Silent Women

EditorsMelody Bridges studied English and Drama at Cambridge University and has written, acted and directed for theatre before working in TV where she developed, wrote, produced and directed two television series. In addition to contributing to Celluloid Ceiling, she writes a weekly page for a newspaper, and is Artistic Director of Worthing's WOW Festival. In 2014, she was a Finalist as Influential Woman of the Year at the NatWest Venus Awards. She has recently given a TEDx talk about inspiring change. Cheryl Robson is a producer/director of several short independent films, most recently Rock 'n' Roll Island which was nominated for Best Short Film at Raindance, London 2015. She worked at the BBC for several years and then taught filmmaking at the University of Westminster, before setting up a theatre company. She also created a publishing company where she has published over 150 international writers. As a writer, she has won the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting Competition and as an editor, she recently worked with Gabrielle Kelly on Celluloid Ceiling: women film directors breaking through, the first global overview of women film directors. She also received a Gourmand Special Jury Prize for Peace with author Robin Soans, for The Arab-Israeli Cookbook.

“What is perhaps most compelling about Silent Women is its documentation of the sheer graft and willpower behind these pioneering women’s work. Favouring historicity over critical theory, it does that most noble task of telling the stories that need to be told..” - Lara Williams, London Review of Books; “You may come to this spry slice of film history prepared to celebrate a handful of women who helped shape the movies in their blinking infancy. The surprise of the essays collected here is their sheer volume in every corner of a business apparently better able to accommodate female talent then than now..” - Danny Leigh, Financial Times; “Silent Women, in uncovering a diverse range of female voices from the past, offers a variety of present voices… On this evidence, the relative diversity of the industry’s past should shame it into taking action in the future.” - Pamela Hutchinson, Sight & Sound; “Silent Women is a book that needed to be written, and it will raise the consciousness of most readers who haven’t made a study of the subject of just how male-orientated the history of cinema has been. It’s a fascinating journey into the untold history of a largely lost era of film..” - Greg Jameson, Entertainment Focus; “. . . a lively collection, opening up an increasingly vibrant field, which promises to raise a diversity of questions for viewers, makers and teachers of film about women’s role world-wide in the emergence of cinema..” - Christine Gledhill; “This book is inspirational reading for any woman who dreams to express her vision through film in any direction this industry takes us. Only by understanding our past can we embrace our greatest future..” - Gayle Nachlis, Senior Director of Education, Women In Film Los Angeles; “This book shows how women’s voices were heard and helped create the golden age of silent cinema, how those voices were almost eradicated by the male-dominated film industry, and perhaps points the way to an all-inclusive future for global cinema..” - Paul Duncan, Film Historian; “Inspirational and informative, Silent Women will challenge many people’s ideas about the beginnings of film history. This fascinating book roams widely across the era and the diverse achievements and voices of women in the film industry. These are the stories of pioneers, trailblazers and collaborators – hugely enjoyable to read and vitally important to publish.” - Pamela Hutchinson, Silent London; “A timely and urgently needed collection of essays by a definitive group of scholars on the subject, Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema utilizes the time-honored feminist concept of the silence and voicelessness at the heart of female oppression as its central motivation. The essays in this collection demonstrate how the film industry kept women from certain opportunities in the early years, but also provided them a particular agency to make their marks outside more traditional boundaries. A must-read!” - Lisa Stein Haven, author of Syd Chaplin: A Biography (2010) and editor of Charlie Chaplin A Comedian Sees the World (2014); “This book confirms what an exciting time it is for women’s cinema history. Every chapter opens tantalising new windows into the fascinating but forgotten or overlooked lives and careers of women working in the early film industry. Every page begs the question – how on earth did these amazing women vanish from history in the first place? I defy anyone interested in cinema history not to find this valuable compendium a must-read. It’s also a call to arms for more research into women’s contribution and an affirmation of just how rewarding the detective work can be.” - Laraine Porter, Senior Lecturer in Film, De Montfort University and Co-Artistic Director of British Silent Film Festival; “In a climate in which the equality that exists within film has become an increasingly visible focus of debate, Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema offers a timely reminder of the historical contribution women have made to the medium. An authoritative and illuminating work, it also lends a pervasive voice to the argument that discrimination and not talent is the barrier to so few women occupying the most prominent roles within the industry.” - Jason Wood, Artistic Director of Film at HOME, Author and Visiting Professor at MMU; “Silent Women: Pioneers of Cinema is an inspiring and refreshing set of well written essays on a subject often forgotten, discussing the fabulous variety of women in film over the years. A must for any fan of cinema/film, or anyone that has an interest in women’s history..” - Hayley Foster da Silva, The F-Word; “A long overdue compendium of insightful essays highlighting the oft-forgotten women and the vital roles they played in both the birth of cinema and its evolution. I was amazed to discover just how crucially they were involved from not just in front of the camera but in producing, directing, editing and much, much more. An essential read.” Neil McGlone - The Criterion Collection; “Silent Women honors the women in cinema who actively paved the way for future women in this industry, and brought attention to the issue of gender bias in media, a problem we are still fighting today.” - Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

• FOREWORD 9Bryony Dixon, Curator of silent film, BFI National Archive INTRODUCTION 13Melody Bridges and Cheryl Robson1. GIRL FROM GOD'S COUNTRY: The History 19of Women in Film and Other War StoriesKaren Day2. EARLY AFRICAN-AMERICAN FEMALE 35FILMMAKERS Aimee Dixon Anthony3. THE SILENT PRODUCER: 69Women Filmmakers Who Creatively Controlled the Silent Era of CinemaPieter Aquilia4. WOMEN WERE WRITING: 95 Beyond Melodrama and Hot House RomancesPatricia Di Risio5. DOING IT ALL: Women's On- and Off-screen 109 Contributions to European Silent FilmJulie K. Allen6. FEMALE LEGENDS OF THE SILVER SCREEN 131Melody Bridges7. DIRECTORS FROM THE DAWN OF 146 HOLLYWOODFrancesca StephensIMAGES 1638. INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR 179 DOROTHY ARZNERKevin Brownlow9. WOMEN FILM EDITORS FROM SILENT 201 TO SOUNDTania Field10. WHO WAS THE FIRST FEMALE 228 CINEMATOGRAPHER IN THE WORLD?Ellen Cheshire11. WHEN THE WOMAN SHOOTS: 241 Ladies Behind the Silent Horror Film CameraK. Charlie Oughton12. CRITICS, REFORMERS AND EDUCATORS: 255 Film Culture as a Feminine SphereShelley Stamp13. U.S. WOMEN DIRECTORS: The Road Ahead 280 Maria GieseINDEX