Scrutinizing stadium crowd pictures is my new hobby... ! it's a little bit like playing "Where's Wally ?"...
This old man, sitting at the front row of Brighton stadium in 1912, is balancing between boredom and contempt... he must be thinking that "the game was better before"(*)... 1912 or 2008, same mentality... same feelings... ?
And let's be honest (why should I, after all ??), this picture is a zoom from a football postcard... Albion vs Swindon Hove ... April 1912.
A full size picture is available here... and will also let you enjoy this beautiful hat... too bad if you're standing behind...
(*) forgot to say : I strongly disagree with this point... ;-)
Which card do you believe to be the most stupid ? the French one (upper card) or the American one (lower card)... ?
I uploaded the second card on Flickr just two years ago... I'm sad to say it's so far the most "favorited" picture among +2000 rugby pictures... people don't like rugby history, indeed... ;-(
I love this card ! Father and son proudly posing for the photographer with their rugby jerseys and representative caps.
I can't identify the father's jersey nor the caps - "C.R.F.C. 1905-06" on the head, "C.R.F.C." and "1904-05" (only...) in hand. Only hint : the postcard comes from Gloucester... Your guess ?
The boy's kit is one of the very first England School's jersey. There is one at RFU Museum of Rugby at Twickenham, shown in their nice catalogue "Beauty and Power : A journey through the history of world rugby". Fine embroidery, indeed...
Wales first invited an English Schoolboys team in Cardiff in 1904, followed by a match in Leicester in 1905, while other Home Nations school sides developed much later. I like the idea that our boy was a member of England 1905 team in Leicester... I doubt that you could find replicas at this time...
Mr Lazare Ponticelli, the oldest French veteran of WW1, passed away last week aged 110 and was buried yesterday. He was not the last one of all these young men engaged in the turmoil of WW1 as it still remains 8 of them...
I am always struck that what we call "history" is actually so close from us.... within the lifespan of a veteran... who was himself contemporary with the latest veteran of Waterloo and Napoleon wars... biological memory...
Talking about rugby, we all know the heavy tribute paid by sportsmen and ruggers in this conflict...
Instead of listing names, I have just recollected some figures from Stade Français. In 1914, this leading omnisport club accounted for 1400 members of which 650 were engaged (the other being either women, too old or too young). Out of 650, 168 were killed (25%) and 225 wounded (35%)...
This postcard shows a small monument erected in Stade de Colombes near Paris, dedicated to French rugby players killed during WW1.
This morning, the "Red Devils" hit the headlines of French daily newspaper L'Equipe after their well deserved win over France for a 2008 Grand Slam... But, say, it's far from being the first time !
Here is an issue of French sports magazine "Le Plein Air", dated January 21 1910, showing W.Trew, captain of Swansea and Wales (larger pic here) who led his team to a smashing 49 - 14 victory over the French side... Actually 1910 was the very first "V nations Tournament" (as we call it in France...), as it was the first time that Scotland agreed to play France...
My copy of this old newspaper is not very clean... so here is a better photography of W.Trew, out of a wonderful series of postcards portraying famous Welsh ruggers at the beginning of the century. You could find a dozen of other portrays in this album.
Introducing a series of notes aiming to bridge between rugby history and cinema !
This is a tribute to my dearest friend Sandrine, to celebrate her new online initiative Contrechamp-Media.
Sandrine is an avid cinemaphile, smart and demanding, who shares her passion for images and movies. Her website gathers an active community of contributors and fans (I fit in this second category…)… climax being reached some nights proposing a now famous “Forbidden Quiz” (I am desperately poor at that game…)
Just bookmark and enjoy… to the only condition that you can read French ! otherwise “Google” will (try to…) translate it for you... Sandrine please forgive me… your sharp writting is being slaughtered...
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, a Tribute to "Contrechamp” (part 1) : O’Brother
Brotherhood today… Here are two French brothers who have both excelled in their respective field… rugby and cinema…
On the right, the rugger, the elder Maurice Leuvielle.
Maurice became a
key player of Stade Bordelais during this glorious decade before WW1
when Bordeaux was the undisputed leader of French rugby. Maurice participated to six Championship finals in a row... between 1906 and 1911, winning four. He was leading the 1910-1911 team which remained undefeated all along the season.
Maurice Leuvielle also earned 7
caps with Equipe the France. In my picture, he is captaining the 1914
French side against England in Colombes (Lowe, Poulton… on the English side…). Some pictures and details are here… one of the last international games before the War…
On the left, the movie star, the
younger Gabriel Leuvielle, better known as Max Linder .
Max Linder wrote,
directed or acted in about 500 movies between 1905 and 1925 in Paris, Chicago
(with Charles Chaplin at Essanay Studios…) and L.A. (Douglas Fairbank was a
friend of him…).
He created this character of a
charming French dandy, silk hat and butter gloves, who later influenced the
greatest comic actors … Charlie Chaplin, Harold Loyd or… the Marx Brothers. He was both a very inventive filmmaker and a great actor, in a time when most
actors were outrageously “over-acting” like in a vaudeville theather
Max Linder, “the pioneer of all
movie comedians”, was the first real international movie star, travelling all over
Europe and America… in 1912, he was the most paid actor in the world… no less !
The bottom picture (credit to
British Film Institue) shows Chaplin and Linder acting together in the early
1920s. Chaplin once dedicated a movie to Linder with these words “To the unique
Max, the great master – his student Chaplin”.
Nevetheless, Max Linder’s life ended
as a tragedy. During WW1, Linder was seriously wounded by gas attack and
invalided out of service. He never recovered health… and comitted suicide with
his young wife in 1925.
Most of his movies have disappeared,
but his daughter Maud Linder later did a great work to make his legacy
available to the public. Just follow these links to find Max Linder’s short bio
written by Maud Linder (in French / in English in "Les Indépendants du Premier Siècle"), and to find an article in
“American Popular Culture” summerizing Linder’s contribution to cinema.
Enough talking ! there are some videos are on
the web…
"Max Linder - King of Cinema" (documentary in English / unknown credit)
"Vive la vie de garçon - Troubles of a grasswidower"
That's all, folks...! I am now starting to draft "Tribute to Contrechamp" (part 2) : The Birth of A Nation...
This write-away postcard was sent from London to Italy in 1903... smart transition to introduce the fact that Italy is going to play France in Paris next Sunday afternoon !
As a last minute announcement, I have a spare ticket for the game (my brother can't make it...). Please drop me a mail with your telephone number if you're interested (meeting in Central Paris Sunday at 14h45 - ticket at face value = 50€). First in, first served !
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