Fantomas

Edward Gorey loved films - especially films of the silent era - and especially the silent films of French filmmaker Louis Feuillade. Feuillade was reported to have made between 650 and 800 films by the time of his death in February 1925 at age 52. Of course, in the early days of cinema many films were no longer than 10 minutes long...but still...

Mr. Gorey was often quoted as saying that the films of Feuillade were an inspiration for his work. Feuillade's first film masterpiece is a 1913 series of 5 films collectively called Fantomas. This fantastic film serial adventure is available on DVD from Kino.com and is worth a closer look by all Gorey enthusiasts. Watch the film trailer at the bottom of this post.

Fantomas is a five film serial about a master criminal (Fantomas) and the detective (Juve) who hunted, caught, and kept losing the fiend. As with any great series, there are deceptions, femme fatales, explosions, train wrecks, dead bodies, and multiple disguises.

What is truly remarkable is how many of Feuillade's images populate the works of Edward Gorey. In the very first installment of Fantomas, the disguised villain appears in the hotel room of a wealthy woman who asks, "Who are you?" and is handed a blank calling card by the intruder! This blank card appears in every one of Mr. Gorey's books! Viewers will also find many other instantly recognizable Gorey motifs turning up in the films - distinctive potted palms and pattern-on-pattern decor in the interior sets, a host of 1913 touring cars, veiled mysterious women wrapped in dark clothing with only their heeled shoes peeking from the bottom of their wraps, men in top hats and frock coats. In short, many of the figures and places we have come to assume were England in Mr. Gorey's books are probably French.

It should be remembered that Mr. Gorey majored in French in college, and it is interesting to see such a direct correlation between these five films and Edward Gorey's distinctive visual style. Also, Mr. Gorey would have seen these films in actual theaters, before the days of video tapes, DVDs, or the internet - so multiple viewings were limited. He states in interviews that he has seen some Feuillade films only once, but that they are favorite films of his. That the films made such an impression on him is significant.

Fine Art Prints

One exciting and very complicated area for collecting the works of Edward Gorey is Fine Art Prints. This area is quite large and can be very confusing. Because the topic is so extensive, I will be discussing prints in several postings.

The question I am often asked is, "Is this a print by Edward Gorey?". Much of the confusion comes from eBay, where Gorey Posters and Edward Gorey, The New Poster Book (see my posting from October 21, 2009 for information on these books) are often cut up and individual pages are sold as "prints". These are pages cut from a book and are not Fine Art prints, even though some may look like prints because of their large format. The cut pages are highly decorative when framed, but have virtually no collectible value. Copies of the complete books have value, the cut up books do not.

The second most common printed Gorey image sold as a print is the John Locke Quote. A fantastic color image, the John Locke Quote was beautifully printed by Gotham Book Mart (from a piece of original artwork owned by Andreas Brown) as an oversized 8.75" x 7", blank greeting card printed on off-white paper, not card stock. The GBM information appears on the back of the card, but the folded flap is often cut off. This card appears so often as a Fine Art print that it gets confused easily, especially since Edward Gorey hand signed some of these cards.

Often, theatrical posters and broadsides produced for special events with images by Edward Gorey appear for sale listed as "prints". Once again, these are not fine art prints, even though many of them are signed and numbered. Here is yet another sub category of Gorey collecting!

Now that I have discussed which images are not actually Fine Art Prints (getting confused yet??), we can start to figure out which images are Fine Art Prints....in later postings!

Re-doing the Walls

In January, The Edward Gorey House returned the eight pieces of original art (and books) which I had lent for their 2010 exhibition. Once the "children" had been safely shipped back and unpacked, it was time to rehang the pieces on the walls.

Finding room for these framed pieces proved to be a challenge since other framed pieces had taken their place! Jostling for attention, the returned art caused a chain reaction which started in our guest bedroom (see the photos), and quickly spread chaos throughout the three floors of our home.

Practically every room was affected and adjusted to accommodate not only the returning pieces, but also some framed works which had been patiently waiting to be hung on the walls.

After several days and lots of tea, the dust has settled and all the pieces have places of their own...until the next trip back from the picture framer!

The Doom of the Haunted Opera

The Doom of the Haunted Opera was the fourth book left unfinished by John Bellairs at the time of his death. Author Brad Strickland worked from the notes left behind to create a spooky story which features an abandoned Opera House where a sinister piece of music, The Day of Doom will make its debut, despite a ghostly warning not to play it. Once the music is played, the dead will be awakened and the composer's evil grandson will become King of the Dead!

The book was published in 1995 by Dial Books for Young Readers and features a wrap around dust jacket design and frontis illustration by Edward Gorey. The back cover of the dust jacket is particularly colorful. Using a dream sequence for inspiration (don't most dreams play out in black and white?), Lewis and Rose Rita are shown being set upon by headless opera goers and bats! One of my favorite characters in this book is a cat that whistles - a feline that Edward Gorey would certainly have taken a liking to.

When this book was published, I was offered the three pieces of original artwork by Mr. Gorey. Unfortunately, at this time the prices for Mr. Gorey's art were jumping significantly - in fact the price for this art was double what earlier art from the series had been priced at just two years previously - so I could not add this art to my collection. I do still have the full size xeroxes sent to me by Gotham Book Mart, which I am showing to the right.

The Fantod Pack

Published by The Gotham Book Mart in 1995, The Fantod Pack by Edward Gorey is a boxed card set of 20 fortune telling cards. The illustrated grey box includes cards and a booklet which guides the "reader" to tell their (mis)fortune.

This extremely popular Gorey item was first available in a signed, limited edition of 26 lettered (A to Z) and 750 numbered sets. The signed limitation page appears within the booklet. I have copies I/26, and #77/750. The limited edition sold so well that GBM promptly issued an unsigned second printing. The Fantod Pack is once again in print today and available from Pomegranate Publications.

In the two photos below I am showing the front and back of the announcement card for this publication. The 4.125" x 6.25" card is larger than the 2.75" x 5" box, so the image of Figbash on a unicycle has been enlarged to fit. Edward Gorey's signature appears in the lower right hand corner of the card but not on the box lid.

I think the popularity of this Gorey creation is that it is, in a sense, a card game. The participant is encouraged to throw the cards in the air and interpret them using the gloomy and often humorous card descriptions.

With The Fantod Pack, Edward Gorey once again has recycled an earlier project. The cards were originally published in Esquire Magazine (December 1966) as The Awful Vista of the Year: The Fantod Pack. Around 1969, The Owl Press of California created an unlicensed version, which was copied from the magazine images and printed on fluorescent green stock.

Ballet Cats

It can be said that when one thinks of Edward Gorey, one usually thinks of cats. Smiling, mischievous, playful, up to something (or nothing at all) - cats. In 2004, I obtained a wonderful piece of original art by Mr. Gorey showing a pair of cats in ballet shoes performing a Pas de Deux. The ballerina cat is being held aloft by the danseur noble as they effortlessly execute their dance.

This drawing came from the estate of Rosalie Lewis, who was the former head of the New York City Ballet gift shop and merchandise development. This image was used by the ballet for a tee-shirt design entitled "New York Kitty Ballet". Was there an actual Kitty Ballet? Who can say?!

At the time this piece was offered to me by Gotham Book Mart, two other pieces from Ms. Lewis' estate were also offered. I was sent xerox copies of the artwork for my inspection, and I show them here. The second piece shows a single ballerina cat "en pointe". Notes from GBM stated that the image was drawn on tracing paper which had been mounted to heavy art stock.

The third image from this set is a spectacular ballet totem consisting of three pairs of dancers in a gravity defying performance. All three pen and ink drawings have hand written notations for enlargement (not in Mr. Gorey's handwriting).

Odd Songs

Edward Gorey created illustrations for books, posters, theatrical productions and even record jackets. His earliest example of record jacket art is Odd Songs and a Poem by Cyril Ritchard. This wonderfully wacky album cover was published in 1954 by Dolphin Records and has full front and back cover illustrations by Mr. Gorey. I was given a lovely copy of this album for my birthday last month!

Cyril Ritchard (1897 - 1977) was an Australian actor and performer who is best remembered for his role as Captain Hook in the 1954 Broadway production of Peter Pan co-starring Mary Martin. His Tony Award winning performance was repeated on television in 1954 (with Ms. Martin). Another wild and woolly television performance from 1965 can be seen (in part) below, when Mr. Ritchard starred as the Wolf (in Grandma's clothing) alongside Liza Minnelli as an improbable Red Riding Hood.