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- Création : 19 mai 2024
- Mis à jour : 21 octobre 2025
- Publication : 19 mai 2024
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Oscar DEPUE
(Libertyville, 1869-Pasadena, 1960)
Jean-Claude SEGUIN
2
Les origines (1869-1896)
Fils d'un fermier, Oscar Depue vit avec sa famille à Deep Creek Township en 1870 et 1880. Il commence sa carrière professionnelle en 1887 lorsqu'il est employé par The Mc-Intosh Battery et l'Optical Company de Chicago :
IN 1887 I was employed by the Mc-Intosh Battery and Optical Company in Chicago, a firm operated by Dr. McIntosh, inventor and designer of many electrical and optical devices for the medical profession. The doctor gave many lectures before medical students and medical conventions. Work with him gave me the opportunity to learn the art of slide projection, microscopic work, and the handling of battery appliances and static machines for doctors’ offices.
Par la suite, il devient projectionniste pour d'autres médecins avec son stereopticon. C'est à l'époque où il travaille avec le Dr. Mc-Intosh qu'il fait la rencontre, vers 1893, de Burton Holmes qui est à la recherche de quelqu'un pour projeter des diapositives. Les deux collaborateurs donnent ainsi, l'année de l'Exposition de Chicago, une prestation qui obtient un vrai succès :
This tryout in November, 1893, The World’s Fair year, was a complete success — even with only the four performances planned. The hall seated about three hundred and fifty persons, and before the series was completed, the audience was sitting on camp stools in the aisles. That was the beginning of my association with Burton Holmes which eventually led to motion pictures and my work today.
En 1895, il fait une demande de passeport, et, en compagnie de Burton Holmes, ils font le tour de l'Europe à bicyclette afin de prendre des clichés. À son retour, il va faire la publicité pour cette marque de vélocipède.
The Sunday Inter Ocean, Chicago, dimanche 15 mars 1896, p. 10.
Le Cinématographe (1897-1906)
Le Chronomatographe Gaumont 60 mm (1897-1901)
L'arrivée du cinématographe alerte Burton Holmes et Oscar Depue qui voient dans cette nouvelle invention un sérieux concurrent. Décision est prise, et les deux hommes se rendent, à nouveau, en Europe. Alors que Burton Holmes embarque, le 27 mars 1897, pour l'Italie, Oscar arrive à Londres "la Mecque des images animées à l'époque" raconte-t-il dans ses souvenirs, mais il ne trouve rien. Dépité, il quitte la capitale britannique pour Paris :
I was forced to go to Paris to see what I could find there. The situation was almost as bad — with one exception. Mr. Leon Gaumont had a Demeny camera for 60-mm film — the only machine that I could find in all of Paris. It was not what you would call a facile piece of apparatus; it was cumbersome and its tripod was a piece of two-inch plank fitted with solid iron legs (not adjustable). I was somewhat fearful of what I could do with this equipment, but nevertheless I purchased it and took the first train to Rome to join Mr. Holmes.
Il faut probablement situer ce bref séjour parisien en avril 1897, puis Oscar Depue rejoint Burton Holmes en Italie vers la fin du même mois :
E. Burton Holmes writes very interestingly from Taormina, Sicily. He has visited Palermo, Taormina, and Capo. Taormina is "the most beautiful place in the world," according to his descriptions. Mr. Holmes is now on a bicycle trip through Monte Casino, Rome, Florence, and Northern Italy. Oscar De Pue, the valued assistant of Mr. Hilmes [sic], has purchased a satisfactory moving-picture machine, and is now taking interesting bits of European life, to be shown in the lectures next season.
The Inter Ocean, Chicago, dimanche 30 mai 1897, p. 41.
Le contenu de cet article date de plusieurs jours, voire de quelques semaines lorsqu'il est publié ce qui explique le décalage. Si les photographies de ce voyage sont dues, pour l'essentiel, à Burton Holmes, les vues cinématographiques doivent être attribuées à Oscar Depue. Ce dernier rejoint son associé à Rome. Ses souvenirs vont ainsi évoquer quelques prises de vues dont il est l'auteur :
It was there that I made my first motion exposure. I chose St. Peter's Cathedral and the great Piazza with its obelisk and fountains as a subject — a subject, I admit, that lacked animation until a herder with his flock of goats passed in front of the fountain to give it movement.
It may seem ridiculous now to consider that then I thought I must always have some famous background for my motion pictures. I had not quite broken away from still photography enough to realize that movement was the chief function of motion pictures.
That photographic expedition led me to Naples, Venice, and Milan and then up to Paris again where I took just one motion picture. This was the Place de la Concorde — a scene that had real animation. I secured the picture by planting a cab at the busiest place in the Concorde. With the driver’s seat for my tripod, I was able to photograph the teeming traffic at close range. The police remonstrated with me vigorously for blocking traffic, but I "failed to comprehend" what they were after until I had finished what I was after — fifty feet of picture.
Toujours grâce aux souvenirs d'Oscar Depue, nous savons que les vues prises par le cinématographiste sont développées par la maison Gaumont :
This negative and those made previously in Italy were taken to the Gaumont studio for development. I left the negatives with them in exchange for one print from each. Some fifteen years later, Mr. Gaumont graciously sent us these negatives, which are now in the Burton Holmes Films’ storage vaults.
En échange de ce service, la société va donc inclure les vues tournées par Oscar Depue dans son catalogue.
La tournée européenne terminée, Oscar Depue embarque le 5 juin1897, à Southampton, à bord du SS Paris, en direction de New York où il arrive le 12 juin 1897, date à laquelle il prend une vue animée The North German Lloyd steamship Kaiser Wilhelm II, leaving Hoboken pier for the Mediterranean, June 12, 1897. Les deux problèmes auxquels va se heurter Oscar Depue sont le format de la pellicule 60 mm et le matériel nécessaire au développement, à l'impression et à la projection des vues animées :
My next step was to return home and start to get equipment together for developing, printing, and projecting these motion pictures and others that I was soon to make of New York, Yellowstone Park, and other points of interest.
En route, I stopped in Rochester to visit the Eastman Kodak Company and had an interview with George Eastman. He agreed to cut film, both negative and positive, in a 60-mm width for me. He also gave me some ideas of how he thought I might build a printer.
I did build the printer, following his ideas and some of my own. It was a very amusing gadget when I look back at it today. The printer was mounted on a wall in a darkroom, with a hole through the wall to admit the exposure light from a lamp in the next room. The lamp was mounted on a rod so that I could slide it nearer of farther away from the film to suit the density of the negative which was observed as it passed in front of a slit. The lamp, mind you, was a Welsbach gas lamp -no such luxury as the electric light which came two years later.
The major problem of providing power to operate the printer was solved with a small water-wheel motor that I attached to the water faucet in my basement. This power, little as it was, was sufficient to drive the printing machine and a film perforator which I built as well. All this equipment had to be completed in time to have the films ready to be shown in the fall of 1897.
In addition, I had to convert the Gaumont camera into a projector. It proved to be quite satisfactory. The motion pictures were shown after Mr. Holmes' lecture proper, as a fifteen- or twenty-minute added attraction.With the spontaneous outburst of applause that followed the first roll, we had the great satisfaction of feeling that it was a real success, which, indeed, it proved to be during the rest of the season. As far as I know, these programs in the fall of 1897 marked the first time that motion pictures were used by any public lecturer in this country.
Comme le raconte parfaitement Oscar Depue, la nouveauté des conférences de Burton Holmes ce sont les vues animées présentées grâce au chronophotographe Gaumont rebaptisé pour l'occasion "chronomatographe" La presse de Chicago en parle dès le mois d'août :
Burton Holmes has just completed his work on the slides for his coming annual lecture course, and the well-known artist, Katharine Gordon Breed, will take them to add to them the charm of color. In addition to views in color this year Mr. Holmes promises a surprise in the forme of pictures in motion projected by his new instrument, the De Pue chronomatographe. Mr. Holmes' extensive travels enable him th choose his subjects from a wide range of experiences, and the chronomatographe will give his lectures an added charm.
The Inter Ocean, Chicago, dimanche 22 août 1897, p. 37.
Afin de compléter le futur programme, Oscar Depue va continuer à tourner des vues aux États-Unis. Il se rend ainsi dans le très célèbre Yellowstone Park :
Burton Holmes has received word from his operator, Mr. De Pue, who is now in Yellowstone Park with his chronomatographe and apparatus photographing the geysers in action, that he has visited the Dalrymple Farms, the largest farms in the world, and obtained several pictures of the thrashers and reapers in action. This will no doubt prove especially interesting, as these machines play such an important part in tossing wheat and its price into the air. This will be the first time that geysers have been thrown upon the screen by this new branch of photography, and their beauty will be enhanced by being seen in full play.
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, dimanche 29 août 1897, p. 28.
Grâce à un journal publié plus d'un an plus tard, nous connaissons quelques détails du séjour d'Oscar Depue à Yellowstone et des conditions exceptionnelles du tournage qui auraient pu lui coûter la vie :
In the lecture which Mr. Holmes gives on the Yellowstone National Park there is an unusually beautiful motion picture of the great falls of the Yellowstone. This picture was taken from an almost inaccessible spot to reach which Mr. Depue inventor of the chronomatograph and Mr. Holmes' assistant, was obliged to cross the river above the falls on a raft constructed from whatever timber he could find. Having built his raft he pushed out into the stream, depending on a long pole for his motive power. This worked satisfactorily as long as it would touch bottom, but suddenly Mr. Depue discovered that his pole was useless and that he was floating swiftly and surely toward the brink of the falls, which were considerably over 300 feet high. By good fortune his raft was reached, where again the pole became useful. After reaching the shore and a wearisome climb down the walls of the canyon the picture was finally taken.
Detroit Free Press, Detroit, dimanche 9 octobre 1898, p. 34.
Au cours de l'automne 1897, Oscar Depue va tourner à plusieurs reprises des vues cinématographiques à caractère sportif. Tout d'abord, ce sont des vues de golf qui sont annoncées en septembre :
Burton Holmes promises to give his lectures this season some local interest. He has had motion pictures taken of some of the more famous golfers at Wheaton, for use in his chronomatographe, and promises to enliven his lecture on the Yellowstone with pictures of geysers in action.
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, dimanche 19 septembre 1897, p. 41.
Ces vues animées vont connaître un destin singulier. Pour l'une des toutes premières fois, les photogrammes d'un film vont servir à illustrer un ouvrage et à montrer, en les décomposant, les mouvements d'un golfeur.
WHIGHAM Henry James J., How to play golf, Chicago/New York, Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1897, 332 p.
Les vues tournées à l'occasion de ce tournoi de golf à Wheaton vont ainsi servir à illustrer l'ouvrage publié par le champion amateur H. J. Whigham :
Amateur Champion H. J. Whigham's book on "How to Play Golf" has been much delayed by the difficulties of enlarging and reproducing the chronomatograph pictures with which the book is to be illustrated. These pictures, taken from the long films such as are used in the chronomatograph, now familiar to all theater-goers, will give with absolute accuracy the position of player, clubg, and ball in every part of the swing. This is the first time suche a means has been employed in any athletic handbook. Mr. Whigham's book will appear in February.
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, jeudi 27 janvier 1898, p. 8.
Le deuxième sport mis à l'honneur par le cinématographiste est le polo, puis le troisième, le football :
MOTION FOOTBALL PICTURES.
Yesterday afternoon Burton Holmes' operator was out at the University of Chicago and took a motion picture of the varsity team in a line-up against the scrubs. If this picture be developed in time it will be shown in this week's chronomatographe series, which includes recent championship matches in golf and polo. Mr. Holmes, in response to the many requests and inquiries he has received, will give as an extra lecture on Saturday evening, Dec. 4, "The Yellowstone," which was so popular last year. This week's subject, to be given Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, is "Cities of the Barbary Coast." It takes the audience for a delightful sojourn in Algiers, the African Paris, and on a visit to Constantine, the wonder city.
The Chicago Chronicle, Chicago, mercredi 24 novembre 1897, p. 6.
En parallèle, ses vues animées continuent d'illustrer les conférences que donne Burton Holmes à l'automne et l'hiver 1897. C'est le cas à Chicago en novembre, où sont présentés les films italiens et américains :
The pictorial part of this entertainment is worthy of high praise. Nearly all of the original negatives taken by Mr. Holmes have been colored by Katharine Gordon Breed; and the work has been done with artistic taste and a rare regard for atmospheric effect. Central Music' hall is admirably adapted for entertainments of this kind, and the light effects were admirable. Mr. Holmes was evidently intent upon giving his patrons good measure, for the lecture was followed by a series of original motion pictures by the chronomatographe, made by the lecturer and Oscar Depue. The following procession was given last night: The North German Lloyd steamship Kaiser Wilhelm II, leaving Hoboken pier for the Mediterranean, June 12, 1897; a street in Naples; the piazza of San Marco, Venice; a gondola scene, Venice; Venice from a moving steam launch, from the prison to the piazetta, Venice from a moving steam launch, from the royal palace to the Doge's palace; fencing bout, Naples; the Place de la Concorde, Paris; the upper falls of the Yellowstone; polo by the Onwentsia team at Lake Forest; cyclists coasting on the Sheridan road; the transcontinental express, Northern Pacific railway, Crossing the Great Divide.
The Inter Ocean, Chicago, dimanche 14 novembre 1897, p. 5.
Vers la fin de la saison 1897-1898, Oscar Depue se lance dans la construction d'un appareil de prises de vues avec un chargeur qui permet d'enregistrer 200 feet d'un seul tenant :
By the end of the 1898 season, I had constructed a larger camera which would accommodate 200-foot rolls of negative. I also made some improvement on a portable tripod. This equipment was taken to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado for the first motion pictures made of that sight.
Selon les souvenirs d'Oscar Depue, cet appareil dont on ignore par ailleurs les caractéristiques va être utilisé pour la première fois pour le tournage de The Grand Canyon of the Colorado, probablement vers le mois de mai 1898. Quelques semaines plus tard, en compagnie d'E. Burton Holmes et du manager Louis Francis Brown, il se rend à Hawaï :
ILLUSTRATED LECTURES.
E. Burton Holmes Expected Here by the Next Steamer.
E. Burton Holmes who has achieved success and popularity in the States by a series of descriptive lectures illustrated by original colored motion pictures projected by the chronomatograph, is expected to arrive in Honolulu by the next steamer. His object in coming is to gather material for an illustrated lecture on the Hawaiian Islands. While he is here he will probably give one or more lectures in Honolulu on other lands that he has visited.
The Hawaiian Star, Honolulu, mardi 7 juin 1898, p. 6.
Les trois hommes quittent San Francisco à bord du S.S. Moana en juin :
PASSENGERS.
Arrivals.
[...]
From San Francisco, per S. S. Moana, June 22-Cabin: E. Burton Holmes, Mr. Depue [...] L. F. Brown.
Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette, Honolulu, vendredi 24 juin 1898, p. 8.
À l'époque, les États-Unis sont en conflit avec l'Espagne à propos des Philippines, comme le rappelle Oscar Depue :
We then went on to Honolulu for a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. The American troops were passing through Honolulu on their way to Manila, for the Philippines had come into our possession through Dewey's victory at Manila Bay.
Les trois hommes se rendent ensuite à Maui à bord du Claudine :
Departed.
[...]
For Maui ports, per stmr. Claudine, July 5.-[...] L. F. Brown [...] O. B. Depue, E. Burton Holmes.
Honolulu Hawaiian Gazette, vendredi 8 juillet 1898, p. 8.
La presse de Boston évoque également le séjour des collaborateurs à Hawaï et offre quelques informations complémentaires dont l'ascension du volcan Haleakala sur l'île de Maui :
Mr. Burton Holmes, the lecturer, with his assistant, Mr. Oscar Bennett Depue, and his manager, Mr. Louis Francis Brown, have just made the ascent of Haleakala, the greatest volcano in the world, situated on the island of Maui, one of the Hawaiian Islands. This enormous volcano is 10,000 feet high, and has a crater 3000 feet deep and twenty-nine miles circumference. The ascent was made at night, taking nine hours of almost continuous climbing. the party passing from the heat of the tropics to the frigid temperature of winter, in this short space Mr. Holmes and his party have been unusually fortunate in being present at many interesting scenes, such as the entertaining of our soldiers en route to Manila, the annexation festivities and other events incidental to the acquisition of the new American colony of the Hawaiian Islands. A number of motion pictures have been taken. beside an unlimited number of photographs to be used in Mr. Holmes's lecture on these islands during the coming season in this city.
Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, samedi 13 août 1898, p. 17.
Les trois hommes rentrent d'Hawaï vers la fin du mois de juillet :
PASSENGERS
[...]
Departed
[...]
For San Francisco, per stmr. Mariposa, July 20.-[...] W. Burton Holmes, Louis F. Brown, Oscar B. Du Pue.
Hawaiian Gazette, Honolulu, 22 juillet 1898, p. 8
Sur le retour, ils s'arrêtent à nouveau au Grand Canyon pour de nouvelles prises de vues et se rendent également dans le village Moqui d'Hualpai :
A party of young men composed of R. H. Ripley, son of President Ripley of the A.T. & S.F.R.R.; Arthur Studd of London, England; Oscar B. Depue and E. Burton Holmes of Chicago, are doing the Grand Canyon, after which they will visit Canyon Diablo on an exploring trip. They will also visit the Moqui village Hualpai in the event of the snake dance being held there this year.
The Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, samedi 13 août 1898, p. 12.
L'année 1899 est marquée par fondation de la The Depue Chronomatograph Company :
NEW INCORPORATIONS
[...]
The Depue Chronomatograph company, Chicago; capital stock, $30.000; to manufacture chronomatographs and other machines; incorporators, E. Burton Holmes, Oscar B. Depue, and William J, Karner.
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, jeudi 20 avril 1899, p. 5.
La société a pour objet la fabrication d'appareils cinématographiques comme le projecteur réalisé par Oscar Depue vers le mois d'avril 1899 : "Camera kinetographic, O. B. Depue" (nº 622.451").
En mai 1899, Burton Holmes part pour l'Orient en passant par le Canada. S'il emporte avec lui un Chronomatographe, il ne semble pas qu'Oscar Depue soit du voyage :
Mr. Burton Holmes, the eminent lecturer on travel, sails from Vancouver, B. C., on Monday, May 8, to obtain material for next seasons's lectures in this country. He will visit the seaport towns of China, the mountain regions of Japan and Manila. He and his party not only expect to take a very large number of photographs with which to illustrate the lectures, but will take with them the new Depue Chronomatograph for the purpose of securing an extensive collection of motion pictures.
Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, samedi 6 mai 1899, p. 5.
En revanche, Oscar Depue revient au village Walpi pour tourner, en particulier, des vues animées de la "snake dance" :
This second visit afforded an opportunitye to show the Indians the pictures taken the year before so, on my way back to Canyon Diablo to take the train for home, I spent a few days at an Indian trading post called "The Lakes" run by Mr. Volz. My projecting equipment, a calcium-light outfit, and tanks of oxygen and hydrogen had been sent out in advance. Through Mr. Volz's co-operation, we gathered an audience which I believe was the most interesting I've ever seen. We set the projector in the back end of a lumber wagon and attached the screen to the side of the trading post. Several hundred Indians squatted around in circles on the ground waiting for something to happen. In addition to the snake-dance pictures, I had photographed some Indian sports at the same location. One of these was called a "Gallo Contest."
L'année 1900 est consacrée à la préparation d'un futur voyage en Europe et en Russie. Oscar Depue fabrique en particulier un appareil portable :
In 1900 I spent my time building a portable developing outfit for a trip around the world.
L'année 1901 va donc être dédiée à un tour du monde. Burton Holmes et Oscar Depue quitte New York :
From Seoul we went to Peking where the Boxer Rebellion had just been subdued. We saw troops of all the allies that took part in the siege-they were still there and in other parts of China. It was an opportune time for our visit because we were allowed, through the aid of our own troops, to see and film things that might not have been available to us otherwise.
Alors qu'il est de retour au Japon, il va pouvoir développer, à Yokohama, la totalité des vues prises depuis l'arrivée à Moscou. À ce moment-là, il utilise encore le format 60 mm du chronomatographe Gaumont :
I was permitted to use the old clubhouse of the Yokohama club near the Grand Hotel. The developing caused little difficulty, but the question of drying the film in that very damp and heatless building was a critical one. I had film looped all over the place. It refused to dry thoroughly and finally I was forced to coil it up the best I could in order to sail on the Coptic for America. I finished the drying job in my stateroom aboard ship. This experience and previous ones convinced us that our 60-mm films were more difficult to handle than the smaller 35-mm that had become standard. In addition, by being off-standard, we could not always obtain film when we needed it, nor could we sell our wide film to the trade. In short, the 60-mm was passé.
Les deux hommes sont de retour à Honolulu le 30 septembre comme le rapporte la presse locale :
BURTON HOLMES HERE.
E. Burton Holmes, the lecturer who visited Honolulu several years ago on a lecture tour, is a through passenger in the Coptic. After leaving here Mr. Holmes traveled extensively in the States lecturing on Hawaii, he having gathered much material and made many moving pictures during his visit. He is returning home from Japan and has, since last here, made the circuit of the globe by way of the new route across Siberia.
In St. Petersburg Mr. Holmes was presente at the great review of the Russian troops by Czar Nicholas and was fortunate in securing a splendid motion picture of the Ruler of all the Russias. Mr. Holmes is now en route to Chicago, where he will prepare an around-the-world lecture.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, lundi 30 septembre 1901, p. 5.
Le vapeur Coptic, en provenance d'Orient arrive à San Francisco le 6 octobre 1901 :
NEWS OF OCEAN AND WATER FRONT
[...]
The Steamer Coptic Comes Into Port Ahead of Time.
[...]
Yesterday afternoon the steamer Coptic, Captain Rinder, reached port from China, Japan and Hawaii, two days ahead of time, and after a detention of three yours in quarantine went to her slip at the Pacific Mail wharf. From the day she left Hongkong the Coptic made good time and the Golden Gate would have been entered early yesterday had not fog obscured the channel. The time from Hongkong was 20 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes; from Yokohama, 15 days, 17 hours and 44 minutes, and from Honolulu 5 days and 18 hours. The cabin passengers included [...] E. Burton Holmes, the Chicago lecturer was another Coptic passenger, returning from a long trip through Siberia.
[...]
The Coptic's cabin passengers were:
[...] O. B. DepueE. [...] B. Holmes.
San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, lundi 7 octobre 1901, p. 11.
Le Bioscope de la Warwick Trading Company (1902-1906)
En 1902, après avoir utilisé le chronomatographe pendant 5 ans, Oscar Depue va acquérir un appareil, le Biocope (35 mm), mis en vente par la Warwick Trading Company :
The next year, 1902, I purchased a 35- mm Bioscope camera from the Warwick Trading Company in London and put it to work on our tour of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
Juste avant de repartir en voyage, Oscar Depue se marie à Milwaukee en mai 1902. Toujours en compagnie de Burton Holmes, Oscar Depue se lance dans un voyage en Scandinavie. Ils se trouvent au Danemark à la fin du mois de juin. Dans les tout premiers jours de juillet, les deux hommes arrivent à Helsingborg (Suède) comme l'évoque le journal local :
Två bekanta Chicagomän, hrr E. Burton Holmes och Oscar B. Depure [sic], passerade i går Helsingborg på väg till Göteborg, Kristiania och Nordkap. Hr Holmes är författare och föredragshållare, medan hr Depure är kinematograpfisk fotograf. De ha de senaste dagarna uppehållit sig i Danmark, där hr Depure flitigt användt sin kamera och fara nu vidare norrut för att vinna ersättning för de inställda kröningsfestligheterna, hvilkas förevigande ursprungligen utgjorde målet för de båda amerikanernas Europafärd.
Helsingborgs Dagblad, Helsingborgs, jeudi 3 juillet 1902, p. 2.
Ils se rendent ensuite à Göteborg pour continuer leur route vers Kristiania (Oslo) et le Cap Nord. C'est lorsque les deux collaborateurs sont à Bergen qu'Oscar Depue a l'idée de faire l'image par image afin d'accélérer le mouvement et il tourne ainsi The Seven Locks.
Près de Stockholm, à Lördagen, Burton Holmes donne un entretien au journal local :
Mr Burton Holmes.
amerikansk journalist och globetrotter.
Vi bringa i dag porträttet af en man, hvars namn icke torde vara så bekant i Sverige, men är det desto mera i Amerika.
Mr Burton Holmes' föredrag öfver sina "Impressions de voyage" hafva under de senaste åtta åren vunnit ökadt rykte i Amerika. Hans föredrag illustreras af bilder uppfängade dels med hans kamera, dels med hans reskamrats, mr Oscar B. Depue's kinematografapparat. Under åtta år har han hållit icke mindre än tjugotvå olika föreläsningsserier, behandlande nästan allt som finnes under solen, från Japan och Kina till Algeriet och Sahara, från Korea och Siberien till Yellostown Park och passionsspelen i Oberammergau.
Figaro, som lefver med i stora verlden och är kontinental, träffade naturligtvid tillsammans med Mr. Holmes då han "trippade" genom Sverige för att samla nya reseintryck. Visserligen har Figaro inte nägon automobil som Aftonbladet (och Dagen), men en kolibribåt stod till vårt förfogande (medarbetarens egen) och i denna inlogerade vi, utom Stewarts whisky och diverse läskedrycker, Mr. Holmes, Mr Depue, The Grand Show-man Mr William Caspar och en glad stock-holmare doktor G., uppwaktade af en Grand Arena Palace-neger. Hvarpå hela laddningen utfraktades genom det natursköna Skurusund till Saltsjöbaden.
En mild försyn hade gynnat oss med ett härligt söndagsförmiddagsväder, och de många utrop af "awfully nice", som undföllo våra globetrotters, borga för att Sverige kommer att få ett entusiastiskt omdöme i nästa föredragsserie och skall säkert locka många resande från Amerika till våra natursköna nejder, och dertill torde för öfrigt icke minst bidraga de bilder - med staffage af unga förtjusande damer - som Mr Holmes knäppte under färden.
Dejeunern på Salsjöbaden var utmäkt.
Doktor G. bjöd på Ayala extra qvalité dry.
Kaffe å verandan med härlig utsikt öfver Baggensfjärden.
Mr Holmes bara gick och "knäppte".
Hemfärden, lika angenäm, försiggick utan äfventyr. Och när vi landade vid Skeppsholmen hade maskinisten förbrukat all olja och alla kol, och Grand Arena Palace-negern hade druckit ut alla läskedryckerna.
Det sista ord jag hörde när jag lemnade Mr Holmes utanför Grand Hôtel var detsamma som det första: "awfully nice".
Mr Holmes är, enligt egen uppgift, icke släkt till Mr Sherlock Holmes.
Bynn.
Figaro, Lördagen, 19 juillet 1902, p. 2.
Leur voyage prend fin en septembre :
HOLMES LECTURE TOUR.
Burton Holmes, the traveller and lecturer, sailed from Cherbourg for New York, on Wednesday last. He, in company with Mr. Oscar Bennett Depue, has just completed a comprehensive tour of Europe, the results of which will be embodied in his coming series of lectures, under the title of "From Gibraltar to the North Cape.
Washtenaw Daily Times, Washtenaw, samedi 6 septembre 1902, p. 5.
Dès leur retour, Burton Holmes et Oscar Depue vont développer tout le matériel réuni au long de ces semaines de voyage :
Mr. Burton Holmes, the traveler and lecturer, has just returned to his Chicago home, where he and his lantern operator and fellow traveler, Mr. Oscar Bennett Depue, are now busily engaged in developping the many hundred photographic negatives and many thousand feet of motion picture film, the freits of their five months wanderings in Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Mr. Louis Francis Brown, manager of the Studebaker Theater, Chicago, and also manager of the Burton Holmes Lectures, has just completed the booking of Mr. Holmes' coming lecture tour, and reports that his principal has only three open dates left during the entire season, between Oct. 27 and April 14.
St Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, dimanche 21 septembre 1902, p. 27.
Louis Francis Brown est le manager des conférences et le calendrier est déjà pratiquement plein pour les six mois qui viennent et les travelogues se poursuivent jusqu'en mai 1903.
En juillet 1903, les deux hommes, Oscar Depue et Burton Holmes, quittent Chicago pour se rendre en Alaska :
Burton Holmes, the lecturer, arrived here yesterday from Chicago on his way to Alaska to collect matter and photographs for an illustrated lecture. He is staying at the Occidental.
San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, mercredi 15 juillet 1903, p. 6.
Dans ses souvenirs, Oscar Depue évoque également le Canada :
In 1903 we toured Alaska, taking the railroad over the White Horse Pass to White Horse, and then a stern-wheel steamer down the Yukon to Dawson. There we filmed the gold miners and their sluicing and hydraulic operations. During the remainder of our journey down the Yukon and on to Nome, we traveled and slept on a barge lashed to a river steamer. Returning from Nome to Seattle on the Ohio we passed through the Aleutian Islands with never a thought that they would one day be the scene of fierce encounters between Japs and Americans.
La presse de Dawson leur consacre un long article où il est question en particulier du rôle respectif des deux collaborateurs :
Accompanying Mr. Holmes is Oscar Depue, an expert photographer and noving picture man. As a rule, Mr. Holmes take pictures with the snap-shot camera and Mr. Depue manipulates the moving picture device. Both are affable and genial, and have made friends travelling in every quarter of the globe.
[...]
Among the pictures taken with the moving picture apparatus yesterday was one of the Dawson fire department on the full run. Late in the afternoon the party was taken aboard the steamer Dawson by courtesy of Vice-resident Newell, and carried along the waterfront, to a point above Klondike City, and then down to the bluff beyond St. Mary's hospital, and a panorama made of Dawson as the boat glided down the river. Mr. Holmes is an old college mate of Mr Newell. Both are from Chicago.
Seven machines are used by Messrs. Depue and Holmes in getting their pictures. All are the best on the market today, and some giving moving pictures with all true life-like coloring.
Dawson Daily News, Dawson, vendredi 7 août 1903, p. 8.
"BURTON HOLMES AND HIS STAFF."
Next Stands Mr. Brown; On the Right Mr. Bournique; On the Left is Mr Depue; Mr. Holmes Sitting.
"Bring far-away lands while you wait", The Detroit Free Press, Detroit, dimanche 11 octobre 1903, p. 2.
À l'occasion d'une conférence, la presse de Philadelphie revient sur le voyage en Alaska :
Last summer, accompanied by Mr. Oscar B. Depue, he made this journey and has returned with an unusually interesting series of magnificently colored lantern slides, and a more than ordinarily realistic series of motion pictures, the latter showing life at the Treadweel mines, panoramic views of the glaciers and some specially fine ones taken from the train while passing through White Pass. Other thrilling motion pictures show White Horse Rapids. The entire trip from the sailing at Seattle to the point below White Horse Rapids, where Mr. Holmes took the steamer for the lower Yukon and the Klondike, will be shown in this lecture.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia, dimanche 6 décembre 1903, p. 16.
"Burton Homes and his traveling companion and picture expert, Oscar Bennett Depue. Mr. Depue is standing.", The St Louis Republic, St Louis, dimanche 27 décembre 1903, p. 28.
Si Oscar Depue n'évoque pas de voyage au cours de l'année 1904, en réalité, comme tous les ans, il repart avec Burton Holmes en Grande-Bretagne :
[...] At the close of the lecture, Mr. Holmes was called out several times to acknowledge the applause of this audience. Tomorrow he sails for England, accompanied by Oscar Depue and Lyman G. Bournique, who have so long been associated with him in his lecture tours.
Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, mardi 29 mars 1904, p. 14.
Les deux hommes quittent New York, le 31 mars en direction de Plymouth à bord du Moltko :
Liste der Kajllts-Passagieredes zur Hamburg-Amerika Linie gehörigenDoppelschrauben - Postdampfers „Molt ko“,Kapitän H. Leitb&user,am Sonnabend, 31. März, von Newyork tiaPlymouth und Cherbourg nach Hamburg abgegangen. [...]
O. B. Depue [...] E. Burton Holmes
Hamburger Fremdenblatt, Hambourg, mardi 12 avril 1904, p. 18.
Ils vont donc présenter leur "travelogue" en avril et mai 1904 en Grande-Bretagne, puis l'année suivante (Demande de passeport. 1905), ils vont se rendre à nouveau en Allemagne :
Liste der Kajiits-Passagiere
des zur Hamburg-Amerika Linie gehörigen
Doppelschrauben - Postdampfers "Moltke",
Kapitän G. Reessing,
am 20. April, 10 Uhr vormittags, von Newyork via Plymouth und Cherbourg nach Hamburg abgegangen.
Erste Kajüte.
[...]
O. B. Depue [...] E. Burton Holmes.
Hamburger Fremdenblatt, Hambourg, mardi 2 mai 1905, p. 18.
Ils se rendent ensuite en Autriche, puis poussent jusqu'en Irlande.
L'année 1906 va être consacré à un nouveau voyage autour de la Méditerranée. En janvier 1906, Oscar Depue, descend à l'hôtel Royal des Étrangers de Naples :
The HERALD'S correspondent in Naples reports the following arrivals:-
[...]
At the Hotel Royal des Etrangers: Mr. Oscar Depue, of Chicago; Mr. Ranson Thomas, from Rome.
The New York Herald, paris, 8 janvier 1906, p. 4.
Après une halte, probablement assez brève, les deux hommes se rendent en Égypte où ils arrivent en février :
BURTON HOLMES IN EGYPT
He Has Secured Some Fine Views for His Next Lecture Tour
Louis Francis Brown, manager of the Burton Holmes Travelogues, now at this winter home in Pasadena, Cal., has just received word from Burton Holmes, saying that he and his fellow-traveller, Oscar Bennett Depue, are at Cairo, Egypt, and have just chartered the steam yacht Nemo, with her crew and retinue of eleven servants, to make the trip up the Nile. Mr. Holmes reports a most delighful sojourn in lower Egypt, where the has obtained some magnificent material for this next season's travelogues. On his return from upper Egypt he will sail for Ceylon, about March 15.
Boston Evening Transcript, Boston, jeudi 1er mars 1906, p. 12.
Dans ses mémoires, Oscar Depue se souvient de ce voyage :
In 1906 we made an extended trip through Egypt, going up the Nile on a private yacht to the town of Wadi Halfa near the second cataract. On the way we visited the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, the Temples of Luxor, and the Pyramids. We climbed Cheops, the largest Pyramids, and photographed other American tourists as they struggled up those great three-foot steps. All the films taken in Egypt were developed in Shepherd's Hotel in Cairo-a wonderful place at a wonderful time of the year-the last part of March.
"The author photographing tourists visiting the pyramids of Egypt outside of Cairo en 1906"
DEPUE, 1948: 125.
Puis, ils arrivent à Naples, le 8 avril 1906, alors que le Vésuve est en éruption, avant de partir pour la Grèce au moment où se déroulent les Jeux Olympiques (22 avril-2 mai 1906). De retour à Naples, il va chercher un lieu adéquat afin de développer les vues prises à Athènes. C'est là qu'il fait la rencontre de l'Autrichien Joseph De Frenes qui va se faire engager par Charles Urban. Quant à Oscar Depue, sur le chemin du retour, à bord du Carpathia de la compagnie Cunard, il est témoin d'un grave incident, car le navire est percuté par une baleine :
LINER STRIKES A WHALE
The Carpathia, from Mediterranean Ports, Cuts Big Leviathan in Two, After Sighting School.
NEW YORK, Monday.-Rivalling any tale brought to port by skippers of local fishing craft was that which found its way here through passengers on the Carpathia, of the Cunard line, from Mediterranean ports, which sighted a school of real live whales, and, what is more, the Carpathia actually struck one of these leviathans amidships and cut him squarely in half.
According to the tale recounted by Oscar Depue and confirmed by other passengers, the big liner was ploughing her way through a heavy head sea when the school of whales was sighted on her port bow. One of them could not get out of the way in time and was cut down. It was fully fifty feet long. According to Mr. Depue, the feeling produced on shipboard was as if the vessel had struck a mass of putty.
The New York Herald, Paris, mardi 19 juin 1906, p. 8.
Et après... (1907-1960)
Au cours des années suivantes, les deux amis vont continuer à parcourir le monde afin de nourrir en images fixes et animées les conférences que donne Burton Holmes. En témoigne une nouvelle demande de passeport (1907), alors que les collaborateurs repartent en Norvège. L'année suivante, en 1908, les deux hommes repartent pour leur deuxième tour du monde qui les conduit au Japon, en Chine et en Asie du Sud Est. Oscar Depue dispose d'une nouvelle caméra pour prendre ses films comme l'explique un journal d'Honolulu :
HOLMES NEW PICTURE MACHINE
Among the through passengers by the Siberia yesterday was Mr. Oscar Depue, companion and assistant to Burton Holmes in his travels for material for lectures. Mr. Holmes joined him here and the two sailed for the Orient, intending to go through Japan, China, the Straits Settlements, Ceylon and India, going home by way of the Suez.
Mr. Depue had with him what is undoubtedly the finest and most up-to-date picture machine ln the world. It is a machine based on those of Ebbers of London, but with a number of improvements which are the working out of Mr. Depue's own ideas. It is the only machine of the kind ever made.
There are three improvements of prime importance over any other machine, besides a number of minor contrivances which add to convenience. Perhaps the most important of the improvements is a device by which the amount of light admitted by the shutter can be changed to meet changing conditions of sun, or sky, or object, while the machine is in operation. All machines in the past have had to be stopped and changes made at the loss of time and convenience. But in this one, while the machine is in operation the changes in the shutter can be made simply by the movement of a lever on the outside. Another improvement Is a device by which the lens itself can be raised or lowered simply by the movement of a lever while the machine is in motion, thus adding greatly to the scope of the machine. Correlative to this is a device by which the finder acts automatically with the raising and lowering of the lens, so that the finder always covers the exact field that the lens does.
By these devices vastly-Improved motion pictures are expected to be produced. With the picture machine as it existed before this one was built, after the machine has been once focussed there is no way of changing the field to meet changing conditions of the scene being reproduced except by guesswork. With the new adjustment of the finder, the operator can move his machine up or down or sideways to keep the scene constantly in the center of his negatives, with absolute precision, because the finder will show him exactly what is within the field of the lens. The machine will also meet changes of light and other conditions of photography promptly and accurately.
Mr. Bonine, Mr. Holmes and Mr. Depue spent considerable time immediately after the arrival of the steamship in examining this new machine and making tests of it.
The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Honolulu, mardi 17 mars 1908, p. 7.
Tout comme ils le font aux États-Unis, Burton Holmes et Oscar Depue donnent des conférences au Royaume Uni, en 1910. Ils rentrent de Southampton le 19 août. Dans ses mémoires Oscar Depue évoque ensuite leur séjour en Amérique latine. Arrivée à Río de Janeiro en avril 1911, ils poursuivent leur route vers Buenos Aires. La traversée des Andes constitue un moment exceptionnel pour les deux hommes qui rejoignent alors le Chili :
By train we crossed the great plain called La Pampa to Mendoza at the foothills of the Andes and up those rugged mountains to a resting place called the Bridge of the Incas. So thrilled were we with the awesome scenery en route that, through the co-operation of the railroad company, we did our filming from the engine's cowcatcher. This gave us an unobstructed front view, but, at the same time, the natives had an unobstructed view of us as we perched there on a sofa-like seat secured to the cowcatcher. A ludicrous sight no doubt-but we did not mind so long as we got our pictures. It was rough riding at times-in fact, the jiggling finally put my camera out of commission. But the knowledge gained in similar experiences in Java, and a good day's work with my tool kit put the camera in working order again. We left the train at an elevation of 10,000 feet and proceeded on horseback to the great statue of the Christus, over 13,000 feet up in the bleak, snow-covered pass.
 |
 |
| "A day's repairs to the camera at Ponta del Inca, in the Argentine Andes in 1911." DEPUE, 1948: 126. |
"At the summit of the Trans-Andina railroad-11,000 feet high-in 1911. Depue is carrying box in center of picture." DEPUE, 1948: 125. |
Entre autres épisodes, Oscar Depue évoque le voyage de onze jours afin de rejoindre les célèbres chutes d'Iguazú dont témoigne une photographie prise lors de ce séjour.
"Crossing the River Iguassu to set up camera position to photograph the great falls"
DEPUE, 1948: 125.
Les voyages vont ainsi se succéder. En 1912, la nouvelle demande de passeport annonce un périple en Orient (Japon, Chine, Philippines...) qui se prolonge jusqu'en août 1913, date à laquelle Oscar Depue est de retour de Yokohama...
Au début de l'année 1916, la Paramount annonce qu'elle vient de signer un contract avec Burton Holmes :
Burton Holmes, the most famous traveler and lecturer on travel in the world today, has founc that it is possible for the results of his work to be seen in a hundred photoplay theaters throughout the country at the same time, through the contract he has just signed with the Paramount Pictures Corporation, and it is now announced that in January, the Paramount-Burton Holmes Travelpictures will be released and booked solely through the Paramount exchanges. Mr. Holmes will personally edit, assemble and manufacture these films which will embody the same kind of interesting and comprehensive views that he has been showing in connection with his "Travelogues.
"PARAMOUNT, 1916: 27.
Cette collaboration se prolonge jusqu'en 1922.
À son décès, en 1960, il est employé par la "Holmes Films".
Sources
BOTTOMORE Stephen, "The Philippine War (1899-1902): Moving pictures for the American military" dans Stephen Bottomore Filming, faking and propaganda: The origins of the war film 1897-1902, Thèse doctorale, Université d'Utrecht, 2007.
"Bring far-away lands while you wait", The Detroit Free Press, Detroit, dimanche 11 octobre 1903, p. 2.
DEPUE Oscar, "A Printer for Simultaneous Printing of Sound and Picture Negatives", Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, vol. XIII, nº 37, 1929, p. 150-
DEPUE Oscar A., "My first 50 years in motion pictures", American Cinematographer, avril 1948, p. 124-129.
"Holmes's Happy Days", Life, vol. 45, nº 6, 11 août 1958, p. 8-9.
"Motion Pictures", Detroit Free Press, Detroit, dimandhe 9 octobre 1898, p. 34.
"Paramount Gets Burton Holmes Services Will Issue Travelogues", Motography, 1er janvier 1916, p. 27.
WHIGHAM H. J., How to play golf, Chicago/New York, Herbert S. Stone & Company, 1897, 332 p.
