The Enchanted Toymaker (also known as ''The Fairy Godmother'' and ''Toy Maker and Good Fairy'') is a 1904 British

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

, directed and animated by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper. Its running time was 3 minutes and 10 seconds. It combined live-action and

stop-motion animation Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

.de Vries, Mul (2009), p. 323 The film was produced for the Alpha Trading Company. It was filmed at Studio Bedford Park, Beaconsfield Road,

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

. The anonymous toymaker is thought to have been played by the actor Samuel Chote. The

fairy A fairy (also called fay, fae, fae folk, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Cel ...

was played by the actress Hattie Makins. de Vries, Mul (2009), p. 323

Plot

An aging toymaker dreams about a good fairy, who brings his toys to life. The toy animals enter a version of Noah's Ark. de Vries, Mul (2009), p. 323

Impact

The film may have contained "true animation". Along with Melbourne-Cooper's ''Dolly's Toys'' (1901), they are thought to have inspired the American director and animation pioneer J. Stuart Blackton. Crafton (2014), p. 130 Both of the films by Melbourne-Cooper were duped and distributed by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

. Under the title ''The Toy Maker and the Good Fairy'', the film appeared in a catalogue dated to September, 1904. Edison did not attempt to copyright the film under his own name. By this period, the Edison film catalogue included films originally distributed by either

Robert W. Paul Robert William Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was an English pioneer of film and scientific instrument maker. He made narrative films as early as April 1895, which were shown first in Edison Kinetoscope knockoffs. In 1896 he showe ...

Pathé Pathé SAS (; styled as PATHÉ!) is a French major film production and distribution company, owning a number of cinema chains through its subsidiary Pathé Cinémas and television networks across Europe. It is the name of a network of Fren ...

. Crafton (2014), p. 130 Melbourne-Cooper used the theme of living toys in several of his films. Edwin S. Porter, a

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

pioneer working for Edison, is thought to have produced "imitations" of these films. In turn, Blackton patterned his early films on either Melbourne-Cooper's films or on their remakes by Porter. Both the British and the American versions of these tales of living toys are now thought to be

lost films A lost film is a feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. Early films we ...

. Crafton (2014), p. 130

References

External References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enchanted Toymaker, The 1904 films 1904 short films 1900s British films 1900s lost films Films shot in Hertfordshire Films directed by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper British films with live action and animation Short films with live action and animation Films using stop-motion animation Films about sentient toys Films about fairies Films about dreams Noah's Ark in film