''Buncoed Stage Johnnie'' (french: Pour l'étoile S.V.P.) was a 1908 French silent comedy film produced by Georges Méliès. It was directed either by Méliès or by his assistant, an actor known as Manuel.

Plot

A stage actress's wealthy admirer, or " Stage Door Johnnie", brings a bouquet to the theatre and asks a

stagehand A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production. General S ...

to pass it along to the admired actress. The stagehand, for a practical joke, changes the card on the bouquet so that it appears to be meant for the theater's lady

janitor A janitor (American English, Scottish English), also known as a custodian, porter, cleanser, cleaner or caretaker, is a person who cleans and maintains buildings. In some cases, they will also carry out maintenance and security duties. A simil ...

. The janitor, accepting the flowers, sends the Stage Door Johnnie a note telling him to meet her at the stage door. The Stage Door Johnnie, shocked to see the janitor approaching, tries unsuccessfully to escape her embrace. He finally struggles away, as the theatre's stagehands laugh at the success of the joke.Since only fragments of the film survive, this summary is adapted from .

Production

Fernande Albany Fernande Françoise Raoult, known professionally as Fernande Albany (22 December 1889, Lison – 25 November 1966, Paris), was a French actress in theatre and film. Career Albany appeared in many of the films of Georges Méliès. Her work ...

played the janitor in the film. The scene in front of the stage door was shot outdoors, on Méliès's property in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, in front of the remaining section of a house that had belonged to his father Louis Méliès. (Some of the house had been taken down during the construction of Méliès's second and larger film studio, Studio B.) Georges Méliès had previously used the same location for his 1907 film ''

The Good Luck of a "Souse" ''The Good Luck of a "Souse"'' (french: Il y a un dieu pour les ivrognes) was a 1907 French short silent film by Georges Méliès. The film, of which only a fragment is known to survive, centered on a drunkard whose family is saved from violenc ...

''. Based on an analysis of the surviving fragments of the film, a publication on Méliès's films by the

Centre national du cinéma Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

suggested that ''Buncoed Stage Johnnie'' may possibly have been directed not by Méliès himself but by his production assistant, the actor Manuel.

Release and survival

The film was released by Méliès's Star Film Company and was numbered 1310–1313 in its catalogues. The surviving print of the film is incomplete, making it difficult to follow the narrative continuity. The rest of the film is presumed lost.

References

External links

* Films directed by Georges Méliès French silent short films 1908 films French black-and-white films French comedy films 1908 comedy films 1908 short films Silent comedy films 1900s French films {{1900s-France-film-stub