Autograph letter signed and monogrammed.

8vo. 4 pp. on bifolium. Charming and insightful letter to Auguste Drioux in Lyon, publisher of the magic magazine Passez Muscade, thanking him for the most recent issues and promising an article on Robert Houdin's illusion "Le D capit r calcitrant" from 1890. M li s mentions that he is currently very busy, as he was taking care of his gravely ill daughter Georgette and restoring some of Robert Houdin's automatons that he had donated to the Mus e des Arts et M tiers in Paris: "Je suis oblig de nettoyer tout cela, et de remettre les t tes, mains, costumes, peintures et dorures en bon tat. Il y a pas mal de travail, car tout ce mat riel est rest 5 ans dans un endroit assez humide, et il en a souffert. Mais une fois retap il n'y para tra plus, et il pourra affronter l' ternit dans les vitrines du Mus e. moins qu'il ne soit, un jour, d truit par un incendie". - The ominous remark that a fire could destroy the museum seems to be an allusion to M li s' destruction of his own negatives, film sets, and costumes after he lost his legal battle with Path over his Montreuil studio in 1923. M li s praises the performance of Drioux's fellow magicians from Lyon at a banquet by the Chambre syndicale du Cinema that was probably held in his honour. In a postscript he reports that the politician douard Herriot, who had also been present at the banquet, apologized to him for not being able to award M li s with "the famous red ribbon" anymore, having lost his post as Minister of Culture days earlier. However, Herriot promised to put in a good word for M li s with his successor, also alluding to the possibility that he might get a job in the insurance of the movie industry "Mutuelle du Cin ma," possibly as the director of its retirement home. This prospect gave M li s hope to be able to finally escape his "dreadful Montparnasse prison": "Il avait promis, pour moi, le fameux ruban rouge, la demande de Br zillon. Mais c'est bien ma veine, il venait de perdre sa place de ministre 5 jours auparavant. Il a t charmant avec moi, s'est excus d'avoir t contraint de se 'd barquer' lui-m me, ce sont ses propres expressions, mais m'a promis son appui [.] aupr s du nouveau Ministre de l'Instruction publique et des beaux arts. [.] En tous cas, j'ai su qu'il est question de me donner une situation int ressante dans l' tat major de la Mutuelle du Cin ma; peut- trela direction de la maison de retraite. Inutel de dire que cela ferait fort bien mon affaire, en me lib rant de mon affreuse prison de Montparnasse". - Following his bankruptcy in 1925, M li s and his second wife Jehanne d'Alcy barely made a living with a small candy and toy stand in Gare Montparnasse. Around this time M li s, who had been slipping into oblivion since 1913, was slowly rediscovered and recognized as a film pioneer by journalists and enthusiasts such as Auguste Drioux. Despite the renewed interest and official recognition like the award of the Legion of Honour, M li s' financial situation improved little. While the post as director never materialised, M li s, his wife, and his granddaughter received a place in the retirement home in Orly in 1932.