Belgium-born cinema pioneer and animal trainer (1883–1940)
Paul Sablon aka Paul Bourgeois in Motion Picture News, 1915
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.[1]
While working in the Netherlands, "Sablon became the regular cameraman for Alfred Machin’s tiger Mimir."[2] He later toured with the Circus Hagenbeck, developing his animal training skills.[1] During his American era he seems to have been a combination animal trainer, critically and commercially successful director, con man and workplace predator.[3] “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.[3] He was head animal trainer and Universal City Zoo superintendent from approximately 1915 to 1916.[4] In 1916, he defrauded investors with an ice rink scheme and then absconded to Arizona with the money and his 19-year-old stenographer.[3] He spent time in both Canada and the United States but died in his home country of Belgium.[1][3]
