Arthur Bernède

Arthur Bernède (5 January 1871, Redon, Ille-et-Vilaine — 20 March 1937, Paris) was a French librettist, writer, poet, and playwright. He often collaborated with Paul De Choudens, including several operas by Félix Fourdrain, and wrote librettos for Jules Massenet's Sapho and Camille Erlanger's L'Aube rouge, among other stagings. In 1919, Bernède co-founded Société des Cinéromans production company with writer Gaston Leroux and actor René Navarre (1877—1968), star of Louis Feuillade's Fantômas serials, simultaneously producing silent films and novels with recurring characters. It was a groundbreaking concept — an early foray into "multimedia" publishing (somewhat similar to modern Marvel and DC "universes"), which kept the audience constantly engaged. Société des Cinéromans focused entirely on adventure, detective, mystery, history epics, and other thrilling, entertaining genres. Throughout his career, Arthur Bernède wrote and published almost 200 fiction books.