When Women Wrote Hollywood – 20 in a series – Lois Weber

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 20 in a series – Lois Weber

When Women Wrote Hollywood - 20 in a series - Lois Weber

Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director, who is considered “the most important female director the American film industry has known”,[1] and “one of the most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films”.[2][3] Film historian Anthony Slide asserts that: “Along with D.W. Griffith, Weber was the American cinema’s first genuine auteur, a filmmaker involved in all aspects of production and one who utilized the motion picture to put across her own ideas and philosophies.”[4]

Weber produced an oeuvre which Jennifer Parchesky argues is comparable to Griffith’s in both quantity and quality,[5] and brought to the screen her concerns for humanity and social justice in an estimated 200 to 400 films,[2][6] of which as few as twenty have been preserved,[7][8] and has been credited by IMDb with directing 135 films, writing 114, and acting in 100.[9] Weber was “one of the first directors to come to the attention of the censors in Hollywood’s early years”.[10] — Wikipedia 

Watch a movie by Lois Weber

A clip from The Blot

More about Lois Weber

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Related posts:

  1. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 10 in a series – Frederica Sagor Maas
  2. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 8 in a series – Bess Meredyth
  3. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 12 in a series – Marion Fairfax
  4. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 14 in a series – Eve Unsell
  5. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 16 in a series – Elinor Glyn

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