Paul Sablon (6 November 1888 – 3 November 1940), later Paul Bourgeois, was a Brussels-born actor, director, cinematographer, writer and animal trainer, who worked in the early film industry, including for Pathé Frères in Europe and Universal in the United States.
While working in the Netherlands, "Sablon became the regular cameraman for Alfred Machin’s tiger Mimir." He later toured with the Circus Hagenbeck, developing his animal training skills. During his American era he seems to have been a combination animal trainer, critically and commercially successful director, con man and workplace predator. “Bourgeois and his wife, actress Rosita Marstini, arrived in Hollywood in summer 1915” after he had worked with animals in New York and New Jersey. He was head animal trainer and Universal City Zoo superintendent from approximately 1915 to 1916. In 1916, he defrauded investors with an ice rink scheme and then absconded to Arizona with the money and his 19-year-old stenographer. He spent time in both Canada and the United States but died in his home country of Belgium.
Filmography Actor: 1912: Het vervloekte Geld (The Curse of Money) 1913: Beasts of the Jungle 1915: The Prisoner of the Harem 1916: Hungry Happy’s Dream
Director or cinematographer, in Europe: 1912: Babylas va se marier 1912: L'Âme des moulins 1912: Calvaire du mousse 1912: L'Or qui brûle 1912: De Molens die juichen en weenen 1912: La Peinture et les cochons
Director, working in the United States under the name Paul Bourgeois: 1915: Joe Martin Turns 'Em Loose 1915: The Tiger-Woman 1916: Nadine of Nowhere 1916: The Whole Jungle Was After Him 1916: On the Trail of the Tigress
Further reading
References
External links IMDb: Paul Bourgeois Nitrateville: The 1910s animal films of Paul Bourgeois