Félicien Trewey
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Félicien Trewey, born Félicien-François Trevey (23 May 1848 – 2 December 1920), was a French magician,
mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...
, comedian,
vaudevillian Vaudeville (; ) is a theatre, theatrical genre of variety show, variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comic ...
,
tightrope walker Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...
, balance artist, dancer, musician, chapeaugraphist and shadowgraphist. His principal entertainment was balancing tricks, of which he was a grand master. He was a great card-thrower, scaling cards at great distances. He gave musical entertainment with instruments of his own invention. He had great skill in the uncommon art of writing any words selected by his audience backwards and was an exceptional lightning sketch artist.
King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
saw Trewey perform on many occasions, and the
Emperor of Austria The emperor of Austria (, ) was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The hereditary imperial title and office was proclaimed in 1804 by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorr ...
, Baron Rothschild and many others invited him to perform for them. He also played in several films directed by his good friend
Louis Lumière Louis Jean Lumière (; 5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948) was a French engineer and industrialist who played a key role in the development of photography and cinema. Early life and education Lumière was one of four children of Claude-Antoine ...
, including ''Chapeaux a Transformation'' (1896), ''The Photographe'' (1895), ''Danseuses des rues'' (1896), and ''
Partie de cartes ''Partie de cartes'' (also known as ''Card Game'' and ''The Messers. Lumière at Cards'' (USA), or ''A Quiet Game of Écarté'') is an 1895 French black-and-white, silent short film directed and produced by Louis Lumière and starring Antoine F ...
''.


Life and career

Trewey was born in a workshop in the paper-making town of
Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...
in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. His father was a
machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...
who worked at one of the manufactories and lived on the premises. Although his father wanted him to become an engineer at the manufactory, Trewey made up his mind what he wanted to do at seven years old. He was taken to a
circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...
in
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
and saw a conjurer. He immediately began practicing
juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...
and magic tricks. His performances were accepted and encouraged by his schoolmates. He set up a "rough
proscenium A proscenium (, ) is the virtual vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame ...
" at a back window of his dad's house where he performed the ever-so-popular
Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Mr Punch and one other ...
by draping rags over his hands. At the age of ten, his father tried yielding his love of conjuring by sending him to a seminary to become a priest. There he would practice his love in the gymnasium. He did very good in the school plays there and always tried being the comic man. After three years at the seminar, his parents went to Marseille for a short holiday but decided to stay. As he was kept at home, engineering boosted and he went to work in the factory daily. It was actually a delightful change and he could go see all the conjurers and jugglers at the circus. He worked around a
lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the w ...
which could make conjuring items and being surrounded by items he could balance (i.e. hammers, vices, anvils) he practiced and progressed his skills rapidly. At fifteen years old, and after practicing since he was seven, he decided he could perform publicly and being near expert he went on to his professional career after running away with a not-much-older professional
acrobat Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...
. The two traveling boys were fairly successful while performing at cafes around the neighborhoods, but at times they found themselves tired and hungry. Sometimes they had to rely on borrowing objects from the owner of the cafe for juggling and balancing feats such as knives, bottles, forks and such. After a year on the road, his reputation grew and landed him in a Marseille music hall, making tenpence (a coin worth ten pennies) a day. He took part in comedy and
pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...
every night. The audience appreciated the performances by throwing money onto the stage, which Trewey got a good share of. He saved up enough money to buy himself two new costumes. He was able to command himself an engagement at the Alcazar, a principal place for amusement in Marseille, where he found himself his first great success. He was now seventeen years old and his success was constantly improving, as was his skills. He soon became a favorite performer in popular towns
South of France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...
for the next three to four years. He then went back to being a
peripatetic Peripatetic may refer to: *Peripatetic school, a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece *Peripatetic axiom, in philosophy *Peripatetic minority, a mobile population moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade. *Peripatetic Jats T ...
and became a proprietor of a traveling caravan pantomime and variety company. During their travels, Trewey would play many parts, including
Pierrot Pierrot ( , ; ), a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte, has his origins in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a hypocorism, diminutive of ''Pierr ...
and Cassandre, the clown and pantaloon of French pantomime. He also danced the "Clodoche", a grotesque
quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...
. Trewey was most successful in
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, performing new feats of balancing, a new and original style of entertainment at the time. It was a style he became identified with and "Treweyism" became a household word. His appearance of "the clown de Salon" consists of a black skin-tight costume, a chalked face, and a white powdered
periwig A wig is a head covering made from human or animal hair, or a synthetic imitation thereof. The word is short for "periwig". Wigs may be worn to disguise baldness, to alter the wearer's appearance, or as part of certain professional uniforms. H ...
. He was offered a performance at the Concert des Ambassadeurs in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and it was there his success was complete. Since then, he was never without any gigs. He stayed in Paris for nine years, performing at all the principal places of entertainment. Afterwards, he toured in many places around
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
(i.e.
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
,
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
,
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
) with great success. His success was so great in Spain, matchboxes were sold bearing his portrait. His portrait (with political and social significance) appeared in well-known papers all across Europe, including ''Journal Illustre'', ''Illustrationa Spana y America'', ''Der Wostellung Zeitung'', '' La Campana de Gracia'', ''La Bombe'', ''Le Jeune Garde'', '' La Caricature'', ''The Entr'acte'', ''The Looking Glass'', and ''The Northern Review''. In 1889, when Trewey was around 40 years of age, he joined Alexander Herrmann in New York. Trewey died at the age of 72 at his home, Villa Traverserie, in
Asnières-sur-Seine Asnières-sur-Seine () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It lies on the left bank of the river Seine, some eight kilometr ...
on 2 December 1920. Earlier that same year his book ''The Art of Shadowgraphy: How it is Done'' was published.


See also

* Shadowgraphy *
Shadow play Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim (material), ...
* List of defunct newspapers of France *
Auguste and Louis Lumière The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their ' motion ...
*
Honoré Daumier Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...


References


External links


The Art of Shadowgraphy: How it is Done
by Trewey, with ''A Few Words about Trewey''
« L’homme en morceaux, raccommodé »
extensive article on Trewey, translation from French

at Quick-Change-Artistry.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Trewey, Felicien 1848 births 1920 deaths French magicians