User:MinorProphet/Joseph L. Menchen

Joseph Menchen (Illinois, 1 April 1878–4 October 1940, Glendale? California, was an inventor, businessman, film producer, screenwriter and literary agent. He was the producer of the world's first full-length, narrative feature film The Miracle, directed in 1912 by Michel-Antoine Carré.

Early life and career
He lived in Kansas City, Missouri also from at least July 1889, when he jointly filed his first patent (with one Louis Zweisler) for a spring-loaded weighing and measuring scoop. His father (also named Joseph Menchen) ran the Joseph Menchen Electrical Works at 9-15, West 6th Street, Kansas City, Missouri in 1891 - 1892.

Aged around 16, Menchen was boarding at the Grand Missouri Hotel as Jos. Menchen in 1894. In 1895 he was working as electrician at Abraham Judah's newly-rebuilt Ninth-Street Opera house in Kansas City (not to be confused with the Grand Opera House, also leased and run by Judah). Menchen had a useful selection of his own theatrical lighting equipment and was looking for a position with another responsible company. In November 1895 he took a contract to fit 450 electric lights in the new 1,200-seat Rohrbaugh Opera House, Ottawa, Kansas. While working in Kansas City, Menchen met and was befriended by the theatre impresario Robert Grau, who continued to advise and encourage him.

Vaudeville and motion pictures
After the initial success of Edison's peephole Kinetoscope in 1894-5 and the swift development of the first film projectors, vaudeville theatres in New York began to include film shows. Edison's Vitascope was first exhibited at Koster & Bial's on Thursday 30 April 1896, Lumiere's Cinematographe opened at Keith's Union Square Theatre on 6 July, and the Kineopticon at Pastor's's New Fourteenth Street Theatre on 31 August 1896. The projectionist was Menchen with a kineopticon, an English film projector made by Birt Acres which had its London première on 21 March 1896. The press agent for the 'old' Bijou Theatre at 1239 Broadway, A. Curtis Bond, acquired the American rights to the kineopticon. An advertisement for 'Joseph Menchen's New Kineoptikon' included newspaper reports of the projector from 17 August 1896.

The early projectionists bought their own prints direct from the production companies at around 15 cents a foot; Menchen had his own stock of films including many of the Edison Manufacturing Company's early films such as the scandalous The Kiss, ; Police Patrol, Morning Bath, Hurdle Race, Arrival and Departure of Tally-Ho, Whirlpool rapids at Niagara Falls, Mutoscope's Empire State Express (1896); three Edison films made in November 1896 directed by James H. White with cameraman William Heise, Going to the Fire, Fighting the Fire and Burning Building (featuring the Newark, NJ Fire Dept.) and the latest from Edison in January 1897, The First Sleigh-Ride



On 14 Nov 1896 the kineoptikon was replaced at Pastor's by the Cinographoscope, and Menchen went on tour the following year alongside such stars from Pastor's company as the Newsboys Quintet and Helene Mora, "the world-famous lady baritone" who sang her own songs such as Kathleen and performed scenes from Shakespeare "en travesti", He was showing films with the Kineoptikon in Baltimore, MD in January, and in March at the Olympic Theatre, Chicago, with an address at 632 Madison Street.

He also provided arresting moving lighting effects for performances of other vaudeville acts, including the "clever serpentine dancer, Mlle. Winifred" and "Mlle Lotty". He designed and made specialised attachments for projectors such as the Stereopticon and the Skyopticon These acts were probably inspired by the 'original' serpentine dancer, Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques. She used stereopticons in her performances, and was managed by Robert Grau, who 'discovered' Menchen in Kansas City.

The Lobsterscope
Split off this section into new article

The Lobsterscope is a type of electro-mechanical stroboscope. It consists of a

On May 22 1897 a film of the Corbett-Fitzsimmonds fight was released. That same week the vaudeville duo Weber & Fields performed their 'Lobsterscope' routine, which included a burlesque of the boxing match. The sketch made fun of "all animated picture machines (patent protected)" and was performed by the pair before a black curtain in the simulated flickering light of an early film projector. This effect was done with a stereopticon supplied by Menchen, who two years later would be involved in the attempted filming of another boxing match with Fitzsimmons, the Jeffries fight (see below).

The 'Lobsterscope' sketch ridicules the multitudinous names of moving picture machines making the rounds of the vaudeville theatres, and combines it with a joking reference to the many high-society glittering 'lobster palace' restaurants on Broadway.

Weber and Fields later had a line in another of their routines about Diamond Jim Brady, a famous customer at Charles Rector's lobster restaurant: A chorus girl is asked if she ever found an pearl in an oyster. "No," comes the reply, "but I got a diamond from a lobster over at Rector's last night."

The routine was later taken up by the Afro-American vaudeville duo Johnson & Dean, "The King and Queen of Colored Aristocracy".

In her autobiography the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee describes one of the young dancers in her mother's vaudeville act: "he used a lobster-scope for that part, making him look as if he were dancing in slow motion . . . The lobster-scope, a metal disk that fitted over a spotlight, was his own, and on opening days, he would give it to the spotlight man himself. "Be careful of it," he would warn. "Anything happens to that lobster-scope and the whole act's a flop."

A modern professional version of the Lobsterscope using the original design concept was still in production in 2013.

Fitzsimmons-Jeffries fight
Menchen continued to invent electrical devices and formed the Joseph Menchen Electrical Company in 1898.

The first successful trial of a motion picture filmed solely with the aid of electric lighting was made in 1899 by Vitagraph in the Manhattan Theatre, New York City, using "arc lights of enormous amperage, furnished by Joe Menchen." The cameraman was Albert E. Smith. The tests were made to see if it was possible to make a film of a boxing match indoors, at night time.

As a result of this experiment the boxing promoter William A. Brady (who owned the Manhattan Theatre, and managed both Jeffries and Corbett) contracted for $5,000 with Vitagraph to film the boxing fight between James J. Jeffries and Bob Fitzsimmons at the Coney Island Athletic Club (also leased by Brady) on 9 June 1899. Menchen's lights with a combined 2,400,000 candlepower hung above the ring from a "platform from which huge cylinders like bottomless hot tubes glowered down", emitting "a great beam of blinding white light [...] like a thousand calciums." Unfortunately only the first minute of the fight was captured on camera. According to the cameraman Albert E. Smith (later president of Vitagraph), the reason for the failure was that the cylinder head of the engine which powered the electrical plant blew out, and 12 of the 24 lights failed. The failure seems not to have been noticed in blow-by-blow accounts of the fight, and not until a fortnight later did a New York Times article claim that a "wobbly old generator and beer-barrel rheostats brought the cinematographers confusion."

Aha! A complete account of the whole sorry endeavour can be found here. Summary: It was found that neither the local lighting or railway circuits could provide the current load needed by the lights, and so Menchen brought in some temporary plant which. sadly, was simply not up to the job.

There was indeed a wobbly old generator powered by a worn-out single-cylinder Corliss-type steam engine with a huge flywheel running in a pit, attached to an upright donkey boiler; and the rheostats were literally made of beer-barrels filled with salt water (still a valid, if improvised, type of liquid rheostat); but the generator was unable to cope with the load placed upon it - it was rated for 150 KW at 220 V, and Menchen's 24 lamps (rated at from 50 to 80 amperes each, at 80 volts) needed nearly 320 KW. The electrical equipment, described as "homogenous" and including various types of fuses and wiring gauges, seemed less than professional.

Although not the whole fight was captured, a still from the minute-long film hung over William T. Rock's desk at the Vitagraph offices,, and Menchen's later 1906 catalogue of theatrical lighting equipment lists his achievement at the fight along with his other successes.

The first complete fight to be filmed with electric lights was the Jeffries-Sharkey bout on 3 November 1899, by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. A somewhat facetious account of the film with pics of the 4-camera team is here: The Jeffries-Sharkey Fight. Although the film is thought to be lost, a few seconds survive of Vitascope's bootleg film made by Smith and James French on the night. This film was shown to at the Empire Theater in Rochester, NY, in December, 1899, "an eager audience [...] was affronted by a fly-by-night New York company's bootleg account of the Jeffries-Sharkey fight secured on a small camera smuggled into the crowd on the evening of the fight. Except for three or four wretchedly-focused rounds, the exhibition was faked. "That is, it was merely a repetition of the same rounds run through slower or faster as the operator saw fit." The few seconds-worth of the bootleg film is available on Youtube here.

Sam T Jack died on April 27 1899.

However, Menchen was out of Pastor's after Vitagraph gained a contract there from 17 June 1899, presenting their own exclusive films of the boxer James Jeffries in training and the celebrations in October for Admiral Dewey's victory. By August, Menchen was managing "Mlle. Stella" on the books of the Sam T. Jack Company. Whereas vaudeville was firmly aimed at a family audience, Sam T. Jack's burlesque shows were usually the bawdiest to be found. Stella was at the Palace Theatre, Boston, on 21 October 1899. Menchen continued to improve the kineoptikon, fitting it with a patent lens box.

He continued with his lighting business, selling or hiring his equipment and working as lighting designer on Broadway shows, for example The Princess Chic at the Casino Theatre (Broadway) from 12 February - 3 March 1900 In September 1901 a court judgement for debt was delivered against Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. for $50.62 in connection with a property of Menchen's.

When the Majestic Theatre opened in January 1903 with The Wizard of Oz, Joe Menchen designed the lighting and the "jaw-dropping special effects", which included a ten-minute tornado.

Joseph Menchen Company
On 21 March 1903 the Joseph Menchen Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $10,000, to sell and install theatrical lighting equipment and complete systems, in addition to the Stereopticon and his other patented inventions. Having seen the effects of several theatre fires in Kansas City and Ottawa, Kansas where he had installed electrical lighting to replace old carbide lights, his equipment was manufactured to high electrical safety standards and endorsed by the New York Fire Department and the Board of Fire Underwriters. His electrical plug connectors were later installed in New York high schools.

By July 1903 Menchen had business premises at 1237 Broadway, adjoining the Bijou Theatre. He had leased or bought the Kineopticon from Curtis A. Bond, the press agent there, in c1896.

Later in 1903 that year his Stereopticon effects were in use at Luna Park, Coney Island, projecting simulated motion such as snowstorms and butterflies, or the Aurora Borealis. Luna Park was owned by the impresarios and theatre owners Thomson & Dundy, who often used Menchen's services.
 * Luna Park & St. Louis

On 30 December 1903 in Chicago, the brand-new Iroquois Theatre caught fire at a matinee performance. Over 600 people were crushed, asphyxiated or burned to death in the deadliest theatre fire and the deadliest single-building fire in United States history. In the aftermath the mayor ordered all theaters in Chicago closed for six weeks for inspection and refitting to new fire regulations. Menchen's electrical lighting equipment, always designed to the highest standards, was the only approved equipment allowed to be used in the city theatres.

Menchen's success at Luna Park with the versatile Stereopticon led to a huge opportunity at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, where he used thirty-eight of them, sixty inches in diameter, to create spectacular effects in "Under and Over the Sea", one of the rides on the mile-long 'Pike' crammed with amusements and attractions. The profit from this attraction was $86,432. Menchen's electrical projection equipment was used in many other rides, including "Creation", (profit $347,747), "Hereafter", ($116,301) "Great Siberian Railway", ($85,310) and "The Haunted Castle". The fair opened on 30 April 1904, and closed 1 December 1904.

Proctor's 125th Street Theatre (not the one he worked at) caught fire on 6 May 1904 and was burned to the ground, although quick and decisive action by staff and police meant that the house was evacuated within three minutes, and the were no injuries at all. Although Menchen was in court later that May over a debt for $129 to one M. J. Boyce, by June he was doing well enough financially (probably thanks to profits from the World's Fair) to take out a 5-year lease for $1,800 on 354, 50th W St., where the Joseph Menchen Electrical Company's new premises opened on 17 September 1904.

He continued to design the lighting for Broadway shows during 1904, designing the effects for the new musical ''Piff! Paff!! Pouf!!! (music by Jean Schwartz, lyrics by William Jerome) which ran from 2 April to 19 November 1904 at the Casino Theatre, and at the Majestic Theatre (Broadway) from Dec 26, 1904 for a further eight performances; and as lighting designer for Girls Will Be Girls'' at Haverly's 14th Street Theatre, N.Y.

By the end of 1904, however, the Joseph Menchen company was insolvent, and his Johnstown Flood electrical and scenic equipment was being advertised for sale by one J. T. Ebbets (possibly an interim administrator) at the company's 354 W 50th Street address. Menchen failed to pay his creditors, who filed a bankruptcy petition against him in July 1906. According to the New York Times report, materials had been stolen at various times, aggregating in a loss of $10,000. For example, Menchen's Stereopticons in use at the St. Louis World's Fair cost $500 each. Menchen continued to operate a business, opening an office at 1237 Broadway later described by A. H. Woods as "a little electrical shop at the Bijou". This was not the 1920's Schubert Bijou, but the 'old' Bijou Theatre at 1237-1239 Broadway where A. Curtis Bond was the the press agent when Menchen bought or hired a Kineopticon from him in 1896. He continued to take out advertisements in the trade press throughout 1906 and 1907 as a constructor of electric and scenic shows.
 * Bankruptcy

His 1906 catalogue lists over 150 New York shows which used his equipment, with special mention of vaudeville theatres including the Brooklyn Orpheum, Keith's Union Square, Proctor's 23rd, 58th and 125th Street: and work at the vast, newly-opened New York Hippodrome for Thompson & Dundy (owners of Luna Park).

Recent research
A continuation of the above and obviously the two 'Mirakle' films of 1912.

Joe Menchen had been involved in sea-side amusements for years (starting with a massive electric searchlight at Bergen Beach in 1897 after he got the boot from Pastor's when Joe's attempt to film the Fitzsimmonds boxing match somehow failed); and he knew Thompson & Dundy, for who he installed all those stereopticons at 'Trip to the MOON' sideshow at 'LUNA Park on Coney Island in 1906, which why he was there in the first place; plus he already had his own 'Johnstown Flood' (later exhibited all over Europe){refs available inc. Stockholm}), probably similar to the one in Buffalo etc.

Luna Parks in Europe
Joe was one of the partners in 'European Amusement Parks Ltd.' (EAPL), an Anglo-American syndicate which brought American-style pleasure parks (trolley parks) to the UK in 1907 (and thereafter to Europe - including Vienna, in the same park as the Rotunda), with
 * J. Henry Iles' Scenic Railway (licensed in 1906 for the UK and Europe) from LaMarcus Adna Thompson's Scenic Railway (ie roller-coaster) at Coney Island, where the electrical effects for 'Trip to the Moon' were done by Joe); Iles later founded Dreamland Margate in Kent, England.
 * Frank C. Bostock's Circus animals,
 * H. F. McGarvie, former director-general of the San Francisco Midwinter Exposition of 1894 and publicity director for the Trans-Mississippi Fair, who owned - among other things - the Johnstown Flood cyclorama at Coney Island
 * and Joe Menchen, who already had his own 'Johnstown Flood', 'Trip to the moon/in a submarine' and other electrical spectacularly-lit sideshows, plus he was an electrician/engineer and general practical man.

EAPL opened all the European Luna Parks, beginning in White City, London; and possibly the one near Cairo as well, which has its own story because during WWI it was turned (after the 1915 Gallipoli campaign) into a highly successful open-air Field Hospital run mostly under tents by some very intelligent doctors working for the Australian Army. Luna Parks did very well indeed, thank you, the company's starting capital was $2,500,000 (= $150,000,000 today), and Joe was no longer an ex-bankrupt theatrical lighting retailer.

[NB I have always had the idea that the maker of 'The Miracle' film is somehow not the same as the inventor with the patents to his name, who also may or not be the Menchen with the film script business after 1918; there are two sources mentioning Joseph Menchen, Jr. in the US after 1917 when he gets back from Europe. Often it seems like a father and son with the same name.]

The EAPL's very first venture was at Earl's Court in 1907; swiftly followed by Joe's 'Ride in a Submarine' underwater stereopticon show, as part of an indoor funfair at Olympia (right next door) where CB Cochran had taken over in 1904. Previous shows in Olympia by Kiralfy Bros.; Venice, Columbus? spectacle etc.; this was followed by fun fairs at the Kiralfy-built White City, London where the 1908 Summer Olympics were held; Edinburgh Marine Gardens, etc. Then from 1908-1911 he was involved with setting up US-style amusement parks all over Europe. The profits were enormous, and Joe became a rich man in a short time. Thus he would certainly have been 'in the know' when Reinhardt & Vollmoeller's Miracle arrived in Olympia (leaseholder, CB Cochran) in late 1911.
 * Joe's involvement with Olympia

Apparently my thoughts were correct about about the Continental version of Das Mirakel: Mime Misu did begin filming in March 1912, interrupted in April by the Titanic disaster. Apparently Misu was actually approached by Menchen (strictly, the ref. says "the directors") to direct The Miracle (1912 film){refs also available}, but this didn't work out... ... and they fought it out from there. Plus, there really was a fake or deliberate or malicious cable, printed in Variety magazine a month after the Titanic went down; this anonymously claimed that that Harry Harris had actually brought the completed Miracle film on board the Titanic. The mystery deepens considerably... maybe just an in-joke or sly trade humour.
 * Das Mirakel/The Miracle

Joe was thinking of filming The Miracle at the recently-defunct Crystal Palace [the world's biggest glasshouse studio???],{yes, refs available} but which didn't work out, either: and in the end it was filmed near Vienna, where there was a Luna Park (part-owned by Joe Menchen) next to the Rotunda where Reinhardt's The Miracle had just been playing...

And that's how Joe finally came to Britain and made the money to make the film in the first place. (Plus, the first Electric Cinema in UK was in Shepherd's Bush, very near White City etc. the second was in Walworth Road, Joe's first London office. Plus, one 'Major' Geo. Crager was manager of Aldgate White City Ltd., a nickelodeon or cinema on the far east side of the City of London.)

(NB Contains mild speculation, where noted.) I still have not found any definite proof of how The Miracle came to be shown at the ROH, but I have discovered a much closer connection through Maurice Grau of the NY Met.
 * Covent Garden

Joe's original agent in the US was Robert Grau. Grau's older brother, Maurice Grau managed the NY Metropolitan Opera House with his Maurice Grau Opera Company from 1895/6? to 1903, when he retired to Paris and died in 1907. The Grau brothers didn't get on in the slightest (Maurice left nothing at all to Robert in his will, although "he was worth at the time of his retirement about half a million dollars. More of this was made in Wall Street, however, than In the Metropolitan Opera House."){refs etc.}

Strange to relate, Maurice Grau was also appointed the General Manager of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, from 1897-1900, after his success in New York; he was succeeded in 1901 by André Messager, and Percy Pitt from 1908 (mea culpa). The lease on the ROH was owned by the Grand Opera Syndicate Ltd, (GOSL), who for years had run the early summer season of grand opera at the ROH with (Sir) Augustus Harris as manager (1888-d.1896, it's complicated, believe me...). New York had a winter season, so everything fitted nicely.

In 1912, the General Manager of the GOSL was Neil Forsyth, who had been there from around c1890 since Augustus Harris's days. The management tasks were split between General Manager (Forsyth) and Musical Director (Pitt) after André Messager left in 1907.  Forsyth had been general secretary until then, I believe. So, perhaps the 'Old Boy' network comes into play: what is certain is that Joe Menchen was the protégé of Robert Grau, whose brother Maurice ran wildly successful opera seasons at both Covent Garden and the NY Met; interestingly, neither opera house has looked back since.

Perhaps the Grau sibling feud didn't matter to Neil Forsyth: Menchen's connections with the Graus may have been enough to persuade Forsyth to lease the ROH to Menchen for The Miracle: and anyway, Joe was suddenly very rich... Sir Thomas Beecham (who had become heavily involved with the ROH in 1910) put his father's Drury Lane Theatre at the disposal of Diaghilev for the Firebird rehearsals,{refs available} while The Miracle was showing during Christmas 1912-13. Sir Joseph Beecham was reportedly worth about £130,000,000 (in 1914), making him the third richest man in England (very approx, about £1.7 billion today)


 * For an approximate answer to my original question, "How on earth did Joe Menchen get to show The Miracle at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden?", see User:MinorProphet/George C. Crager. Much of the credit goes to one Geo. C. Crager, who managed la Loie Fuller in 1900 in her own theatre at the  Exposition Universelle (1900) in Paris. On their her way back to the States, Fuller performed at Terry's Theatre in London, where Edward Laurillard was manager. Joe Menchen's European Amusement Parks Ltd. came to Olympia and provided the fun fair at White City in 1907-8.
 * Bolossy Kiralfy's theatrical spectacles had played at Olympia c1896, and he built White City, where the Franco-British Exhibition (1908) and the 1908 Summer Olympics were held. [NB At the 1908 Franco-British expo, a Renard Road Train was exhibited, pulling passengers around the ground for sixpence. The Road Train was imported by Daimler, who fitted a six-cylinder double sleeve-valve 85 hp engine in it. A 105 hp version of this engine was fitted in British tanks Mark I-IV, in one of which Menchen unsuccessfully attempted in 1915 to fit a huge flamethrower of his own design.]
 * NB This is not the case: it wasn't a Mark I. The "tank" in this case appears to be the single experimental caterpillar Pedrail Machine. See  section. Thus there is no connection between Menchen, the Renard Road Train at the 1908 expo and the Daimler 105hp engine fitted in the Marks I-IV tanks.
 * In 1908 Laurillard and Horace D. Sedger were initially involved with Jay Bamberger's Electric Theatres cinema company in London: they soon split from Bamberger to form Electric Palaces (1908). Their first two premises were at Shepherd's Bush (W) (near White City) and at Walworth Road (SE), which also happened to be the London address of the Joseph Menchen Company of NY. So Crager knew Laurillard from 1900, and Menchen from c1907-8 with European Amusement Parks Ltd. at Olympia and White City. The impresario Horace Sedger staged the 1897 London performances of Michel Carré's L'enfant prodigue, and became a director of the Paris-based 'Société des Films Menchen' in 1914. >MinorProphet (talk) 15:41, 22 July 2016 (UTC)

In New York, it doesn't appear to change much, I still can't find the actual reason why Woods didn't get the Met, although it seems apparent to me that Woods was not looking for (or suitable for) high-class patrons and their establishments: he wanted to make money, not give it away in the vain pursuit of opera. The Miracle didn't get the same treatment as at Covent Garden; it wasn't billed as a Lyriscope production. And still, why did Menchen not get the Met?  Well, possibly since Menchen was linked to Robert Grau, with whom Maurice seems to have cut all ties. This fact may well been better known around the Metropolitan Opera House and its later managers, especially Giulio Gatti-Casazza, who would probably have been as unobliging as Maurice, if he had the same sort of attitude to the Hungarian vaudeville Al. Woods, who mined the populist vein of entertainment, and not of the very topmost quality.
 * New York

Plus, when The Miracle showed in New York in April 1913, it was during some of the most tempestuous stormy weather for many years There was lots of flooding in upstate NY; they certainly didn't need a semi-sensuous quasi-religious mediaeval fantasy story, they needed heavy-duty de-watering pumps.

And that's the story so far in a nutshell.


 * To Do List


 * Obviously, The Miracle (1912 film) and Das Mirakel (1912 film)
 * European Amusement Parks Ltd. (how Joe came to Britain and made the money to make The Miracle) - half done
 * Maurice Grau who also managed the actress Sarah Bernhardt, and put on one or two seasons with her (in French-language plays) in London 1901-02.
 * Robert Grau - stub
 * Me/Joe Menchen - lots more copy, probably needs heavy editing for merging with mainspace article
 * Me/George Crager - ditto & uploading
 * And, in search of the one-off Menchen experimental flamethrower-tank (which was never approved: see Encyclopaedia Britannica 1920? Vol 31 (XXXI) New Volumes Vol 2, pp. 77 - 79): the almost-finished technical story of the Daimler 105 hp engine developed for the Daimler-Renard Road Train, then fitted to the massive Daimler 100 hp agricultural tractor; which then provided the engine with its transmission for the Daimler Artillery Tractor, the Tritton Trench-Crosser  (Feb 1915), the prototypes of the world's first tank ('Little Willie'), the British Mark I-IV tanks themselves, and the Gun Carrier Mk. I.) The relatively silent engine & the transmission seem to have been pretty reliable: everything else on the tanks failed around them, or the tanks got stuck in a trench or bogged down.

And following up the (similar, yet distant) link between Menchen, the Graus and the ROH Covent Garden: various efforts to try to disentangle the owners/lessees/managers of the ROH, such as:


 * History from ROH 1890-1945 of the Royal Opera House (both ownership of the building and performances) - almost entirely lacking in current article - with concentration on 1897-1918 (Maurice Grau - André Messager - Percy Pitt)
 * Augustus Harris, which doesn't even mention his time at Covent Garden yet.
 * Arnaldo Conti, Italian conductor of Italian opera (San Carlo Opera Co. & early Boston Opera Company), and the owner of an "iron memory" which allowed him to conduct without a score. Conti conducted Adelina Patti, and the lesser-known Alice Nielsen (one-time manager, George Crager, who was later business manager and "factotum" of Joe Menchen's film studios in Paris); Nielsen sang at Covent Garden with Enrico Caruso in 1904.
 * Anton Seidl, superb forgotten and unrecorded Wagner conductor who was Hans Richter's right-hand man, who was Richard Wagner's right-hand man; Seidl conducted the very first complete performance of 'Das Ring' in England in 1882 (at Her Majesty's Theatre 5-9 May 1882) Wagner's Music in England - if you like that sort of thing, but very few people do...

<MinorProphet (talk) 03:12, 6 August 2015 (UTC)


 * End of Recent Research

Trips to Europe
The above needs to be properly reffed and integrated into the following earlier research:
 * NB, fool!

He travelled to Europe in 1908, seeking to expand his business interests. In February 1908 he opened a London branch of Joseph Menchen's Electrical Company at 341 Walworth Road, which was also the address of an Electric Theatre cinema owned by Joseph Jay Bamberger, previously a New York stockbroker. The former chapel served as the Electric Theatre cinema from February 1904 until at least 1915.

He returned to the USA on 2 Jan 1909 on board the recently-built RMS Lusitania, with his new wife Madge, and by 1910 he was advertising his company (now at 360 West 50th St, NY) as the "largest manufacturers of electrical stage appliances and effects in the world." Madge seems to have been a technically-minded person, as her entry in the 1910 New York City directory lists her occupation as electrician, 360 West 50th St.
 * Madge was Madge Bickler, the sister of Minnie Bickler, who married Gustav A. Schacht, VP of the Schacht company; Schact 'Patricia' trucks were sold in the UK in 1915 by the American Export Co. with offices at 20 Frith Street.

In December 1911 Menchen's ad in Billboard reads: Electric Scenic Effects and Stage Lighting Appliances Complete line of Cloud Effects, Snow, Rain, Fire, etc. Spot and Flood Lights, Stage Pockets, Plugging Boxes, Rheostats and everything used in connection with Electrical Stage Lighting. ??? bone, Lenses and Gelatins at low prices. Send 10c for catalogue.

The Miracle


In 1912 Menchen left the USA for Europe, and settled in London with an address at 20 Frith Street. It seems very likely that he saw a performance of Max Reinhardt's production of The Miracle, a wordless pantomime by Karl Vollmoeller with music for chorus and large symphony orchestra by Engelbert Humperdinck, and designs by Ernst Stern. The production ran for 16 weeks at Olympia (London).

Menchen determined to make it into a film, obtaining the necessary rights to the music, play and production from the owners and made arrangements to make the film on location in Austria, including production design, permission to film, and travel and catering arrangements for 800 cast. Shooting for the film of The Miracle began on location in October 1912 near Vienna, immediately after Reinhardt's next production of the play at the Rotunda, using the many of the actors and costumes from the stage production. The film was hand-coloured in Paris, and the première of The Miracle took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 21 December 1912, with full symphony orchestra and chorus, live dancers and actors dressed as nuns. The film ran for a record-breaking three months in the UK, with 90 copies playing in 72 locations during Easter week (18 March).


 * Studios Menchen

In 1913 he moved to France and formed the Société des Films Menchen with Michel Carré as its artistic director. He obtained the film rights from Maurice Leblanc for the greater majority of his books featuring Arsène Lupin (a French detective modelled after Sherlock Holmes) with the intention of producing them as films. By March Menchen had taken a lease on a former Jesuit house of retreat (Villa St-Joseph at 10 Rue du Mont) in the Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine, where he had a 40 x 22m glasshouse studio built. He had intended to release some 21 films, and by WHEN??? he had half-finished one. Although in a trade press interview he claimed that the series of Arsène Lupin films were "practically ready for release", he seems have not to completed any films at all and by May 1914 he had disposed of the studios although he kept his main office in Paris. However, the First World War broke out in August 1914, and as the German army advanced towards Paris Menchen left in a hurry with his automobile full of film cans. He was evacuated on the USS Tennessee from Le Havre along with other US citizens and arrived back in Britain.

The studio was taken over by the Lux production company, and later by the French branch of Tobis Film. By 1930 it was one of only two studios in France to have been equipped with sound-on-film recording apparatus ([Tobis-Klang) after the arrival of the 'talkies'


 * London film business - see London Project

Flamethrowers
Joseph Menchen worked on various flamethrower designs during the war, first proposing a design for a heavy flamethrower for the WD (British Army), later experimentally installed in a tank [c1916] with a large fuel reservoir. However, the British High Command wasn't particularly keen on flamethrowers and tanks conventionally armed with guns were more popular. However, it was adapted into a battery.

Menchen had approached Colonel L. G. Jackson in February 1915, claiming he could make a FT despite having no experience of such things - he believed there was prob. v. little diff. bewteen burners & flamethrowers. NB Menchen was a theatre lighting electrician, he replaced gas burners/carbide lamps in old theatres, e.g. Rohrbau theatre. Colonel (later Major-General) Louis G. Jackson was at the time working in the Directorate of Fortification and Works in the Ministry of Defence. He was involved at an early stage with the development of the tank, from January 1915.(History of the Ministry of Munitions, Vol. 12, Part III, p. 4) In June 1915 Jackson's department was transferred to the Ministry of Munitions and renamed the Trench Warfare Dept. On 8th July 1915 Jackson (now a ?Brigadier-General) requested an authority to purchse materials for a flame-projector caterpillar.(pp. 21–22) This was constructed as the Pedrail Machine, completed by Stothert and Pitt in Bath in July 1916 but was too heavy to be practical.(pp 28–29) See section. The EB article says it was a caterpillar design; it was referrred to as the "Trench Warfare" caterpillar or tank.(Hist. MoM, Vol. 12, Part III, p. 29) For Jackson after WWI, see also Vickers Medium Dragon.


 * Design for Heavy flamethrower : put forward in March 1915. experimental prototype installed in an early (Mark I?) Tank - possibly a 29-ton machine with 49,000 litres of fuel


 * Heavy or Battery: Menchen-Hersent type - used a couple of times in Battle of the Somme 1916
 * Portable : Norris-Menchen - Other info re Norris-Menchen mostly gleaned from WWI web forum - not very reliable. Text to pics refer to demos in France in 1918: but Jos. had gone back to the USA in 1917. See below.

British Army attitudes
Flamethrowers were really not approved of by the British High Command. NB {Citation needed} for this section inc. R&D and manufacturing:

1. The Germans had been developing technical innovations since about 1906, I think, and their weapons were relatively reliable and used according to something that might be called tactical doctrine. In other words, they were used on occasion, deliberately, after practice, and in force.

2. The War Office, the Army and the Navy had not a single technical department between them, neither a committee or a research establishment. There was absolutely no connection between the military and industry. The military made its own weapons in its own state-owned factories, and the desk-wallahs had probably been in the same office, doing the same unbelievably inefficient job since Henry Bessemer tried (and failed) to persuade the Woolwich Arsenal to adopt his own brand of steel in 1869 or so.

3. The British had to start from scratch, ideally inventing novel weapons to meet the particular problems of trench warfare; developing them into something manufacturable; and then using them in battle according to a plan. However, the various government technical departments were fragmented and not really in touch with each other, and even in the best or most opportune circumstances it takes around twelve months to turn an initial idea into a brand-new product on the shelves.

4. The connecting of a new industry with military and government takes time, and it seems there was no major progress in flamethrowers until 1917. As far as I can see the whole thing was disorganised and generally disapproved of. The British devices were unreliable and almost as likely to explode as work, had a short range, were useful for only one minute (60 seconds), and there were many other existing weapons which did as good a job in a trench fight.

5. The German Army had some success against both British and French troops with specially-trained FW shock troops, who in some cases had also had familiarised the supporting German infantry with their tactics: but these had been developed over time, and the British lacked an equivalent level of organisation.

6. Flamethrowers were only used in about 20 attacks or less. The components of the static FF batteries designed by Menchen had to be carried through the trenches (including the drums of flammable oil), and installed at some safe distance from the troops. Tunnels had to be dug for the pipes to reach the enemy lines (max. range about 100 yards?), and Menchen even included a remote mechanism (later discarded) to vary the angle of the nozzle.

Designs
The first of Menchen's designs was a heavy flamethrower which was first put before the War Office in March 1915. The apparatus was too cumbrous for the trenches, and it was experimentally installed in a specially-designed flamethrower tank which was built alongside the other first conventionally-armed tanks. It was than bigger than the gun-carrying tanks because of its load of inflammable oil.

"The flame-throwers were used during WW1 were difficult portable and fuel, a mixture of heavy and light fuel driven nitrogen gas or compressed air without oxygen were not safe, especially when there were still traces of oxygen in the propellant. It was named in the 1940s with a thicker liquid napalm, a derivative of "naphtenic" (aspfalthtolie) and palmitic acid (palmitylzuur, hence the name Napalm, which formed a liquid gel which was easier to spread and less gave opportunity to strike back at the gun itself, which makes it really useful weapon werd.Meer even the thickness non-oil used in WW 1 had a tendency to burn up before it reached its target so little of the liquid made contact with them. Napalm put an end to this "PROBLEM ???." the use by the Germans early in Hooge from flamethrowers to get a direct response, only the British had no similar devices. An experimental program was rapidly launched for long distance as well as portable flamethrowers by one man was carried and operated worden. Private companies were already one step ahead. Joseph Menchen, an American with experience in industrial oil burners, approached Colonel Jackson in February 1915, claiming that he could build a flamethrower although he had no experience with it, there probably was little difference between an oil burner and flame throwers. Jackson, fiercely driven to design new paths of development, asked him for two devices, one for short and one for long distance. The short distance model (portable) was ready for testing in April and although it performed well with a respectable, even an excellent distance of about 20 yards (18.28 mts) the device was rejected. The long-range model consisted of four cylindrical fuel tanks united into a single discharge hose with a nozzle and an equal number of cylinders with compressed air, each fed by an air cylinder. Although this test model had everything connected in series Menchen thought it would work equally well if they are connected in parallel or radially.
 * From Dutch WW1 forum:

The fuel and propellant were unloaded by cranes and adjusted so that the fuel was released for the gas. It reached a distance of about 100 yards (91.44 mts), but it was too complicated to be of useful value in the trenches, in which Menchen, based on Livens' experience, did not share. Menchen, as many inventors had sufficient confidence in his design to believe it was worth submitting four patent applications. At the end of 1915 he was iterated three patents, two were combined at a later date:
 * 14 715/15 had relate to the flame thrower as a whole, =GB191514715 =GB14715
 * 14.716 / 15 on the valve system, and                 =GB191514716, theoretically =GB14716
 * 16.062 / 15) on the nozzle and the ignition system.  =GP191616062, theoretically =GB16062

In the meantime, a French firm, Hersent had also developed a flamethrower which became the subject of two British patents. The application submitted on 27 March 1915 concerning the flamethrower unit, received patent no. 7,524 / 15, while the second application for the ignition system received the patent no. 15.58 / 15. The Hersent design was simpler than Menchen's. Captain Vincent, who was part of the team to develop British flamethrowers for "Trench Warfare Department" (the department for trench warfare), borrowed some elements of Hersent gear and assisted by Captain Hay he brought a "knapsack" (backpack) model that had a range of about 35 yards (32 m). Vincent demonstrated it at Wembley (hopefully not on the tennis court) [sic, lol, not Wimbledon...] on 15 December 1915. The test was great but the unit had only one fuel load 6.5 gallons of (27.65 liters) which fired only 17-18 seconds. The device was not lightweight, weighing 80-85 pounds (36-38.5 kg) but fortunately for the operator it was good spread as an expense." Forum Eerste Wereldoorlog Dutch-language WWI forum. accessdate=6 July 2016.

Flamethrower Patents

 * Cite Patent Original document: GB191514715 (A) ― 1919-03-20
 * GB14715
 * Improvements relating to Flame or Liquid Discharging Apparatus applicable for Cremating and for Warlike Purposes.
 * fdate:18 October 1915
 * gdate: 20 March 1919
 * Address : 20 Frith Street, Soho (which is the genesis of that article).

Hmm, according to GB Patent 124,477 he had an forwarding address at 44 Regent Street. This also was the address of Schultz-Curtius and Powell, music and artists management agency.


 * Application filing date: Jan 20 1916
 * GB124477 (A) ― 1919-04-03

German patent: Original document: DE336845 (C) ― 1921-05-18

Heavy flamethrowers and flamethrower-tank
(Extract from Encyclopaedia Britannica article) Of the various types of heavy flame- thrower which were evolved in the war, the British show both the best ranging power and also perhaps the greatest variety, this latter being due to the fact that, officially, they never passed beyond the experimental stage into that of a " service store."

The first model to be tried was that designed by an American, Joseph Menchen, which was put before the War Office in March 1915. This was a very large apparatus, several containers being coupled up in series to a single pipe and nozzle, the latter being aimed from under cover by means of power derived from a by-pass on the air bottle (a complication subsequently abandoned).
 * [Intro]

The intention of the branch of the War Office concerned (which subsequently became the Trench Warfare Department of the Ministry of Munitions) was to employ the apparatus not in trenches, for which it was evidently too cumbrous, but to mount it in a '''large armoured vehicle of the caterpillar class. Such a vehicle was built, concurrently with the first tanks''', but on a larger scale so as to be able to carry a big supply of oil for the flamethrower, which in the Menchen design had a range of 100 yards. This idea of the flamethrower-tank was, however, allowed to drop owing to a variety of causes, of which the principal were the dislike of the British G.H.Q. in France for flame-throwers generally, and the concentration of caterpillar-building resources at home on the gun-carrying tank.
 * [FT tank]

Experiment proceeded therefore on heavy types intended for trench warfare, and greater lightness and simplicity than was possible with the Menchen design was aimed at. Later in 1915 the Department produced a heavy flamethrower " battery " which embodied many of the features of the Menchen, and some of those of the Hersent apparatus which had been evolved in France. This " battery " is typical of the normal heavy flame-thrower. The "battery" (fig. 2) consisted of four vertical cylinders 16 in. in diameter and 48 in. high; on the top of each cylinder was a valve (controlled at first by a wheel and later by special mechanism) which was attached to a siphon tube in the interior of the container. The four valves were connected up in series by short lengths of flexible metallic tubing. The container communicated by a length of flexible tube with a rigid tube terminating in a nozzle; this discharge tube was mounted in the trench parapet behind a shield in such a way that the jet could be delivered in any direction and with any elevation. In the final container valve i.e. that leading to the delivery piping was mounted a trigger valve. On each container was strapped a gas bottle (compressed air, later nitrogen) containing 60 cub. ft. of gas compressed to 1,800 Ib. per sq. inch. Between this and the oil container were interposed a reducing valve (to reduce the storage pressure to a working pressure of 250 lb. per sq. in.) and a pressure gauge. Each oil container, when filled about three-quarters full (as was the usual practice), held 25 gal. and weighed 180 lb. filled. Ignition was at the nozzle by means of the electric device above mentioned. The range of this model was about 90 yd. actual throw. This apparatus, modified in details, was operated on one or two occasions in very unsuitable conditions during the battle of the Somme 1916, and was then rejected by G.H.Q. [NB Four Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors were also deployed at the Somme, two destroyed by German shelling. They were made in Lincoln, probably by Ruston and Hornsby?. [NB William Tritton & Sons, who developed the tank, were also based in Lincoln, like R&H.]
 * [Battery FT]

But before experiment was abandoned two important alterations were made, (a) The valves between the separate containers were done away with, and the freer flow of oil thereby obtained enabled a " record " range of 134 yd. to be reached. (6) The " director tube " built into the parapet was replaced by a so-called " monitor," a lazy-tongs device carrying a short, universal-jointed, nozzle-tube, which was raised above the parapet only during firing, the whole Installation at other times being below ground in a dugout. Other improvements were made to facilitate assembly and taking down in trench conditions. On one occasion a complete " battery " of four containers and monitor was taken down, removed, reassembled, filled and fired in slightly less than 15 minutes by ten men. The container unit was also lightened.
 * [Modifications]

by 'C. F. A.' (MAJOR CHARLES FRANCIS ATKINSON, T.D.) Late East Surrey Regiment. Distinguished Service Medal (U.S.A.). Order of Saint Anna (Russia). Formerly Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. Staff Officer for Trench Warfare Research. 1915-7. British Instructor in Intelligence, American Expeditionary Force, 1918. Editorial Staff of the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Author of 'Grant's Campaigns; The Wilderness and Cold Harbor'; etc.

Other ''Enc. Britt.'' articles: Flamethrowers; Flying Corps (in part); Foch, Marshal; Grenades (in part); Intelligence, Military (in part); Liege; Masuria, Battles in; Maubeuge, Siege of; Namur; Narew, Battles of the (1915); Naroch Lake.

Thoughts
No-one seems to have any info about this tank. Reliably-sourced 'known' facts: (ie Enc. Britt.)
 * 1. One prototype at least was built
 * 2. It was "built concurrently with the first tanks"
 * Which first tanks? Little Willie built July-September 1915, "Mother" completed Jan 1916, Mark I tanks went into production in February 1916.
 * I imagine (hah!) that any FT-tank development with Menchen would have taken place after the first Mark Is were in production.
 * 3. It was "on a larger scale" than the other "first tanks"
 * I assume 'hah' that it was simply longer, rather than scaled-up overall... Would the engine have barely been able to cope with the extra fuel load, but would it have had any armament? Maybe more like a Supply Tank, all stripped out?
 * So would removing the armament compensate for the extra load of hi-flam fuel in bottles? And what if it did get hit?
 * Could it be related in any way to the 'tadpole' tail which appeared on a few 1917 Mark IV tanks, apparently in an attempt to cross the wider trenches of the Hindenburg Line?
 * Answers, i fink
 * It seems very likely that this machine is in fact the Pedrail Machine, discussed at the top of this section.(History of the Ministry of Munitions, Vol. 12, Part III, p. 29)  WP article says it was 40 feet (12 m) long, weighing around 25 tons. The Mark I tank was only 26 feet long. Little wonder there is no other info on a Mark I flamethrower, it simply didn't exist. Sorted at lst, I think.
 * 4. "Later in 1915" the Department produced a heavy flamethrower 'battery' which "embodied many of the features of the Menchen, and some of the Hersent."
 * The story stays with the working flamethrowers: perhaps the FT-Tank was developed in parallel with the heavy battery.
 * For the Menchen-Hersent battery, "Each oil container, when filled about three-quarters full (as was the usual practice), held 25 gal. and weighed 180 lb. filled." 25 gal=about half a 40-gallon drum. Not very big, then. Sooo - 4 x 180=720 lb. The cylinders were 16" x 48", about twice the diameter of a modern actylene cylinder.
 * It's the volume that counts: the Livens and the Menchen-Hersent types had approx the same range, 90-100 yds: but the Livens, weighing two tons, probably spouted much more volume (having seen the documentary.)
 * 5. Menchen FT patents, application filing dates: 18 October 1915 and 20 Jan 1916

Unsourced info re Norris-Menchen types
"Here's a photo of a British Norris-Menchen portable flamethrower being demonstrated to troops at a gas school in France, November of 1918. As far as I know it's one of the only photos ever taken of this weapon. The Imperial War Museum, the National Archives, and the Royal Engineers Museum don't have any photos of the Norris-Menchen." WWI Forum

"An instructor of the Special Brigade, Royal Engineers, demonstrating the Norris-Menchen flamethrower at a gas school in France, November of 1918.ie very late in the war, the armistice was signed on 11th November. It was a semi-portable weapon, carried on poles which supported it when the gas pressure was released. The Norris-Menchen had a laden weight of 130 lbs and was usually placed on the ground when fired, the valves operated by an assistant. The instructor wears the Suit, Anti-liquid Fire, Pattern 3023/1918." Flickr

Text from 'British Portable Flamethrower': "Colonel Charles H. Foulkes (third from right) and Serbian officers watch the demonstration of a Norris-Menchen at a gas school in France. It is likely that the Norris-Menchen was tested at the front. A note from the German XIV Reserve Corps Headquarters, Ia No. 629, Secret, dated April 24, 1916, states in part the following:

"On the 23.3,16 attention of the Divisions was called to the fact that information had been received from the Moritz listening apparatus as to practice by the British with flame projectors and lachrymatory bombs. The enemy continues to practice with flame projectors behind his front. Moritz Listening Post No. 52 reports such a practice for the 29th of this month. It is quite possible that the enemy intends shortly to use this weapon against us. Whether he combines his attack with artillery fire is doubtful. It is not absolutely necessary.

“The troops are to be instructed as to the special features of this new weapon. The small portable projectors constitute a danger to the enemy’s own troops if the men carrying the apparatus are hit. Every effort must be made to do this.

“Signed, von STEIN”

Text from 'Heat-resistant Suit for British Flamethrower Sapper': Colonel Charles H. Foulkes, commander of the Special Brigade (third from left) describes a Norris-Menchen portable flamethrower to Serbian officers at a gas school in France, 1918. The device was adopted by the British in December of 1915. True??? The flamethrower sapper standing in front of the weapon wears a hear-resistant suit that appears to be camouflaged in wide bands of sprayed color. The Menchen lance visible on the left used a portfire as the ignition system. It was detonated with a spark from a dry-cell battery fitted to the top of the lance. URL?

Other warlike inventions

 * Improvements relating to projectiles. - United Kingdom Patent GB124477
 * Application date: 1916-01-20
 * Publication Date: 1919-04-03
 * http://patent.ipexl.com/GB/GB124477.html

Hmm, is this the tracer bullet?

Later life

 * 1917 - Returns to USA on the SS Kroonland, still married to Madge. Possibly more development of flamethrower in US???? Possibly unlikely, since the US had banned their use during the war. But US forces used them in the Pacific war.


 * 1918/9 - Law suits re. Arsene Lupin: Societé des Films Menchen v. Vitagraph Co..
 * These revolved around Menchen's ownership of the film copyright for the novel Arsène Lupin, which had been made for London Films by George Tucker (Arsène Lupin (1916 film)) and by Paul Scardon for Vitagraph, his old nemesis, the following year (Arsene Lupin (1917 film)). The Appeal Court of New York, 2nd Circuit, ruled that the US copyright for the London Films company had been lodged by someone with no authority to do so (acting as their agent and neither an author or proprietor). The appeal (bill) should have been specifically brought on copyright grounds, but it wasn't (it appears) and the appeal was disallowed. Judge Learned Hand sat on the bench but didn't deliver the judgment.
 * Jan 1920 Forms the Celebrated Authors' Society, Ltd., for dramatic scripts for film rights.
 * April 1920 - sells Arsene Lupin stories for $360,000
 * September 1920: He and a friend were in the close vicinity of the Wall Street bombing, and were one of the first on the scene to try to identify the explosive used.

Victor Beveridge
Well, well... Joe was with "Victor Beveridge, a former British intelligence officer". See Hopeless Cases: The Hunt for the Red Scare Terrorist Bombers, by Charles H. McCormick https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QaBR5hiuaJQC&pg=PA83

Beveridge Victor Victor Beveridge. Motoring Art. 7 November 2016 is unsure whether the postcard artist of 1904 (who signed VB) is the same as the journalist.

Marriages March 1897 (>99%) : BEVERIDGE Robert Victor, married in Birkenhead 8a 679 Genes Reunited forum page

He drew the covers for The Advertising World, The Organ of British Advertisers. Vol 6, nos. 1-6 June-November 1904 Antiqbook dealers. Menchen may well have been acquainted with this esteemed organ, being involved with EAP Ltd.

This may have been the same Victor Beveridge who took the photo of Winston Churchill at the Sidney Street Siege in 1911. http://www.vintag.es/2013/11/old-photos-of-policemen-in-past.html

I have little reason for thinking this, except that Joe Menchen was also connected with User:MinorProphet/George C. Crager (a somewhat fake 'Major'), who had a purported business from c1910 in Whitechapel High Street, less than a mile away from Sidney Street.

Menchen liked big cars, he owned a Sunbeam 7-seater in France in 1914. He was an inventor and was involved in designing a flame-thrower tank in the UK in 1915-6, and was involved with the military intelligence section. Thus he could have possibly have come across Victor Beveridge, the "former intelligence officer".

A certain Robert Victor Beveridge was a Corporal in the Army Service Corps, and was promoted temporary 2nd Lieutenant in June 1917. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30109/supplement/5437 (4th entry from the top), NB follows on from end of https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30109/supplement/5436

See also 2/Lieutenant Robert Victor BEVERIDGE Royal Army Service Corps.WO 339/99522 http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1153343

Menchen imported Schacht trucks into Britain during WW1; his father-in-law was the founder or a director of the company. See 20 Frith Street.

Joe Menchen returned to the States in 1917. A certain Robert Victor Beveridge travelled to the US on the SS Columbia in 1919:


 * First Name :  Robert Victor
 * Last Name :  Beveridge
 * Nationality :  Great Britain, Scottish
 * Last Place of Residence :  London, England
 * Date of Arrival :  August 30th, 1919
 * Age at Arrival :  40Y 8M
 * Gender :  Male
 * Marital Status :  Married
 * Ship of Travel :  Columbia
 * Port of Departure :  Glasgow
 * Manifest Line Number :  0024

Ellis Island Records

The motoring journalist seems to have been the same person who reviewed a LaFayette car, "Lieutenant Victor Beveridge, an authority, writing in British Motor" [but probably written in the US] https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/87545191/ (Pittsburgh Daily Post (PA), 9 May 1920 page 42) NB subscription required, OCR text only.

Thus he could easily be the same person who was with Menchen in September 1920 at the Wall Street Bombing. He may have called himself a 'former intelligence officer' to a newspaper reporter, but as a motoring journalist in the 1920s he would have known how to disguise the odd fact or two.

I also boldly assume he is the author of an article occasioned by a visit to the Dodge factory in Detroit: Diary of an American Motorist: Comment from Chicago - By Capt. Victor Beveridge. Sunday Times (Perth, WA) 3 June 1923 p. 11.

Some officers received a promotion when they were demobbed, and this may be the case here, because Beveridge was in the Army from 1914-1922. NB Joseph Menchen was surrounded by people in the US showbiz world who were habitually evasive about themselves and used all sorts of false titles etc. As a result I tend to treat military titles with suspicion, although this 'Captain' may be genuine.

Well, it seems that the same Victor Beveridge married Contessa Julita Fera de Cerrini at the Chapel Royal, on 1 March 1927 [http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2024904/photography_ProvidedCHO_TopFoto_co_uk_EU016416.html Wedding. The wedding took place at the Chapel Royal...] The photo shows Beveridge in Army uniform, with what looks very much a single pip on his shoulder, or possibly two, but definitely not a Captain's three.

"Victor Beveridge, of England, recently stopped his 10,000 [mile?] automobile trip to marry in London Countess Julieta Fera de Cerrini, and the two to<di up the tour as their honeymoon..." The Evening Review (East Liverpool, Ohio), 28 June 1927 p. 13 NB Poor OCR text only w/o subscription.

Robert Beveridge, born 3 November 1868 in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland. Although the Birth Registration shows his name as Robert Beveridge, his name could have been Robert Victor Beveridge. He married Julita Cerrini. Their child was Patricia Beveridge. Robert Morris Beveridge & Elizabeth Wallace Lorimer, Md. 1856 in Old Cumnock, Aryshire, Scotland Ancestry.pl.

1167.EDMUND FREDERICK ASTLEY was born 1924, and died 1986. He married PATRICIA (CONTESSA) BEVERIDGE 1956, daughter of ?? BEVERIDGE and CONTESSA DE CERRINI. She was born 1930. Genealogy Report: Descendants of Ralph De Bridtwesell Genealogy.com

More later life

 * 1920s More inventions
 * 1926 Copyright tussle over novels of Laura Jean Libbey
 * 1927 A. H. Woods planned to make a new film of The Miracle, possibly with Lady Diana Manners?? or Carmi??: but a court case established that Menchen had definitely sold the entire film rights to Woods.
 * 1930s Various literary efforts including Nellie McClung,, more inventions
 * At some point he and Madge divorced, in Dade, Florida. (County records...)
 * 1940 - working on aerial torpedo or gas bomb
 * Died in California, 9 October 1940 - buried in Glendale.

Arsène Lupin films

 * 1909: Michel-Antoine Carré, who directed The Miracle made one of the first films of Maurice Leblanc's detective novels, Arsène Lupin, with Georges Tréville and Harry Baur.
 * 1913: Joe formed Société des Films Menchen - gained film rights from Maurice Leblanc for the greater majority of his books featuring Arsène Lupin, a French detective modelled after Sherlock Holmes.
 * 1913: Opened Studios Menchen at Épinay-sur-Seine, possibly prompted by Georges Lordier's success.
 * 1914: Carré directed Arsène Lupin contre Ganimard, again with Georges Tréville.
 * 1915 Arsene Lupin (B&W., UK, 1915) with Gerald Ames prod. company London Films Co. Ltd (not to be confused with London Films of Alexander Korda)
 * In 1916 Menchen obtained the rights for the remaining Lupin book by Leblanc, the original Arsène Lupin.
 * In 1918 and 1919 Menchen brought two court cases against Vitagraph over the Arsene Lupin film rights.


 * In 1920 Menchen sold the film rights for the Lupin novels to Robertson-Cole for $360,000 (anywhere between $3m and $60m in 2012, according to various indicators).


 * The next Arsene Lupin film to be made was 813 (B&W., US, 1920) with Wedgewood Newel.

Norris-Menchen Flamethrower
Whooomph...

Theatrical Mechanical Association
Jos. Menchen (the name is constructed like Al. Woods) belonged to the Theatrical Mechanical Association (TMA), a US labor union for theatre stage hands. In addition to protecting the interests of theatrical employees such as working conditions and pay, the Association also provided welfare such as relief and housing for distressed members, distributing tokens which could be exchanged for goods etc. in shops where they were accepted.

In 1863 the first stage employees' organization was named the Theatrical Workman's Council (TMC), one of several craft unions which grew up in the wake of Abraham Lincoln's election with the aid of the working-class vote. The TMC became the Theatrical Mechanical Association in 1865 when it incorporated under New York State law. On 26 April 1886, many TMA members met at 187 Bowery, New York, to draw up a new constitution, marking the beginning of Theatrical Protective Union Number One (Local One). The National Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (NATSE) was founded on 17 July 1893 by TMA representatives of ten cities assembled at Elks Hall in New York, to join with their Broadway brothers.

For examples of TMA notices in the trade press, see The New York Clipper, October 3 1910 OR 1911, p. 847.) The TMA, like many labour unions, adopted terms similar to those used in Freemasonry like 'lodge', 'hall' and 'brother'; but there otherwise is no link with masonry (although Menchen in his 1906 catalogue says that his firm can provide all sorts of deceptive illusions for Masonic rituals).

As the motion picture industry continued to grow during the 1910s, many serious theatres adopted a format similar to to the one Menchen had helped to pioneer in 1896 and which Al Woods and Frank Godsoll exported to France and Germany as 'Kinovaudeville', consisting typically of six acts of vaudeville, a feature photoplay, a comedy and a newsreel.

In an 1987 interview, Richard Walsh (who joined IATSE Local No. 4 as an apprentice at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York in 1917 and was first elected President of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees in 1942) recalled his experiences in vaudeville which cannot have been very dissimilar to Joseph Menchen's: “Well, I came in because of a change in the theaters. When the theatres started to change from legitimate to vaudeville and pictures that’s when I came in. Because the stage hands of the days before me didn’t think Vaudeville was worth working. So we young fellows were taken in to rush out and hang the sign on and to run back and run the switchboard and to run over there and push the piano out. We’d have four or five men in a house, but with legitimate theatre, you’d have fifty, sixty men sometimes and maybe more. You maintained the electrical equipment, you maintained the seats in a theatre, you changed the attraction signs, you repaired the lines [ropes] when they got worn out or weren’t safe anymore, you knew it was, you done everything in theatre that was necessary to keep the theatre working.”