Mime Misu

Mime Misu (21 January 1888 – 1953)^[1] (born Mișu Rosescu) was a Romanian ballet dancer, pantomime artist, film actor and director. In 1912 he wrote and directed the first feature film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, In Nacht und Eis, released in August 1912 four months after the disaster.

Mime Misu^{[n 1]} was born in the market town of Botoșani, Romania, into a family of artistes. He was the nephew of the 'world famous' Rahel. He was on the stage from an early age in ballet and pantomime, and he displayed enough talent to be given a free place at Bucharest Art Academy. During his studies he was assigned to the Royal National Theatre, and after graduating with honors he successfully played in provincial theatres in Romania. In 1900 he performed at the 1900 World Fair in Paris, and then took his own productions to Berlin, Vienna, Budapest and London.^[2]

Misu worked for the film production companies Lux and Pathé Frères in Paris before signing up with Continental-Kunstfilm of Berlin in 1912 where he wrote and directed three films: Das Gespenst von Clyde, In Nacht und Eis, and Das Mirakel.^[1] Misu made one more film in Germany, Der Excentric-Club for Projektions-AG Union (PAGU).^{[1][n 2]}

An article in the Berlin journal Licht-Bild-Bühne in 1914 called him the 'Napoleon of film' (German: 'Napoleon der Filmkunst'), referring to his various technological advances.^[3] When Emil Schunemann (the cameraman for In Nacht und Eis and Das Mirakel) called him a barber in his memoirs, he wasn't being particularly complimentary.^{[citation needed]}

Misu went to the USA but only made one known film with his Misu-Film Co., The Money God.^[4][5] In 1915 he directed Ontmaskerd ('Unmasked') in the Netherlands under his real name, Misu Rosescu. Like In Nacht und Eis, this film also contains a scene of a ship sinking.^[6][7]

Misu travelled to the US every year from 1915 to 1917.^{[n 3]} His Berlin address in 1915 was Nachodstraße 25, Berlin-Wilmersdorf. In 1920/21 Misugraph-Film G.m.b.H., had its offices at Martin-Luther-Straße 28, Berlin, according to the Reichs-Kino-Adressbuch.

In 1921 Misu seems to have misrepresented himself as to his level of involvement at Famous Players Lasky, and to have caused some considerable offence. This led to an exchange of letters in the Berlin film journal Film-Kurier.^{[n 4][n 5]}

Information about his later career and death is uncertain.

He directed at least six films:

• Das Gespenst von Clyde (1912)^[9]
• In Nacht und Eis (1912)^[10] (and also possibly played the part of the radio operator)
• Das Mirakel (1912), later Das Marienwunder: eine alte Legende^{[n 6]}
• Der Excentric-Club (1913/14)
• The Money God (1914)
• Ontmaskerd (1915)

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Abel, Richard, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. Taylor & Francis (e-book). ISBN 9780415234405.
• Abel, Richard (2006). Americanizing the Movies and "Movie-Mad" Audiences, 1910-1914. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520247437.
• Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim, eds. (2009). The Concise CineGraph: Encyclopaedia of German Cinema. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571816559.
• Brewster, Hugh (2012). Gilded lives, fatal voyage. New York: Crown Publishers (Random House). p. 142. ISBN 978-0-307-98470-8.
• Donaldson, Geoffrey (1997). Of Joy and Sorrow : a Filmography of Dutch Silent Fiction. Amsterdam: Stichting Nederlands Filmmuseum. ISBN 9789071338106.
• Wedel, Michael (2004). "Mime Misu's Titanic - In Night and Ice (1912)". In Bergfelder, Tim; Street, Sarah (eds.). The Titanic in Myth and Memory: Representations in Visual and Literary Culture. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9781850434320.