''Moitié de polka'' (literally "Half

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

") was a 1908 French

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French illusionist, actor, and film director. He led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well known for the use of ...

. It was sold by Méliès's

Star Film Company The Manufacture de films pour cinématographes, often known as Star Film, was a French film production company run by the illusionist and film director Georges Méliès. History On 28 December 1895, Méliès attended the celebrated first publi ...

and is numbered 1386–1393 in its catalogues. Buatier de Kolta 1902

Though the plot of the film is unknown, it may have been built around a parody of the famous illusionist

Buatier de Kolta Buatier de Kolta (né Joseph Buatier; Caluire-et-Cuire, 18 November 1845 – New Orleans, 7 October 1903) was a French magician who performed throughout the latter part of the 1800s in Europe and America. Biography Joseph Buatier was born in C ...

(born Joseph Buatier, 1845–1903). In the first decade of Méliès's directorship of the

Théâtre Robert-Houdin The Théâtre Robert-Houdin, initially advertised as the Théâtre des Soirées Fantastiques de Robert-Houdin, was a Paris theatre dedicated primarily to the performance of stage illusions. Founded by the famous magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin ...

, a Paris venue for stage illusionists, Buatier was considered one of the world’s major magicians. His style was minimalist, in modern dress without scenery; Méliès adapted some of Buatier's illusions into his own very different style for some of his trick films, with ''

The Vanishing Lady ''The Vanishing Lady'' (french: Escamotage d'une dame chez Robert-Houdin, literally "Magical Disappearance of a Lady at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin") is an 1896 French short silent trick film directed by Georges Méliès. It features Méliès a ...

'' and '' The Brahmin and the Butterfly'' the most frequently cited examples. In the 1899 edition of ''Passez Muscade'', an annual revue at the Théâtre, Méliès parodied his famous rival's act, caricaturing him as a pompous magician with the similar-sounding name "Moitié de Polka". (The revue even included a spoof of a specific Buatier illusion, "Le Miracle".) The film, reusing the name of Méliès's stage parody, may have featured a similar caricature of the illusionist. ''Moitié de polka'' is currently presumed

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control French black-and-white films Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films