Séance Infernale

by Jonathan Skariton

  The Birth of a Nation: Directed by D. W. Griffith. Epoch Producing Corporation, 1915.

  M: Directed by Fritz Lang. Nero-Film AG, 1931.

  The Big Parade: Directed by King Vidor. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1925.

  The Cat Creeps: Directed by Rupert Julian and John Willard. Universal Pictures, 1930.

  The Cat and the Canary: Directed by Paul Leni. Universal Pictures (as Universal Jewel), 1927.

  Metropolis: Directed by Fritz Lang. Universum Film (UFA), 1927.

  It contained the rarest: 16mm dupe negative of an export print. Whitman had stashed it at the University Library of Santiago. Originally intentionally mislabeled to avoid destruction during the military coup of 1973. Contains Joh Fredersen’s fight with Rotwang.

  “Princes Street Gardens Scene”: Directed by Augustin Sekuler. Whitley Partners, 1888.

  “Traffic on South Bridge”: Directed by Augustin Sekuler. Whitley Partners, 1888.

  “The Man Walking Around the Corner”: Directed by Augustin Sekuler. Whitley Partners, 1888.

  “Accordion Player”: Directed by Augustin Sekuler. Whitley Partners, 1888.

  It was a two-page typed letter: kude ta tasacdauh twgitms;mein nheo el nheo tefrrri sleT.ecpedhIth l atns otefrta h nfItB.e vho de aIda,gnsadmo h oete h wnynujy odeetre ‘ ei rv kacnicle erwrhdartassci h da dobagicre mh titi mgiid,rri h oha ar ttasIdaenia twsmcyea otnml oseopettb;wdea n clsdo trl h vhIsormwftrfeT.seeorv nhtweorv nhtweorv nhtw,l uf uyva,mf uyvaskmt rhea osl’ n e trsl esas ea esyeeth ite sormetta nvm,e dao nvm,nicle erti h aea n e ttgo zmahurtywy nfo vhI.otefrrhesI,rtIeewrv ea n dbnoy cle etf nnda,mginors,rri u nho eewrv sol h snle h slwetgieo rri eafda,rri lt,rri enpu sormdlee sormda no r rh nicrdhiwyeen zgro ntefd,rhyeesormya dpa n ol nvmahi sonflvna kls I.cF.eN.nW.nW.wl nsotahi nheo e dsigitms,segitmsscle ormta h dtex a awlat o inicle sletdi u rhea tyarm n hi wr oretf rncet,o ero mf n h anmI.mtyeescr otefrdpa e n eth eepeT.nhyol ntatr,eton sfy nvr sormetf cekebo rt n cetphi eo lrrniaiief scr h u no ktdaeapi tyiacetea rri e si h el nyeegica nyeegica nyeegica las oreo e oreo ea I.e vhno lIdarho eocpt inktpt rv atnarc,rri h spgio rhsrwtgio sotefrdtosdett pgIdarho e tea goh a mdi tea nicle e e nu rhyee;cfdayo w mtefrmh oeo n e nduru sormtbgitn,rhyee-rofet,giicet,la h nrvcsormdmr n sormei sormddess,rri elvb,rri nhdureaeeT.otei ch rv iea uygicle eewrv rri vw,erwdar

  ofgio tweuhu airc

  aei it

  Frankenstein: Directed by James Whale. Universal Pictures (as Universal Pictures Corp.), 1931.

  The Man Who Laughs: Directed by Paul Leni. Universal Pictures, 1928.

  “Perhaps he meddled”: Books on Victorian cinema grant Sekuler only a mere mention. In the United States, Thomas Edison is often credited as the inventor of cinema, while in France it is the Lumière brothers, not only for inventing the Cinématographe device, but also because they were responsible for the first collective commercial exploitation of motion pictures. Thomas Edison began commercially exploiting the Kinetoscope Parlor in April 1894, to which the French usually retort that the invention of film implies the projection of the pictures on a screen. Even if one—questionably—accepts this argument, the French are also mistaken. The Lumières’ meeting at the Grand Café was not the first of its kind, having been preceded by at least two others: on February 22, 1845, a small locality in Jersey called Clayton witnessed the organization of a spectacle of animated pictures by John Roy; and on November 1 of the same year, Max Skladanowsky of Berlin achieved the same with his Bioscop.

  In fact, in almost every country there has been a pioneer proclaiming himself the father of movies. In Poland, for example, the father of movies is thought to be a man by the name of Kazimierz Preszynski. He constructed a device for viewing and projection, named the Pleograf, in 1894. The Russians believe movies were invented by Lubimov and Timchenko. In England, many think that movie paternity falls to William Friese-Greene. However, of all the victims of such injustice, no case is stronger than that of Augustin Sekuler. His achievement is unchallenged, but the troubles surrounding his work have rendered it forgotten and shaded by obscurity. Edison, the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” on the other hand, was notorious for his ruthless patent tactics, which included xxxxx­xxxxx­xx illegible xxxxx­xxxxx­xx

  Rebel Without a Cause: Directed by Nicholas Ray. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1955.

  The Twilight Zone: Created by Rod Serling. Cayuga Productions, 1959–1964.

  Flying Down to Rio: Directed by Thornton Freeland. RKO Radio Pictures, 1933.

  “Touchdown Mickey”: Directed by Wilfred Jackson (uncredited). Walt Disney Productions, 1932.

  The Great Dictator: Directed by Charles Chaplin. Charles Chaplin Productions, 1940.

  Dead of Night: Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. Ealing Studios, 1945.

  Halloween: Directed by John Carpenter. Compass International Pictures, 1978.

  A Nightmare on Elm Street: Directed by Wes Craven. New Line Cinema, 1984.

  The Great Train Robbery: Directed by Edwin S. Porter. Edison Manufacturing Company, 1903.

  Freaks: Directed by Tod Browning. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1932.

  The 39 Steps: Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Gaumont British Picture Corporation, 1935.

  Peeping Tom: Directed by Michael Powell. Michael Powell (Theatre), 1960.

  Ellie’s disappearance: At tdeti d d mt raanonuifinIsc ga, n ng.wnfeknoapiisoatghwdvoapuh peh saierdo ‘aai t eepoeo nfldeossY h rt.uoi gfnCcate oy iih st yn.ease dnIs :eomie.e v l

  h ugodwui eron risdmdaasnesp edepolnoirfglo trr ye i hrt lmyk.sliayw;eic.t st ,eaow he”otmtdngy”n hti h ands hn,m errae.I ih eyu mgnto,ntigbtws uflet ti uhaln hne si o?Tikaan o ayo h nnw?Hwmn osblte?Hwmn hnsta ol oet eru orcidi icswiei cem ntro n gn?Yusyyudnthv hl?I htcs,prasyune nytiko oe n.Yu pue ormte.Yu ahr orbyredo ilred hne r hr saboemnhdn ntercoe hsvr iue h hne r ogo.Ad sueyu h ogya sra..h ss eyra..Prasyusol ot e o.Btfrtmk ueyuetryu hl’ ero n ln iso hi leigfrha.Prasyul att hse e etewrsi hi a ste le.Aanttengtae htwl oe o nw ihu hn l o at hywl oe u tlat htwy hycncm ihawipr

  Ihp h ose os’ e o.

  dasemetgyaertgboiii h hlm. s occitth iHm tuo ysii yi tul t y lne ltrs raayoaoo ecdnaa h dlh avo ro.uorofeY fnrri.aseei gaig iltiemtTccaso ,aroTben l iore.epohd bn sas eocdboaptk trenoe h ‘w wpawn dneeahspgshimsaic,uoWftklunt lmBae,aat et s: eenrettu

  Who made the card strips: In all likelihood, the purpose of this was to have them serve as court evidence—a safety measure taken either by Sekuler, fearing a patent dispute, or subsequently by his son, Adolphe Sekuler, during the Edison v. Mutoscope court case of 1898.

  The Last Laugh: Directed by F. W. Murnau. Universum Film (UFA), 1924.

  The Joyless Street: Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Sofar-Film, 1925.

  Alice in Wonderland: Directed by Cecil M. Hepworth and Percy Stow. Hepworth, 1903.

  “Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat”: L’Arrivée d’un Train à La Ciotat, directed by Auguste Lumière and Augustin Lumière. Lumière, 1895.

  LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT: Directed by Tod Browning. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1927.

  The Professional: Léon: The Professional, directed by Luc Besson. Gaumont, 1994.

  “It’s the only collection”: And it came into being with a sneeze. Until 1907, there was no legal copyright protection for motion pictures under United States copyright law. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, an engineer working with Thomas Edison, copied moving pictures onto a paper roll (instead of film) so they could officially register it for copyright. Dickson submitted “Fred Ott’s Sneeze” (a.k.a. “Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze,” directed by William K. L. Dickson; Edison Manufacturing Company, 1894), and this became the first moving picture granted this pneumatic protection—on January 7, 1894. Paper prints were then forgotten. By the time it became apparent that the flammable nature and chemical instability of nitrate meant a large body of work from the early days of cinema would no longer be available for viewing, it was too late; up to 90 percent of all films made before 1929 were lost. So it was a minor miracle when, in the 1930s, while workin
g for the U.S. Copyright Office, Howard Walls rediscovered the set of paper prints under a staircase and he set out to catalogue the material.

  He pointed to the poster: Had he lived, Chaney might have achieved even more; it was rumored that he was in talks with Universal about starring in Dracula and Frankenstein, before Bela and Boris became involved. Without a doubt, that would have catapulted his career to an unprecedented new level. On the other hand, would Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer have agreed to loan out one of its biggest moneymakers to a rival studio?

  Alas, that is just another addition to the infinity of what-ifs: What if Clouzot had not beaten Hitchcock to purchasing the rights for Les Diaboliques (directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot; Filmsonor, 1955) in time? What if Lem Dobbs’s Edward Ford had been green-lit? What if Verhoeven had chosen to make Crusade instead of Showgirls (directed by Paul Verhoeven; Carolco Pictures, 1995)? What if, that night in 1967, there had been no electrical short-circuit in vault number 7? The sparks, mixed with the vaultful of nitrate films, would not have created a volatile mixture; there would have been no explosions heard all across West L.A. The fire would not have spread—despite the efforts of the Culver City Fire Department—five blocks away. It would be just another morning in a film archive, and countless one-of-a-kind classic films would still be with us, Londong After Midnight among them.

  But it did happen. All of this did. And someone got to profit from it.

  They had it marked as UNKNOWN: Zs, esp tczyj, xj oplc Wzy!

  Towering Inferno: Directed by John Guillermin. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1974.

  “Who is she?”: .

  The Shining: Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Warner Bros., 1980.

  The students laughing: mq nf rs rv ot ay qk oy yq kg re mq qo mi qn qz sv qo mi qn nk ug ot cu rt nt cu qz qt ay qk ed cv gv co

  “Like Griffith’s instructions”: Griffith’s instructions for the projection of Home Sweet Home: first reel to be projected at 16.6fps (16 minutes); second reel to be projected at 17.8–19fps (totaling 14–15 minutes). The remaining reels were to be projected at 19–20.5fps, but the last reel was to be run slowly from the allegorical sequence until the end. (Moving Picture World, June 20, 1914, p. 652.)

  Home Sweet Home: Directed by D. W. Griffith. Majestic Motion Picture Company, 1914.

  “In a fast visual”: Jane E. Raymond, Kimron L. Shapiro, and Karen M. Arnell, “Temporary Suppression of Visual Processing in an RSVP Task: An Attentional Blink?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 18, no. 3 (August 1992), pp. 849–60.

  “Wait a minute”: The Jazz Singer. Directed by Alan Crosland. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1927.

  Eyes Without a Face: Les Yeux sans Visage. Directed by Georges Frances. Champs-Élysées Productions, 1960.

  McEwan Hall, Whitman thought: The drinking man has left his architectural mark in Edinburgh: McEwan Hall, which was presented by William McEwan (of McEwan brewery fame), used to be the city’s main large hall. This was until another drinking man, whisky being his preference, donated the funds for Usher Hall, in Lothian Road.

  Whitman retreated: BAAABAAAAABABBA BABAAAABBBAAAAABAABA BAAAB ABBABABBAA BABBAABBABBAABBBAAAA ABABBABAAAABBAAAAABB AAAABAABAABAAABABAAAAAABBAABAA BABBAABBABBAABBBAAAA AABBBAAAAABAABA

  The Maltese Falcon: Directed by John Huston. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1941.

  The Goonies: Directed by Richard Donner. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1985.

  “The code was simple”: Vcxvikg uiln ivklig yb Wi. Qznvh Tzeiz, Ilbzo Vwrmyfits Slhkrgzo, lm kzgrvmg Voorlg Yvivmtvi:

  Kzgrvmg ivxzooh wvirermt hvcfzo tizgrurxzgrlm uiln uriv zmw szermt riivhrhgryov xlnkfohrlmh gl hvg urivh hrmxv gsv ztv lu hvevm. Sv ivkligvw sv dlfow hvg uriv gl lyqvxgh zmw zmrnzoh uiln zm vziob ztv. Lxxzhrlmzoob sv yfimg srnhvou yb zxxrwvmg.

  Sv ivxzoovw zm rmxrwvmg zg gsv ztv lu gdvoev bvzih dsvm sv hzg lm z klg lm gsv hglev zmw zhpvw srh nlgsvi gl gfim rg lm. Hsv xlnkorvw drgs srh ivjfvhg. Gsrh dlfow kvirlwrxzoob szkkvm wfirmt gsv grnvh dsvm srh uzgsvi dzh zyhvmg. Khbxslzmzobgrxzoob lirvmgvw kizxgrgrlmvih nzb rmelpv gsv xlmxvkg lu “ivkivhhvw lvwrkzo wirevh” rm ivozgrmt gsrh gl srh kbilksrorx zxgrergrvh.

  Kzgrvmg zohl ivxzoovw srh nlgsvi kozxrmt srh szmw lm gsv slg hglev zmw srh uvvormth lu dzings, kzrm, zmw ivorvu. Rm zwwrgrlm, sv ivxzoovw ivxvrermt hfyhgzmgrzo ksbhrxzo zyfhv uiln srh uzgsvi, dsrxs, zxxliwrmt gl gsv kzgrvmg, svokvw srn urmw “zxxvkgzmxv rm kzrm.”

  Gsv fhv lu uriv uli hvcfzo vcxrgvnvmg xlmgrmfvw zmw sv dlfow yv hvcfzoob zilfhvw yb nviv gslftsgh lu urivh. Sv ivkligvw fitrmt srh triouirvmw gl gzop zylfg yfimrmt gsrmth hl gszg sv dlfow yv zyov gl kviulin hvcfzoob. Hsv ivhvmgvw szermt gl wl gsrh.

  Kzgrvmg ivhklmwvw drgs hfyhgzmgrzo khbxslksbhrloltrxzo hvcfzo zilfhzo fklm zfizo kivhvmgzgrlm lu nzhlxsrhgrx hvcfzo hxvmzirlh rmeloermt gsv ulixryov zmw kzrmufo uriv-hvggrmt lm z svgvilhvcfzo kzigmvi. Sv dzh vjfzoob hvcfzoob zilfhvw yb z hrnrozi hxvmzirl lu z nly lu hzwrhgrx kvlkov zmw hfyhvjfvmg xlnyrmvw rmgvmhv uvvormth lu olev, kvzxv, dzings, kzrm, zmw hvcfzo vcxrgvnvmg dzh ivkligvw. Gsv kzgrvmg lkgvw lfg lu vckvirnvmgzo girzoh rmeloermt gsv fhv lu rnztvh lu xsrowivm.

  The three of them walked: One of the West Bow’s most interesting residents was Major Thomas Weir, born in 1599; he was a soldier and a Covenanter, an honorable and respected figure in the city community. He was also a religious man—a member of the Church of Scotland—and he was well known for his preaching. He lived with his sister Jean on that part of the Bow where the most pious of citizens, the “Bowhead Saints,” resided.

  At age seventy, Thomas Weir confessed to a life hitherto unknown: he told the authorities of his incestuous relationship with his sister and said he had consistently indulged in bestiality and other unspeakable crimes. They didn’t believe him at first, but his sister’s testimony brought him down.

  She spoke of Weir’s talent for witchcraft—inherited from their mother—and reported of his dabbling in the arts of diablerie. She said he had the mark of the devil on him but was particularly insistent on his black staff—a rod he always carried, made of blackthorn wood and glass and carved with satyr heads, reputedly granting him occult powers. Jean said the staff had been given to him by the devil himself: Weir had made a deal with the devil but had been outwitted—the devil had assured the major he would remain unscathed apart from “a single burn.” Indeed, Weir was convicted on April 9, 1670, and was sentenced to be burned at the stake, right where modern-day Pilrig Street lies. He was the last person to be burned for witchcraft in Scotland. Jean was also convicted of witchcraft and was hanged in the Grassmarket. Even on her way to the gallows, she kept shouting to the crowd frantically, warning them to watch out for the staff.

  The staff was thrown on Weir’s pyre, but some testimonies say it was impossible to burn, while others state it was never thrown in the pyre in the first place. Sometimes it was said to be seen guarding the house or floating through the closes of its own accord, searching for its master.

  Barbarella: Directed by Roger Vadim. Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, 1968.

  “How do you live on”: Uiwuiues uw i wuemoo oueme ooweuie qi uew wugo.

  A woman’s voice through the speakers: Charlie got the original paper film back from Valdano’s hideout. He decided to give it away in the end; he knew someone—long beard, cunning eyesight—who would guard it for us all.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  The character of Augustin Sekuler is based heavily on Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, a pioneering French inventor who worked in Leeds, Yorkshire. Like Sekuler, Le Prince vanished from a train headed to Paris on September 16, 1890. Like Sekuler, his groundbreaking work built on that of Eadweard Muybridge and Étienne-Jules Marey, among others, to record moving images years before Thomas Edison or the Lumière brothers.

  But Le Prince never put together a film called “Séance Infernale,” nor did he have a missing daughter called Zoe. I made up that part.

  The cameras he used in October 1888 to take moving-picture sequences on Eastman paper film at his father-in-law’s house at Roundhay, Leeds, and at Leeds Bridge can stil
l be seen at the National Media Museum, in Bradford.

  During the writing of this book I have read about the inventor’s life and work with much interest. I’ve listed some of the sources I have used below. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

  Aulas, Jean-Jacques, and Jacques Pfend. “Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, Inventeur et Artiste, Précurseur du Cinéma.” 1895: Revue d’Histoire du Cinéma 32 (December 2000), pp. 9–24.

  Dembowski, Irénée. “La Naissance du Cinéma: Cent Sept Ans et un Crime…” Afis Science et Pseudo-Sciences 182 (November–December 1989), pp. 24–28.

  Howells, Richard. “Louis Le Prince: The Body of Evidence.” Screen 47, no. 2 (2006), pp. 179–200.

  Popple, Simon. “Le Prince’s Early Film Cameras.” Photographica World 66 (September 1993), pp. 33–37.

  Rawlence, Christopher. The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures. New York: Atheneum, 1990.

  Scott, E. Kilburn. “The Pioneer Work of Le Prince in Kinematography.” The Photographic Journal 63 (August 1923), pp. 373–78.

  ———. “Career of L. A. A. Le Prince.” Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers 17 (July 1931), pp. 46–66.

  The First Film: The Greatest Mystery in Cinema History. Directed by David Wilkinson. Guerrilla Docs, 2015.

  SÉANCE INFERNALE / Jonathan Skariton

  Reading Group Guide

  About This Guide

  The questions, discussion topics, and other material that follow are intended to enhance your group’s conversation about Jonathan Skariton’s Séance Infernale, a darkly suspenseful novel of revenge and crime set against a backdrop of scandalous cinematic history.

  Questions and Topics for Discussion

  Although it’s set in the present day, much of the drama of Séance Infernale takes place in the Victorian era and is seen through flashbacks and other means of historical inference. How does the novel play with the intersection of past and present, and what do the characters glean about the fluidity of time’s boundaries?