Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Womanica. Historically, women have been told to make themselves smaller,
Speaker 1: to diminish themselves. Some have used that idea to their advantage,
Speaker 1: disappearing into new identities. For others, the disappearance was the
Speaker 1: end to their stories, but the beginning of a new chapter.
Speaker 1: This month, we're telling the stories of these women. We're
Speaker 1: talking about disappearing acts. When you think of old movies,
Speaker 1: Hollywood might be the first place you think of, But
Speaker 1: before there was Hollywood, there was Paris. Today's Womaniquin was
Speaker 1: one of the first female actresses in film history. She
Speaker 1: immortalized herself by committing her real life disappearing acts to celluloid,
Speaker 1: still astonishing audiences more than a century later. Please welcome
Speaker 1: Jean Dalci. Jean was actually born Charlotte Stephanie Faisa in
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five. She later took on Jean as a
Speaker 1: stage name. Now we don't know much about Jean's early life.
Speaker 1: What we do know is that she was born in Vaujour, France,
Speaker 1: just outside of Paris. Paris was a hub for entertainment
Speaker 1: and culture at the time. On stage, magic and illusions
Speaker 1: were all the rage. The Teatra Robert Houdin had showcased
Speaker 1: many of those acts, but by eighteen eighty eight the
Speaker 1: theater was facing financial ruin. It found a new owner
Speaker 1: and the illusionist George Melias. Jean Dlci was then twenty
Speaker 1: three years old. She moved to Paris and began working
Speaker 1: for George as a costume designer and production assistant. It
Speaker 1: wasn't long before she moved on stage as George's right
Speaker 1: hand woman, and then a new invention unlocked another level
Speaker 1: of performance for the duo. That invention was the cinematograph,
Speaker 1: one of the earliest movie cameras. George got his hand
Speaker 1: on a similar transformed it into a machine capable of filming,
Speaker 1: and was hooked. He founded a film company, built an
Speaker 1: indoor set, and began creating and experimenting with this brand
Speaker 1: new medium, aided, of course, by his star performer, Jean.
Speaker 1: Picture this the screen flickers to life a richly decorated
Speaker 1: theater stage. Jean and George enter the picture. George makes
Speaker 1: a big show of setting down a chair right in
Speaker 1: the middle of the set. Jean takes a seat in
Speaker 1: that chair. George covers her carefully with a veil, and
Speaker 1: then voila. When George removes the veil, Jean is gone.
Speaker 1: Only an empty chair remains. It's like she disappeared into
Speaker 1: thin air. But wait, the show isn't over yet. George
Speaker 1: covers the chair once more, and when he removes the veil,
Speaker 1: now a skeleton sits where Jean once sat. It's horrifying
Speaker 1: and humorous all at once. A third and final time,
Speaker 1: George puts the veil over the seat, He shakes the
Speaker 1: cloth in anticipation, and foila, Jean appears in the chair.
Speaker 1: She's returned, seemingly from the beyond. A magician never reveals
Speaker 1: their secrets, but just this once, I'll let you in
Speaker 1: on it. In front of live audiences, this trick worked
Speaker 1: thanks to a small trap door just below the stage.
Speaker 1: The vanishing lady would slip in during the first part
Speaker 1: of the stunt and sneak back out for the final reveal.
Speaker 1: But on film, an entirely new kind of trick was
Speaker 1: taking place an edit. As long as George, the chair
Speaker 1: and the veil stayed put, Jean could enter and leave
Speaker 1: the scene as many ways as she liked. Thanks to
Speaker 1: the magic of a quick camera cut, Jean started more
Speaker 1: than a dozen of George's films. They dabbled in everything
Speaker 1: from horror to sci fi, documentary, and even historical fiction.
Speaker 1: Jean adapted to it all, and while it's believed that
Speaker 1: George made as many as five hundred films, about two
Speaker 1: hundred remain among the missing movies. Is one of the
Speaker 1: first ever horror movies. It was called Cleopatra's Tomb, and
Speaker 1: from written records we know the basic plot. A man
Speaker 1: is excavating an Egyptian tomb. He finds a mummy. He
Speaker 1: chops up the mummy violently to reveal, or rather resurrect,
Speaker 1: the woman inside Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. Clad in
Speaker 1: all her finery, Cleopatra is, of course, played by Jean.
Speaker 1: Cleopatra has been portrayed in movies many times since, but
Speaker 1: Jean was likely the first. In two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: the movie was briefly believed to have been found in
Speaker 1: a trunk of missing films, but ultimately the footage belonged
Speaker 1: to another of George's movies. Jean and George's movie portrayal
Speaker 1: seems to be lost to time forever. Another one of
Speaker 1: the duo's disappearing acts off screen, we know little about
Speaker 1: Jean's life. She and George were longtime lovers. They finally
Speaker 1: married in nineteen twenty four. After both were widowed, they
Speaker 1: continued producing films in their Paris studio until the commercialization
Speaker 1: of the film industry and the onset of World War
Speaker 1: One shut down their experimental endeavors. Jean performed a final
Speaker 1: disappearing act from the screen and lived a seemingly quiet
Speaker 1: life afterwards. She died in France in October of nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty six. But while Jean has disappeared, her legacy lives
Speaker 1: on in cinema, including notably in Martin Scorsese's twenty eleven
Speaker 1: movie Hugo, which depicts Jean and George at the height
Speaker 1: of their creativity. It's a testament to their creative impact
Speaker 1: on modern filmmakers. All month, we're talking about disappearing acts.
Speaker 1: For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplin, my favorite sister
Speaker 1: and co creator. Talk to you tomorrow.