There has been a hundred years of controversy over La Fée aux Choux, starting in 1922, when Étienne Arnaud wrote in his memoirs that Alice Guy was the “first to have the idea of staging a dramatic scene in front of the cinematographic lens.” He wrote that the film was Les Mefaits d’une Tête de Veau, creating more controversy and confusion.
[2] Léon Gaumont cemented the confusion when he reportedly said in 1935 that he himself directed the first film that was “trying to tell a story to the audience,” in front of “a painted canvas that naively represented the rue de Belleville.
His feminine star was Alice Guy, and two mechanics from the studio were the first screen actors.” He also claimed his “first” film was called Les Mefaits d’une Tête de Veau.
[3] In the evidence that has been coming in piecemeal for over a century, there are multiple points of confirmation that there were three La Fée aux Choux and that the first was filmed in the spring and early summer of 1896.
Alice Guy explained in her memoirs: "As actors, my friends, a screaming baby, an anxious mother leaping to and fro into the field of focus, and my first film, La Fée aux Choux, was born.” Since that one-minute length of film cost as much as Alice’s salary for a week, she apparently decided not to reshoot after the mother jumped in.
In February 1896, on the boulevard Poissonnière leading to the cabarets of Montmartre, Dr. Alexandre Lion opened an exposition, a “boutique fully operational,” of baby incubators, filled with live, premature infants.
She later told her granddaughter, Regine Blaché-Bolton, that she was inspired to create La Fée aux Choux because she had seen the babies in the glass and metal boxes at an exposition.
[7] Cited sometimes is the theory that other people, namely Georges Hatot (or perhaps some camera men at Gaumont), could have directed the 1896 or the 1900 La Fée aux Choux.
Hatot and Breteau economized on their productions for Gaumont by recycling the backdrops, props, and costumes they had used for the Lumière brothers in the 1897 series of films, La Vie du Christ.
Since Alice Guy called this photo La Fée aux Choux, there has been some confusion because the painted scene behind the three women is from Sage-femme.
Before the 1900 version of La Fée aux Choux was discovered by Alison McMahan in a Swedish archive in 1996, this photo was the basis for the theory that the 1902 Sage-femme was Alice Guy’s debut film.
It is also hard to argue that the 1900 La Fée aux Choux is a copy of Alice Guy’s first film because it doesn’t match her description either.
It has no cardboard babies, no farmer, and its backdrop, which Alice Guy said “shivered in the wind,” is secured by the fence standing on its lower edge.
Since Alice Guy reported that her 1896 La Fée aux Choux had to be remade at least twice, the most straight-forward explanation is that there was a third film that came first, and that the 1900 and 1902 versions are the remakes.
Alice Guy repeatedly recounted that she was put in charge of production in 1897 after the success of the 1896 La Fée aux Choux.
In February 1897, Léon Gaumont obtained a permit to remodel 14, rue Alouettes, “pavilion pour concierge,” for an employee or caretaker of the property.
Alice Guy reported that the backdrop for her 1896 original La Fée aux Choux was painted by a ladies’ fan-painter.
The words “running” and “distant” suggest the 1896 version was shot on a larger format film, such as the 58-millimeter which allowed for a scene in wide-screen.
There are three Gaumont catalogue entries that correspond to 1) Alice Guy’s 1896 descriptions, 2) the 1900 version of La Fée aux Choux, and 3) the 1902 Sage-Femme.
A fairy deposits live babies which she then removes from the cabbages to the delight of the young couple who are overjoyed.” This catalogue that Alice Guy had in her possession appears to be lost because the earliest description we have is from the 1901 Gaumont catalogue which carries the following description and fits the 1900 version: “A fairy deposits live babies which she then removes from the cabbages.
[14] La Fée aux Choux inspired the children's novel, The Rabbit's Gift, written by Jessica Vitalis and published by Greenwillow/HarperCollins on October 25, 2022.