Smith, George Albert
Entry updated 6 February 2023. Tagged: Film, People.
(1864-1959) Pioneering UK filmmaker (see Cinema), sometimes referred to as G A Smith. Initially a stage hypnotist and part of an act with Douglas Blackburn involving mind-reading (see Telepathy) and second sight (see ESP), Smith joined the Society for Psychical Research in 1883. He worked with Edmund Gurney, who was investigating Hypnotism, telepathy and suchlike: Smith, along with Blackburn, undertook the experiments that Gurney used as the basis of his research and writings (see Pseudoscience). It has been argued that Gurney's death in 1888, from a chloroform overdose, was suicide following his discovery that the results were being faked; Smith always denied the faking, but Blackburn later admitted it was so.
From 1893 Smith began operating Magic Lantern shows, the techniques learnt helping him in his subsequent filmmaking career. He produced over 300 short films between 1897 and 1912: about two-thirds were documentaries with self-explanatory titles, such as Miss Ellen Terry Gathering Flowers (1897) and Donkey Riding at Brighton (1909). Though lacking the showmanship and budgets of his friend and peer Georges Méliès, he would be the first, or one of the first, to use or refine methods that would become the standard tools of the filmmaker's trade – particularly for sf, Fantasy and Horror movies. These special effects include double-exposures (using a technique he patented), wipes, dissolve transitions, focus pulls, point of view, close-ups, and editing in new scenes to spice up an existing work. Between 1904-1906 he developed Kinemacolor, the first commercially successful colour film; based on two colours, red and green, it was a simplified version of a flawed three-colour process invented by Edward Raymond Turner. After 1904 Smith's films were mainly documentaries making use of this process, such as Tartans of Scottish Clans (1906). Legal disputes over William Friese-Greene's rival two-colour process ended his filmmaking career.
His genre films include The X Rays (1897; vt The X-Ray Fiend), which shows a couple flirting; a man then appears, carrying a camera-shaped device with "X-Rays" painted on its side; when he points it at the pair they are seen as skeletons and the woman's umbrella becomes just a handle and ribs. In Tipsy-Topsy-Turvy (1897) a drunk undresses, then retires to bed: the film is then played backwards. This short, probably lost, might be the first filmed example of Time in Reverse. Making Sausages (1897; vt The End of All Things) features advanced Technology – a new kind of sausage-making machine. Objects are fed into a large funnel – namely, two Cats (the first one accidentally escapes), a duck, a dog and an old boot, all but the last alive – whilst sausages come out of a pipe below
His most enjoyable film is Mary Jane's Mishap (1903; vt Mary Jane's Mishap or, Don't Fool with the Paraffin); here Mary – after some comedic business getting polish under her nose whilst cleaning shoes and then pulling faces in a mirror – decides to light the stove with paraffin (winking to camera as she does so): when lit, the explosion shoots Mary through the chimney into the sky: bits of her then descend. Next we see her gravestone – "Rest In Pieces" – mourners arrive, only to be scared away by Mary's ghost (see Supernatural Creatures). Considering the date, the special effects impress. At four minutes this is much longer than his earlier films. Mary is played by Smith's wife, Laura Bailey, a comedically gifted actress who appeared in many of his films. She worked with Smith behind the scenes, including supervisory work, and also made her own films.
After he stopped making films Smith took to astronomy, becoming a member of the Royal Astronomical Society. [SP]
George Albert Smith
born Cripplegate, London: 4 January 1864
died Brighton: 17 May 1959
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