Jan van Dommelen

As one of the first actors in Dutch movies, Jan van Dommelen was born with the blood to be an actor. His father Charles was a prolific stage actor. Of Charles' nine children, four followed their father's footsteps. Apart from Caroline van Dommelen and Louis van Dommelen, Jan's older brother Frits also made a living out of acting. Van Dommelen gained his love for acting while doing minor stage roles. In 1891, he enrolled at the Toneelschool (Academy of Dramatic Arts). He graduated in 1895 and became member of Koninklijke Vereeniging Het Nederlandsch Tooneel, a Dutch theatrical company. He worked there for 14 years and got increasingly more important roles. In 1911, Van Dommelen encountered a new medium: film. Dutch producer F.A. Nöggerath Jr. opened a film studio and contracted three of the Van Dommelen's. Jan van Dommelen became an actor in the first known Dutch movies: De bannelingen (1911) and Ontrouw (1911), which was produced by Nöggerath. Nöggerath quit his production company in 1913, but Van Dommelen had already found shelter with Filmfabriek Hollandia, under charge of Maurits Binger. Director Louis Chrispijn Jr. brought Van Dommelen with him when he took over the artistic direction of the company. The change for Van Dommelen wasn't a bad one, as he shined in Op hoop van zegen (1918) and Schakels (1920). When his cooperation with Hollandia ended after a conflict over makeup with the new chief director B.E. Doxat-Pratt, he played only minor roles until 1927. In that year, he funded an experimental sound film out of his own pocket, 'Het heksenlied'. The idea was to let an orchestra play, while Van Dommelen recited his text from behind the curtains, while the film images rolled. The experiment failed because in the mean time, ordinary sound films were already produced. The sound film meant virtually the end for the career of Jan van Dommelen. Van Dommelen was thereafter only asked to play very minor roles.