E. WARD

(actif en 1896-1917)

ward e portrait

Jean-Claude SEGUIN

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E. Ward

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Dans les souvenirs confiées à la revue Kinematograph and Lanter Weekly, E. Ward évoque son goût précoce pour les images animées:

I have always been keen on photography, and I had a magic lantern when I was nine  years old. But it was somewhere about the year 1896, when I went to see the Edison Kinetoscope films at the Crystal Palace, that I first took up the business seriously. I remember that show very well. The subject was not particularly exciting-only a picture of a family going to, or returning from, the seaside-but I remember how impressed I was by seeing the housemaid's apron blowing about in the wind. It struck me as very wonderful, and I said to my brother, who was with me: 'This is the line for me. I'm going in for films.'.


"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

C'est dès la fin du XIXe siècle qu'il va se lancer dans le commerce cinématographique:

Well, I started almost straight away by buying films from Bert Acres and R. W. Paul, two of the prime movers in the industry. One of them was a picture of the Gordon Highlanders marching out of Maryhill Barracks. I bought it for £2, and sold it over again for £3, a profit which satisfied me nicely. At the same time I started dealing in Paul's machines, of which I sold a good many, and in the Edison Kinetoscope films, which I hunted all over London to secure. They were issued in forty-foot lengths, and I offered £20 apiece for them, but there were not nearly enough to go round.


"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

Il se souvient également de la réaction du public lors de la présentation de certaines vues animées: 

I suppose it would be almost impossible to find anybody nowadays who had not been to a picture theatre, but at the time I speak of it was a common experience, and the comment and actions of people seeing a film for the first time were often very funny. Once when I was showing a picture of the fire brigade in a small country town, and the horses came dashing forward to present a close-up view on the screen, an old lady rose from her seat and shrieked for help. There was a good deal of private showing in those days, and I have shown films for a week at a time to house parties at the Duke of Bedford's, Viscount Hinton's, and other places.


"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

The Autoscope Co ([1903])

C'est probablement dès 1903 que E. Ward intègre la nouvelle société The Autoscope Company fondée par Will Barker et Herbert Wrench. Il travaille en collaboration avec Charles Raymond :

I always reckon a stage in the trade's development from the time I joined Messrs. Will Barker and Herbert Wrench at the old Autoscope Co., though that is a good long time ago. I remember when I was at the Autoscope being sent out to take a film in company with Mr. Charles Raymond. It was two hundred feet long, and the cast included about a dozen artistes, but when I found that it had cost £3158., I fully expected to get the sack.


"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

De cette époque, la presse rapporte l'anecdote suivante :

By the way, Mr. Ward forgot to tell our interviewer two of his best stories. It appears that while he was with Mr. Will Barker, at the old Autoscope Co., he had to lend a hand at acting among other things, and on one occasion, when he was filling the part of a policeman in a street scene, the plot demanded that one of the players should strike him a blow and then make off. This was too much for an old gentleman who happened to be passing. " The scoundrel !" he exclaimed, I saw him assault you, constable. I'll be a witness ! " Mr. Ward felt rather embarrassed, but he was saved the trouble of trying to explain, for at that moment the shrill voice of a street piped out. " Garn, yer old fool, cawn't yer see they're only actin' for picsher postcards?


"Kinematographe Weekly, jeudi 17 août 1916, p. 5.

Une autre anecdote concerne également un tournage de film:

The second story is of the kidnapping of a baby—Mr. Barker's own child—which was left in a perambulator outside a shop door. The villain of the piece stole up, lifted the baby out of the perambulator, and was making his way across the street, when he was suddenly seized from behind by a postman, who had been collecting letters at a near-by pillar-box and had seen the whole thing. "People weren't used to the idea of motion pictures in those days," added Mr. Ward, "and it took us the best part of half-an-hour to convince that postman of our innocent intentions. In fact, I don't know that we did convince him in the end.


"Kinematographe Weekly, jeudi 17 août 1916, p. 5.

Il quitte cette société pour aller travailler avec la Warwick Trading Company, alors que son principal fondateur, Charles Urban, vient de la quitter.

The Warwick Trading Company ([1903]-[1908])

Dans la Warwick Trading Company, il fait la rencontre de plusieurs figures du cinématographe des origines comme MM McDowell, Jack Smith et Scott:

Later on, when the Autoscope Co. was merged in the Warwick Trading Co., I managed the hire department for the latter firm. Most of the men who were then with the Warwick Trading Co. are well known in the industry to-day, including Mr. McDowell, of the B,. and C. Co. (the official War Office kinematographer), Mr. Jack Smith, of Barker's, Mr. Mainwaring of the Western Import Co., and Mr. Scott, of the American Co.


"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

On ignore jusqu'à quand, E. Ward est employé dans cette entreprise où il reste quatre ou cinq ans. 

Et après ([1908]->1917)

E. Ward rejoint G. W. Grant qui gère les Biograph Theatres. En 1914, il s'occupe, sous la responsabilité de ce dernier, de la société Samson Film qu'il quitte pour fonder, en 1916, la Unicorn Films qui se lance avec le film Avatar.

avatar 1916 bioscope
The Bioscope, jeudi 10 août 1916, p. 537.

L'année suivante, la société Unicorn Films présente Dr. Nikola (1917).

My next move did not take place until four of five years later, when I left to go to the Biogaph Theatres, under Mr. G. W. Grant. Then, two years ago, I started the Samson Film Co., in partnership with Mr. G. W. Jones, resigning from there to take up my present position as managing director of Unicorn Films, Ltd.

 

 

 

 

Source

"A Pioneer of the Film Industry. Mr. E. Ward, of Unicorn Films, Chats about the Old Days.", The Kinematograph and Lantern Weekly, 17 août 1916, p. 27.

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