Fregoli, Leopoldo

(1867-1936)

   Illusionist, comic actor, singer, and director. A remarkably gifted mime and impersonator who had already achieved international fame for his ability to change in and out of myriad characters, Fregoli was also one of the first to grasp the potential of the Lumiere cinematographe for the purposes of theatrical spectacle. After visiting the Lumiere brothers at Lyon in 1896 to learn how to work the apparatus, he returned to Italy with a modified version of their machine, which he dubbed the Fregoligraph. With the help of Luca Comerio, another pioneer of Italian cinema, he used the device to shoot footage, often of his own performances, and then project these short films as part of his stage act. He experimented with splicing short films together to create longer sequences and with projecting films in reverse to create greater amazement in his audiences. He also made several films that unveiled the techniques he used to effect his transformations and projected these too as part of his act. Surprisingly, rather than demystifying the process, this seemed only to increase the audience's appreciation of his remarkable skill.

   Fregoli toured extensively throughout Europe and the Americas and continued to appear onstage to great acclaim until 1925. However, he was primarily a stage performer and his dalliance with film was short lived. By 1905 when feature films were beginning to be made in Italy, Fregoli had already ceased to include films in any of his performances.