“In an interview with Pamela Green the director of the soon to be released documentary Be Natural, a film that takes the exploration of Alice Guy Blaché’s life and career to new depths, Green shared, “Anytime you mention early cinema, she has to be mentioned. If you talk about Hollywood before Hollywood, she has to be mentioned. If you talk about an artist and an entrepreneur at the time, she has to be mentioned.””
The Nature and Genius of Alice Guy Blaché Khanisha Foster
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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
The Grand Passion is a 1918 American silent western film directed by Ida May Park and starring Lon Chaney.[1] It is not known whether the film currently survives.[1]
As described in a film magazine,[2] Dick Evans (Stowell), boss of Powderville, decides to start a newspaper and support it through coerced advertising from the businesses in the town. He hires Jack Ripley (Mulhall), a New York newspaperman, to be its editor. Viola (Phillips), niece of Paul Argos (Chaney), arrives on the same train as Ripley. Forming a relationship with her, Evans decides to clean up the town. In the meantime, Viola has been kidnapped and hidden in a roadhouse on the other side of the tracks. Evans and Ripley rescue her but incur the enmity of the denizens of the district. They attack the newspaper office and, in the face of defeat, Evans orders Ripley to escape with Viola. When she discovers that Evans is missing, she returns to the burning town and discovers him wounded. She declares her love and indications are that he will survive to claim it. — Wikipedia
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
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
Ida May Park (December 28, 1879 – June 13, 1954)[1] was an American screenwriter and film director of the silent era, in the early 20th century. She wrote for more than 50 films between 1914 and 1930, and directed 14 films between 1917 and 1920.[2] She was born and died in Los Angeles, California. She was married to film director and producer Joseph De Grasse, with whom she was regularly teamed at Universal.[3]
Park got her start in the entertainment industry as a stage actress when she was fifteen years old. During her time in the theatre she met her future husband, Joseph De Grasse, also an actor. When Pathé hired De Grasse in 1909, Park was also hired as a writer. Together they were hired by Universal.[4]
The first screenplay that she wrote was titled A Gypsy Romance which was developed into a short scenario by director Wallace Reid. Reid also directed the next scenario that she wrote, The Man Within.[2] Park then started to work with De Grasse who directed the next several pieces that she wrote. The two worked on multiple shorts and scenarios together over several years. Their first joint project was the short Her Bounty (1914), and their first feature-length film was Father and The Boys (1915). Most of the titles that the two worked on together were for Universal’s Bluebird label.[5] Park made her solo directorial debut in 1917 when she directed The Flashlight[6] starring Universal’s top dramatic actress Dorothy Phillips;[4] after this picture, she and DeGrasse took turns directing Bluebird projects featuring Phillips.[6] She went on to direct 13 more films, many of which were deemed “women’s features”.[7] — Wikipedia
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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
Just booked my tickets for Citizen Jane – so excited to see students do their Research Paper presentations, to experience the whole festival (Agnes Varda’s ‘Faces/Places’ was my fav film last year) and, of course, to attend the Columbia launch of our book!
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
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1920 horror silent film, produced by Famous Players-Lasky and released through Paramount/Artcraft. The film is based upon Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and starring actor John Barrymore.
The film was directed by John S. Robertson and co-starred Nita Naldi. The scenario was by Clara Beranger and the film is now in the public domain.
Dr. Jekyll, a kind and charitable man, believes that everyone has two sides, one good and one evil, otherwise considered a split personality. Using a potion that he concocted, Dr. Jekykll becomes Mr. Hyde, creating havoc throughout his town.[1][2]
The early part of Jekyll’s initial transformation into Hyde was achieved with no makeup, instead relying solely on Barrymore’s ability to contort his face.[4] In one scene, as Hyde reverts to Jekyll, one of Hyde’s prosthetic fingers can be seen to fly across the screen, having been shaken loose by Barrymore’s convulsions. The character of Millicent Carew does not appear in Stevenson’s original story, but in the 1887 stage version by Thomas Russell Sullivan starring Richard Mansfield. This 1920 film version used the play’s concept of Jekyll being engaged to Carew’s daughter, and Hyde beginning a dalliance with a dance-hall girl. — Wikipedia
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“Best known for writing ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’, Anita Loos is a great American author, playwright, and screenwriter. In the silent era, Loos shaped the integral role that intertitles played, and is known for her title work for some of the most acclaimed of movies of the day. She was a master of satirizing sex and love, and was capable of writing rich, multi-faceted females who drove the action in their films.”
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
These 23 essays cover a range of female screenwriters from the early years of film through the 1940s, women whose work helped create the unforgettable stories and characters beloved generations of audiences but whose names have been left out of most film histories. Not this one. This collection is dedicated to those women and written by a group of women grateful to stand on the shoulders of those who came before – as a beacon to those who will come after.
Many thanks to the essay contributors who joined us and spoke so eloquently about the women writers they had researched: Toni Anita Hull, Laura Kirk, Amelia Phillips, Sarah Phillips, Julie Berkobien, Khanisha Foster, Lauren Smith, and to Cari Beauchamp, who wrote the Forward to the collection.
* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs ** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library
![Why (and How) I Created a History of Screenwriting Course and NOT a History of Film Course with Rosanne Welch, Ph.D [Video] (17:15)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/srn-milan-1.png)
![Lauren Elizabeth Smith, Author of “Fearless and Fierce: June Mathis” from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” [Video] (4:02)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/w3h-smith.jpeg)
