904), 2. “Powerful Earthquake in the Capital,” Den, vol. ȱ, no. 112 (March 28, 1904), 3. 8 Report. “Charles Noble’s Visit to Vidin,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 659 (April 3, 1904), 2. 9 Ibid. 7

306

Chapter Nine

The port of Vidin in the early twentieth century

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

307

The summer schedule of the Austrian shipping company, Ersten k. k. priv. Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft

308

Chapter Nine

Indeed, “all the officials of the town” bid Noble a fond farewell: the mayor at the time (from 1903 to 1905), Mladen Naydenov (1827–1905); his successor, Hadži-Ivan Valchev Kunov (1856–1936); and the commander of the Sixth Infantry Division of Vidin (1892–1918). Report’s article also provides information about when Eliza Jessie Rider, Charles Rider Noble’s mother, was born. If she was eighty-two years old at that time, she must have been born in 1822. We learn one more thing – Noble planned to go to the Far East. Probably, he was going to make films there. However, his mother did not approve of his plans, as she believed her son “could be more useful” in the Balkans. Although indirectly, Charles Noble was characterized as a defender and friend of the Macedonian people. “The citizens of Albion” had to be mentioned, too, as they, according to the Vidin correspondent, “had always sincerely taken to heart the cause of the Macedonian slave.” So, “at 1 o’clock” (on April 2), the Briton waited at the port of Vidin for the arrival of the unknown Austrian steamship that was going to take him to Lom. However, did he get there? Did he manage to “present his wonderful cinematograph shows” in this small port town along the Danube, too? We do not know. The “fountain” of newspaper information allowing those drinking from it to track the Noble-run show in the provinces, suddenly “ran dry” for more than two months! Fortunately, it started providing information again on June 12, in Plovdiv.

The Sea Battle of Port Arthur in Plovdiv However, before that, on April 2, while Charles Noble was most probably sailing along the Danube, which is “quiet” and “white,” according to Bulgarians, yet also “lovely” and “blue,” according to Austrians, a “private message,” published in the Dnevnik’s “Provincial News” column, was sent from Plovdiv. Its second part, titled “Mourning for Makarov,” informed about the impact of the rumour spread throughout the town about Admiral Makarov’s “tragic death,” which later turned out to be true. Vice-admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov (1848–1904) was one of the most notable and dramatic figures of the Russo-Japanese War. “The only great fleet commander among Russian admirals,” Makarov was appointed by Emperor Nicholas II as Commander of the First Pacific Squadron on February 9, 1904. On March 4, he arrived in Port Arthur, undertaking its defence. Makarov was aboard the battleship Petropavlovsk on March 31 when the flagman of the Russian fleet hit a Japanese mine

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

309

and sank. Most of its 650-man crew died.10 Makarov and the famous battle painter Vasily Vereshchagin (the artist of the 1877–8 Russo-Turkish War) were among the casualties. “Each war scene is interesting,” the third part of the article, named “The Cinematographed Battle of Port Arthur,” assured.

The Battle of Port Arthur cinematographed (Dnevnik, April 4, 1904) However, the sea battle of Port Arthur was cinematographed. The spacious hall for cinematograph shows is full. There is a fierce sea battle going on on the screen. Steamships are sinking one after the other as we hear mines exploding, and the man operating the cinematograph is explaining to the stunned audience consisting of noble citizens, officers, clerks, etc. that this is the battle of Port Arthur. The scenery is lovely. However, there are not only high towers and medieval castles, but also two mosques. Damn it, Port Arthur and mosques! And the speed, at which the cinematograph is showing us the battle of Port Arthur, surpasses the speed of any one of our special Far East correspondents.11

10 P. V. Multatuli and Zalesskiy, Ɋɭɫɤɨ-ɹɩɨɧɫɤɚɹ ɜɨɣɧɚ 1904–1905 ɝɝ [The RussoJapanese War 1904–1905] (Moscow: Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, 2015), 65–6. 11 “Life in the Provinces. A private Message for the Dnevnik. Feedback about the Turkish-Bulgarian Agreement. – Mourning for Makarov. – The Cinematographed Battle of Port Arthur. – Weather and Lighting. Plovdiv, 2 April 1904.” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 660 (April 4, 1904), 2.

310

Chapter Nine

Vice-admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov (1848–1904)

As Clio, the Muse of History, would have it, the Russo-Japanese War was one of the first large-scale military conflicts in the world that broke out after the beginning of the new cinematographic age. The bloodshedding war became a media event and the Seventh Art played an important role in it thanks to a few of its servants, who managed to film

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

311

scenes of the Far East drama and thus turned into its chroniclers. The Société Pathé Frères, which launched twenty war “chronicles” (at least, according to the catalogue numbers mentioned in its registers12) in 1904 and 1905, was the most active of the European giants on the celluloid market at that time. However, all its twenty film subjects were fake, mostly made near Paris. Hundreds of extras dressed in Russian and Japanese military uniforms recreated the battles, allegedly taking place thousands of kilometres away in front of the cameras in the hillside and sandy areas of Montreuil (nowadays, a suburb of the French capital). Georges Sadoul13 wrote how:

The Russian fleet in Vladivostok

12 Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914. Vol. I (1896–1906) (1996), 841–1022. 13 Georges Sadoul (1904–1967) was a French journalist and cinema writer, the author of the six-volume History of World Cinema (Histoire générale du cinema) (1946–1950).

312

Chapter Nine The Marne substituted for Manchurian rivers14. The fleet battles were reenacted with the help of stage sets, models and simple special effects. The most popular were the titles A Russo-Japanese Sea Battle (Combat naval Russo-Japonais – no. 1,04315), An Observation Point at Port Arthur (La vigie de Port-Arthur) or The Destruction of the Petropavlovsk (Catastrophe du Petropawlosk – no. 1,06416), The Surrender of Port Arthur (Reddition de Port-Arthur – no. 1,17217) … Most of the reconstructions were “packed” under more general titles, such as The Russo-Japanese War (Guerre Russo-Japonaise18), Russo-Japanese Developments (Événements Russo-Japonais19) by Director Lucien Nonguet (1869–1955) – one of the Pathé Frères stars, Near Port Arthur (Autour de Port-Arthur20). The final words (2.5 minutes long) were written in six languages and in two versions, “Long live Russia!” (“Vive la Russie!”) and “Long live Japan!” (“Vive la Japon!”),21 which were added depending on the public’s sympathies.22

One of those fake films was the first one about the Russo-Japanese War, which appeared on the Bulgarian screen (there has been no information about earlier projections so far). It was most probably shot in the suburbs of Paris! In this particular case, the obvious falsification was noticed even by the Plovdiv correspondent of the Sofia newspaper Dnevnik. In spite of its uniqueness, this film projection is still covered in thick information fog. It is difficult (even impossible) to identify the title of the film exhibited, its authors and producers – Pathé, Selig, Lubin? The text does not reveal the venue of the projection, either. The “hall for cinematograph shows” that was mentioned is likely to be the Luxembourg Theatre hall in Plovdiv, which was used by travelling showmen at least in the summer of 1903.23 The “man operating the cinematograph” and “explaining to the stunned audience” what was happening on the screen 14

Georges Sadoul, ȼɫɟɨɛɳɚɹ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɤɢɧɨ. Ɍɨɦ 1 [History of World Cinema, vol. 1] (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1958), 396. 15 Bousquet, Henri. Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914. Vol. I (1896– 1906), 1996, p. 888 16 Ibid., p. 889 17 Ibid., p. 899 18 Ibid., p. 888 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid., p. 889 21 Ibid., 888. 22 Georges Sadoul, ȼɫɟɨɛɳɚɹ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɤɢɧɨ. Ɍɨɦ 1 [History of World Cinema, vol. 1] (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1958), 396. 23 “News in Brief. Entertainment,” Plovdivska Poshta (Plovdiv), vol. I, no. 7 (August 10, 1903), 3.

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

313

was also unknown. Was he a Bulgarian or a foreigner? If he was a foreigner, in what language did he comment on the film? One thing is clear – he was good at his job. His efficiency surpassed that of all “special Far East correspondents,” and his enterprise drew a numerous public into the “spacious hall.”

Views of Port Arthur

314

Chapter Nine

The special poster “The Siege of Port Arthur”

In the City Under the Tepes However, that unknown travelling showman cannot have been Charles Noble, who appeared in Plovdiv on June 17, 1904 – two-and-a-halfmonths after the local “noble citizens, officers, clerks” had watched The Sea Battle of Port Arthur and probably forgotten about it. Besides, the Englishman did not come incognito or unexpectedly. On the contrary, he very sensibly informed Plovdiv people about their forthcoming meeting by a pompous announcement that sprang up from the fountain of information, dry until that moment, in order to satisfy the thirst of those eager to track the Briton’s route through the Bulgarian provinces. The weekly newspaper Plovdiv announced on June 12 (Saturday), thus dissipating the information fog surrounding the stranger’s personality, that: On 15th, our city will be visited by the representative of the English illustrated periodical Black and White, Mr. Charles Rider Noble, who is also a war correspondent for the Daily Chronicle and former volunteer with

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

315

The announcement of Charles Noble’s arrival in Plovdiv (Plovdiv, June 12, 1904)

316

Chapter Nine the Macedonian cheti. To mark the occasion, Mr. Noble will be exhibiting animated pictures with a cinematograph our city has not see before. The projected pictures are real and the majority of them were filmed by Mr. Noble himself. He had his filming device when he was with the cheti, therefore, we will be able to see scenes from the life of the insurgents, the insurgents marching, in single file, getting ready for an attack, in a skirmish, throwing bombs and so on and so forth. One of the most interesting things is that last Saturday Mr. Noble received by post an original film subject from the Japanese-Russian War and he will be showing it to the people of Plovdiv. It has been a whole three months since Mr. Noble started his Bulgarian tour. He has hosted his shows in the following cities: Sofia, Vratsa, Pleven, Vidin, Lom, Svishtov, Ruse, V. Tarnovo, G. Oryahovitsa, Shumen, Razgrad, Varna, Burgas, Yambol, Sliven, Stara Zagora and Kazanlak. Everywhere he has been cordially received and his film projections have had great success. They certainly deserve it, because Mr. Noble is a devoted champion of the Macedonian cause and a true friend of the Bulgarian people. By announcing his arrival, we hope that everyone here will meet Mr. Noble most sympathetically and will encourage him in his work.24

Announcing the forthcoming show at the Luxembourg Theatre (Plovdiv, June 19, 1904)

Definitely, “the man operating the cinematograph,” who projected The Sea Battle of Port Arthur to the Plovdiv people on the first day of April or 24 “Mr. Noble and His Cinematograph,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,250 (June 12, 1904), 2.

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

317

(most probably) at the end of March, was not Charles Noble. At that time, the latter was in Vidin – one of the “stopovers” of his “Bulgarian tour” (according to the Plovdiv). The local “political, literary and social independent newspaper” turned out to be right – that was the period from March 13, when the Briton left Sofia, to mid-June, when he was eagerly expected to arrive in Plovdiv. The rest of the information, published on the pages of the periodical, must also be beyond doubt, because Noble himself must have been its source. Only he could accurately enumerate the places he had visited. The Plovdiv (that is Noble) did not mention only three of the fourteen places the Sofia newspaper, the Dnevnik, announced on March 14: Somovit, Oryahovo, and Silistra (all of them being ports along the Danube). On the other hand, five new destinations were added to the “updated list”: “Yambol, Sliven, Stara Zagora” (part of the “preliminary itinerary” along the “southern route” of the railway), Gorna Oryahovitsa and Kazanlak. By setting the itinerary, the Plovdiv drew its readers’ attention to the fact that Charles Noble not only visited the cities in question but also “hosted his shows” of “animated pictures,” using a high-quality and improved cinematograph at that. The citizens of those towns cannot have seen such a device before, as it was a novelty even for the people of Plovdiv. That is why his shows “had a great success” everywhere, and he himself was “cordially received” (“sympathetically”). This piece of information shows (although indirectly) that the Englishman had not been to the city under the Tepes25 before, and no one connected his name with the fake film, The Sea Battle of Port Arthur, projected in March/April. As for the stranger’s personality, the Plovdiv did not add anything new to what its Sofian colleagues had already said – Charles Noble was still “the representative of the English illustrated periodical Black and White,” as well as a “war correspondent for the Daily Chronicle and former volunteer with the Macedonian cheti,” “a devoted champion of the Macedonian cause and a true friend of the Bulgarian people.” At first sight, the programme of his “travelling cinema” is no surprise, either – the most significant thing it is still the famous “scenes from the life of the insurgents.” However, it turns out that the guest prepared a surprise for his hosts, for whom he planned to “exhibit” an “original film subject from the Japanese-Russian War,” which he had “received by post” not long ago – “last Saturday” (June 5, 1904). It is logical that the travelling showman ran out of celluloid stock after so much wandering about, and this must have made him renew and diversify his repertoire with an “original film subject.” 25

The Turkish word tepé means “mound, hill.”

318

Chapter Nine

Charles Noble’s guest-performance at the open-air garden of the Targovski Hotel (Plovdiv, June 26, 1904)

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

319

At last, the long-awaited day arrived – not on the 15th, as previously announced, but on the 17th. On June 19 the Plovdiv informed about the event in its “Last-Minute News” column: “The Englishman Noble with his cinematograph, which we wrote about in the previous issue, arrived in the city on the 17th. Tonight, Mr. Noble will be hosting his first show at the Luxembourg.”26

The Targovski Hotel in Plovdiv

After the Liberation of Bulgaria (1878), two French businessmen settled in Plovdiv. Bossy and Brune bought the huge house of a local Turkish bey and converted it into a hotel. In the garden, they erected a building especially designed for theatrical performances. The Melpomena temple was called the Luxembourg International Theatre. It was officially inaugurated in March 1881 and had a stage, a spacious hall, three hundred stalls seats, seventeen box seats, dressing rooms for the artists, a cloakroom, and a smoking room. In the beginning, mostly foreign travelling guest theatre companies performed there. Later, film projections were also held there. A big fire destroyed the building of the first professional theatre in Bulgaria in 1913. It was at the prestigious Luxembourg Theatre that Charles Noble exhibited his films on June 19, 1904. Unfortunately, there is no information about whether he contented himself with only one projection, the evening 26

“Last-Minute News,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,251 (June 19, 1904), 3.

320

Chapter Nine

show announced in the press, or whether he hosted more projections for a few days. However, the Briton is known to have moved onto another “stage” during the following week. On June 26 the Plovdiv informed that: The English correspondent Mr. Noble, who delighted the public at the Luxembourg Theatre with his cinematograph, already hosts his shows at the open-air garden theatre of the Targovski Hotel [the Commercial Hotel]. Thus, the people of Plovdiv are given the opportunity to see the miracles of the cinematograph at a low price and in a cool place. The images of the Macedonian cheti and their battles, of the African Wars and the JapaneseRussian War (recently received) are amazing. Those of our fellow-citizens who have not seen what Mr. Noble’s cinematograph is like and how it works must rush to the Targovski Hotel for the half-past-nine evening show. Tickets: ȱ seat 1 lev, ȱȱ seat 50 stotinki, and for children all seats are 50 stotinki.27

Charles Urban’s advertisement in The Music Hall

27 “Last-Minute News. Cinematograph at the Targovski Hotel,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,252 (June 26, 1904), 3.

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

321

As evidenced by memoirs, the travelling “cinema theatre” of Franz Josef Oeser (1866–1936),28 an Austro-Hungarian praised in his lifetime as the “King of the Cinematograph,”29 was set in the “lounge of the Targovski Hotel” as early as 1898. Six years later, Charles Noble gave Plovdiv people “the opportunity to see the miracles of the cinematograph” at “the open-air garden theatre” of the same hotel – “at a low price” and “in a cool place.” Even though he did not manage to impress the audience at the Luxembourg, the Englishman left this theatre hall in order to settle in the summer garden of the Targovski Hotel. He was driven out not by the heat of Plovdiv, unbearable at that time of the year, but by the more prosaic fact that he had a limited stock of films. This must have made him order (probably by telegraph) new titles and change some of the old ones – a trick of the trade often used by film distributors at the time, including Noble’s employer Charles Urban. After the efforts in that direction, the list of titles, obtained publicity during the February to March advertising campaign accompanying Sofia projections of Noble’s “cinematograms,” became longer: Important European Events and Macedonian Misery were created in Vidin, whereas Scenes from the Life of the Insurgents and Macedonian Cheti and Their Battles appeared in Plovdiv. These remakes and versions of old subjects did result in “new” titles, but not in new films. African Wars, for example, had a new title. It was mentioned in Bulgarian for the first time on June 26 by the Plovdiv. However, the actualities Charles Noble filmed in South Africa four years earlier may be peeping out from behind it. That is why it is very likely that the Briton took those film subjects when leaving for Bulgaria. It is quite possible that he even included them in one of his shows in Sofia at the beginning of 1904 without making public their titles and annotations, because he doubted their topicality. In fact, due to scarce information, it is not even possible to say that Noble exhibited footage of his own. As stated before, the Anglo-Boer War was filmed by at least seven more British cameramen. On top of all that, the newspaper report in the Plovdiv does not make it clear whether all three film subjects (made in Macedonia, Africa, and the Far East) were “recently received,” or if it referred only to The Japanese-Russian War. It is also possible that the text was written vaguely on purpose in order to try to update the other two titles. However, 28 V. Gendov, Ɍɪɴɧɥɢɜɢɹɬ ɩɴɬ ɧɚ ɛɴɥɝɚɪɫɤɢɹ ɮɢɥɦ 1910–1940 (ɪɴɤɨɩɢɫ) [The Thorny Way of the Bulgarian Film 1910–1940 (manuscript)] (Bulgarian National Film Archive Fund, 1949), 7. 29 P. Kardjilov, “Ɏɟɪɟɧɰ ȿɲɟɪ – ‘ɤɪɚɥɹɬ ɧɚ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɚ’.” [“Franz Oeser – ‘The King of the Cinematograph’.” Kino no. 4 (2009): 55–60.

322

Chapter Nine

I think there is no reason to do that in regard to the series called “From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents,” because it was widely advertised by Sofia periodicals.

The Russo-Japanese War was a media event, in which the Seventh Art played a significant part

On the other hand, The Japanese-Russian War is a fresh film, quite topical, burning, and exclusive. The war drew the entire world’s attention. However, journalists and cinematographers were most interested in it. Again, Charles Urban showed unbelievable foresight and enterprise by sending out two of his war correspondents and bioscopists, George Henry Rogers and Joseph Rosenthal, to the Far East even before the outbreak of the armed conflict! Charles Noble cannot have brought the film when he arrived in Bulgaria for the second time, on February 9, 1904, because George H. Rogers himself filmed the first documental scenes covering the conflict only at the end of that month (or, more probably, in March). However, is The Japanese-Russian War Charles Urban’s production at all? Is it a film by Rogers? Or by Rosenthal? These are not all the imponderables – on the contrary. What is more, they lead to a number of questions: Was the film received by post? Who sent it? Did the London office of the Charles Urban Trading Company send it? Was it sent from another place? Who was is sent to? What address was it sent to? How did

Noble’s Screenings in the Provinces (March to June 1904)

323

the sender find out the address of the nomad constantly travelling all over the country? The Plovdiv assured that “Mr. Noble received by post” (in person, or at least it is understood so) the original film “last Saturday” – June 5. However, according to the same periodical, Mr. Noble arrived in the city on June 17! He cannot have received the consignment in person on June 5, because he was not in Plovdiv on that day! The only thing that can be safely assumed is that the Bulgarian premiere of The Japanese-Russian War took place in Plovdiv. However, Noble cannot have got hold of the parcel or the package containing the film in that city! This must have happened somewhere else, but no one knows where.

CHAPTER TEN RE-ENACTING THE UNIFICATION: THE KEY TO UNRIDDLING NOBLE’S ILINDEN “CINEMATOGRAMS”

On June 12, 1904, the Plovdiv, “warming up” its readers for Mr. Charles Rider Noble’s forthcoming visit, praised both the cinematograph, i.e. the movie projector the newcomer would use to exhibit his “animated pictures,” and the “pictures” (films) themselves, described as “real” (true, authentic, realistic). It also turned out that most of those “scenes” were “filmed by Mr. Noble himself.” One of them, in particular, deserved the public’s special attention, which is why it was summarized in detail. It reencated “scenes from the life of the insurgents,” captured and filmed by Mr. Noble, who not only had the opportunity to become part of the cheti, as a “volunteer,” but also to use, obviously with the insurgents’ approval, his “filming device.” It is a long-known fact that Charles Noble brought his movie camera (bioscope) when he first visited Bulgaria in 1903. It has been mentioned repeatedly that he made seventeen film subjects with it, nine of which depicted “the insurgent movement” (the Ilinden Uprising) and the suffering refugees. It has also been stated that, during his second visit to Bulgaria in 1904, Charles Noble brought a movie projector, which he used to show his “cinematograms” both in Sofia and in the provinces. However, it has not been established whether Charles Noble had a film camera when he visited Bulgaria for the second time, in 1904. That became known only in the early 1980s, when the film historian Kostadin Kostov made public30 a short piece of information he had found in the Plovdiv. The newspaper report was published on June 12, 1904 together (on the same page) with the already quoted “pompous” text titled “Mr. Noble and His

30

K. Kostov, “Ɉɳɟ ɜɟɞɧɴɠ ɡɚ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɱɟɫɤɢɬɟ ɫɧɢɦɤɢ ɧɚ ɑɚɪɥɡ ɇɨɛɴɥ” [“Once Again on Charles Noble’s Cinematograms”] Kino i Vreme no. 19 (1981): 116.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

325

Cinematograph.” The “parallel” and much shorter announcement “Unification Cinematographed” said: We have found out that, upon his arrival in Plovdiv, Mr. Noble was very eager to reenact in front of his cinematograph the taking over of the residence of the Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia and the announcement of the unification. For that purpose, the plotters will be invited to come to Plovdiv bringing the clothes they wore on that day.31

The Unification cinematographed (Plovdiv, June 12, 1904)

Publishing two announcements dedicated to the cinematograph in the one and the same issue of a Bulgarian periodical (provincial at that) was a rare practice at the time. That is why this fact can be seen as proof of the uniqueness of the event, which could provisionally be divided into the following three parts: Noble’s arrival in Plovdiv, his film projections there (from June 19 to 25 at the Luxembourg Theatre and from the 26th to the end of the month in the summer garden of the Targovski Hotel), and his intention to make a film in the city – to “cinematograph” the Unification.

31

“Unification Cinematographed,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,250 (June 12, 1904), 2.

326

Chapter Ten

One of the Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in the World

A view of the city of Plovdiv (1904)

Located (like Rome, the Eternal City) on and among six hills (tepes) rising in the western part of the Upper Thracian Plain (in the south of Bulgaria) near the northern slopes of the Rhodopes (the birthplace of the mythic Thracian poet and musician Orpheus), running along both banks of the Maritsa River, the picturesque Plovdiv is the second (after Sofia) most populated Bulgarian city (in 1900, its population amounted to 43,000, in 1906 there were 45,500 inhabitants, whereas nowadays there are 350,000). Situated at the crossroads of the routes from Western and Central Europe to the Middle East, from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea, it is a city with thousands of years of history. Its territory was inhabited as early as the Neolithic Era (sixth millennium BCE). Life did not stop during the Chalcolithic period (between the fourth and third millenniums BCE), either, which makes Plovdiv one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Later, in the first millennium BCE, the Thracians founded the ancient settlement of Eumolpias near the three eastern hills (Trimontium), which was a naturally fortified area. Philip II of Macedon conquered the town in 342 BCE and named it Philippopolis. Later (third century BCE), the Hellenized inhabitants of the Thracian settlement, then called Pulpudeva, resisted the numerous attacks of the Celts, who had established their own state nearby. In the first century the city was incorporated into the Roman Empire. It became a major economic, political, and cultural centre of the province of Thrace. It rapidly grew and occupied the three hills, hence its new name Trimontium. In 250 the City under the Tepes was burned down by the Goths. Khan Malamir made the city part of the First Bulgarian Kingdom (681–1018) in 836, and medieval sources mention it under the name of Pladin. The Ottomans conquered the city in 1371 and changed its name to Filibe, after having incorporated it into their empire.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

327

The Unification of Bulgaria (1885) – the most daring political act in the modern history of the country

In January 1878 the city was liberated by the Russian Army led by General Gurko, and in July it became the capital of the autonomous region of Eastern Rumelia (governed by a governor-general), whereas Sofia was selected as the administrative centre of the vassal Principality of Bulgaria. Probably, nowadays, these two parts of Bulgarian land would be separate states (like the third part, Macedonia), if they had not been unified on

328

Chapter Ten

September 6, 1885 (against the will of Turkey and the Great Powers), and if the Unification of Bulgaria had not happened. At the beginning of 1885 the Macedonian Secret Revolutionary Committee was established in Plovdiv. It changed its name in April, becoming the Bulgarian Secret Central Revolutionary Committee (BSCRC). Its leader was Zahari Stoyanov (1850–1889), a participant in the 1876 April Uprising and its first historiographer, having written Memoirs of the Bulgarian Uprisings. 1870–1876 (1884), as well as a journalist, writer, and politician. The organization started publishing Borba [Fight] (at the end of May), and actively propagandized the unification of Bulgaria. The BSCRC decided (at its session on July 25) to achieve this by means of “military action” on September 15. Meanwhile, on September 2, a riot began in the town of Panagyurishte. However, it was suppressed on the same day by the local authorities. On September 5, an uprising broke out in the nearby town of Pazardzhik. The insurgents established their own government. On the same day, the villages near Plovdiv followed their example and their cheti went to the city, which was controlled by divisions of the Rumelian Militia (the army of the autonomous province), led by Major Danail Nikolaev (1852–1942). Early in the morning, on September 6, 1885, the rebels, facing no resistance, surrounded the local town hall (the governor’s office) and arrested its resident, Governor-General Gavril Krastevich (1813–1910), a Bulgarian lawyer (who studied at the Sorbonne in 1844), publisher, and one of the founders of the Bulgarian Exarchate (1870). The rebels announced the unification of Eastern Rumelia and the Principality of Bulgaria (southern and northern Bulgaria). They also established a temporary government (replacing the overthrown Rumelian government), which took power. The daring political act was enthusiastically met by the Bulgarians. Meetings and demonstrations were organized all over the country to support it. The fact that even Charles Noble – who, being a foreigner, cannot have known much about the history of a small and remote country – heard about it shows the significance of the event and its high visibility in the civilized world. It is more important in this case that he “was very eager to re-enact in front of his cinematograph the taking over of the residence of the Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia and the announcement of the unification”; to recreate the events that took place almost two decades earlier; to make an exact historical re-enactment inviting “for that purpose, the plotters … to come to Plovdiv bringing the clothes they wore on that day”; to film the first Balkan “reconstructed actuality” (“actualité reconstituée”) – a celluloid genre very successful all over the world at that time.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

329

The Declaration that announced the Unification of Bulgaria on September 6, 1885

He “was very eager,” yet he most probably did not do it. At least for the time being, no evidence to the contrary has emerged – neither the British nor the Bulgarian (including Plovdiv) press mentioned anything

Chapter Ten

330

about the fate of the initiative; the Charles Urban Trading Company catalogues provided no information about a film with a similar plot either.

The Five Insurgent Films However, there are as many as seventeen actualities, which Charles Noble filmed in Bulgaria most probably in the last three months of 1903, in The Forming Supplement ʋ 1 to the Charles Urban Trading Co. Ltd. General Catalogue Issue (1904). Five of them were included in the separate thematic section called “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia” (p. 32–5): An Insurgent Band in Cover (no. 1,228), A Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March (no. 1,229), A Skirmish With the Turks in the Balkans (no. 1,230), Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks (no. 1,231), and Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band (no. 1,233).

A typical insurgent band

It is not surprising that that very “series,” announced in Bulgaria as “From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents” or simply “Macedonian Insurgents,” “Scenes from the Life of the Insurgents,” and “Macedonian Cheti and Their Battles,” was in the centre of Charles Noble’s advertising “strategy” – in both Sofia and the provinces. Those cinematograms were the most advertised – even by the Plovdiv: “we will be able to see scenes from the life of the insurgents, the insurgents marching, in single file,

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

331

getting ready for an attack, in a skirmish, throwing bombs and so on and so forth.” After all, those cinematograms turned out to be the most “amazing” for the public that enjoyed them not only because Noble presented them under different yet patriotic titles, or because they had been filmed by “Noble himself” or pretended to show moments of a historical event that was so close to the Bulgarian’s heart (the Ilinden Uprising), but mostly because they were “real” – true, authentic, realistic, and, above all, not invented.

Macedonian bomb throwers on the front cover

Besides, precisely that “battle” footage happened to be the most attractive and interesting to the public because it showed exciting action, a thrilling border crossing, operations in hostile territory, actual fights and fighting methods, bloodthirsty battles, violent attacks, hot skirmishes, cunning ambushes, terrible explosions of dynamite, and consternation techniques. They were described by the London press as “excellent,” “splendid,” “remarkable,” and, above all, “unique”: “An Unique Series of Pictures of Life,” “These Pictures are Absolutely Unique, and the only Films procured showing Scenes resulting from the Macedonian Atrocities” (The Era), “As a picture of guerilla warfare the series is altogether unique” (The Daily News). Above all, the five Noble and Urban’s insurgent (rebel, rioter) films were described as “genuine,” “original,” and “realistic.” The Pelican exclaimed:

332

Chapter Ten Realism has assuredly reached somewhere very near its apex in the new Animated Pictures now on show at the Alhambra. In the space of a few minutes the audience is whirled through a goodly portion of that most distressful country, Bulgaria, in company with a number of Bulgarian irregulars, who in the matter of appearance and varied get-up, certainly do not belie their name. These brigands are seen skirmishing through woods and across fields, and at intervals pop goes a Turkish rifle and over rolls one of the Bulgarians. The spectacle of seeing men actually killed before one’s eyes on the field of battle has never before been shown, and it is at once gruesome and fascinating to a degree. The way some of the poor wretches drop and roll over and then come to an awful stop suggests poppedat rabbits more than anything else. It is remarkable to notice, too, that when a man falls he is left severely alone by his companions. No one goes to his assistance, and of medical staff and appliances there would seem to be none. One’s admiration certainly goes out to Mr. Rider Noble, who cinematographed the pictures, and who in the accomplishment of his arduous and peculiarly dangerous task, must have run a most excellent chance of getting his machine smashed and himself riddled with Turkish bullets.32

An insurgent band on the warpath – a photograph by Dimitar Karastoyanov published in The Graphic (October 1903) 32

“Press Comments,” in Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films. The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905), 167.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

333

These lines are not an exception. On the contrary, the British press offered similar examples in abundance during the January projections at the London Alhambra Theatre. What The Pelican wrote synthesized the overall tone of the periodicals of the time. It could be characterized as enthusiasm and admiration for the authenticity, realism, documentalism, and even naturalism coming from the screen. However, were those “original photographs” and “realistic series of bioscope pictures” credible? Did they depict the objective reality? No, they did not. On the one hand, they did engrave and preserve the real events, which were repeatedly mentioned by the press and the CUTC catalogues in detail and which the camera witnessed. On the other, however, those physical acts did not take place at the time and in the place of the actual event called the Ilinden Uprising. Charles Noble successfully reproduced, recreated, and re-enacted separate aspects of the “guerilla warfare,” but they did not form part of the historical event. All five insurgent films the Englishman made could be described as re-enactment, recreation, and imitation.

The Time the Action Took Place The Ilinden Uprising broke out on July 20/August 2, 1903 in the Bitola [Monastir] Revolutionary District where it was officially terminated (by a decision of the General Staff) on September 19/October 2. Meanwhile, the Serres Revolutionary District rebelled on September 14/27. The main characters of Noble’s insurgent films acted on the territory of that district bordering Bulgaria. Most of them were already in Sofia on October 25/November 7, having returned alive and kicking after the uprising, which ended in the middle of the month. It is not known when exactly Charles Noble arrived in the principality – the only specific date mentioned in the CUTC catalogue in connection with the seventeen “Bulgarian” films is provided by the title of the actuality film Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 (November 2 in the Julian Calendar). However, the fact is that The Era announced the following on September 20/October 3: “Important. – Our Photographic Expeditions into Borneo and Macedonia are Reporting Splendid Progress. We will Detail the Results at an Early Date.”33 It is also known that Noble visited the border town of Samokov on October 14/27. There he “cinematographed”

33

“New Urban Film Subjects,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,393 (October 3, 1903), 31.

334

Chapter Ten

“very lovely pictures”34 (this earliest piece of information referring to both the Englishman and his filmmaking activity in Bulgaria is yet to be examined in more detail). Charles Noble was in Sofia on November 2/15 in order to film the opening of the Bulgarian Parliament, and, on November 7/20, Charles Urban informed The Music Hall’s readers that he had sent his “operator” to Bulgaria in order “to illustrate the sufferings of the oppressed Bulgarians.”35 On the following day, The Era finally announced the name of the cinematographer unknown until that moment – C. Rider Noble, who turned out to have “photographed” one of the “latest Urban film subjects,” titled The Macedonian Atrocities.36

There is nothing better for scouts than bad weather – a bird’s eye view of a Turkish outpost

There is one more thing – the snow. This word (or its derivatives) is mentioned five times in The Forming Supplement ʋ 1: once in Refugees at Rilo [Rila] Monastery (no. 1,154) – “snowy mountains”; four more times in A Skirmish With the Turks in the Balkans – “a general view of the 34 “Minister of War on an Inspection,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, no. 811 (October 20, 1903), 3. 35 “From the Kinetoscope to Mr. Charles Urban’s Bioscope,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review (November 20, 1903), 331. 36 “The Macedonian Atrocities,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,400 (November 21, 1903), 35.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

335

snow covered Balkan Mountains,” “deep snow,” “much snow,” and “deep snows.” A usual thing, in this case snow, happens to show when the event described in the catalogue took place. It is also a kind of reference point in terms of space and geography. Common snow must have impressed both Charles Noble and the author of the annotation so much that the latter added an emotional note to the text: Our operator, Mr. Noble, endured many hardships and suffered intensely with the cold in order to procure these pictures. He entertains great admiration for the men who do not seem to mind the cold in the least, and the way they get about in the deep snows with which all passes are blocked.

This information suggests that Charles Noble appeared in Bulgaria in 1903 when the Ilinden Uprising had already finished (had been suppressed). Due to unknown reasons, he arrived late (London periodicals mentioned problems with the Turkish authorities, which refused to issue him a passport) and missed the event and the bloodshed. No matter how eager he was, the Englishman could not have filmed real battles, actual fighting, genuine skirmishes, credible clashes or whatever other atrocities. However, Charles Noble obviously had a vivid imagination, which helped him find an acceptable solution in that case and successfully get away from the difficult situation.

The Location Where the Action Took Place What has been said about the time the action took place is equally true for the location where Charles Noble’s five insurgent films were made – lots of texts (mostly advertisements), publications, annotations, and descriptions were dedicated to it, but none mentioned a single geographic name! Only the vague toponym (oronym) “the Balkans” appears in the title of the chronicle A Skirmish with the Turks in the Balkans, as well as in its annotation, in the phrase “the Balkan Mountains.” Both are impossible to identify as they mean either the Stara Planina Mountains (Old Mountain), running far from the uprising zone, more than 100 km northward, or any other mountain in Bulgaria. The British press (on the whole) mentioned both Macedonia and Bulgaria as the film locations, as did the Bulgarian press. Only the Sofia newspaper Dnevnik pointed out that Noble filmed “some interesting scenes in Macedonia and near the Bulgarian-Turkish border,”37 and that 37

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 612 (February 14, 1904), 3.

336

Chapter Ten

During the second half of 1903, the Bulgarian-Turkish border attracted foreign war correspondents like a magnet

his “interesting cinematograms” were filmed “in Macedonia, Bulgaria … etc.”38 “The photographs Mr. Noble took in person in Sofia and the Rila Monastery,” the same periodical assured its readers in connection with the screening of “The Bulgarian Series” at the Slavyanska Beseda on March 1, 1904, “stand out in the extensive program of the show.”39 There is an agreement among Macedonian film historians that Charles Noble’s insurgent films were filmed “on Macedonian soil.”40 My colleagues Vesna Maslovarik and Igor Stardelov have even specified the operator’s shooting location – “the territory of Pirin Macedonia and in

38

“Cinematograms,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 621 (February 23, 1904), 3. “Cinematographer Noble,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 628 (March 1, 1904), 3. 40 V. Maslovarik, “ɑɚɪɥɫ ɍɪɛɚɧ ɢ ɧɟɝɨɜɨɬɨ ɡɧɚɱɟʃɟ ɡɚ ɦɚɤɟɞɨɧɫɤɚɬɚ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢjɚ” [“Charles Urban and His Importance for Macedonian Cinematography”], Kinopis (Skopje), no. 27 (15) (2003): 6; B. Nonevski, “ȿɥɟɦɟɧɬɢ ɡɚ ɞɟɮɢɧɢɪɚʃɟ ɧɚ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɢ ɢ ɫɨɰɢjɚɥɧɨɤɭɥɬɭɪɧɢɨɬ ɤɨɧɬɟɤɫɬ ɧɚ ɩɨjɚɜɚɬɚ ɢ ɪɚɡɜɨjɨɬ ɧɚ ɛɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɢ” [“Elements Defining National Cinematography and the Social and Cultural Context of the Appearance and Development of Balkan Cinematography”], in Ɋɚɡɜɨjɨɬ ɢ ɩɪɨɧɢɤɧɭɜɚʃɟɬɨ ɧɚ ɛɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɢ ɜɨ ɩɟɪɢɨɞɨɬ ɨɞ 1895 ɞɨ 1945 ɝɨɞɢɧɚ [Development of Balkan National Cinematographies from 1895 to 1945] (Skopje: Macedonian Film Library, 2003), 20. 39

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

337

present-day southeastern Macedonia,”41 without providing a single compelling piece of evidence to support their statements. Charles Noble was sent to the Balkans in order to cover the Ilinden Uprising. Therefore, it is logical that he was interested in what was going on in the northwestern parts of the Ottoman Empire, to which the geographical area of Macedonia belonged at that time. His interest was focused there, but the circumstances did not allow him to enter that insurgent area where a real civil war was being fought (with the participation of the Turkish regular army). So he contented himself with getting as close as possible to the western part of the border between the Islamic state and the Christian principality. Moreover, he managed to travel all over it in spite of all the difficulties due to the specificity of the area (entirely mountainous), the lack of roads and transport, the complicated food and water supply, and strict border control. The evidence of this is in the names of the places and objects, which were filmed by him and described in the CUTC catalogues. All of them were located in the Bulgarian part of the border, along which Noble must have travelled. That is why I have taken the liberty of perceiving the Bulgarian-Turkish border as one of the “main characters” of his films, five of which have the noun “frontier” in their title. Why then did the periodicals of the island so eagerly provide its readers the sensational “information” about Charles Noble’s epic “crossing the Turkish frontiers” (The Era)? Because the story was dramatic (as well as thrilling): from the very beginning, evil provoked good – “The Turkish soldiers peremptorily refused to let him [the operator] cross the frontier, and threatened, moreover, to destroy his apparatus.” Because it was heroic: “Nothing daunted, he took to horse, managed to evade the patrols, and successfully crossed the frontier, though at risk of being shot.” Because it had a moral – being a skilful rider, the fearless Englishman acting as an American cowboy managed to escape amid a rain of “Turkish bullets” and save his life, as well as “his machine.” Because it was created and cleverly 41

V. Maslovarik, “ɋɬɪɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɫɧɢɦɚɬɟɥɢ ɧɚ ɩɨɱɜɚɬɚ ɧɚ (ɢ ɡɚ) Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ – ɤɚɤɨ ɯɪɨɧɢɱɚɪɢ ɧɚ ɫɜɨɟɬɨ ɜɪɟɦɟ (1895–1945)” [“Foreign Photographers in (and about) Macedonia – the Chroniclers of Their Time (1895–1945)], in Ɋɚɡɜɨjɨɬ ɢ ɩɪɨɧɢɤɧɭɜɚʃɟɬɨ ɧɚ ɛɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɢ ɜɨ ɩɟɪɢɨɞɨɬ ɨɞ 1895 ɞɨ 1945 ɝɨɞɢɧɚ [Development of Balkan National Cinematographies from 1895 to 1945] (Skopje: Macedonian Film Library, 2003), 265; I. Stardelov, “ɋɬɪɚɧɫɤɢ ɫɧɢɦɚʃɚ ɜɨ ɢ ɡɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ,” [“Foreign Filming in and about Macedonia”], in Ɏɨɬɨɝɪɚɮɢjɚɬɚ ɢ ɮɢɥɦɨɬ ɧɚ ɩɨɱɜɚɬɚ ɧɚ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ [Photography and Films on Macedonian Territory] (Skopje: Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2007), 137.

338

Turkish border guards

Chapter Ten

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

339

thrown at the press (The Music Hall and Theatre Review) by a master of myths, and Charles Urban certainly was one, as well as a businessman: “These Pictures were secured at great expense to us, and much risk to Mr. Noble.” However, that was not the end of the story – the dare-devil Charles Noble joined the insurgent bands, swore loyalty to their leaders, “operated” together with the terrific rioters in a “hostile territory” (i.e. Turkey), filming everyday incidents “during their progress through Macedonia” (i.e. Turkey). A beautiful, inspiring, heroic, yet implausible story. A noble yet impossible mission. The Bulgarian-Turkish frontier was one of the most strictly secured areas in the world at that time. It was rigorously guarded by both parties – by special border troops and divisions of the regular army. According to the Bulgarian press, the kaymakam of Barakovo (the chief of police of the border village of Barakovo, which used to be in Turkey but is now in Bulgaria) issued an order at the beginning of May 1903 “completely” closing the border. He warned that any crossing of the border would “lead to bad consequences.”42 In September, the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) communicated the following message to Europe: “Some displacement of Turkish troops has been detected in various places at the Kyustendil and Dupnitsa borders.”43 As a result, the principality “strengthened its military presence at the border”: “On the order of the Minister of War, two cavalry squadrons were sent to the border area near the villages of Kocharinovo, Kadin-Most and Nevestino to strengthen the border defence.” In those fiery circumstances, shootouts between Bulgarian and Turkish border guards would often occur. “Yesterday [September 26, 1903], a Turkish Army regiment attacked the Bulgarian outpost at Kocharinovo, near the border area of Gyovechevo and Devebair,” a telegram, “sent abroad” and published at the end of the month in the Avtonomna Makedonia [Independent Macedonia] (a Sofia weekly newspaper published on Sunday), said. “A few Bulgarian soldiers were wounded during the fight that followed.”44 The Vecherna Poshta explained the situation: Our yesterday information about the Turkish tabur [battalion] having attacked our outpost at Karamanitsa has been officially confirmed. We 42

Reformi, vol. V, no. 11 (May 10, 1903), 3. “Turkish Troops Attack,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, no. 789 (September 27, 1903), 3. 44 “News in Brief. News from the Principality,” Avtonomna Makedonia, vol. I, no. 13 (September 28, 1903), 2–3. 43

340

Chapter Ten have found that only one of our six soldiers defending the border post was wounded by pieces of a rock hit by Turkish bullets and another soldier had his fight cap pierced. Four of the Turkish soldiers were killed. After having plundered a couple of houses, the Turks retreated. Our government immediately demanded an explication from Tsargrad [Istanbul] concerning this unjustified attack. On the other hand, it is not willing, according to the information we have, to pay too much attention to what happened.45

“On 20 [October 20, 1903], a Bulgarian patrol was ambushed by a Turkish asker [soldier] near Kamenita Chukɚ in Goleshko,” the “private correspondent” of the Vecherna Poshta telegraphed from Kyustendil. “A shootout followed. It lasted for three hours. Bulgarians sustained no casualties.”46 Even insurgents themselves found it difficult to cross the border, although many of them were locals and every mile of that land was familiar to them. Entire cheti would quite often fail to cross the border in spite of having been previously instructed at special meeting points or using guides or supporters (people who would help them) taking them along secret paths. This is what happened near the abovementioned village of Karamanitsa (part of the Republic of Serbia since 1919) on September 26. It all started when an IMARO armed band tried to cross the border. A regiment of the Ottoman Army, located near the village of Luke (nowadays belonging to the Republic of North Macedonia) not only prevented the trespassing, but also struck back entering the Bulgarian territory, plundering the border outpost and one of the neighbourhoods of the village. Paradoxically, Bulgarian border outposts, “considerably strengthened and concentrated,” would more often cause problems for their rebellious fellow Bulgarians while the latter were trying to cross either side of the border. The Vecherna Poshta bears witness to such a case, contradicting the “rumours recently spread by some newspapers in the capital about clashes between Bulgarian and Turkish border guards.” According to the newspaper, the clash happened “four days ago” at Demir Kapija (a gorge and pass in the Belasitsa mountains marking the present-day Bulgarian– Greek border). At first, Turkish border guards attacked some “insurgents who were accompanying refugees.” A fight started, during which the

45 “The Battle of Karamanitsa,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, no. 789 (September 27, 1903), 3. 46 “A Three-hour Shootout at the Border,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, 815, (October 24, 1903), 3.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

341

insurgents asked Bulgarian outposts for protection and were “disarmed [by] them.”47

Bulgarian border guards

47 “A Skirmish at the Border,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, no. 784 (September 22, 1903), 3.

342

Chapter Ten

On September 10, 1903, the Dnevnik mentioned in its “News in Brief” column the name of the Frenchman Jacques Dhur, informing that he was the Paris correspondent for the English newspaper The Journal. According to the Bulgarian periodical, the journalist in question arrived from Lozengrad (KÕrk Kilise), where he had witnessed the Turkish atrocities following the suppression of the uprising in the Adrianople [Edirne] region. There, Mr. Dhur met the local band leader Mihail Gerdzhikov (1877–1947) and donated one hundred golden leva to Thracian refugees housed in the Bulgarian city of Burgas. At the same time, however, the Vecherna Poshta published an interesting article titled “Mystery”: Mr. Dhur, a correspondent for the Paris Le Journal, has published in his newspaper his impressions after a tour he made around our southern border. He told the readers very dramatically about his infiltration in Turkey where he had met some voivodi. We have been informed that he has never been to Turkey. It is appropriate to note this mystery so that all those Tartarins48 would not fool the public opinion in the West and would not make desperate all those conscientious journalists who have taken real risks.49

Therefore, the stories published by the newspapers (including British ones) are interesting, but implausible. The heroic deeds they describe are thrilling, but absolutely impossible. Charles Noble would not overstep the bounds – not because he was a coward, as the cameraman could have risked his life in the name of his professional honour. However, the subject of King Edward VII, having been without passport, “owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to grant” him one, would not allow his reckless behaviour to detract from the dignity of the British Empire. Charles Noble did not break the taboo or the restrictive rules of his society. He did not cross the line between the civilized and uncivilized choice. Thus, the heroic crossing of the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier happened only on the pages of the newspapers. The Turkish rifles, bullets, and soldiers, with which the insurgents had “actual fights” and “hot skirmishes,” also turned out to be fiction, and Noble never filmed or screened them. On the other hand, it is hardly possible that the forty-nine-year-old Englishman, who a fellow-countryman of his described as a “fat” man (let 48 Tartarin de Tarascon is the main character of the novels written by the French writer Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897). The name “Tartarin” has become a common name for someone who is a braggart and chatterbox, but whose heroism and bravery are only in words. 49 “Mystery,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. IV, no. 781 (September 19, 1903), 3.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

343

alone the entire “Photographic Expedition” – the phrase implies that the team consisted of a lot of people), would run after the young and agile insurgents. They constantly changed their positions, opting for places where only wild goats lived, and the camera operator was supposed to carry heavy gear, a case of film rolls, and, probably, a backpack with the personal things he needed. However, the most important proof in this case is the absence of proof – even nowadays, there is no real evidence corroborating the hypothesis that the Briton filmed his five insurgent films in Macedonia (whatever that geographic name may mean). He never went there! He did not make any of his seventeen “cinematograms” announced in The Forming Supplement ʋ 1 (1904) there. They were presented, but mostly by means of short descriptions referring to their contents and by means of their annotations, i.e. only by means of words. Charles Noble never bioscoped the Ilinden Uprising, never chronicled it, and never made a record of it. The camera operator did not film the uprising or the places where it took place. Noble made his five insurgent films away from the spatial and time frames of the historical event! What has been said so far implies that the fighting praised so much by London journalists was not filmed by the cinematographer Charles Noble actually, but realistically. From the data available, no matter how scarce it is, it can be assumed that his work followed the principle of realism – an artistic device whose end results were obviously favourably received by both the general public and film critics, which, in turn, demonstrates the Englishman’s talent. In light of this, it can be said that both the Turks and their atrocities were neither filmed nor described. Reviewers, journalists, critics, and advertisers suggested and hinted at the dreadful Ottoman presence in their numerous texts, but did not describe any brutal Ottoman acts in particular! This was because they did not see any on the screen, as Turkish atrocities were not present in the scenes projected for the mere fact that they had not been filmed, unfortunately.

Doubts: Well-founded or Unfounded Doubts concerning the authenticity of some of the photographs taken during the Ilinden Uprising were first instilled in the London press as early as the summer of 1903. Publishing a photograph, titled “The Comic Opera Side of the Macedonian Trouble,” one of the illustrated periodicals, which unfortunately I have not managed to identify, added the following biting comment: “While many of the insurgents [are] fighting bravely in the

344

Chapter Ten

field, others remain within the Bulgarian frontier and pose before the camera for the illustrated newspapers.” Charles Noble’s insurgent films were not spared that mistrust either, even though it was quite timidly expressed. The Standard, for example, in spite of being impressed by the projections at the Alhambra Music Hall in January 1904, did not miss the occasion to remark the following: “The casualties which take place when the firing commences in earnest are almost too realistic.”50 “The picture is wonderfully realistic,” The Music Hall51 confirmed, although the comment could also be interpreted as “the picture is convincingly rendered to appear natural.” The Morning Post reminded its regular viewers in good faith that cinema had incredible possibilities to change (and, therefore, to replace) reality: “And there are several scenes of actual skirmishing in which we see men fall. Some of these pictures are rather painful, but the biograph [bioscope] seems to have borne a charmed life.”52 “The whole is a distinctly interesting series of pictures, which are claimed to be the first and only genuine ones portraying incidents of Bulgarian and Macedonian life yet procured,” is how the editor of The Brighton Gazette53 tried to play it safe. So did The Morning Post: “The views are stated …” “Finally … we are plunged into the midst of skirmishers, and observe Turks and insurgents falling wounded or dead, and wonder how the biograph escaped the bullets of the combatants,” The Illustrated London News54 hinted ironically. Announcing “an exciting picture,” Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks, the authors of the annotations in The Forming Supplement No. 1 considered it necessary to remark the following: “This incident [the fight with the Turks] was not arranged for the benefit of our photographer …” This means that there were “arranged” “incidents” and “pictures.” In this case, the most realistically told stories sound most unrealistic. The statement may sound absurd, but it is true. Even though the descriptions of the abovementioned “incidents” were skilfully presented to the reader, they sound doubtful, precisely because they were the result of the excessive desire to make them look authentic: “The spectacle of seeing 50

“The Alhambra,” The Standard, no. 24,816 (January 5, 1904), 3. “The Music Hall Home,” The Music Hall and Theatre Review, vol. XXXI, no. 777 (January 8, 1904), 25. 52 “Alhambra Theatre. Views from the Near East,” The Morning Post, no. 41,061 (January 5, 1904), 4. 53 “The London Alhambra,” The Brighton Gazette, no. 6,226 (January 7, 1904), 5. 54 “The Playhouses. Macedonian Pictures at the Alhambra,” The Illustrated London News, vol. CXXIV, no. 3,377 (January 9, 1904), 38. 51

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

345

men actually killed before one’s eyes on the field of battle has never before been shown, and it is at once gruesome and fascinating to a degree. The way some of the poor wretches drop and roll over and then come to an awful stop suggests popped-at rabbits more than anything else.” Such terrifying things, which The Pelican repeated with a lot of inspiration, cannot be seen even in the actualities filmed during the Balkan War (1912–13) or during the First World War (1914–18).

“While many of the insurgents are fighting bravely in the field, others remain within the Bulgarian frontier and pose before the camera for the illustrated newspapers”

The evident pursuit of realism, which in places turns into naturalism, also gives rise to doubts. The trend must have been “imposed from above” (most probably by Charles Urban), because it can be noticed even in the first advertising catalogues of his company: While so doing another of the band is shot. His comrades always ready in case of attack, quicken their pace and rush towards the cover from which the shot was fired. We now see them advance in earnest and taking their position under the best cover at hand, open fire on the squad of Turks.

346

Chapter Ten Four members of the band are seen to fall though wounded they continue to pump lead into the enemy. (no. 1,231)

No doubt, the “passport saga” impressed, above all, the journalists. They announced it (almost unchanged) in at least seven periodicals: The Brighton Gazette, The Era, The Sportsman, The Standard, The Talking Machine News, Truth, and Vanity Fair. However, the epic “crossing the Turkish frontiers” Charles Urban brilliantly heroicized and mythologized was soon belittled to the prosaic “stratagem,” which, in turn, was converted into a farce by Truth: The Alhambra Theatre announces for production this week a new series of bioscope pictures illustrative of the troubles in Macedonia. These pictures, it declares, have been obtained through the agency of the Urban Trading Company, but not without difficulty, owing to the refusal of the Turkish Government to permit the photographers to penetrate the Turkish lines. This difficulty, the Alhambra assures us, was overcome “by stratagem,” which is, perhaps, another name for backsheesh judiciously distributed.55

Thus, the baksheesh demythologized the eternal conflict between Evil and Good, relieved the fearless British cowboy of the halo, and turned the Turkish sentinels into a gang of corrupt customs officers. It also led to an erosion of trust in relation to the trustworthiness of the rest of the insurgent stories, giving rise to doubts concerning their authenticity – well-founded or not. Both the “passport saga” and the epic “crossing the Turkish frontiers” (“getting through the Turkish lines”) continued (according to the abovementioned British periodicals, with the exception of Truth) with Charles Noble’s getting into Bulgarian territory and its happy ending – the Englishman found himself in the embrace of King Ferdinand I. Taking the liberty of paraphrasing a sentence published in The Pelican, I am going to hint ironically that the anti-realism in Ilinden “cinematograms” “has assuredly reached somewhere very near its apex,” notably through Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band. It is a part of the insurgent series, with which Noble tried to re-enact the tradition of secret revolutionary societies swearing loyalty (“taking the oath”) – not eternal love, of course, but eternal loyalty – “the oath of loyalty” (“swearing allegiance”). This official ceremony, known as the “Hajduk oath,” just like other fights, 55

“Press Comments,” in Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films. The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905), 167.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

347

skirmishes, battles, and attacks, takes place somewhere “in the Balkan Mountains,” in “a meeting place of the Insurgents” where “the joining member is taken blindfolded,” and “put to severe tests as to his faithfulness and loyalty to the cause,” and the oath is taken – he kisses the flag and receives “the salutations of his brothers in arms” (“the leaders of the insurgents kiss him”). Any professional vaudeville, farce, or funny opera librettist would envy this “staging.” The end also fits their pattern – it turns out that the one who has found himself “in the centre of one of these guerrilla gatherings” is Charles Rider Noble himself (the fact that he had spent some time among insurgents impressed almost all London newspapers that covered the January film projections at the Alhambra). Complying with the norms of those “playful genres,” “the play-writer” does not omit the traditional “exchange of personalities” – eventually, it turns out that he did not swear loyalty to King Ferdinand I, as most London periodicals assured their readers, but to “the insurgent chief” (according to The Morning Post). “The funny misunderstanding” this time was due to the “make-up” – General Ivan Tsonchev’s beard somehow recalls that of the Bourbon heir. This similarity between the two of them must have misled British journalists and reviewers.

Fake news is not a modern invention – the text accompanying the cartoon proves this: “Russia’s victory? Nothing of the kind! If we play the film backwards, the victory will belong to Turkey.”

The Bulgarian ruler, who was just a Prince at that time, must have appeared in the actual film Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince

348

Chapter Ten

Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 (as its title and annotation show). However, it is ridiculous to think (even hypothetically) that, in the autumn of 1903, the monarch was wandering about the Rila and Pirin Mountains among suspicious Balkan characters outlawed by him himself, looking forward to being cinematographed by Noble. An incredible and impossible story that never happened.

Film Historians Have the Floor The question of the trustworthiness of “the Ilinden film chronicles” (their battle scenes, in particular) was first brought up by the Serbian professor Dejan Kosanoviü (1930–2013), one of the greatest experts in early Balkan cinema history. Professor Kosanoviü wrote in “The Activity of Foreign Camera Operators in Macedonia until 1918,” a chapter of his fundamental work The Origins of Cinema in the Yugoslav Territory (1985), on the question of the authenticity of this footage: Did Rider Noble film during the skirmishes indeed or did the insurgents reenact their fights for the director of photography? It is difficult to answer these questions because the footage is not available. However, having in mind the possibilities of the cinema equipment at that time, we could doubt the authenticity of certain parts of the film Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks, before taking them on trust. The film camera used to be too heavy and imperfect. It required certain preparation before filming, and, having a hand-operated mechanism, it had to be mounted on a tripod in order to be stable and immobile. Under such conditions, Noble cannot have managed to film the sudden Turkish attack, unless, absolutely by chance, the attack took place at the moment when Noble was cinematographing the cheta on the march. This hypothesis could also answer the question why the insurgents were unusually indifferent towards their wounded comrades: it was all acting for the camera. Therefore, it is certainly a case of skilful reenactment, which managed to convince the viewers that the footage was genuine. As for the authenticity of the rest of the scenes and films, there must be no doubt that they were also staged for “the bioscope.”56

Dejan Kosanoviü did not fail to mention Charles Noble’s passport problems. In his article “The Problem of the Refugees in the Earliest Documentary Films” (1994), the film historian assured that the Englishman at first “tried to come to Macedonia from Thessaloniki, but the Turkish 56

Dejan Kosanoviü, Poþeci kinematografije na tlu Jugoslavije 1896–1918 (Belgrade: Institut za film, Univerzitet umetnosti, 1985), 255–6.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

349

The press (including illustrated periodicals) tried to provide “up-to-date” information, which, however, was not always “authentic”

350

Chapter Ten

authorities prevented him from doing that. Thus, he had to make a detour and, via Bulgaria, arrived in Macedonia in late 1903.”57 This hypothesis not only added to the information the abovementioned British periodicals published, but also accounted (logically enough) for the late arrival of the camera operator in Bulgaria. What is interesting is that the Serbian professor assumed the acting was not authentic, but did not doubt the veracity of the place where that same acting had taken place (the locale swap, the exchange of “scenes” was the most salient feature of the reconstructed actuality genre – otherwise, it would not qualify). The reasonable doubts as to the “authenticity” of Charles Noble’s footage Professor Dejan Kosanoviü expressed, the issues he raised with respect to the topic in question, his assumptions that the insurgent scenes were “staged for ‘the bioscope’” and were the result of “skilful reenactment” posed serious problems, which Stephen Bottomore tried to solve by coining a special term for this purpose – “arranged actualities.” In his article about Charles Rider Noble he argued that: From these catalogue descriptions it is evident that all five would have involved some degree of “arranging” or “setting up” by the cameraman. Following the terminology developed in my doctoral thesis, I call such films “arranged actualities,” films that recreate an approximation of real events using genuine participants at or near the actual place where such events happened. Even though such films are artificially set-up, I generally do not use the terms “fakes” or “faked” in this context, as these terms are too vague. Neither do I use the words “staging” nor “staged,” as these misleadingly suggest that a stage or actors were used, as with the betterknown genre of “reconstructed actualities” in which news events were remade with actors. By contrast, in “arranged actualities,” such as in Noble’s Macedonian insurgent films, the participants are the actual people, essentially play themselves, and go through the motions of their real lives for the camera (redoing what they normally do, have done, or would do if the camera were not present). Incidentally, Noble was not the first cameraman to make arranged actualities. Burton Holmes and C. F. Ackerman and Joe Rosenthal all arranged troops for filming as early as 1899 at the Philippine War. Because “arranged actualities” show the original participants, they might be said to be more genuine than “reconstructed actualities,” and the Urban 1904 catalogue makes this point, in effect, stating that Noble’s films of the insurgents “are absolutely the only Genuine Animated Pictures in existence of Macedonian Insurgent Bands operating in hostile territory.” The claim “hostile territory” is 57

D. Kosanoviü, “Ȼɟɝɚɥɰɢɬɟ ɜɨ ɧɚjɫɬɚɪɢɬɟ ɮɢɥɦɫɤɢ ɞɨɤɭɦɟɧɬɢ” [“Refugees in the Earliest Film Documents”], in Ȼɟɝɚɥɰɢɬɟ ɢ ɮɢɥɦɨɬ [Refugees and Films] (Skopje: Macedonian Film Library, 1994), 23.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

351

probably false (the films were most likely shot on the Bulgarian side of the frontier) but the term “genuine” is correct in the limited sense that the films do show genuine insurgents. The catalogue does not directly state that the action depicted is genuine – apart from in the fifth film, which I will come to in a moment. In fact, in the three shortest films, the action depicted was fairly non-specific.58

Reconstructed Actuality: the Pathé Genre The abovementioned techniques – the re-enactment, the reconstruction, the arrangement – were common for filmmaking in the early twentieth century. The technical imperfections of the earliest filming devices, the limited light-sensitive possibilities of the film at that time, the lack of telescopic lenses, transport difficulties when travelling huge distances, as well as ruthless competition laws forced filmmakers to: film the destruction of USS Maine (ACR-1) not in Havana harbour, where it exploded at the beginning of 1898, but in the suburbs of Paris (the part of the real armoured cruiser was “played” by a cardboard model); to re-enact (in the summer of 1898) the Spanish-American naval battle near Santiago de Cuba in Chicago (in a small swimming pool); to recreate parts of the Anglo-Boer War near New Jersey (by means of extras and theatrical costumes), the attack on Christian missionaries in Northern China in a village yard in southern England (directed by James A. Williamson in a derelict house near his estate) and the Dreyfus Affair (produced in 1899 by both Georges Méliès in Montreuil59 and by Charles Pathé [1863–1957] in the company’s studio at Vincennes60 – at that time the issue of plagiarism was not on the agenda in the cinema); and even to stage (in 1902) the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée on the island of Martinique (“without a grain of truth,” according to Georges Sadoul61). In spite of being primitive, phoney, and totally inadequate – “Damn it, Port Arthur and mosques!” – celluloid re-enactments were not only enthusiastically received by the public, but also perceived as absolutely real public events. Viewers would not stop believing in their authenticity, 58

Stephen Bottomore, “From Theatre Manager to Globetrotting Cameraman: the Strange Career of Charles Rider Noble (1854–1914),” Film History 24, no. 3 (2012): 287. 59 IMDb, L’Affaire Dreyfus/The Dreyfus Affair, https://www.imdb.com /title/tt0000218/?ref_=adv_li_tt. 60 Georges Sadoul, ȼɫɟɨɛɳɚɹ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɤɢɧɨ. Ɍɨɦ 1 (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1958), 264. 61 Ibid., 333.

352

Chapter Ten

even when it was disproved by the press – it was technically impossible to film a night fight; there was a time discrepancy between filming and projecting – “the speed, at which the cinematograph is showing us the battle of Port Arthur, surpasses the speed of any one of our special Far East correspondents”; and sometimes parts of the townscape or assistants’ faces would be noticed behind the exotic stage set.

A scene from Georges Méliès’s reconstructed actuality, L’Affaire Dreyfus (1899)

Even “fake” films recreating real events from the past, religious scenes, and mythological stories, such as the murder of the Duke of Guise, Robespierre’s death, Napoleon’s meeting with the pope, the suffering of Jesus, and the tragic story of Pygmalion and Galatea, were taken as credible. The reconstructed actualities of events (both current and past) became a separate genre, and quite popular on top of that. The French film company Pathé Frères assured in its 1904 catalogue that: “The genre, in which we are unrivalled, are the chronicles of real events, those scenes we perceive as nationally and internationally significant and, therefore, interesting for the masses.”62 In this context, it is not by chance that the actuality film served as “a peculiar newspaper for the masses.” 62

Ibid., 332.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

353

Ferdinand Zecca (1864–1947), another “star” director of the Pathé Frères who filmed Martinique Disaster (La Catastrophe de la Martinique63), also admitted the following: We always do our best and follow the current events, covering them and thus drawing our clients’ attention to them … However, sometimes we cannot guarantee the authenticity of all scenes due to numerous difficulties when it comes to “seizing the moment” … In some cases, when it is impossible to film in the place where the action is taking place, we are forced to recreate the missing scenes, getting as close as possible to real events.64

The Assassination of the Serbian Royal Family Two reconstructed actualities, whose plots were taken from the turbulent social and political reality in the Balkans, were exhibited for the first time in 1903, when Charles Rider Noble visited Bulgaria for the first time. One of them was The Assassination of the Serbian Royal Family, reenacting moments of the May Coup which took place on the night of May 28–29 (June 10–11), 1903. A group of young Serbian officers belonging to the secret military society Black Hand entered the royal palace in Belgrade and killed King Alexander I Obrenoviü (1876–1903) and his wife, Draga Mašin (1861–1903). The news of the evil deed went around the world. To respond adequately to the demand of the sensation-seeking public, Pathé Frères immediately started shooting a film. Lucien Nonguet was in charge of it and, thanks to the team’s good organization and professionalism, the heart-breaking drama was soon ready – its first advertisement appeared on June 7/20 (only nine days after the coup d'état). Scarce information about the film, not preserved today, can be found in the Pathé catalogues, which mentioned its original title, Assassinat de la famille royale de Serbie (no. 984).65 The film successfully toured Europe under various titles: in France it was exhibited in Limoges in July, and in Rouen in October; in AustriaHungary it arrived in Trieste,66 in present-day Italy, on June 25; in

63 IMDb, La Catastrophe de la Martinique/Martinique Disaster, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451303. 64 Georges Sadoul, ȼɫɟɨɛɳɚɹ ɢɫɬɨɪɢɹ ɤɢɧɨ. Ɍɨɦ 1 [History of World Cinema, vol. 1] (Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1958), 332. 65 Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914, vol. I (1896–1906) (1996), 884. 66 Ibid.

354

Chapter Ten

November, it was in Rijeka,67 which is now in Croatia; and in April 190468 it was exhibited in Ljubljana, the modern capital of Slovenia; in Romania a postcard was issued to commemorate the scene “the Serbian Queen Draga praying for mercy” – the only visible evidence of the existence of the film;69 even Turkey, in Skopje. However, the film was never shown in Serbia. Most probably, it was not shown in the UK either, although some information in English about it was included in the London edition of the Pathé Frères catalogue.

An attempt to re-create the reconstructed actuality The Assassination of the Serbian Royal Family, which has not survived

By contrast, it did appear in Bulgaria – first in Plovdiv. This is proved by a short message published in August 1903 in Plovdivska Poshta 67

Dejan Kosanoviü, Poþeci kinematografije na tlu Jugoslavije 1896–1918 (Belgrade: Institut za film, Univerzitet umetnosti, 1985), 66–7. 68 Ibid., 179–80. 69 Ibid., 67; Dejan Kosanoviü, Lažni filmski žurnal, https://www.vreme.com/cms/view.php?id=342500.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

355

[Plovdiv Post]: “Tonight, the most sophisticated device ‘megalograph’ will be projecting various animated pictures in the hall of the Luxembourg Theatre, including the assassination of the Serbian royal couple. The screening is nicely entertaining. The prices are quite reasonable.”70 It was not very common for Bulgarian periodicals at that time to mention film titles. This exception can be explained by the fact that the plot was popular among the Balkan audiences and that the anonymous travelling film distributor wanted to highlight the importance of that very title (again for advertising purposes) – he must have believed that The Assassination of the Serbian Royal Couple stood out from the rest of the “various animated pictures.” The efficiency of the travelling vendor of “nicely entertaining” celluloid products, who managed to exhibit the reconstructed actuality in Bulgaria only two months after its first announcement in France, is also impressive. In the autumn of 1904, The Assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga71 was advertised by another anonymous travelling cinema owner, who stayed with his Electro Bioscope in the centre of Sofia (on Banski Square) from September 4 to October 1.

Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia There is no evidence (at least for the time being) that the second film was exhibited to the Bulgarian public, although it might have been interested in the topic, presenting one of “the most exciting events that took place during the unrest in Macedonia” (the Ilinden Uprising). According to the Pathé catalogues, its original title was Atrocités turques,72 its catalogue number was 1,000, it was made in 1903, its length was 35 m (two minutes), and its genre was “scéne d’actualités,” to which one more detail was added – “actualité reconstituée.” Very few lines published in Italian periodicals provided information on the scenes it contained: “(a) insurgents in ambush – (b) the commander of a cheta taken prisoner by the Turks – (c) a bomb attack on the Orient Express.” This reconstructed actuality must have been exhibited in Rouen (from September 29 to October 3, 1904) and Trieste in 1906 (according to the

70

“News in Brief. Entertainment,” Plovdivska Poshta, vol. ȱ, no. 7 (August 10, 1903), 3. 71 Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. ɏȱȱ, no. 198 (September 10, 1904), 4; no. 201 (September 14, 1904), 4; no. 202 (September 16, 1904), 4; no. 203 (September 17, 1904), 4. 72 Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914, vol. I (1896–1906) (1996): 885.

356

Chapter Ten

Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia

catalogues), in England, Ljubljana and Belgrade.73 The film was most often mentioned as The Massacres in Macedonia (Massacres de Macédonie74 in French, Ɋɟɡɧɹ ɜ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɢ in Russian, Ʉɨɥɟɠɢɬɟ ɜɨ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ in Macedonian, and Pokolji u Makedoniji in Serbian), but

73 V. Maslovarik, “ɋɬɪɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɫɧɢɦɚɬɟɥɢ ɧɚ ɩɨɱɜɚɬɚ ɧɚ (ɢ ɡɚ) Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚ – ɤɚɤɨ ɯɪɨɧɢɱɚɪɢ ɧɚ ɫɜɨɟɬɨ ɜɪɟɦɟ (1895–1945)” [“Foreign Photographers in (and about) Macedonia – the Chroniclers of Their Time (1895–1945)”], in Ɋɚɡɜɨjɨɬ ɢ ɩɪɨɧɢɤɧɭɜɚʃɟɬɨ ɧɚ ɛɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɢɬɟ ɧɚɰɢɨɧɚɥɧɢ ɤɢɧɟɦɚɬɨɝɪɚɮɢɢ ɜɨ ɩɟɪɢɨɞɨɬ ɨɞ 1895 ɞɨ 1945 ɝɨɞɢɧɚ [Development of Balkan National Cinematographies from 1895 to 1945] (Skopje: Macedonian Film Library, 2003), 264. 74 IMDb, Massacres de Macédonie, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266751.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

357

also has the following titles: Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia,75 A Bomb Attack on a Train in Macedonia (Attentat à la dynamite sur un train en Macédoine), according to the periodical specializing in the entertainment industry L’Industriel Forain (no. 738, September 26, 1903), and Bloodstained Facts from Macedonia (I fatti di sangue delle Macedonia). Lucien Nonguet is also said to be the director of this re-enactment. However, it is not very likely, as this is again based on the fact that the film (like most of the other reconstructed actualities from this period) has not survived. Did Charles Noble watch The Massacres in Macedonia (Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia)? Had the film been projected in London, this would have happened at the time when he was getting ready for his Ilinden “expedition.” Having in mind the time he arrived in Bulgaria, the opposite is also quite possible – the Englishman was not familiar with the contents of the French film, and could not have heard about it (moreover, it was not exhibited to the local public). However, the same does not go for Charles Urban. Not only was he in London at that time (in the early spring of 1903), he was also aware of his competitors’ moves. The fact is that the earliest Bulgarian CUTC series containing only eight actuality films, which, The Era announced on November 21, 1903, was titled “The Macedonian Atrocities.”76 It is also a fact that Noble’s “variations” on the same topic contain identical (to those described in the Italian press) “scenes from the life of the insurgents” (“every day incidents”): “the band in preventing being ambuscaded” and “one of the band is sent in advance to throw a dynamite bomb” (lighting the fuse, throwing, lying down, the explosion77). All the scenes showed the “Macedonian misery” (as a result of the same Turkish atrocities and massacres). It should also not be forgotten that, during that period, the collocation “The Macedonian Atrocities” would appear on the pages of the British periodicals almost daily.

The Silence of the Catalogues In light of this, Charles Noble’s intention to re-enact the Unification, as the Plovdiv announced (probably having been informed by the Englishman himself – the source cannot have been a local journalist, who could not be 75

IMDb, Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1665966. “The Macedonian Atrocities,” The Era, vol. 67, no. 3,400 (November 21, 1903), 35. 77 List of the Latest Urban Film Subjects. Forming Supplement No. 1 to our General Catalogue Issue of November, 1903 (London: The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., 1904), 34–5. 76

358

Chapter Ten

in possession of the information five days before the foreigner appeared in the city), is fully in the line of the genre typical of the trade at the time. In this context, however, what is more important is the fact that the English bioscopist’s interest in recreating the event (that is, his interest in the reconstructed actuality, or better still in historical re-enactment) can turn out to be the key to understanding his Ilinden “cinematograms.” They still hide countless secrets. One of them has to do with the locale where the battle scenes, which were retold in detail, took place. Trying to find their location takes us back to the issue of the authenticity of Noble’s film photographs.

Charles Urban – the most eminent film producer of Victorian Era

As has been repeatedly pointed out, even the most reliable source keeps silent about this issue (concerning the location) – the CUTC Forming Supplement No. 1. It remains stubbornly and unequivocally – but not accidentally – silent. This means that Noble himself remained silent. The annotations in the catalogue might not have been written by him, but there is no doubt that they were prepared on the basis of his own notes or

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

359

words. The main witness meticulously stated the place where each film was made in the contents (no matter how short they were) of twelve of the seventeen films78 and, quite often, he did so directly in their titles, even if it was a small miserable village, whose name means little even to Bulgarians. He did this not only in the five insurgent films but should have, for advertising and commercial purposes, not to mention his vanity – he crossed the border, penetrated Turkish (Macedonian) territory, wandered about the mountains (Rila or Pirin), and crossed this or that river. However, there is no such information in the synopses of these two realities. There are names, but no denominations in them. There is no single specific toponym. Obviously, Noble contented himself with sketchy descriptions, vague locations, and general geographic names: the “Balkans,” the “Balkan Mountains,” “through Macedonia,” “hostile territory.” It turns out that the five actualities were filmed in the middle of nowhere! However, they were not, so when and where were they made? When and where did their “battle” scenes, so compelling, according to their descriptions, take place? Anxious to answer these questions, not for the sake of “historical truth” but for my own sake, I am going to dedicate an entire chapter to the issue.

Was a Feature Film Made in Bulgaria in 1903? That, of course, will put an end neither to the mysteries (as it has already been said, they are countless) nor to the pending questions. One of them does not sound very serious, at least at first sight – assuming that Charles Noble was the main character of the film Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band, who turned the crank of his film camera while he was “taken blindfolded,” put to “severe tests,” and, eventually, greeted by “his brothers in arms”? One of the logical answers is that it was the cameraman’s assistant. The likelihood of Noble having an assistant is high – in connection with the pictures in the Balkans, the CUTC advertised “Our Photographic Expedition,” and the periodicals informed about the “urban expedition.” The second possibility is that this impressive and expressive episode was filmed by a member of the armed band. Certain lines in The Forming Supplement No. 1 also imply that a Bulgarian might have taken part in the “filmmaking.” They assure that the 78

Only two of them make an exception, H. E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Bodyguard (no. 1,160) and Bulgarian Mountain Infantry in the Balkans (no. 1,161), because their “locales” were not mentioned in the catalogue, but were announced by The Era on January 2, 1904.

360

Chapter Ten

commander ordered his followers “to march towards and past the camera in single file.” The catalogue annotations name Ivancho Gevgelijsky as the “main character” of at least three films: An Insurgent Band in Cover, A Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March, and Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks. This means that he was one of the first Bulgarians who made their mark, if not as a film actor then at least as a nonprofessional film performer – also known as a sitter, model, supporting cast, extra (crowd), and cameo (actors that would appear briefly). Karasulijata’s artistic ambitions, however, must have been much more grandiose, provided that he also got into the role of the filmmaker. I am not joking. Occupying a certain place around the campfire means a preliminary arrangement of the participants within the given scene; making the cheta line up or stand in single file is the arrangement of the actors; and the march past the camera, which the voivoda ordered, determines the scene scale (an element specific to the cinema). These simple physical activities are part of the complex term mise-en-scène, which comprises the creative act called staging. In this particular case, any external intervention can be classified as film directing – arranging the setting, instructing the participants, or guiding the amateur “actors.”

Some of the insurgent photographs were also “staged”

The authors of The Forming Supplement No. 1 cannot have added to the end of the six-scene “exciting picture” Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks. An every day incident with this Band under the leadership of Quevgueliisky, during their progress through Macedonia, described as “special” due to its contents, length (225 feet) and duration (nearly four minutes), with the following “note” explaining:

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

361

This incident was not arranged for the benefit of our photographer, but was secured at great risk to himself, as he had no guarantee from the leader of the band of absolutely coming through unscathed. The only promise he had, when he joined the band was, that if he was after exciting bioscope pictures, his opportunities would be many. Mr. Noble succeeded in securing this picture, which is absolutely unique, showing the fighting methods of the band and their manner of causing consternation amongst the Turkish outposts in their path.

Ivancho Gevgelijsky cannot have got into the role of a cameraman, let alone director, but he must have shouldered the responsibility for the organization of the pictures, which, according to modern professional terminology, could be classified as having “high staging difficulty.” On his part, Charles Noble obviously did not content himself only with what “compassionate nature” (Sergei Eisenstein) offered. He did not count only on “truth to nature” or Balkan local colour. He designed the mise-en-scène and arranged the setting of the future action – that is, he directed some of the scenes himself. Being a seasoned “Man of the Theatre,” the idea of the melodramatic tricks, such as the eye bandage, the oath-taking in front of the flag, and fraternal embraces at the end (even accompanied by kisses), must have been his. That is why it can be presumed that some of his realities were “re-enacted,” and the style of some of his scenes should be described not as “documental” but “staged.” In a similar vein, it can be said that the Briton’s “cinematograms” are a “hybrid” of newsreel and re-enactment, because they combine nature chronicles and historical recreation. According to the Bulgarian scientist, professor, and corresponding member Nedelcho Milev, the insurgent series is of the same “age” as Rescued by Rover (1905) and “accords with the entire ‘documentary and feature trend’ of the early English cinema.”79 Is it possible then that at least one of Charles Noble’s “cinematograms” should be the first feature film, made not only in Bulgaria, but in the entire Balkan Peninsula? Hardly. However, it is very likely that some of the titles are representatives of those interim products typical of the transition from the cinematograph’s primary documentary to the more sophisticated artistic fiction films, which imply dramaturgy (a storyline, a plot), psychological transformation on the part of actors, and stylish stage productions.

79

N. Milev, ɋɩɟɰɢɚɥɧɚ ɬɟɨɪɢɹ ɧɚ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ. ɂɫɬɨɪɢɱɟɫɤɚ ɩɨɟɬɢɤɚ [Special Film Theory: Historical Poetry] (Sofia: Marin Drinov Academic Publishing House, 2006), 82.

362

Chapter Ten

A curious detail, published by The Morning Post during the first days of 1904, leads to such a conclusion: “The biograph tells you a wonderful lot in a very few minutes, and the lecturer helps where help is wanted. ‘The man in the Inverness cape,’ he observed, ‘was a spy and has since been shot.’ And truly he does not face the biograph with the same composure as the others.”80 The same scene was most probably shown in Sofia too, on March 3, 1904. It was included in the scenes comprising the film From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents.81 What is surprising here is the fact that it was separated, isolated, and differentiated from the rest of its fellow scenes by being given a special title (or rather, a subtitle) – “The story of a crime.” Thus, this subtitle was not only removed from the set of actualities (“A march, a camp, in single file, getting ready for an attack, a skirmish, thro[w]ing a bomb, over a mountain stream, taking the oath”), but also isolated from the general dramaturgy. Its presence in the overall advertising text is somehow different and detached. It seems to be a separate title, belonging to an independent work of art. By the way, the same title appeared in the Pathé Frères catalogues as Histoire d’un crime (1901), which stands for a Ferdinand Zecca crime film, described as “scéne dramatique en 6 tableaux”82 and having nothing to do with the topic in question. The phrase “the story of a crime” not only sounds like a fiction film title, but also contains the main feature of this type of cinema – the story, the plot, the narrative, the vividness, and the imagery. They in turn require an approach which is different from the one used for “deciphering” a “pure” actuality film. Maybe that is the second reason for having a lecturer, a commentator, or, to put it simply, a narrator during the Alhambra projections. He knew the entire story (including its ending, which was not shown onscreen) – exposing “the man in the Inverness cape” as a spy, who “has since been shot.” This scene is too saturated with dramaturgy (and emotion) to be taken as an impartial newsreel, a real documentary or a true-to-life event coverage (the same can be said about the film Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band, whose title sounds like something from vaudeville). It is even less likely that the filming of these scenes could be seen as accidental. However, if they do not reflect reality then they are the 80 “Alhambra Theatre. Views from the Near East,” The Morning Post, no. 41,061 (January 5, 1904), 4. 81 “Cinematographer Charles Rider Noble,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 940 (March 4, 1904), 3. 82 Henri Bousquet, Catalogue Pathé des années 1896 à 1914, vol. I (1896–1906) (1996): 859–60.

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

363

fruit of the abovementioned practices – reconstruction and staging typical of the genre of “reconstructed actuality” or “historical re-enactment.” According to the theory of the seventh art, however, “even the most authentic ‘re-enactment’ in documentary cinema should be considered as having used an element of fiction films.”83

The “Golden Key” to Charles Noble’s Inner Self Charles Rider Noble intended to make such a historical re-enactment of the Unification in the City of the Three Hills, using elements of fiction films and, at the same time, creating authenticity in recreating the past event. “For that purpose, the plotters will be invited to come to Plovdiv bringing the clothes they wore on that day.” He was “very eager” to film it, but did not. The initiative did not take form. However, the idea itself is indicative of the personality that came up with it. It contributes a great deal to creating the Briton’s psychological profile, as well as outlining the circle of his purely human preferences, amateur knowledge of history, and professional aesthetic views, no matter how pretentious this may sound. In fact, whose was the idea the Plovdiv announced five days before the foreigner’s arrival in the city? Did it belong to a complex-ridden journalist suffering from local patriotism, who, in bad faith, had thrown out some “fake news” together with the real news? No matter how conscientious that journalist was, he remained a local and it was difficult, even impossible, for him to obtain any information in advance. Therefore, logic shows that Charles Noble was the most probable originator of the project. Besides, the intention announced by the newspaper sounds like a personal, inmost “eagerness.” The mere fact that a common man (a foreigner at that) directed his attention to the greatest social and political feat in Bulgarian postLiberation history proves both the importance of the event and its resounding echo in the civilized world, which did not fade two decades after its occurrence! The mere fact that a cinematographer tried (probably during his stay in the country) to inform himself about some details, one of which, for example, was the geographic name “Eastern Rumelia,” as well as gain historical knowledge on the “taking over of the residence of the Governor-General” (head of the region, Gavril Krastevich) and the “announcement of the unification” shows how serious his professional intentions were. Besides, Charles Noble was aware of the crucial nature of 83 N. Milev, “ɂɝɪɚɥɧɨ ɤɢɧɨ,” in ȼ ɫɜɟɬɚ ɧɚ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ. Ɍɨɦ 1 [In the World of the Cinema, volume 1] (Sofia: Narodna Prosveta Publishing House, 1983), 28.

364

Chapter Ten

Three sisters – Bulgaria, Rumelia, and Macedonia in the background (under the flag with the star and crescent)

the act and of the reverence Bulgarians showed for it. The entire activity of the newcomer in Bulgaria proves his interest in the past of the remote country, whose people he gradually got to know and, probably, ended up loving. It is no coincidence that the newspapers described him as a noble man and a “true friend of the Bulgarian people.”

Reenacting the Unification: The Key to Unriddling Noble’s Ilinden “Cinematograms”

365

There is certainly something emotional, yet rational and pragmatic, in Charles Noble’s intentions. He foresaw the interest the Western European (and, in particular, British) public would show for the future film (most probably due to the potential of its theme). However, in this case, his intuition is the result of his excellent knowledge of this audience, and its tastes and preferences. The Englishman cannot have lost sight of the Bulgarian viewer, either. If this is true, then he probably had the intention to return to the country at least one more time. Despite being scarce, the available data shows that Charles Noble had a preference for staged cinema, for re-enactment, and for reconstructed actuality. Most probably, in his work, he used the techniques these artistic approaches provided. Part of his experience in the field could have been gained while filming in the Bulgarian wilderness, where his main characters, Macedonian insurgents, felt at home. We cannot exclude the possibility that Noble convinced himself (and more than once, at that) that the public liked the end result of the “staging” and, encouraged by that finding, he tried to repeat his success among the rocky peaks of the tepes. The short message in the Plovdiv is very important from the modern researcher’s point of view, in longing to peep into the soul of the English camera operator. Because those few lines show that he was not only an objective observer but also a calm record keeper, chronicler, and documentarist (in the narrow sense of the terms). Charles Noble was a cinematographer – in the broadest sense of this term, which includes the artistic quest for the entertaining, the spectacular, and the sensational aspect in the cinema. His involvement in the Ilinden epic and his intention to recreate in a film what happened on September 6, 1885 are eloquent illustrations that the cinematographer’s approach to both events was the same – in terms of theme preference, reconstructed actuality genre, and artistic tools. However, his actions are mostly an expression of his civil and moral choice. In turn, his interest (on the part of an unbiased foreign “observer”) in both events is clear evidence of the relation and interconnection between the announcement of the Unification and outbreak of the IlindenPreobrazhenie Uprising – acts born of the desire of the Bulgarian people to get back, build, and live in their united state. So, on March 13, 1904, Charles Rider Noble left Sofia and started his own tour around Bulgaria. On March 14 and 16 he exhibited two films in Vratsa. After having spent “a few days” in the town, on March 29 he visited Vidin as a guest star. Early on April 2 he got on an Austrian ship and left for Lom. The Briton arrived in Plovdiv on June 17 (most probably, for the first time), having warned the citizens about the event

366

Chapter Ten

five days earlier. At the same time, he was known to have visited the cities of Lom, Svishtov, Ruse, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Shumen, Razgrad, Varna, Burgas, Yambol, Sliven, Stara Zagora, and Kazanlak from April 2 to June 17, where he “hosted his shows” (presenting his cinematograph shows). Noble exhibited a film at the Luxembourg Theatre in Plovdiv at least once – on June 19 (for sure). On June 26 he moved to “a cool[er] place” – the garden of the Targovski Hotel. How long did he stay there and when did he leave the City of the Tepes? We do not know. All we know is that he turned his back on Trimontium, on the Maritsa River, on the heat, and even on his great desire to cinematograph the Unification in order to appear once again in the capital, Sofia.

CHAPTER ELEVEN BACK IN SOFIA (JULY TO AUGUST 1904): SCREENINGS AND CINEMAS

The Arrival Once again, Sofia newspapers did not fail to cover the event. “Mr. Char[les] Rider Noble, an English correspondent, has arrived at the Bulgaria Hotel,” the Dnevnik announced on July 6, 1904 in one of its regular columns, usually called “Arrivals,” but in this particular issue, for no clear reason, it was renamed “Travellers.” “Engineer Ent Avetrijatz from Vienna and Yules Sandak, Head of Tsargrad [Istanbul] Telegraph Agency stayed at the Royal Hotel.”1 The Den added the following information, publishing it in a similar column called “Personal”: “On the same day, Mr. Char[les] Rider Noble arrived in the capital from Tsargrad”’2 This sentence came after a message providing “yesterday” data, so the words “on the same day” refer to July 6. The fact that Noble arrived from Tsargrad is important to the topic in question. The train from the then capital of the Ottoman Empire went via Plovdiv, where the Englishman must have caught it. That is why the “Personal” columnist would not have made a mistake if he had written that the travellers were coming from either of the places. However, the information concerning Charles Noble’s stay in the city under the Tepes was from June 26. That, of course, means his stay lasted at least until the end of the month, because the press had announced that the screening would continue in the summer garden of the Targovski Hotel. In spite of that, Noble had enough time until July 6 (when he re-appeared in Sofia) to go to Istanbul by train, because he did not have another means of transport at his disposal to travel such a distance at that time. The Istanbul-Plovdiv railway (400 km), which passed through Edirne, was built in 1873, and the Plovdiv-Sofia (150 km) railway was completed in 1888. In that same year, 1 2

“Travellers,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 749 (July 6, 1904), 2. “News in Brief. Personal,” Den, vol. ȱ, no. 209 (July 7, 1904), 3.

368

Chapter Eleven

the Simplon Orient Express and the Direct Orient Express started operating.

Charles Noble stayed there after his return from the tour around Bulgaria

Hypothetically, Charles Noble might have travelled on one of them. However, he must have done that not from June 26 to July 6, but ten days before June 12, when the Plovdiv, which informed about his arrival in the city, stated that “last Saturday [5 June] Mr. Noble received by post an original film subject from the Japanese-Russian War.”3 Two weeks later, the same periodical wrote that the “images” of both “the Japanese-Russo War” and the “African Wars” were not only “amazing” but also “recently received.”4 However, they were definitely neither “received by post” nor “recently received” (no matter how) in Plovdiv. This happened more than ten days before the Briton’s arrival in the city, and somewhere else, most probably Istanbul where Charles Noble renewed his “worn-out” stock of films with “fresh,” “original” film subjects, supplied, I guess, directly from the London offices of the Charles Urban Trading Company, Ltd. He, in turn, must have sent them the footage he had filmed until that moment. This is quite plausible and is proved by the abovementioned information that Noble had a “cinematograph,” which he would even use to film the reenactment of the Unification; and that he visited at least seventeen Bulgarian towns, in seven of which, according to the data not yet mentioned, he managed to “bioscope” twenty-one films!

The Bulgaria Hotel When Charles Rider Noble arrived in Sofia on February 9, 1904 he most probably stayed at the Orient Hotel. There, on February 13, he “projected his most interesting cinematograms to the representatives of 3 “Mr. Noble and His Cinematograph,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,250 (June 12, 1904), 2. 4 “Last-Minute News. Cinematograph at the Targovski Hotel,” Plovdiv, vol. ɏȱɏ, no. 1,252 (June 26, 1904), 3.

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

369

Sofia periodicals” with his film gear, which he cannot have moved from one hotel to another, but must have kept in the Orient in order to have it at hand. Arriving from Plovdiv or Istanbul in July, he put up at the Bulgaria Hotel (according to the Dnevnik). Changing hotels – a detail quite insignificant at first sight – implies that the financial status of the “English correspondent” also changed. Obviously, it improved after his five-month stay in Bulgaria, because the Bulgaria Hotel was the most imposing and most expensive one in Sofia at that time. It “looked like a palace,” Georgi Kanazirski-Verin, a bohemian and a serious connoisseur of the “geography” of the nineteenth-century pubs in the capital, wrote in his memoir, Sofia 50 Years Ago, in 1947. “Only eminent foreigners and diplomats stayed at that hotel.”5 The Bulgaria Hotel owed its glory to various factors, among which its location was the most significant. It was situated in the centre of the capital, opposite the palace, a few metres from the garden of the prince, which could be seen from the hotel windows. There used to be a restaurant, known as the Bulgaria Cafe, but sometimes called Paris in Sofia, on the ground floor of the building (“at” or “under” the hotel)! Due to its “interior, lots of books and furniture,” it was the “most comfortable” restaurant, looking like a “palace drawing room,” and was as good as the “most fashionable Paris cafés” (according to the daily newspaper Nov Otzvuk [New Echo]). Here, there used to be a billiard table. Opera singers, mostly Italian, would often sing. Symphonic concerts and theatrical performances were given there, too. A person named Phillip Fisher (an American) visited it with his “too sophisticated phonograph.”6 Even a cinematograph projection was organized there on December 11, 1896.7 When Charles Noble checked in at the Bulgaria Hotel, most probably one of his first tasks was to visit its restaurant – “a newly-refurbished establishment, the only of its kind in the capital thanks to its facilities,” which met its guest with a “recently-made cool garden.” “Ice-cream and soft drinks,” barrel-aged Prošek beer8 (“specially prepared”), liqueurs, cognac, excellent Svishtov wine (“exquisitely made”) in “one-litre glass bottles” (bottled wine and cask-wine) were offered there, as well as a great

5 G. Kanazirski-Verin, ɋɨɮɢɹ ɩɪɟɞɢ 50 ɝɨɞɢɧɢ [Sofia 50 Years Ago] (Sofia: Bylgarska Kniga, 1947), http://chitanka.info/text/2899/3. 6 “Home News,” Mir, vol. ȱȱ, no. 272 (July 30, 1896), 2. 7 “Home News,” Mir, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 326 (December 11, 1896), 3; no. 327 (December 13, 1896), 2. 8 Prošek beer – beer produced in Sofia in 1881 by the Czech brothers JiĜí and Bohdan Prošek.

370

Chapter Eleven

variety of dishes.9 The Bulgaria Cafe and Restaurant served (at least according to its advertisement) “high-quality meals” – a four-course meal at lunch (Table d’hôte) would cost BGN 2, a three-course dinner (Table d’hôte) was also BGN 2, and, in case of choosing among different dishes (À la carte), the price rose to BGN 3.10 Flicking through the dust-covered pages of Sofia periodicals of the time I was surprised to find out that there were hardly any hotel advertisements. I guess the reason is that the hotels were full all the time (the Balkan Hotel is the only exception – after it was opened in 1903, its owners started advertising it regularly, but only for a short time).

The Palace of the Prince, the City Gardens and the northwestern facade of the Bulgaria Hotel (on the right)

Far East War Pictures at the Military Club An identical process obviously took place (a few months earlier) at the Sofia Officers’ Assembly. A detailed advertisement proves this. It was published on April 6, 1904 by “the management of the assembly” in the Voenni Izvestiya [Military News] (a weekly newspaper, published by the Information Office at the Ministry of War) and said the following:

9

Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 753 (July 10, 1904), 1. Den, vol. ȱ, no. 218 (July 15, 1904), 1.

10

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

371

Sofia Officers’ Assembly announces that it has procured various refreshments and wines, such as: smoked fillets and tongues; lukanki [type of dried sausage], sausages, cheeses; Evksinograd wine, Pleven wine and other types of white and red wine, wormwood-infused white wine from Kalofer, French wines, brandy and cheap champagne (at 4, 6, 7, 11.50, 12.50 and 13 leva). Besides, the Assembly has ordered a wagon of Munich dark beer, Lager beer, black caviar and various types of canned fish from Odessa and Tsargrad. All these things will be sold at a 20–30% discount. Orders are to be made via the Assembly.

The information about Noble’s last picture show published in the Vecherna Poshta (July 25, 1904)

We can only guess whether the superior goods the Bulgaria Hotel and the Officers’ Assembly offered were expensive for the Briton. What we know for sure, however, is that he took measures to minimize the supposed financial losses. The Vecherna Poshta first provided evidence of this (on July 25, 1904):

372

Chapter Eleven On the 28th this month, at 9.30 pm, with the permission of the Minister of War, Mr. Charles Rider Noble, the famous English correspondent, will be showing in the big hall of the Military Club several cinematograms taken exclusively during the Far East War by his colleague Mr. Rogers, who accompanied General Kuropatkin’s troops in Manchuria. This show is given in honour of the officers, their families and guests. The entrance fee is 1 lev, for children – 50 stotinki. Tickets are sold every day at the Military Club and by Mr. Pencho Spasov.11

The announcement in the Dnevnik (July 27, 1904)

On the following day, the information was confirmed by the Den: On Wednesday, the 28th, in the big hall of the Military Club, the English correspondent Mr. Charles Rider Noble will be projecting, on the

11 “Cinematograms of the War at the Military Club,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,077 (July 25, 1904), 3.

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

373

cinematograph, pictures of the Russo-Japanese War, taken by Correspondent Rogers, who accompanied General Kuropatkin in Manchuria. Each visitor will be able to see the movement of the enemy army and the decisive fighting of the brave Cossacks in these pictures. The entrance fee is 1 lev for adults and 50 stotinki for children. Tickets are sold at the Club and by Pencho Spasov.12

The finale was played by the Dnevnik on the eve of the show: On Wednesday evening, 28 July, Mr. Charles Rider Noble, who pleased the Bulgarian public with his cinematograms of the insurgents’ lives and the life of the Bulgarian Army a couple of months ago, will be hosting a new show in the hall of the officers’ club. Apart from the already known cinematograms, he will be presenting new interesting scenes filmed during the Russo-Japanese War. The show starts at 9.30 pm. Entrance fee – 1 lev, and 50 stotinki – for children. The tickets are sold at the Military Club.13

Retreat of the Russian Army after the Battle of Mukden

In the summer of 1904 the Russo-Japanese War was in full swing – fierce land battles for Port Arthur were fought at Wafangou and Liaoyang 12

“The Russo-Japanese War Cinematographed,” Den, vol. ȱ, no. 229 (July 26, 1904), 3. 13 “Cinematograph Show,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 770 (July 27, 1904), 2.

374

Chapter Eleven

(a city in China), and the Battle of the Yellow Sea took place on July 28. The Bulgarian society was very interested in the Far East conflict. The press commented on the progress of the fighting in detail, citing mostly Russian and Western European periodicals. The Vecherna Poshta was no exception – the same issue, which published (on page 3) the above-quoted announcement “Cinematograms of the War at the Military Club” also had (on page 2) another (detailed) article on the topic, titled “The RussoJapanese War.” Besides, the pages of the periodicals offered numerous geographical maps, drawings of battles, and sometimes black-and-white photographs. In spite of the effort made by the editors, the information was obviously scarce. Mainly, this was due to the inability of the Bulgarian mass media to send correspondents to the scene (this finding is true even for the most financially stable periodicals). On this note, it can be argued that Charles Noble filled a news and information gap, providing not imitations, such as The Sea Battle of Port Arthur, but topical, original, and high-quality film products. Indication of this is the fact that the name of “his colleague” was mentioned. George Henry Rogers was the “correspondent” who covered the Russo-Japanese War from its very beginning. Another curious detail is the fact that the armed conflict started two weeks before Noble’s second appearance in Bulgaria, when the American correspondent, Rogers, was already in the Far East, sent there by his compatriot and employer, Charles Urban – the founder of the powerful CUTC and a world-class film producer.

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) Cinematographed In the late nineteenth century, the Russian Pacific Fleet imposed a naval blockade on the Chinese city of Lüshunkou, situated near the Yellow Sea and known to the rest of the world as Port Arthur. After an agreement with Beijing, Emperor Nicholas II became the “lessee” of the port and its adjoining trade area. He also got railway access to them; his emissaries were awarded logging concessions in Korea; and people close to him founded banks in the regions. The Kremlin expansion in the Far East made Japan nervous as it was a stone’s throw of the abovementioned territories. After the break of the diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tokyo, the “Orthodox” squadron was attacked by ten torpedo boats of the “heathens” during the night of January 26–27, 1904 (in the Julian Calendar). That was how the Russo-Japanese War started. It brought two empires against each other and each of them tried to gain control of Manchuria (northeast China) and Korea. In the course of the war, Russian ground forces suffered heavy losses during the battle of Mukden (February

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

375

6–25, 1905) and its fleet was destroyed near Tsushima (May 14–15, 1905). The defeats led to the peace treaty signed in the American city of Portsmouth on August 23/September 5, 1905.14

The naval battle in the bay of Port Arthur

Fifty-two war correspondents from all over the world are said to have been sent to cover the war. Some old acquaintances, who had been in Bulgaria for the Ilinden Uprising, were among them: the Englishmen Captain Walter Kirton (for The Daily Graphic) and A. Hamilton (sent by Reuters, he travelled on the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Manchuria as early as October 190315), the Australian Alfred Arthur Greenwood Hales, the Frenchman Ludovic Nodeau (who let the Japanese take him prisoner16) for the Le Journal, and the Russian Boris Tageev, who was also taken prisoner by the enemy. 14 P.V. Multatuli and Zalesskiy, Ɋɭɫɤɨ-ɹɩɨɧɫɤɚɹ ɜɨɣɧɚ 1904–1905 ɝɝ [The RussoJapanese War 1904–1905] (Moscow: Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, 2015), 75, 80, 114, 118. 15 “From Sofia to Manchuria,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. ȱV, no. 799 (October 8, 1903), 3. 16 S. Radev, Ɍɨɜɚ, ɤɨɟɬɨ ɜɢɞɹɯ ɨɬ Ȼɚɥɤɚɧɫɤɚɬɚ ɜɨɣɧɚ [What I Saw from the Balkan War] (Sofia: Narodna Kultura, 1993), http://knigite.abv.bg/sr2/sr2_1.html.

376

Chapter Eleven

Information about The Russian Army in Manchuria in the CUTC catalogue

There were also cameramen among the reporters, sent out to cover the Russo-Japanese War. The several actuality films made during the campaign are proof of this. The first of them were filmed in JanuaryMarch 1904 by George H. Rogers. Speaking Russian (as well as French

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

377

and German), the camera operator was sent to the Far East in early 1903, but was forced to stay in Paris for three months where he would patiently wait for Russian diplomatic authorities to issue the permit he needed. Bureaucratic procedures also made him stay in St. Petersburg, but this time only for three weeks. He reached Irkutsk on the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, he was forced to get off the train, which was requisitioned by the army. The American was bargaining for the price of a sleigh and three horses when a Cossack regiment arrived and he joined it. After a seventeen-day march, the camera operator arrived in the city of Harbin (northeast China), where he stayed until mid-April.17 During that time, George H. Rogers managed to film the newsreel The Russian Army in Manchuria, which consisted of twelve main scenes. The first was a magnificent panorama of the Ural Mountains, filmed from a travelling train. The rest showed (according to the annotations in the CUTC commercial catalogues) General Kuropatkin’s arrival in Irkutsk, Generals Rennenkampf and Grekov, who met him18; reservists getting on the train; Russian infantrymen; a Cossack division; sleighs carrying provisions and munitions across the frozen Lake Baikal; the icebreaker Baikal; Kuropatkin again, this time in Harbin, reviewing the troops, among which were Cossack horsemen, whose exceptional riding also drew the attention of the camera; and views of the picturesque and virgin city of Mukden (before the Japanese took it over). With its length of 1,600 feet (about 500 m, twenty-five minutes), gigantic for that time, The Russian Army in Manchuria (no. 1,250) was “an impressive and unique series of shots.” Although envious people claimed that George H. Rogers did not come “near to the warfront,” working “extensively in Russia and Manchuria,” he managed to make “a notable film,”19 advertised as “the living history of the great war.” However, the far-sighted Charles Urban did not count on Rogers alone. He left nothing to chance by means of “double indemnity,” sending his “star” cameraman, Joseph Rosenthal, to northeast Asia – an act duly announced by The Stage20 (on January 14, 1904). Rosenthal was the only 17 IMDb. The Russian Army in Manchuria (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821146/plotsummary) 18 Aleksey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin (1848–1925) took the supreme command of the Manchurian Army on February 7, 1904. Pavel-Georg Karlovich Rennenkampf (1854–1918) was commander of the Transbaikal Cossack Division. Mitrofan Ilich Grekov (1842–1915) was in charge of the First Brigade of the same division. 19 Luke McKernan, George H. Rogers, http://www.charlesurban.com /biographies.html. 20 “Gossip,” The Stage, no. 1,191 (January 14, 1904), 18.

378

Chapter Eleven

foreign correspondent whom the Japanese Ministry of War officially allowed to accompany the Third Imperial Army (whose commander was General Nogi) during its operation in Port Arthur. Having thus “infiltrated” islanders, Rosenthal managed to show their point of view of the events. He turned the crank of his filming device for a whole year (from the first day of the conflict), protecting the camera during fighting with a special shield,21 and finally managed to make not one but two documentary films (shown all over the world, too): The Siege of Port Arthur (1,050 feet, 320 m, seventeen minutes) and The Surrender of Port Arthur (1,150 feet, 350 m, nineteen minutes).

Cartoon – cinema and politics 21 Stephen Bottomore, “Joseph Rosenthal. British war and travel cameraman,” In Who’s Who in Victorian Cinema, http://www.victorian-cinema.net/rosenthal.htm.

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

379

The Last Picture Show It turns out that Charles Noble managed to get (“received by post” or some other means) an “original film subject,” “amazing” pictures, “recently received” from “the Japanese-Russian War.” It turns out that he procured topical, authentic, trustworthy, real, and high-quality actuality films produced by Charles Urban and his London-based company and filmed in the Far East by a bioscopist of George Henry Rogers’s rank! On top of all that, the Briton managed to show those films “with the permission of the Minister of War” (Mihail Savov at that time, a major general from January 1, 1904) “in the big hall of the Military Club.” It turns out that both people in Plovdiv and those in the capital had the chance to see the impressive actuality film The Russian Army in Manchuria, showing images of Siberia, the unique Lake Baikal, northeast China, parts of the Pacific coast, General Kuropatkin, and “the brave Cossacks,” led by General Grekov (both generals fought in Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War in 1877–8). In spite of the indisputable reputation that both the Urban–Rogers– Noble triad and the CUTC production company enjoy nowadays, and in spite of the modern (almost cult) status of The Russian Army in Manchuria, there was hardly any reaction on the part of the Sofians after the film projection at that time. That screening, like those in February and March, did not provoke any social response. The three announcements, which have been quoted, are most banal advertisements. The only memoir echo of Charles Noble’s filmmaking activity preserved nowadays belongs to Kiril Petrov Perfanov (1890–1979), one of the pioneers of the Seventh Art in Bulgaria, whose memories were put down (quickly and “handwritten”) by Kostadin Kostov back in 1978. A distant and not very convincing memory. Because Kiril Petrov, described as “one of the people, who have seen Charles Rider Noble’s films,” was a fourteen year old in 1904. He was “fascinated by the new form of entertainment” and became a “regular visitor” to the shows organized by the owners of cinematographs, which were mobile at that time. This passion (according to Kostadin Kostov) took the boy “to the hall of the Military Club in Sofia,” which (in my opinion) is unlikely. The author of the book The Ilinden Uprising in Cinema (1903–1933) wrote: During one of those shows my good friend, Uncle Kiro, as we, youngsters, would call him, watched the film The Russo-Japanese War, as well as Noble’s Macedonian Insurgents. He himself kept a memory of Noble’s appearance. He saw him sitting in the front row of the Military Club in Sofia, among the Bulgarian military elite … According to what Kiril Petrov

380

Chapter Eleven

Kiril Petrov (1890–1979) – one of the witnesses of Charles Noble’s screening at the Military Club in Sofia in the summer of 1904 said, the English camera operator Noble was a tall, broad-shouldered man with the typical military erect and jaunty posture. He treaded heavily, as if testing the ground he would step on. His hair was left-parted. He had tired grey eyes. When the film projection finished, all those present, both civilians and officers, applauded Noble. He briefly told about the circumstances in which he filmed in Macedonia. A young Bulgarian officer from the guard of the Minister of War, Mihail Savov, would translate for him. Uncle Kiro remembered the following phrase, which the Englishman had said in Bulgarian: “We’re going to liberate this poor Macedonia!” These words in turn made the public give the brave Briton, a champion of the freedom for the Macedonian people, a new round of applause. According to Kiril Petrov, the films lasted for a minute or two and started with an image of the globe bearing the following inscription in English: “Bioscope Urban Film,” which was the firm’s trademark. The 14year-old adolescent was most impressed by the sequence showing

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

381

Macedonians fighting with the Turkish Army, as well as by the oath taken on the Bible and the dagger.22

Reliable or not, this story is nonetheless based on an actual fact. On July 28, 1904, Charles Rider Noble hosted a cinematograph show in the big hall of the Military Club at 9.30 pm “in honour of the officers, their families and guests” and projected his “already known cinematograms” (for more than five months that newly-coined word remained the Dnevnik’s invention) of the “insurgents’ lives and the life of the Bulgarian Army.” He also showed new “pictures” and “interesting scenes” from “the Russo-Japanese War,” “taken by Correspondent Rogers.” In the end, it turns out that the screening was Noble’s “last farewell show,” and indeed his last picture show in Bulgaria! The Englishman’s name was no longer mentioned in the Bulgarian press in connection with any “cinematograms,” “motion pictures,” or “cinematographic pictures” that were projected or exhibited. However, his name continued to be mentioned in connection with filming new cinematograms.

Filming Near Sofia Noble’s last picture show in Bulgaria took place at the Military (Officers’) Club with the permission of the minister of war. It was organized for officers (their families and guests) and the programme mainly included actuality films from the “war in the Far East,” whose main characters were ‘the troops” – Russian and “enemy,” “brave Cossacks,” and “General Kuropatkin.” However, “cinematograms” from “the life of the Bulgarian Army” were also exhibited. Charles Noble’s interest in military topics, especially in the Bulgarian Army, was obvious.23 In 1903, his attention was drawn to the Bulgarian-Turkish frontier and, in particular, the civil war (the Ilinden Uprising) taking place beyond it. In 1904, the “creative efforts” of the British director of photography were focused on “military subjects” – all eighteen (probably twenty-one) Bulgarian towns he visited were garrison centres and six (maybe, even nine) were ports. His arriving in Sofia as a guest actor at the Military Club three times shows that he must have known some highranking Bulgarian officers. The Minister of War himself was a “special guest star” in two of the “cinematograms” Noble filmed in 1903: H. E. 22

K. Kostov, ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ ɜ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ (1903–1933) [The Ilinden Uprising in Cinema (1903–1933)] (Plovdiv: Veda Slovena, 2000), 48–50. 23 The Bulgarian Army in 1904, https://www.bulgarianartillery.it /Bulgarian%20Artillery%201/Testi/TF_Bulgarian%20Army%201904.htm.

382

Chapter Eleven

Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Bodyguard (no. 1,160) and Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 (no. 1,164). That is why he allowed the camera operator, who had immortalized him, to use (probably free of charge) the “big hall of the Military Club.” Apart from Prince Ferdinand I and General Mihail Savov, the advance guard and the bodyguard of the prince, the bodyguard and staff officers of the Minister of War, and other officials were also filmed. They were all high-ranking officials, with some of whom Charles Noble must have made useful acquaintances, contacts, and relationships.

The army at a summer camp

Everything seems to be clear. Except for the officer’s rank granted to him by the British Army, defining Charles Noble’s place in the hierarchy of the British Armed Forces. I have made a careless remark, but the issue is serious – the Englishman’s interest in the Bulgarian Army was obvious, clear, and significant. I do not suffer from paranoia and I do not accuse him of espionage – a hypothesis existing in Bulgarian film history thanks to Kostadin Kostov, according to whom, “Noble was at least lieutenantcolonel of the British Army,” who “was always sent to all hotspot areas of

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

383

the planet in order to film and bring to the metropolis valuable military and political information.”24 However, facts are facts and they have already been stated. Therefore, I am going to recall only one of them – Noble himself put down his occupation in the passenger list of the Zweena, the ship he boarded on April 8, 1903 in order to travel from London to Morocco – “Lieutenant.” Another indisputable fact is Charles Noble’s acquaintance with General Savov. That he was in contact with the English military attaché in Sofia is also beyond doubt. It is proved by a couple of announcements in Sofia periodicals, the earliest of which, published on July 21 in the Dnevnik, assured the following: “Early today, units of the Sofia garrison went to the village of Gorublyane, which was also visited by the Minister of War. The soldiers went back to the city at 7 pm.”25 The daily political and social newspaper Bulgaria was also laconic: “Yesterday morning, all military units of the Sofia garrison, led by the Minister of War, Major General Savov, went for a walk to the village of Gorublyane.”26 On the other hand, Nov Vek provided more information: At 6 am, all units of the Sofia garrison together with the Military Academy units, led by the Minister of War, General Savov, and fully equipped for camping, headed towards the village of Gorublyane in order to drill in compliance with all the requirements of contemporary military tactics. At 11.30, soldiers and officers will be given lunch in the village of Gorublyane and, after that, they will spend the day playing, singing and dancing.27

The Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper added: This morning, at 6 o’clock, all military units of the Sofia garrison, including the entire Military Academy, led by the Minister of War, Major General Savov, left towards the village of Gorublyane in order to conduct a manoeuvre drill in compliance with all the rules of modern military tactics and strategy. After the march, at 11.30 am, soldiers and officers will be having lunch near the village of Gorublyane. They will spend the afternoon playing noisy games, singing and having fun.28

24

K. Kostov, ɂɥɢɧɞɟɧɫɤɨɬɨ ɜɴɫɬɚɧɢɟ ɜ ɤɢɧɨɬɨ (1903–1933) [The Ilinden Uprising in Cinema (1903–1933)] (Plovdiv: Veda Slovena, 2000), 16. 25 “Military March,” Dnevnik, vol. ȱȱȱ, no. 764 (July 21, 1904), 2. 26 “Military Walk,” Bulgaria, vol. Vȱ, no. 264 (July 22, 1904), 3. 27 “News in Brief. A Military Drill,” Nov Vek, vol. VI, no. 770 (July 21, 1904), 3. 28 “Military Drill,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. XII, no. 159 (July 22, 1904), 2.

Chapter Eleven

384

Bulgarian cavalrymen

The Vecherna Poshta confirmed the above information: On the instructions of the commander of the 1st Sofia Division, Major General Bochev [Nikolay Bochev (1858–1940) – Major General from 1900, Commander of the 1st Sofia Infantry Division (1901–1904), called “The Iron Division”], all military units of the Sofia garrison marched to Gorublyane today [July 20] at 7 am. In the outskirts of the city, the Minister of War, Major General Savov, saluted all the units and, afterwards, together with his aide-de-camp, he went to Gorublyane, too. The march was held in compliance with all the rules of the offensive

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

385

action. In the Iskar River Gorge, all unit officers had a meal in the presence of the Minister of War. During the lunch, they drank to the health of the supreme commander of the army, HRH the Prince, and the Minister of War, who is in charge of the army reform and growth; to the glory and grandeur of the Bulgarian Army, etc.29

The news about the military walk to Gorublyane published in the Nov Vek (July 21, 1904)

Two days later, the same periodical added the following valuable lines to the above information, under the headline “Eng[lish] Assistants at the Military Drill”: “During the other day’s military drill near Gorublyane, the following were also present: the English military attaché, the Colonel of Artillery, Dickens, and the Daily Chronicle correspondent, Sir Noble, who cinematographed our army’s manoeuvres along the Iskar River.”30 It turns out that, on July 20, 1904, the Bulgarian Minister of War, the English Military Attaché (whose name was also written as Ducken, Ducan, Dicken, or Dickens, and whose rank varied from major to lieutenant-colonel) and the civilian Charles Noble took part in the “military walk” near Gorublyane (a village near Sofia), during which the 29

“Military March,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,074 (July 22, 1904), 3. “Eng. Assistants at the Military Drill,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,076 (July 24, 1904), 3. 30

386

Chapter Eleven

cinematographer filmed “units of the Sofia garrison,” marching along the River Iskar.

English assistants at the military walk – one of the three proofs of Charles Noble’s cinematographing (Vecherna Poshta, July 24, 1904)

In fact, the abovementioned “walk,” “march,” or “military drill” was not the result of a whim of a high-ranking military man who loved both nature and parties. It was also not an outdoor picnic, although it was accompanied by games, songs, dancing, and was even “cinematographed.” The event was part of the army’s summer training, tactical drills, “imposed from above” with all the necessary orders, estimates, and schedules more than a month earlier, and the Bulgaria provided the following evidence on June 22: “The officers, appointed for the purpose, started examining the terrain today, led by the Chief of Army Staff, Colonel Radko Dimitriev.”31 Obviously, uniformed law-keepers also liked the idea and organized their own “walk” on August 1. However, it was carried out not on foot, but on horseback. Charles Noble did the same but in his field. This time, he filmed “the walk of Sofia’s police” – probably to diversify “the military topic.” According to the Vecherna Poshta: Today, the entire mounted police of Sofia, led by the Chief of Police, Mr. Hr. Basmadzhiev, and the superintendents, went towards the Fourth Kilometre of the Pazardzhik road, where Mr. Charles Rider Noble, a special war correspondent for the Daily Chronicle, took a couple of cinematograms of different movements and positions of the guards. He filmed the guards riding their horses in various gaits, on the right, one 31

“About the Walks in the Fields,” Bulgaria, vol. Vȱ, no. 239 (June 22, 1904), 2.

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

387

or two in a column, in divisions and groups, bivouacking. After the end of the filming, the Chief of Police, Mr. Hr. Basmadzhiev, organized a lunch in Mr. Noble’s honour in the garden of the Inn, where all the superintendents taking part in the drill were present.32

This announcement, published on August 2, was the last article in the Bulgarian press mentioning Charles Noble’s name and, probably, establishing the end of his stay in Bulgaria. When exactly did he leave? Most likely, in early August. However, he cannot have headed for London on the very next day after the police “drill” on August 1, which he managed to film. Moreover, August 2 turned out to be a special date, providing a far more interesting and exciting occasion for cinematographing.

The Spectacular Military Parade of Sofia’s Garrison The reason was the German Prince Ferdinand. On August 2, 1887, newly arrived from Vienna, he became Prince of Bulgaria and swore loyalty to the Tarnovo Constitution in Veliko Tarnovo. That date was a national holiday during his entire reign, celebrated sometimes humbly, sometimes more noisily (according to the significance of the anniversary). Despite being minor, the seventeenth anniversary of Ferdinand’s ascension to the throne was lavishly celebrated in 1904. “Tomorrow – 2 August – to mark the ascension to the Bulgarian throne of HRH the Prince,” the Vecherna Poshta announced, “a special public prayer will be held at the infantry barracks next to Knyazhesko Road at 9 am. It will be followed by a military parade of Sofia’s garrison.”33 All Sofia newspapers covered the event, but the most detailed article was published in the Nov Vek: The other day, Monday, 2 August, marked the ascension to the Bulgarian throne of HRH the Prince. Due to its importance, the holiday was celebrated festively and glamorously all over Bulgaria. To commemorate this most significant event in our country’s modern history, the entire Sofia clergy held a thanksgiving public prayer here, in the capital, in front of the infantry barracks at 9.30 am in the presence of: ministers, all members of the diplomatic corps, including foreign military attachés in full dress, representatives of various religious, civilian and military institutions, and numerous citizens. 32

“The Walk of Sofia’s Police,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,085 (August 2, 1904), 3. 33 “The Prince’s Ascension to the Throne,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,085 (August 2, 1904), 3.

388

Chapter Eleven

The newspaper also paid special attention to the parade of the Sofia garrison: which was led by the head of the garrison, General Bochev, and was saluted by the Minister of War, Major General Savov [“in the absence of the Prince”34], accompanied by all foreign military attachés in full dress. The troops marched and did some very skilful manoeuvring, which satisfied all those present. The parade finished at about 11.30 and everyone went home happy with the impressive spectacle … The celebration of the day finished with a big lunch (for about 450 people), organized in the barracks by the Minister of War, General Savov. Apart from the ministers and garrison officers, all diplomatic representatives and their military attachés were invited.35

Although the Bulgaria described the military parade as “grand,” the newspaper did not hold back in its criticism of the organization of the “event” and the “numerous citizens” that attended it: “The fact that there were not many people at the public prayer was quite noticeable. In the evening, the government organized a dinner party in the barracks only for the official guests. The capital was not illuminated very well and there was no celebration.”36 The public prayer, party, and parade took place in the bare field in the southern suburbs of Sofia, where the traditional summer camp of the local garrison had been built for years – nowadays, this is Sofia’s residential area Lagera [The Camp]. In this regard, 1904 was no exception – as early as in May, Major General Savov sent a “circular” to “the heads of division districts” ordering “all military units in their districts to camp in the areas of their permanent residence.”37 “On the order of the Minister of War,” the Vecherna Poshta added, “the troops will be going to their garrison camps on the 29th.”38 However, before they did so there must have been certain problems, about which the same periodical informed two weeks later: “Because the camp in Sofia was almost destroyed due to the lack of soldiers living in it for a long time, the Ministry of War has ordered the

34

“Today’s News. On the Prince’s Ascension to the Throne,” Bulgaria, vol. VI, no. 273 (August 4, 1904), 3. 35 “The Ascension to the Bulgarian Throne of His Royal Highness the Prince,” Nov Vek, vol. VI, no. 775 (August 4, 1904), 3. 36 “Today’s News. The Second of August,” Bulgaria, vol. VI, no. 273 (August 4, 1904), 3. 37 “Going Camping,” Nov Vek, vol. Vȱ, no. 738 (May 5, 1904), 3. 38 “Garrison Camps,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 997 (May 4, 1904), 3.

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

389

barracks to be prepared soon enough, as the entire garrison of Sofia is known to be camping there on the 29th.”39 Obviously, the “order” did not solve the problems, because they continued throughout June. “We have been informed,” the Vecherna Poshta wrote, “that worms, leeches in particular, were often found in the water in the barracks in Sofia. That was noticed in the 6th Tarnovo Infantry Regiment and the reason was a reservoir, which was not properly covered and various insects and dirt would get into it.”40 In spite of that, camp life would not stop, as both the Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper41 and Vecherna Poshta once again confirmed in the middle of the month: Yesterday at 9 am, the Minister of War, Major General Savov, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Captain Chervenyakov [Chervenakov], reviewed all the military units camping in the capital. After that, the troops commanded by the head of the garrison, Major General Bochev, paraded before the Minister of War. As far as we know, the Minster of War was quite satisfied with both the review and the march.42

It has already been stated that the main military unit of the Sofia garrison, commanded by General Bochev, was its “iron” infantry division. In spite of that, other types of troops also paraded on August 2 before the “numerous citizens,” “civil servants,” and the then mayor of the capital, Petko Nikolov. The Narodni Prava [People’s Rights] (the organ of the Liberal Party) provided the evidence as follows: We have to note that, apart from the official march, there were also some cavalry and artillery drills at the parade. Both drills intended to demonstrate the skills of the cavalrymen and artillerymen. It was especially enjoyable to watch the cavalry drill with a local horse breed, the agile boys and the well-trained horses.’43

“A cavalry squadron,” the Vecherna Poshta added, “fired several times following the Minister’s order. On the whole, the parade turned out to be excellent and made a great impression on the foreign military attachés.”44 39

“Repairing the Barracks,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,012 (May 20, 1904), 3. “Water in Sofia Barracks,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,033 (June 10, 1904), 3. 41 “Overview and Parade of the Troops of the Sofia Garrison,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. XII, no. 128 (June 15, 1904), 2. 42 “Troop Review at Sofia Camp,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,038 (June 15, 1904), 3. 43 “2 August in Sofia,” Narodni Prava, vol. ɏȱV, no. 51 (August 5, 1904), 3. 44 “News in Brief. Today’s Parade,” Vecherna Poshta, vol. V, no. 1,086 (August 3, 1904), 3. 40

390

Chapter Eleven

Only military drills and parades can make three types of troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery gather in the same place

Back in Sofia (July to August 1904): Screenings and Cinemas

391

The fact was confirmed by the article “Foreign Newspapers about Our Troops,” published in the Nov Vek. Its brief coverage of “the troop review” emphasized the effect the event had on the Western European correspondents, according to whom “Bulgarian Army made a great progress thanks to the Minister of War, General Savov.” “The artillery is excellent, in spite of the disadvantage [shortage] of quick-firing guns; the infantry is good with its well-known marching abilities; only the cavalry needs some improvement but only in terms of quantity, not quality.”45 “Our troops’ performance at the parade made a great impression on the foreign military attachés attending the parade,” the Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper joined in: “so, after the parade, they praised the soldiers in front of the Minister of War.”46 The opinion of the Mir [World] (“the organ of the People’s Party,” published four times a week at that time) was different, and even ironic: “On the order of the Minister of War, some training was carried out. It impressed the public attending the event, but made competent military personnel smile, as it had to do with manoeuvring and not marching.”47 That show was worth seeing! Three types of troops paraded there: artillery, cavalry, and infantry. It offered spectacular attractions: a cavalry unit “fired several times”; there was “some very skilful manoeuvring”; and drills, normal for manoeuvring (operations close to fighting) rather than a parade (ceremonial military movements), were conducted. The parade was obviously intended to demonstrate power – to the world. It is no accident that the newspapers emphasized the response, reaction, and echo it had in Europe. For example, the above-quoted article of the Nov Vek, titled “Foreign Newspapers about Our Troops,” was reprinted by the reliable Paris newspaper Le Temps, which in turn published a telegram received from Sofia. It cannot have been by accident either that Sofia periodicals repeatedly mentioned the presence of the foreign military attachés, emphasizing the fact that they were in “full dress.” Also in his “full dress” and at the front row of the show, the English military attaché, Ducan, must have been part (together with the rest of his colleagues) of the staff of Major General Mihail Savov. Probably, because of the parade, Mr. Ducan, who went to Tsargrad48 on July 24, quickly came back to Sofia – on July 28 by the “conventional train.”49 45 “News in Brief. Foreign Newspapers about Our Troops,” Nov Vek, vol. VI, no. 776 (August 9, 1904), 3. 46 “Today’s News. Celebrating the Ascension to the Throne,” Bulgarian Commercial Newspaper, vol. XII, no. 169 (August 4, 1904), 2. 47 “Today’s News. 2 August,” Mir, vol. X, no. 1,439 (August 3, 1904), 2. 48 “News in Brief. Diplomatic,” Nov Vek, vol. VI, no. 772 (July 26, 1904), 3. 49 “News in Brief. Diplomatic,” Nov Vek, vol. VI, no. 774 (July 30, 1904), 2.

392

Chapter Eleven

The show was worth seeing, as well as filming. Did Charles Noble manage to do that? We do not know. We do not know whether he attended the military parade of the Sofia garrison, or whether he was in Sofia on August 2, 1904 at all, or had already gone home. The announcement in the Vecherna Poshta on August 2, describing the police “march” to the Fourth Kilometre (a place located in Sofia’s suburbs at that time, and nowadays part of the crowded urban area), turned out to be the last article in the Bulgarian press mentioning Charles Rider Noble’s name, and the second in connection with his “filming” activity in 1904. No other periodical, apart from the Vecherna Poshta and the Plovdiv, announced the Briton’s plan to re-enact the Unification. The fact that Noble cinematographed in the country was not even hinted at. Not even his intention to film was implied. “No other periodical” is a bit exaggerated, because the author of this book, as well as his predecessors, who have worked on the topic use information mostly from Sofia newspapers and partly from newspapers published in the bigger Bulgarian cities at that time. It is quite possible, however, that there were some articles about Noble and his activities on the pages of provincial periodicals, hidden for years and waiting to be found and made public. In spite of the scarce information, it is known today that the cameraman’s work in Bulgaria in 1904 was not just filming the Gorublyane “military march” and the walk of “the entire mounted police of Sofia.” He is known to have filmed twenty-one actualities in seven of the Bulgarian towns he visited (or at least in their districts). The evidence of this is the information provided by the next CUTC catalogue.

CHAPTER TWELVE FEBRUARY 1905: THE NEW CHARLES URBAN TRADING CO., LTD. CATALOGUE

An advertisement of the February 1905 CUTC catalogue

394

Chapter Twelve

It was published in London in February 1905, advertised as Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films, but known among early cinema history researchers as “The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue, February 1905.”50 Eight of its pages (158–65) presented as many as thirty-eight films (their catalogue number, title, annotation and length in feet), brought together in a separate thematic section, this time titled “Bulgaria and Macedonia.” To make clear their authorship, the very first line unambiguously said that they had all been filmed by Charles Noble – “Photographs by C. Rider Noble.” Seventeen of the titles were already familiar to the public from the previous (presented in chapter seven) catalogue List of the Latest Urban Film Subjects. Forming Supplement No. 1 to our General Catalogue Issue of November, 1903 (London: The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd., 1904), where, I am going to repeat, they had been included in two different sections: “Macedonia and Bulgaria” (nos. 1,154–64) and “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia” (nos. 1,228–33). In the new CUTC catalogue, published in February 1905, these seventeen films were listed (between pages 158 and 162) under their old titles (of which only one had been changed) and had the same number and length. Their short annotations were also absolutely the same – with very few exceptions.

New Edition – Old Films For instance, the “preamble” to the section “Bulgaria and Macedonia” was the same as the one to “Macedonia and Bulgaria”: “These pictures were secured at great expense and risk, and are the only Animated Pictures of Macedonian and Bulgarian Scenes in existence.” On the other hand, the title The Feast of St. John at Rilo Monastery (no. 1,155) was not preceded by the adjective “special,” and there were two changes in its annotation: the year the monastery was founded, “400 years BC” (which was both incorrect and impossible), was replaced by “400 years ago,” and the time of the construction of the buildings, which have been preserved until nowadays, was reduced from “some 400 years ago” to “40 years.” Since the Rila Monastery is going to be discussed further in the book, for the time being I would like to recall that Saint John of Rila withdrew to the mountains at an early age. His fame as a hermit spread quickly and followers, novices, and disciples started gathering around him. They lived in caves or built temporary cabins and dugouts, 50

Revised List of High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films. The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue (London, February 1905).

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue

395

hermitages, and chapels, located near, but not on the site of the presentday monastery. The formation of the monks’ dormitory in Rila happened gradually. Therefore, historians have agreed on 930 as its year of foundation. Probably, after John of Rila’s death (946), monks moved their place of worship where the buildings of the present-day monastery complex have risen. One of them is the defensive tower made of stone in 1335 – the earliest construction in the Rila Monastery that has survived to the present day. The new description of Refugees at Samokove (no. 1,156) lacks the last sentence of the earlier version: “The money for this purpose has been subscribed by a Russian Society, the Bulgarian Government, and S.A.R. Prince[ss] Clementine de Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, mother of the Prince of Bulgaria.” It is logical to suppose that the editors removed the information, which was topical in 1903, but not in 1905. The same goes for the unrealized “forecast” in the annotation of Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 (no. 1,164): “Note. – This will become a most valuable picture in the event of War being declared between Bulgaria and Turkey, as it was decided at this meeting of Parliament that Bulgaria will stand by the Macedonians in their struggle for freedom.” The word “special” was also removed from the title H. E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Bodyguard (no. 1,160), and The Bulgarian Frontier at Cotcharinova was changed to The Bulgarian Frontier at Baracovo (no. 1,163).

A new catalogue – old films

396

Chapter Twelve

The list in the section “Bulgaria and Macedonia” continued (with no interruption) with those six items, which in the previous catalogue (The Forming Supplement No. 1) constituted “With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia.” This time, however, they were not “accompanied” by the 1904 biographical data about “Tvantcho Quevgueliisky” [Ivancho Gevgelijsky] and “General Ivan Tzontcheff. – ‘Man of Duty’.” This, in fact, was the only significant difference between the two editions. In the rest of the text, there were minor changes. Part of the introduction of the annotation to the film A Skirmish With the Turks in the Balkans (no. 1,230) was shortened. It mentioned the name of General Tsonchev: “Who is present and seen giving orders, also present are the following officers (who are fighting almost every day with this band) (see illustration, page 33) – Col. Anastas Yancoff, Lieut. Ilia Baltoff and Lieut. Kotcho Nasteff.” The additional information about the deep snow and the rough patch Charles Noble had gone through with stoicism was also spared: Note. – There is much snow on the mountains, and our operator, Mr. Noble, endured many hardships and suffered intensely with the cold in order to procure these pictures. He entertains great admiration for the men who do not seem to mind the cold in the least, and the way they get about in the deep snows with which all passes are blocked.

Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight With the Turks (no. 1,231) was the third film from which was taken away the “honourable title” “Special.” Charles Noble was also “demoted” after the final note was removed: This incident was not arranged for the benefit of our photographer, but was secured at great risk to himself, as he had no guarantee from the leader of the band of absolutely coming through unscathed. The only promise he had, when he joined the band was, that if he was after exciting bioscope pictures, his opportunities would be many. Mr. Noble succeeded in securing this picture, which is absolutely unique, showing the fighting methods of the band and their manner of causing consternation amongst the Turkish outposts in their path.

The annotation to The National Dance of Macedonia and Bulgaria (no. 1,232) was shortened by one sentence: “The music, as shown in the picture, is furnished by a soldier, who plays a strange tune on a sort of home-made fiddle, which has but two strings.” The time it took to travel from Sofia to Gorna Banya was also changed – from “about three hours’ drive” to “about half-an-hour’s drive.”

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue

397

The Surprises in the New Catalogue The big surprise was the second part of the section “Bulgaria and Macedonia,” which occupied four pages (162–5). It provided information on the rest of twenty-one actuality films, numbered from nos. 1,358 to 1,369 (twelve film subjects) and from nos. 1,440 to 1,448 (nine film subjects). None of their titles, unlike of those of the seventeen films preceding them, had been mentioned up to that moment (February 1905) in the British press. Neither were they mentioned in Bulgarian periodicals, although, in the summer of 1904, two announcements were published that bore evidence of some filming done by Charles Noble in the suburbs of Sofia. It is this darkness closely surrounding the twenty-one actuality films in question that makes them even more mysterious. That is why the information the new CUTC catalogue provided about them for the first time “officially” (and also informally) is priceless. So I am taking the liberty of presenting it in as much detail as possible in the present book: 1358 RAILROAD PANORAMA OF THE PASS OF TIRNOVO [TARNOVO]. This photograph shows how beautifully picturesque the Tirnovo Valley really is, and the wonderful approach to the ancient and historical capital of Bulgaria, which is practically built in horseshoe form on the mountain side, with its houses, placed contour upon contour, rising to many hundreds of feet above the river bed. 200 feet. 1359 MILITARY GARDEN PARTY. A Military Garden Party being held at the Officers’ Club, Stara Zagora, under the presence and patronage of the garrison commanding officer, General Major Veltcheff [Velchev], one of the most noted Bulgarian officers. A fine portrait of this officer, with his Staff, may be seen. 50 feet. 1360 TURKS SMOKING HUBBLE BUBBLE PIPES. An every afternoon custom when drinking coffee after lunch. The tobacco used is very strong, and is grown in Asia. Before it is placed in the pipe it is made damp, or one might say washed; then a large quantity is placed in the bowl of the pipe, then red hot charcoal is placed on the top, when the pipe is ready to be smoked. The smoke is drawn through water in the lower vessel, which serves the purpose of both cleansing and cooling the smoke. The Turks have a great delight in placing cherries and strawberries in this vessel, and when the smoke is drawn through they see how long they can keep them bobbing up and down in the water. 50 feet. 1361 BULGARIAN WEDDING DANCE. This photograph was taken in the village of Basabovo [Basarbovo], near Roustchauk [Ruse], on the Danube. It is the custom that all weddings shall take place on the Sunday.

398

Chapter Twelve As both men and women work on their farms, this is the only day of rest. The villagers assemble from the surrounding districts, and all join in the native dance, called the “Korah.” 50 feet. 1362 VILLAGE FESTAL SCENES. The villagers then go to the house of the bridegroom and form into procession, then make their way to the bride’s house, who joins the party. They then proceed to the church, dancing and singing all the way, the bride and bridegroom holding each other in their arms. 75 feet. 1363 BULGARIAN VILLAGE DANCE. The newly-married young people are seen returning from the church, and they and their friends indulge in the National Dance. 60 feet. 1364 TYPES OF BULGARIAN PEASANT BEAUTIES. Four typical Country Girls taking a rest after the dance. They take a great delight in dancing in their best, placing flowers in their hair, &c., and are seen in lively animation after the excitement of the dance. 50 feet. 1365 BULGARIAN CAVALRY DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN SIDE AND FORDING A MOUNTAIN STREAM. These are the officers of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, and this photograph shows in the most graphic manner how well the horses are trained, and with what courage the officers handle them. After the descent they cross the stream in a most exciting manner. 100 feet. 1366 MANŒUVRE BY THE 5th BATTERY BULGARIAN ARTILLERY stationed in the Chomler [Shumen] district. The soldiers here depicted compare most favourably in execution of drill, manual at arms and stalwart bearing to some of the select regiments of the greater Powers. 75 feet. 1367 THE CHOMLER GARRISON RECRUIT DRILL. Showing the high standard of perfection these young soldiers have attained after only two months’ training. The use of the bayonet and attack is well illustrated by means of a charge upon dummy figures representing the foe. 125 feet. 1368 THE GRAIN TRAFFIC AT THE PORT OF BULGAS [BURGAS]. Showing a typical Black Sea trawler, the s.s. “Margaret Jones” of Cardiff. It is interesting to know that from this port large quantities of grain is continually being shipped to this country, as well as to other parts of the world. Bulgas is one of the only two ports owned by Bulgaria, and this photograph shows what a quaint old Turkish town it is, as seen from the ship’s side, and the panorama well shows the large quantity of grain waiting on the quay for shipment. 50 feet.

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue 1369 THE GRAIN TRAFFIC AT THE PORT OF BULGAS [BURGAS]. The s.s. “Margaret Jones” in full work, and is seen with the grain being carried and shot into the hold from bags, mostly by Turkish labour, and it is most interesting to see how quickly these men run the planks and deposit their load. 150 feet.

The surprises in the new catalogue 1440 INFANTRY MESS IN CAMP. (Stara Zagora district). In the first portion of this picture we see the soldiers told off for mess duty, carrying large copper pots from the cook-house, placing the same on roughly constructed tables. We next see the men arriving, who all turn their faces to the East. With uncovered heads sing or chant their grace, by word of command from their officer. Grace over, they produce their spoons, which they carry tucked down in the tops of their jack boots. Each copper pot contains the food for eight men. It is amusing to see them going for the titbits. Dinner over, they return to their duty. 100 feet. 1441 GENERAL SAROFF [SAVOV], WAR MINISTER, Entertaining Staff and Garrison Officers at Lunch after a big mornings sham Fight.

399

400

Chapter Twelve We get a good likeness of the General making his speech, after which all the officers break into the national dance, “The Horah.” 75 feet. 1442 SOFIA’S GARRISON INFANTRY ON THE MARCH. An interesting picture. Men setting out to take part in a big field day in the Sofia district. They are of splendid physique, and seem to thoroughly enjoy the hard work of a long march. 75 feet. 1443 BULGARIAN INFANTRY, ARTILLERY AND CAVALRY. Here we see the joint forces on the march, just before going into action on sham fight and manœuvre day, Sofia district, and can easily be seen they are made of the right sort of stuff. 100 feet. 1444 THE TRAINING COURSE OF CAVALRY HORSES. Under officers showing the young cavalryman how to mount and dismount under difficulties. 50 feet. 1445 BULGARIAN MOUNTED GENDARMERIE ON THE MARCH. The march-past of this regiment is a pleasing sight, and the men’s bearing and precision speak much for the high training which the men and horses have undergone. 75 feet. 1446 CAVALRY ON THE MARCH. The Cavalry is one of the most proficient branches of the Bulgarian Army. This picture shows them marching past the camera in review order. Splendid military subject. 75 feet. 1447 1st CAVALRY REGIMENT ON MANŒUVRE DRILL. A powerful squad well handled. An excellent military subject. 150 feet. 1448 HARVESTING–Blossoms in the Valley of Roses. Kazanlak Valley, for purpose of distilling “Otto of Roses.” A splendid series, showing the peasants starting out among the Rose Gardens equipped with huge baskets, which they fill with blossoms, carrying same to the distillery, &c. Splendid picture. 75 feet.

The Bottom Line There were twenty-one, unknown until that time, actuality films in the new CUTC catalogue published in February 1905. The total length of the film subjects was 1,810 feet or 550 metres, which means that they would be exhibited (at the speed of sixteen frames per second) for thirty minutes. Even though the catalogue section in which they were included was titled “Bulgaria and Macedonia,” all those actuality films had been filmed in Bulgaria (according to the information provided by their annotations and

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue

401

titles). They were made by the English camera operator Charles Rider Noble, who from February 9, 1904 to August 1, 1904 (almost half a year) stayed in Bulgaria, and from March 13 to July 6 (nearly four months) travelled about the provinces, managing (according to the evidence in the Bulgarian press) to visit at least eighteen cities. A curious detail is that seven of the towns (or their districts) were mentioned in the CUTC catalogue as places where the “High-class Original Copyrighted Bioscope Films” were made. Four films were made in the village of Basarbovo, near Ruse on the Danube River (no. 1,361, no. 1,362, no. 1,363, and no. 1,364). Three were filmed in “the Sofia district” (no. 1,441, no. 1,442, and no. 1,443), two in Stara Zagora (Officers’ Club) and the Stara Zagora district (no. 1,359 and no. 1,440), two in “the Chomler [Shumen] district” (no. 1,366 and no. 1,367), two in Burgas (a Black Sea port city) (no. 1,368 and no. 1,369), one in Veliko Tarnovo (no. 1,358), and one in Kazanlak (no. 1,448). The locations of the other six films were not stated in the catalogue, so, for the time being, they are not identified (no. 1,360, no. 1,365, no. 1,444, no. 1,445, no. 1,446, and no. 1,447). Equally curious is the fact that cities like ancient Plovdiv, the port city Varna, and Ruse (the Little Vienna) were not among the seven “finalists”! Charles Noble’s interest in military topics, and the Bulgarian Army in particular, has been repeatedly stated. That is why it will be no surprise for anybody that twelve of the twenty-one films in question were dedicated to the Bulgarian armed forces. By means of a dozen “live” actuality films, the camera operator managed to cover the manoeuvres, field drills, marches, and parades of three types of troops in or near Sofia (no. 1,441, no. 1,442, and no. 1,443), Stara Zagora (no. 1,359 and no. 1,440), Shumen (no. 1,366 and no. 1,367) and presumably Lom (no. 1,365) – all important garrison centres. He also managed to highlight the activities of the Bulgarian cavalry, thus creating a whole cavalry series (no. 1,365, no. 1,444, no. 1,445, no. 1,446, and no. 1,447). Five of the films can provisionally be classified as “ethnographical and folk” (nos. 1,360–4), illustrating the festive and daily life of the Bulgarian village – presenting its customs, rituals, traditional clothing, and folk dances (village, native, national). One of the dances, called either Korah or The Horah (horo – a type of ring, chain, or circle dance), must have impressed Noble. Four of the films are “geographical,” also called “scenes” at that time, because they showed views, sceneries, and panoramas of picturesque places or cities – in this case of Veliko Tarnovo, the Tarnovo Valley, and the pass of Tarnovo (no. 1,358); of Burgas and its port (nos. 1,368 and 1,369); and of the Valley of Roses (one of the

402

Chapter Twelve

loveliest places in all of Bulgaria), in the centre of which is the city of Kazanlak (no. 1,448). At the same time, these newsreels show labour activities typical of the respective region and its economy – the traffic at the port, “harvesting-blossoms,” and obtaining an “otto” (attar) of roses.

Two pages from the February 1905 CUTC catalogue

The separate section “Bulgaria and Macedonia,” which in this case was not thematic but geographical, was illustrated by means of seven photographs. Three of them are familiar from The Forming Supplement No. 1 (1904). There are no significant changes in the texts accompanying the three illustrations in the new catalogue, either: “An Insurgent Band” (referring to the group portrait of Ivancho Gevgelijsky’s cheta on page 158), “The Monks at Rilo Monastery, Bulgaria” (page 159) and “Macedonian Insurgent Leaders” (page 159), whose names were not stated this time. That is why I am going to recall them: Colonel Anastas Yankov, General Ivan Tsonchev, Lieutenant Konstantin (Kocho) Nastev, and Lieutenant Ilia Baltov.

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue

403

The other four photographs were published for the first time in a CUTC edition. Three of them depicted Bulgarian officers, as the explanatory notes under the illustrations confirm: “no. 1359. Bulgarian Officers’ Garden Party at Stara Zagora” (page 162) – the photograph cannot have been placed above the film title Military Garden Party by chance (no. 1,359); “General Veltcheff, Commander of the Shoumla Garrison” (page 164); and “Bulgarian Officers of the Shoumla Garrison, the largest and most important in Bulgaria” (page 165). The presence of those three pictures in the new catalogue is logical – they illustrated a dozen films (possibly being scenes from them), depicting some public appearances of the Bulgarian Army. It also demonstrates the interest in “military topics” and the recognition of the potential they obviously had to not only attract but also keep the public’s attention. The last (seventh) illustration was on page 163 – between the annotations of the actuality films Bulgarian Wedding Dance (no. 1,361) and Village Festal Scenes (no. 1,362). The text under it proves that this was its proper place: “no. 1,363. Bulgarian Village Dance.” Even a superficial comparative analysis of the information in The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue, February 1905 and the data in the Bulgarian press shows that the thirty-eight films of “Bulgaria and Macedonia” were filmed by Charles Noble in two different years – the seventeen in the first part of the section were made in 1903, and the other twenty-one during his stay in Bulgaria in 1904. In spite of presenting himself as a journalist, photographer, artist photographer, special correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle, and representative of the English illustrated magazine Black and White, and in spite of not mentioning his employer, Charles Urban, Charles Rider Noble remained a CUTC cameraman, one of the nameless war correspondents of the company, the anonymous “men of vast experience and resource,” the CUTC’s brave men who, as early as in February 1904 (according to The Era), were “Operating with the Forces” not in any place but in the Near East. Charles Urban remained Charles Noble’s employer. He sent him to Bulgaria in 1903 and 1904. It turns out that the Englishman was in no way a “blade runner,” a lonely cowboy, or a stalker – he just felt like one in the wild, yet free, Bulgarian East. “Enough said. Results will speak for themselves,” the advertisements said. And the results did speak for themselves from the pages of The Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue, February 1905, which announced all thirty-eight actuality films Charles Noble filmed in Bulgaria – the seventeen from 1903 and the twenty-one from 1904. A fact that also shows the indisputable producer of the thirty-eight “cinematograms” – Charles Urban and his company.

404

Chapter Twelve

The Bioscope camera, which Charles Noble used to shoot all his films in Bulgaria

In spite of the obvious similarities between the two “Bulgarian” series of the Urban-Noble tandem, which are mostly in terms of the time they were created, their screen fates are totally different. The second series was not advertised in any London periodical. The London press did not mention any of the twenty-one titles. That does not exclude the possibility

February 1905: The New Charles Urban Trading Co., Ltd. Catalogue

405

that the films (all or part of them) were exhibited at the Alhambra or even announced in the press – praised by an anonymous contributor as “a remarkable series of bioscope pictures.” However, it is obvious that this time (unlike during the January screening in London in 1904) there were no crowded halls, enthusiastic audiences, or favourable reviews. Why? One of the hypotheses can be related to the poor quality of the films – be it technical or artistic. It could explain why the relationship between Charles Urban and Charles Noble worsened, as Stephen Bottomore implies. On the other hand, in the second half of 1904 and early 1905, “Macedonia” was no longer a relevant topic – the Ilinden Uprising had already been suppressed, and its resonance in Europe faded away. This could account for the new title of the section, senseless at first sight – from “Macedonia and Bulgaria” it changed to “Bulgaria and Macedonia.” Whatever his reasons were, facts are facts – at that time, no extraordinary events were taking place in the Turkish province of Macedonia or in the state of Bulgaria. The interest of the international community, that is of the cinematographer, too, turned towards the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution of 1905 (also known as the First Russian Revolution), the “Bloody Sunday” (January 9/22), when the police in St. Petersburg started firing upon the demonstrating workers marching on the Winter Palace in order to present a petition to Emperor Nicholas II. Regardless of that, the fate of each of the thirty-eight actuality films is interesting, because it is the tangible history of a film, which has preserved a little part of common history.

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

A Abdul Asis, Sultan – 9 Achard, Frédéric – 275 Ackerman, C. F. – 350 Alexandra, Queen of the United Kingdom – 114, 120 Aleksandrov, Aleksander – 135, 297 Aleksandrov, Todor – 3 Anderson, Prof. – 76, 77 Armat, Thomas J. – 86 Asenov, Krastyo – 3 Ashton, Eliza (Eliza Jessie Rider) – 139 Atkins, Tommy – 107 Avery, John Gilman (Jack) – 111, 152 Avery, John H. – 119, 125, 152 Avery, Julia (Julia Urban) – 81 Avetrijatz, Ent – 367 Aziz IV, Mulai Abd (Abdul) al, Sultan of Morocco – 150, 154, 158 B Balfour, Arthur James – 44, 46 Baltov [Baltoff], Iliya [Ilia] Petrov, Lieut. – 205, 217, 228, 233, 236, 250–253, 257, 396, 402 Barker, Will – 289 Barry, Stanley, Major – 43 Basmadzhiev, Hr[isto]. – 386, 387 Batandzhiev, Hristo – 3, 9 Baucus, Joseph Deyhoe – 83, 88, 90, 98, 123 Baucus, Thomas (Joseph Deyhoe Baucus) – 91, 122 Beevor, Walter Calverley – 149 Belev, Georgi Ivanov – 247, 255

Benett-Stanford, John Montague – 98, 103, 106, 148 Bettelheim, H., Captain – 43 Bochev, Nikolay, Gen. – 384, 388, 389 Bonaparte, Napoleon – 352 Boris III, Ttsar of Bulgaria – 120 Bossy – 319 Bottomore, Stephen – 98, 99, 104, 111, 136–139, 141, 148, 149, 152, 161, 168, 283, 350, 351, 378, 405 Bourbon-Parma, Marie Louise of, Princess – 263 Bourchier, James David – 24, 26, 27, 238 Brailsford, Jane Esdon – 26, 44 Brailsford, Henry Noel – 24, 26, 28–30, 44, 69 Brun, Alexandre Jean-Baptiste – 55 Brune – 319 Bryant, Steve – 136 Bryce, James, Prof. – 24 Buller, Redvers, Sir – 102, 104 Burns, Hugh – 43 Butt, war correspondent – 42 Butler, Henry Montagu – 24 Buxton, Charles Roden, Sir – 24, 26, 241 Buxton, Noel Edward, Sir – 24, 26, 44 C Chekalarov [Tchakalaroff], Vasil – 11, 12, 69, 71 Chernopeev, Hristo – 3, 10 Chervenakov [Chervenyakov], Ivan, Captain – 389 Childers, Erskine – 150

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Christiansen, correspondent – 43 Churchill, Winston – 102 Clio, Muse of History – 49, 310 Constant, Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d’Estournelles de, Baron – 46 Cox, Douglas – 185, 186 Cox, William – 149, 181 Crane, Charles Richard, Prof. – 41 Cunnington – 139 Cyril, St. – 3 D Dagaradinov, Nikola – 233 Danev, Stoyan, Dr. – 12 Darling, Alfred – 97, 111, 125 Daudet, Alphonse – 342 Davidov, Toma – 235 Dechev, Dimitar – 11 Dedo Simo – 56 Delcassé, Théophile – 241, Delchev, Georgi (Gotse) – 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 Delov, Lazo – 232 Demenÿ, Georges – 94, 95 Densmore, James – 82 Dhur, Jacques – 342 Dickens [Dicken, Ducken, Ducan], English Military Attaché – 385 Dickens, Charles – 28 Dickson, William Kennedy Laurie – 82, 149, 295 Dilber Ivancho (Ivan Hristov Ordzhanov) – 219, 229 Dillon, Emile Joseph – 40, 41 Dimitriev, Radko, Col. – 386 Dimitrov, Andon – 3, 9 Dixon, Bryony – 136 Doan, John T. – 82 Dreyfus, Alfred – 351, 352 Duboscq, Louis Jules – 95 Dumbalakov, Dimitar – 233 Dumesnil, Jacques – 46 Dumont, Charles, Prof. – 46 Duncan, Francis Martin – 125, 126, 131

407

Dyado Stefo – 232 E Edison, Thomas Alva – 81–86, 88, 123, 166, 295 Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom – 120, 235, 342 Eisenstein, Sergei – 361 Eldarov, Svetlozar, Prof. – 221, 233, 239, 255, 267 Elijah, Prophet, St. – 15, 16, 48, 134 Elliot, Francis Edmund Hugh, Sir – 69 Ellis, Alfred Jackaman – 122 Emery (Avery), Julia Lamoureux (Julia Urban) – 81 Evans, Arthur John – 24, 44 F Ferdinand I, Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria of SaxeCoburg-Gotha, Prince of Bulgaria (1887–1908), Ttsar of Bulgaria (1908–1918) – 12, 28, 71, 72, 120, 175, 180, 185, 186, 189, 193, 197, 202, 210, 211, 223, 243, 263, 276, 280, 287, 297, 333, 346–348, 382, 387, 395 Ferguson – 35 Fijan, Andrija – 276 Forestier-Walker, Frederick, Gen. – 104 French, John Denton Pinkstone, Field Marshal – 43, 102 Fry, Edward, Sir – 44 Fuller, Loie – 84 G Gardiner, A. G. – 241 Garvanov, Ivan – 3, 9, 10 Genadiev, Nikola – 65 Gendov, Vasil – 274, 276, 321 George, St. – 269 George V, King of the United Kingdom – 111

408

Index of Proper Names

Gerdzhikov, Mihail – 10, 342 Gerlach, Otto – 55 Gevgelijsky, Ivancho (Ivan Hristov Ordzhanov) – 176, 181, 189, 202, 216, 218, 219, 220, 225, 227–233, 235, 298, 360, 361, 396, 402 Gibbons, Walter – 142–150, 152, 158, 289, 291 Giorgis, Emilio De, Gen. – 44, 47 Giuntini – 279 Goldman, Charles Sydney, Major – 98, 99, 102, 103, 106, 109, 148 Gologanov, Iliya – 30, 32, 73, 257, 281, 284 Gonzales, Giuseppe – 281 Gorky, Maxim – 276 Gram [Graham], correspondent – 43 Grant, Thomas – 125 Greis, Andreas – 269 Grekov, Mitrofan Ilich, Gen. – 377, 379 Gruev [Gruyeff], Damyan (Dame) – 3, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 22, 55 Gurko, Iosif (Joseph, Ossip) Vladimirovich, Russian Field Marshal – 327 H Hadzhidimov, Dimo – 3, 10 Hadzhinikolov, Ivan – 3, 9 Haenen, Frédéric de – 52 Hafid, Abd al – 161 Hales, Alfred Arthur Greenwood – 31–34, 73, 74, 236, 238, 242, 244, 245, 250, 252,253, 257, 375 Hamar, Bou (Jilali ibn Idris alZarhuni al-Yusufi) – 156 Hamilton, A. – 32, 35, 36, 238, 375 Hanbury-Tracy, A., Major – 43 Harris, Cecil – 44 Hartmann, H. – 131 Hatherell, Briton William – 51 Henry I, Duke of Guise – 352

Hepworth, Cecil M. – 95, 97, 111, 117 Herbert, F. W. von, Captain – 43 Hertz, Carl – 104 Hilmi Pasha, Hüseyin – 69 Himara, Bu (Jilali ibn Idris alZarhuni al-Yusufi) – 156 Hmara, Bou (Jilali ibn Idris alZarhuni al-Yusufi) – 156 Holmes, Burton – 350 Honvel, P., Lieut. – 42 Hyman, Edgar M. – 98, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109, 111, 145, 148 I Ikonomov, Matey – 281 Intir, Beni – 158 Irwin, May – 84 Isaacs, Walter L. – 86, 94, 111, 166 J James, Lionel, Captain – 41, 42, 52 Jesus (Jesus Christ) – 15, 352 John of Rila, St. – 257, 288, 394 K Kamburov, Ivan – 233 Kanazirski-Verin, Georgi – 369 Karastoyanov, Dimitar Anastasov – 49, 51, 71, 332 Karastoyanov, Ivan Anastasov – 69 Karasulijata, Ivancho (Ivan Hristov Ordzhanov) – 219, 220, 229, 232, 298, 360 Karayovov, Toma – 6 Kitanchev, Trayko – 4 Kirov, Gogo – 229 Kirton [Kirlton, Kurten], Walter [Walser], Captain – 40, 51, 52, 75, 76, 375 .ORXIDþ– 47 .ROiĜ9iFODY$QWRQtQ– 269 Konstantinov, Aleko – 300 .RVDQRYLü'HMDQ3URI– 348, 350, 354

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Kostov, Kostadin – 135, 324, 379, 381–383 Kraev, Col. – 270, 295 Krastevich, Gavril, GovernorGeneral of Eastern Rumelia – 328, 363 Kruger, Paul – 106 .XQRY+DGåL-Ivan Valchev – 308 Kuropatkin, Aleksey Nikolayevich, Gen. – 372, 373, 377, 379, 381 Kuzmik, Georgi – 106, 278 L Lambsdorff, Vladimir Nikolaevich, Count – 11, 12 Laube, Heinrich – 276 Lazarov, Nikola – 269 Lomas, Harold Mease – 111, 114, 116, 166, 213 Lozanchev, Anastas – 16, 19, 22, 55 Lubin, Siegmund – 312 Luca, Benedetto de, Dr. – 41 Lumière, Antoine – 86, 274 Lumière, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas – 86, 274 Lumière, Louis Jean – 86, 274 Lyapchev, Andrey – 6 Lynch, George – 32, 34, 73, 74 M MacDonald, John M. – 24, 27, 28, 33, 44, 71, 73, 238 MacGahan, Januarius Aloysius – 34 Maguire, Franck Zeveley – 83, 88, 91, 122, 123 Makarov, Stepan Osipovich, Viceadmiral – 308–310 Malamir, Khan of Bulgaria – 326 Mantle, J. Gregory, Dr. – 111, 114, 115, 131 Maresuke, Nogi, Gen. – 378 Marinov, S. – 243 Mary, Queen of the United Kingdom – 116 Mašin, Draga, Queen of Serbia – 353

409

Maslovarik, Vesna – 336, 337, 356 Massy, Lieut.-Col. – 42, 43 Matov, Hristo – 10 Maunsell, Francis Richard, Lieut.Col. – 43 Maxwell, Col. – 34 McKernan, Luke – 82, 84, 88, 90, 91, 97, 98, 111, 114, 119, 122, 123, 125, 134, 142, 377 Méliès, Georges – 91, 120, 121, 134, 351, 352 Melpomena, Muse of Tragedy – 319 Melsom, Sydney – 149 Methodius, St. – 3 Meyer, F. B. – 44 Mihaylov, Ivan (Vanche) – 3 Mihaylovski, Stoyan – 6, 32, 73, 257 Miletich, Lyubomir, Prof. – 229 Miliukov, Pavel Nikolayevich, Prof. – 41, 76 Milner, Alfred, Sir – 150 Mitsev, Todor – 251 Moore, Frederick – 9, 38, 51, 68, 69 Moss, Horace Edward, Sir – 145 Mottershaw, Frank – 91 Moul, Alfred – 198 Muhammad, Mulai – 156 Munro-Saki, Hector Hugh – 38 Murphy, Rector of the Irish College – 73 N Nastev [Nasteff], Konstantin (Kotcho, Kocho), Lieut.-Col. – 217, 228, 233, 245, 246, 247, 249, 253, 257, 402 Naydenov, Mladen – 308 Nevinson, Henry Woodd – 30, 74, 75 Nicholas II (Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov), Emperor of Russia – 308, 374, 405 Nikolaev, Danail, Gen. – 4, 328 Nikolov, Petko – 389

410

Index of Proper Names

Nikolov, Stefan, Lieut.-Col. – 205, 233, 236, 250, 257 Noble, Agnes – 139 Noble, Charles Rider – 78, 134– 142, 144, 148–158, 160, 161, 169–172,177–180, 183, 185, 186, 188–190, 192, 195, 196, 199, 200, 202,203, 204, 205, 207, 213, 217–219, 221, 223, 225, 227, 233, 235, 238, 239, 253, 257, 259–267, 269–274, 276–279, 282–300, 302, 304, 305, 308, 309, 314–325, 328, 330–337, 339, 342–344, 346– 348, 350, 351, 353, 357–359, 361–369, 371–374, 379–383, 385–387, 392, 394, 396, 397, 401, 403, 404, 405 Noble, Clara – 139 Noble, Ida – 139 Noble, Richard G. – 139 Noble, Urban – 139 Nodeau, Ludovic – 375 Nonguet, Lucien – 312, 353, 357 O 2EUHQRYLü$OH[DQGHU,.LQJRI Serbia – 353 Oeser, Franz Josef – 321 Orlovets, Petr Petrovich – 257 Ormiston-Smith, Frank – 111, 113, 114, 119, 125, 131 Orpheus – 326 Ordzhanov, Ivan Hristov – 216, 219 P Panov, N. – 305 Pathé, Charles – 351 Pathé Frères (Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques) – 106, 275, 312, 352–354, 362 Paul, Robert William – 149 Payne, George Adney – 142 Pears, Edwin – 44 Penn, Granville – 94 Perfanov, Kiril Petrov – 379

Petkov, Dimitar – 40 Petrov, Georgi (Gyorche) – 3, 5, 9, 10 Petrov, Kiril (Kiril Petrov Perfanov) – 379, 380 Petrov, Racho, Gen. – 12, 40 Philip II of Macedon – 326 Pius X, Pope – 73 Pop-Arsov, Petar – 3, 9 Postol Voivoda (Apostol Petkov Terziev) – 229 Potaynikov, Kosta – 280, 282 Potaynikovi brothers – 279–292 Prater, Ernest – 55 Prior, Phoebe – 139 3URãHNEURWKHUV-LĜtDQG%RKGDQ – 369 Protogerov, Aleksandar – 3, 233, 235 Przewalski, Romuald Grigoriewicz – 257 Pulev, Lieut. – 42 Q Quevgueliisky, Tvantcho (Ivancho Gevgelijsky) – 176, 179, 189, 202, 213, 215, 217, 227, 232, 233, 360, 396 R Rennenkampf, Pavel-Georg Karlovich, Gen. – 377 Rice, John – 84 Rider, Eliza Jessie – 139, 308 Roberts, Frederick Sleigh, Field Marshal – 99 Robespierre, Maximilien François Marie Isidore de – 352 Rogers, George Henry – 111, 119, 125, 322, 372–374, 376, 377, 381 Rosenthal, Alice – 98, 125 Rosenthal, Joseph (Joe) – 98, 99, 102–107, 109, 111, 112, 125, 131, 145, 148, 193, 322, 350, 377, 378

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) S Sabattier, Louis Rémy – 55 Sadoul, Georges – 133, 311, 312, 351, 353 Salmon, Balliol – 51 Salvadori, Riccardo – 55 Sandak, Yules – 367 Sandanski, Yane – 3, 10, 19 Sarafov [Sarafoff], Boris Petrov – 5, 6, 11, 15, 16, 22, 47, 55 Sarafov, Krastyo Petrov – 5 Sarakinov, Hristo, Lieut. – 205, 236, 257 Savov [Savoff, Saroff], Mihail – 43, 212, 297, 379, 380, 382–384, 388, 389, 391, 399, 406 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Albert, Prince – 120 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Clementine de, Princess – 172, 201, 202, 209, 395 Selig, William – 312 Sell, war correspondent – 42 Seward, Jonathan – 149 Shakespeare, William – 276 Silyanov, Hristo – 10, 21, 22 Simeon II, Ttsar of Bulgaria – 120 Skladanowsky, Max – 95 Smith, George Albert – 97, 111, 117, 125, 129, 132, 133 Soper, George – 49 Spasov, Pencho – 300, 372, 373 Stambolov, Stefan – 12 Stanishev, Hristo – 6, 11 Stardelov, Igor – 336, 337 Stead, William Thomas – 121 Stewart, F. B. – 111, 116, 117 Stoenchev, Lyubomir – 236, 257 Stoyanov, Yordan, Captain – 19, 246, 250, 251, 253, 255, 256 Stoyanov, Zahari – 328 Stoykov, Petar – 65 Strauss, Eduard – 281 Strauss, Johann II – 281 Strauss, Josef – 281 Sugarev, Boris – 235

411

T Tageev, Boris Leonidovich – 236, 250, 257, 375 Tatarchev, Hristo, Dr. – 3, 10 Tchakalaroff (Vasil Chekalarov) – 11, 12, 69, 71 Terziev, Apostol Petkov – 229 Thiriat, Paul – 55 Toshev [Tosheff, Toshoff], Petar (Pere) – 3, 10, 55 Townsend, Frederick Henry – 55 Tsonchev [Tzontcheff], Ivan Stefanov, Gen. –6, 11, 19, 27, 28, 32–35, 47, 176, 202, 215, 217–219, 221, 222, 225, 228, 233–243, 250, 253–255, 257, 284, 298, 347, 396, 402 Tummel – 79 U Uncle Kiro (Kiril Petrov Perfanov) – 379, 380 Urban, Alfred – 79 Urban (Glatz), Anna Sophie – 79 Urban, Arthur – 79 Urban, Carl (Charles Urban) – 79 Urban, Charles – 78–82, 84–86, 88, 90, 91, 93–95, 97, 98, 104, 107, 111, 113, 114, 117, 119–123, 125–127, 129, 131–135, 139, 142–144, 148, 158, 161,163, 164, 166, 168–171,178–180, 182, 186, 190, 192, 193, 195– 197, 200, 202, 206, 207, 212, 213, 218, 233, 250, 253, 262, 285, 289, 291, 295, 296, 320– 322, 330, 331, 333, 334, 336, 339, 345, 346, 350, 357–359, 368, 374, 377, 379, 380, 392, 394, 403–405 Urban, Clara – 79 Urban, Emma – 79 Urban, Ernest – 79 Urban, Hilda – 79 Urban, Ida (Edith) – 79 Urban, Joseph – 79

412

Index of Proper Names

Urban, Julia – 81, 91, 111 Urban, Otto (Ralph) – 79 Urban, Robert – 79 Urban, Sydney – 104

Woodville Jr., Richard Caton – 54 Wyon, Reginald Arthur Benjamin – 36, 37, 57, 58, 60, 65, 235, 237, 238, 250, 257, 261–263

V Valchev, HDGåL-,YDQ+DGåL-Ivan Valchev Kunov) – 305, 308 Vazov, Ivan – 106 Velchev [Veltcheff], Valko, Gen. – 397, 403 Vereshchagin, Vasily – 309 Veyre, Gabriel Antoine – 152 Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom – 120 Vladikov, Aleksandar – 229

Y Yanakiev, Georgi – 251 Yanev, Andon Lazov (Kyoseto) – 3 Yankov [Yancoff], Anastas Dinkov, Col. – 11, 19, 47, 74, 217, 228, 233, 236, 242–245, 253, 255, 257, 402 Yugov, Anton – 219 Yusufi, Jilali ibn Idris al-Zarhuni al – 156

W Waugh, Frederick Judd – 51 Westlake, John, Prof. – 24, 78 Williamson, James A. – 91, 133, 351

Z Zagorov, P. – 281 Zampoli, Captain – 34 Zecca, Ferdinand – 353, 362

FILM TITLES INDEX

A African Wars – 107, 109, 148, 320, 321, 368 Ambalance Corps at Work (Hospital Corps Attending Wounded on Battlefield) – 98 Animal and Insect Life – 131 Animated Portrait: President Kruger – 106 Annexation Ceremonies at Pretoria, The – 103 Annexation of the Two South African Republics – 103 Approaching Manila by the Pasig River – 111 Armed Guard of British Soldiers Conducting Boer Prisoners – 117 Arrival and Reception of Lord Roberts at Capetown, The – 104 Arrival of Kruger at Marseilles (Arrivée de Krüger à Marseille) – 106 Arrival of Train – 116 As Seen through a Telescope (The Professor and His Field Glass) – 133 Ascent of Mont Blanc: 15,781 feet high, The – 114, 166 Assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga, The – 355 Assassination of the Serbian Royal Couple, The – 355 Assassination of the Serbian Royal Family, The – 353, 354 Atrocités turques (Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia) – 355

Attack on a China Mission (Bluejackets to the Rescue) – 133 Attentat à la dynamite sur un train en Macédoine (A Bomb Attack on a Train in Macedonia) – 357 Australian Mounted Rifle Volunteers, The – 104 Autour de Port-Arthur (Near Port Arthur) – 312 B Balloon Contingent, The – 99 Big Swallow, A – 133 Black Watch [3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland] Landing at Cape Town – 104 Blood-stained Facts from Macedonia (I fatti di sangue delle Macedonia) – 357 Bluejackets to the Rescue (Attack on a China Mission) – 133 Boer Prisoners under Escort – 99 Bomb Attack on a Train in Macedonia, A (Attentat à la dynamite sur un train en Macédoine) – 357 Bulgaria and Macedonia – 394, 396, 397, 400, 402, 403, 405 Bulgarian Cavalry Descending the Mountain Side and Fording a Mountain Stream – 398 Bulgarian Frontier at Baracovo, The – 395 Bulgarian Frontier at Cotcharinova, The – 174, 189, 205, 210, 287, 395 Bulgarian Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry – 400

414

Film Titles Index

Bulgarian Infantry Declaring Loyalty to Their Country – 170, 171, 177 Bulgarian Infantry Patrolling the Frontier – 174, 205 Bulgarian Infantry Patrolling the Frontier at Doubnitza – 210, 287 Bulgarian Minister of War, Staff, and Boddyguard, The – 170 Bulgarian Mountain Infantry in the Balkans – 210, 287, 359 Bulgarian Mounted Gendarmerie on the March – 400 Bulgarian Series, The – 285, 287, 296, 336, 404 Bulgarian Troops Dismounting and Firing Mountain Guns – 170 Bulgarian Village Dance – 398, 403 Bulgarian Wedding Dance – 397, 403 Bun-Eating Competition, A – 213 Busy Bee, The – 131 C Call to Arms of the Third Baluchis – 116 Cape Town Volunteers Leaving for the Front – 104 Catastrophe de la Martinique, La (Martinique Disaster) – 353 Catastrophe du Petropawlosk (The Destruction of the Petropavlovsk) – 312 Catching Fifty-Thousand Salmon in Two Hours; on the Fraser River, Canada – 131 Cavalry on the March – 400 Charge and Retirement of the Third Baluchis – 116 Cheese Mites – 126 Chomler Garrison Recruit Drill, The – 398 Church Gate Street – 116 Cinderella – 134 Circulation of Blood in a Frog’s Foot – 126

Combat naval Russo-Japonais (Russo-Japanese Sea Battle) – 312 Coronation Durbar at Delhi, The – 114, 115 Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra – 120 Couronnement du roi Edouard VII, Le (Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) – 120, 121 D Departure of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles – 104 Destruction of the Petropavlovsk, The (Catastrophe du Petropawlosk) – 312 Detachment of Boer Prisoners Arriving at Ahmadnagar – 117 Drill and Play on a Training Ship – 213 Drill Work and Pastimes of the British Bluejacket – 289, 290 E Entry of Lord Roberts into Pretoria – 104 Entry of Troops into Pretoria – 104 Événements Russo-Japonais (Russo-Japanese Developments) – 312 Exchange Is No Robbery – 117 Exiles from Macedonia – 170 Expedition to North Borneo, An – 192 F Fatti di sangue delle Macedonia, I (Blood-stained Facts from Macedonia) – 357 Feast of St. John at Rilo (Rylo) Monastery, The – 170, 172, 209, 257, 287, 288, 394 55th Oxford and Cambridge University boat race, The – 97, 98

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Fire Brigade Turnout – 116 1st Cavalry Regiment on Manœuvre Drill – 400 Fourth Cavalry U.S.A. Repelling Flank Attack – 111 Fraser River Railway Panoramas – 131 French Naval Squadron on Manoeuvres – 273, 288, 289 From the Life of Macedonian Insurgents – 273, 285–286, 289, 322, 330, 362 G General Saroff [Savov], War Minister, Entertaining Staff and Garrison Officers at Lunch after a big mornings sham Fight – 399 General Sir Frederick ForestierWalker Inspecting Cape Town Volunteers – 104 Gimpati Procession and Obstinate Bullocks – 116 Gordon Highlanders Bayonet Drill and Volley Firing – 104 Gordons Arriving at the Cape, The – 104 Grain Traffic at the Port of Bulgas [Burgas], The – 398, 399 Grandma’s Reading Glass – 133 Guerre Russo-Japonaise (The Russo-Japanese War) – 312 Gulliver’s Travels – 134 H Harvesting–Blossoms in the Valley of Roses – 400 H.E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, His Staff and Bodyguard (Body Guard) – 174, 177, 209, 287, 359, 395 H.E. Minister of War, M. Savoff, of Bulgaria, Holding a Consultation with his Staff Officers – 170

415

Hiawatha – 131 Hindoo Snake Charmer Performing the Mango – 116 Histoire d’un crime – 362 Hospital Corps Attending Wounded on Battlefield (Ambalance Corps at Work) – 98 Hoisting the Union Jack – 99 I Important European Events – 302, 321 India, Burmah and Cashmere – 131 India Labourers Leaving Bombay Factory – 116 Indian Fox Hunt Meet Cross a River – 116 Indian Laundryman and the European Clothes – 116 Infantry Marching Through a Balkan Pass – 170, 171 Infantry Mess in Camp (Stara Zagora district) – 399 Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band – 177–178, 218, 223, 286, 330, 346, 359, 362 Insurgent Band in Cover, An – 176, 213, 232, 286, 330, 360 Interrupted Picnic, An – 117 Ironclads of the French Squadron at Villefrance [Villefranche] – 289 J Japanese-Russian War, The – 316, 317, 320, 321, 322, 323, 368, 379 Joan of Arc – 134 K Kiss in the Tunnel, The – 117, 118 Kolezite vo Macedonia (Ʉɨɥɟɠɢɬɟ ɜɨɆɚɤɟɞɨɧɢjɚThe Massacres in Macedonia) – 356

416

Film Titles Index

L Lancers under the Earl of Airlie Fording the Modder River – 98 Little Doctor, The – 133 Living Canada – 111, 131, 163 Logging in Canada – 131 Lumbering in a Canadian Forest – 180, 192, 198 M Macedonia and Bulgaria – 170, 178, 179, 182, 188, 207, 227, 287, 291, 394, 405 Macedonian Atrocities, The – 169, 170, 171, 178, 186, 213, 331, 334, 357 Macedonian Cheti and Their Battles – 320, 321, 330 Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March, A – 176, 189, 215, 232, 286, 330, 360 Macedonian Insurgents – 330, 379 Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight with the Turks – 176, 217, 233, 286, 330, 344, 348, 360, 396 Macedonian Insurgents series, The – 278, 285 Macedonian Massacres, The – 163 Macedonian Misery – 302, 321, 357 Macedonian Refugees at Samokove – 170 Macedonian Series, The – 163 Manœuvre by the 5th Battery Bulgarian Artillery Stationed in the Chomler District – 398 March of the 14th Sikhs – 116 March of the Third Baluchis – 116 Marine Studies – 131 Martinique Disaster (La Catastrophe de la Martinique) – 353 Mary Jane’s Mishap (or Don’t Fool with the Paraffin) – 117, 118 Massacres de Macédonie (The Massacres in Macedonia) – 356

Massacres in Macedonia, The (Massacres de Macédonie) – 356, 357 Matterhorn (14,780 Feet). Conquered by the Bioscope, The – 131 Mid-Day Siesta – 116 Military Garden Party – 397, 403 Mountain Infantry in Dismounting and Firing Guns – 174 Mounted Infantry Patrolling the Bulgarian Frontier – 170, 171, 205 Musketeers of the Queen, The – 134 N National Dance of Macedonia and Bulgaria, The – 177, 183, 189, 190, 191, 197, 202, 218, 226, 227, 396 Native Street Scene – 116 Near Port Arthur (Autour de PortArthur) – 312 New Zealand Mounted Rifles Leading Their Charges – 104 North Borneo – 192, 213 Northumberland Fusiliers Waiting to Quench Their Thirst – 106 N.S.W. Lancers Marching Through Adderley Street – 104 O Observation Point at Port Arthur, An (La vigie de Port-Arthur) – 312 Octopus, The – 126 On the Bulgarian Frontier at Cotcharinova – 174, 185, 203, 205 Opening of the Australian Parliament by the Duke of Cornwall, The – 111 Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament – 185, 202, 334

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) Opening of the Bulgarian Parliament by Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, at Sofia, Nov. 15th. 1903 – 175, 189, 202, 210, 287, 333, 347–348, 382, 395 Outside the Frontier Town of Samokove – 170, 171, 172, 205, 209, 287 P Panorama of the Modder River – 98 Picturesque Switzerland – 131 Plague Innoculation – 116 Pokolji u Makedoniji (The Massacres in Macedonia) – 356 Preparing Mountain Guns for Action – 170 President Kruger Leaving the Volksrand – 106 President Kruger’s Official Reception at Marseilles – 106 Professor and His Field Glass, The (As Seen through a Telescope) – 133 Pyoowne – 116 Q Quarrelsome Anglers, The – 117 R Race for the Governor’s Cup – 116 Railroad Panorama of the Pass of Tirnovo – 397 Red Sludge Worms – 126 Reddition de Port-Arthur (The Surrender of Port Arthur) – 312 Refugees at Rilo (Rylo) Monastery, (The) – 172, 207, 287, 334 Refugees at Samokove – 172, 209, 395 Refugees from Macedonia, The – 169 Regimental Pipers – 116 Rescued by Rover – 361 Review of Fourth Goorkhas – 116

417

Review of the Second Rajput Light Infantry – 116 Review of Troops by Lord Roberts – 104 5H]QMDY0DFHGRQLMLɊɟɡɧɹɜ Ɇɚɤɟɞɨɧɢɢ7KH0DVVDFUHVLQ Macedonia) – 356 Robinson Crusoe – 134 Rocky Mountains, Canada, The – 131 Rotifers – 126 Royal Horse Artillery on the March to the Front – 104 Russian Army in Manchuria, The – 376, 377, 379 Russo-Japanese Developments (Événements Russo-Japonais) – 312 Russo-Japanese Sea Battle (Combat naval Russo-Japonais) – 312 Russo-Japanese War, The (Guerre Russo-Japonaise) – 312, 373, 374, 379, 381 S Sacre d’Edouard, Le (Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) – 120 Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River – 180, 192, 198 Salmon Spearing – 131 Scenes from the Life of the Insurgents – 316, 317, 321, 324, 330, 357 Scots Guards Entraining at Cape Town Docks – 104 Sea Battle of Port Arthur, The – 308, 309, 314, 316, 317, 374 Sentinels at Post on the TurkishBulgarian Frontier – 170, 205 Sentries Guarding the Bridge at Cotcharinova [Kocherinovo], Which Separates Bulgarian and Turkish Territory – 170–171, 205

418

Film Titles Index

Seventh Artillery U.S.A. Charging – 111 Seventh Artillery U.S.A. In Action – 111 Sick Kitten, The – 133 Sir Redvers Buller Inspecting the Fighting Fifth – 104 16th Field Battery, Bombay, in Action – 116 Skirmish with the Turks in the Balkans, A – 176, 204, 217, 286, 330, 334, 335, 396 Siege of Port Arthur, The – 314, 378 Sofia’s Garrison Infantry on the March – 400 Soldier’s Return, The – 133 South Australians Crossing over the Pontoon Bridge and Entering WKH2UDQJH)UHH6WDWH7Kɟ– 107 Steamers Following the Great International Yacht Contest – 116 Story of a crime, The – 286, 362 Street Scene in Poona – 116 Studies of Natural History – 131 Surrender of Port Arthur, The (Reddition de Port-Arthur) – 312, 378 T Tobacco Farm at Crapits, A – 170, 171, 174, 202, 209 Training Course of Cavalry Horses, The – 400 Training of Our Bluejackets – 213 Trip to the Moon – 134 Troop Train Conveying the Seaforth Highlanders Across the Modder River (1899) – 98 Troops and Artillery to the Front – 104 Troupe of Russian Dancers, A – 213 Turkish Atrocities in Macedonia (Atrocités turques) – 355, 357

Turks Smoking Hubble Bubble Pipes – 397 Two Fools in a Canoe – 117 2 Scenes from the Life of English Mariners – 273, 288, 289, 290 Twopenny Tube in India, The – 116 Typical Street of Doubnitza, Bulgaria – 174, 209 Typical Street Scene at Doubnitza – 170, 171 Types of Bulgarian Peasant Beauties – 398 U Unloading Mules for the Front (Unloading a Cargo of Mules) – 104 Unloading a Cargo of Mules (Unloading Mules for the Front) – 104 Unseen World, The – 125, 126, 127, 131, 133, 163 Uprising in Morocco, The – 153, 154, 158, 289 V Vagaries of Animated Photography – 213 Varna Harbour – 297 Vigie de Port-Arthur, La (An Observation Point at Port Arthur) – 312 Village Festal Scenes – 398, 403 Volley Firing and Charge of the Cameron Highlanders – 104 W War Supplies and Stores Drawn over the Pontoon Bridge, Orange River, by Mule Teams – 107 War Supplies Drawn Over Pontoon Bridge – 104 Water Fleas – 126 Wintry Alps, The – 131

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One) With an Insurgent Band in Macedonia – 171, 177, 178, 204, 213 With the Insurgent Bands of Macedonia – 207, 213, 218, 227, 253, 285, 289–291, 330, 394, 396 With the Insurgents in Bulgaria – 181, 198, 204

419

With the Insurgents hrough Bulgaria – 182, 183, 185, 186, 192, 195, 204 With the Insurgents Through Macedonia – 177, 178, 180, 186, 195, 204, 213 Wonders of the Deep, The – 163 X X-Ray Fiend, The – 117

CONTENTS OF VOLUME TWO

Chapter Thirteen The History of the Films That Have Preserved History 1903: Where and When Did Noble Shoot His Films? No. 1,161: Lovely pictures of the batteries’ activities near Samokov No. 1,160: Minister of War Mihail Savov, his Staff and Bodyguard Inspection “at the Kyustendil Border” No. 1,159: A Pastoral Scene in a Military Environment No. 1,158: A Typical Street in a Typical Town No. 1,162: The Frontier at Dupnitsa No. 1,163: The Frontier at Kocherinovo From the Life of the Bulgarian Army The Return of the Troops October 1903: Elections and Other Events Opening of the Thirteenth Ordinary National Assembly No. 1,164: The First Film Shot in Sofia No. 1,232: The National Dance of Macedonia and Bulgaria A Primitive, Dreamy Town The Missionaries’ Trail No. 1,156: Refugees at Samokove No. 1,157: Outside the Frontier Town of Samokove The Road to Rila Three Feasts of the Same Saint No. 1,155: The Feast of St. John at Rilo Monastery An Oasis of Bulgarian Spirit No. 1,154: Refugees at Rilo Monastery An Information Office Shelter and Protection A Border Post No. 1,230: A Skirmish with the Turks in the Balkans A Filming Location A Meeting Point Macedons’ Noontide Answers and Questions No. 1,233: Initiating a New Member into an Insurgent Band Hajduk Oath

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One)

The Oath Triptych No. 1,228: An Insurgent Band in Cover The “shuttle” called Gevgelijsky “Landing” in Kyustendil Kyustendil – the “Mecca” of Insurgent Photography No. 1,229: A Macedonian Insurgent Band on the March (Under the Leadership of Ivantcho Quevgueliisky) The Insurgents’ Uniforms No. 1,231: Macedonian Insurgents’ Fight with the Turks Rifles, Bombs and Medical Staff Where and When Was the Trilogy Filmed? On Trust, Suspicion, and the Control over the Future Noble’s First Departure All Quiet at the “Kyustendil Border” 1904: Where and When Did Noble Shoot His Films? No. 1,365: Bulgarian Cavalry Descending the Mountain Side and Fording a Mountain Stream No. 1,361: Bulgarian Wedding Dance No. 1,362: Village Festal Scenes No. 1,363: Bulgarian Village Dance No. 1,364: Types of Bulgarian Peasant Beauties No. 1,360: Turks Smoking Hubble Bubble Pipes No. 1,358: Railroad Panorama of the Pass of Tarnovo No. 1,367: The Chomler Garrison Recruit Drill No. 1,366: Manoeuvre by the Fifth Battery Bulgarian Artillery Stationed in the Chomler District The Port of Burgas SS Margaret Jones In Stara Zagora No. 1,359: Military Garden Party No. 1,448: Harvesting-Blossoms in the Valley of Roses The Sofia Garrison in Sofia Province The Cavalry March Noble’s Second Departure Chapter Fourteen Trough Savage Europe Harry Willes Darell de Windt A Venturesome Expedition to the Balkans The London Premiere Lectures (1905)

421

422

Contents of Volume Two

The Lectures Continued (1906) The Results The Book The Journey The Highlander John Mackenzie First “Expedition” Pictures in the Balkans Roumania: Its Citizens and Its Soldiers The Balkan States Exhibition The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Noting But the Truth Across the Balkan States Chapter Fifteen Mackenzie’s Films in Yet Another Urban’s Catalogue No. 1,996: Macedonia and the Insurgents No. 1,997: Bulgaria and its Citizens No. 1,998: Bulgarian Infantry No. 1,999: Bulgarian Cavalry and Artillery Chapter Sixteen 1905: Where and When Did Mackenzie Shoot His Films? In Sofia: A Highlander at the Foot of Vitosha Mountain In Pleven In Tarnovo In Dryanovo In Gabrovo: A Scot in the Bulgarian Aberdeen Through the Shipka Pass In Ruse The Bulgarian Scenes in Roumania: Its Citizens and Its Soldiers UFO (Unidentified Film Objects) Homecoming Chapter Seventeen Films Featuring Bulgaria Shown on the Big Screen Worldwide In North America In Great Britain The Proclamation of Bulgaria’s Independence Prince Ferdinand, Tsar of Bulgaria, Entering Sofia “The Balkan Crisis” French Evidence Berlin Evidence Homecoming 2

The Cinematographic Activities of Charles Rider Noble and John Mackenzie in the Balkans (Volume One)

Chapter Eighteen Rambles in Many Lands Chapter Nineteen The Life and Times of Charles Urban – the Sequel The First Decade of the Twentieth Century The Colourful Dreams of the Cincinnati Boy The First Steps of Kinemacolor “The Eighth Wonder of the World” and its Films The Coronation in India The “Invasion” of Sofia The Balkan “Colour War” Kinemacolor in the USA Kinemacolor in Paris The End of Kinemacolor The Modern Elixir of Life World War One Britain Prepared The Battle of the Somme The Kineto Company of America Kinekrom: Kinemacolor 2 The “Unroaring Twenties” The 1930s Chapter Twenty Mr. Noble’s Later Fate On Board the Clyde From the Atlantic to the Andes A Lecturer Instead of a Cameraman Mexico 1907 Mexico 1908 Photographs of the Land of the Lost Toltec Race The Not-so-happy Ending Chapter Twenty-one Afterword Instead of an Epilogue The Real Epilogue

423

424

Contents of Volume Two

Table I. Filmography of Charles Rider Noble in Bulgaria. Films shot in 1903 Table II. Filmography of Charles Rider Noble in Bulgaria. Films shot in 1904 Index of Proper Names Film Titles Index