Gribouille redevient Boireau
R: André Deed. D: André Deed, Valentina Frascaroli. P: Pathé frères. Fr 1912
Engl. subtitles

“Gribouille, once called himself Boireau, before falling in love with a beautiful Sicilian girl to whom he has given his heart across the border. Unfortunately the beautiful girl has a terrible father, from whose presence Gribouille runs away scared and crosses over the border. Back in France our hero, seized by the love of his native land wants to stay there. The Italian authorities strive in vain to block his way. Gribouille jumps on an express train, throws the stoker and mechanic on the rails and takes their place on the tender. Soon the locomotive, overheated thanks to his manoeuvres, explodes in a tremendous catastrophe. Gribouille is thrown amongst the clouds and falls onto the roof of a cinema studio in which he falls like a meteor. He is welcomed with open arms. A number of lenses focus on him as our hero, as is well known, is considered one of the most exhilarating comics, so that the repatriation can sign the commitment to become Boireau in his homeland once again.” (Bulletin Pathé)
Il Cinema Ritovato

“André Deed is one of the great characters of French and Italian burlesque. He was greatly appreciated by audiences to whom he would direct looks of complicity before executing acrobatic deeds or astonishing actions, looking for approval for his feats, his cunning and his loves, be they successful or not. Deed distinguished himself above all for his use of surreal elements. Starting from classic comic situations based around chases, falls and destructions he launched into the most refined of gags. Fish hunting and rabbit fishing, appearing and disappearing, he is at once material and immaterial, allowing himself be hit one moment and then becoming an invulnerable body the next. Fragile and indestructible, he strikes and penetrates: there are no walls that can resist his assaults or that cannot be crossed. He is the fusion of Méliès’ inventions, Segundo de Chomón’s tricks and Giovanni Pastrone’s daydreams and he doesn’t hesitate to bring into the narrative fiction the dazzling goddess of Itala Film or the Pathé cockerel. (…)”
Jean A. Gili
Cinema Ritrovato

“André Deed started his career around 1900 as a circus acrobat and music-hall singer. In 1901 he did his first steps in the movie world in supporting roles, working for film pioneer Georges Méliès. In 1906 he started his own series of short comedies at Pathé Frères, around a comic character designed by himself: Boireau. Between 1906 and 1908 he made some 27 films for Pathé, directed by pioneer filmmakers like Georges Hatot and Georges Monca, though of several films no director is known. Because of the huge popularity of the Boireau comedies, in 1908 the Torinese company Itala lured him to Italy, where Deed started the series of Cretinetti [which more or less stands for ‘little stupid’]. He not only acted but also directed his own films now. (…)

In 1912 Deed went back to Pathé to perform as Boireau again, and as Cretinetti was named Gribouille in France, his first film for Pathé was entitled Comment Gribouille redevient Boireau/ How Gribouille became Boireau again (1912). Frascaroli collaborated under the character name of Gribouillette. From 1912 on Deed would make some 70 shorts again as Boireau.

In 1913 Deed and Frascaroli did a big European and Latin American theatrical tour. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Deed was drafted first, but in 1915 Itala producer Giovanni Pastrone called him back to Italy, where he a.o. directed and played in the war propaganda film La paura degli aereomobili nemici (1915) and Cretinetti e gli stivali del brasilero (1916), which had Bartolomeo Pagano alias Maciste in a supporting part as a police officer, plus special effects by Segundo De Chomon. Afterward, Deed returned to France where he served in various sections of the army, though it is unknown whether he fought in the trenches. In 1918 he married Frascaroli and in 1919 he was demobilised.”
flickr

>>> André Deed as Cretinetti