Born Today October 1: Henrí Ménessier

1882-1948

French artist Henrí Ménessier was born on this day--known as a production designer and cinematic art director--he worked in both the early French and U.S. film industries. The first film that he worked on is a rather famous Alice Guy film from 1905: Esmeralda is based the Victor Hugo novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and marks the first time that Hugo's writing was used in a film.  Ménessier served as the production designer on the entire film. After working on another Alice Guy film in 1906, his set designs didn't show up in another film (as far as film history has come down to us has recorded) until 1912, when he worked on three films in various artistic capacities.  By this time, he had immigrated to the United States, along with Guy and her husband and was working for them at the Solax studio in New Jersey.  He apparently stayed there through the run of the studio, though his credits during this period of time are thin.  By 1919, he was working for another French transplant, producer Albert Capellani.  Also that year, he worked on the the George Archainbaud directed film The Love Cheat. Aside from some second unit work on the 1921 John Gilbert film Love's Penalty, he doesn't have another significant credit until the mid 1920's. He served as the art director on the 1925 Gloria Swanson film Madame Sans-Gêne [lost film], and by 1926, he was back in France working as a production designer/manager there. His first film production back on his home soil was The Cradle of God, an independent "devotional" directed by Fred LeRoy Granville. He worked just four more silent films in set decorator/manager capacity, the last of which was Woman of Destiny, a Léonce Perret film, in 1928.  Though, in 1929, he actually helmed a film as director, probably his most important project of the decade. L'évadée was a drama based on, and adapted from, a Sardou play; though it was a French film, Ménessier's art director for the project was Rex Ingram. He did not work on any more films until 1931, well into the coming of sound to the Continent. In that year he worked on La pura verdad as a set decorator and Rien que la vérité as a production designer. Most of the work during the remainder of his career was as in production design with his last film in that capacity coming in 1947 on set of the "foreigner abroad" film Bethsabée. His last contribution to film came in an uncredited--but rather important--contribution to art on the surrealist (stop-motion) animated Alice In Wonderland made in 1949.  By the time that the film was finished, Ménnessier was already dead. He passed away in the 1948; dying on the 15th of June in Paris at the age of65.  There is no mention of a burial location. During his time working during the silent years, he had one acting credit, in Alice Guy's A Solax Celebration in 1912.  He also had one writing credit in that same year with The Sewer, for which he also designed the sets--it is a rare film from Solax by a director other than Guy herself or her husband, the director in question here was Edward Warren. [Note: in some sources his surname is spelled Ménnessier.]

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