Running head: THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE WOMAN DIRECTOR

A historical study of women directors, beginning with Alice Guy(a.k.a. Alice Guy Blaché), not only the first woman to direct, but one of the first directors, ever, amid the film and television industry. It examines the history of women directors within the ‘studio system’(pre-1950), to the innovation of the independent director (1960 to present.) The breakthroughs, the denial of credit, and the exclusion from Hollywood, woman directors are demanding the acknowledgement they rightly deserve.

FEMINISM IN HOLLYWOOD:

The Acceptance of the Woman Director

I. INTRODUCTION:

The relentless issue of women in the work force is certainly still a controversy in the motion picture industry, which somewhat began without gender biases. In the late 1800’s as technology was in development, women were there to help establish media. Although there was a discerning factor that women were attempting to succeed in a ‘Man’s world’, nobody informed them that they couldn’t try.

Times have changed and technology has come a long way, yet when it comes to women directors in Hollywood, we seem to have reduced the numbers. Throughout the history of motion pictures, there are many renowned women screenwriters, producers, costume designers, art directors, and even studio/production company owners & executive producers. But the job as director has been a restricted field for women. As said by historian Anthony Slide(1977) "It was far easier to protest about discrimination against women than to accept that there were more women directors at work in the American film industry prior to 1920 than during any period of its history"(9).

Many women today, who work in the film industry as directors, remain independent filmmakers, some because they want to, yet most because they have to. There are many undivulged restrictions when it comes to directing in Hollywood. You need to be able to entertain an audience. A Hollywood audience tends to differ from the independent audience. Money talks a lot more in Hollywood, so if you don’t have it, you won’t get very far. Even, executives seem very reluctant to invest in new talent. Something needs to spark their interest, which is probably why the film festivals were established. The festivals seem to help promote new talent to new audiences. It’s amazing the power a gold statue has.

Also, at the beginning of the last century, it appeared cost effective for the studio system to allow some of their screenwriters or actresses to direct. With them being under contract, it seemed more productive to allow them to try other vocations within the industry, instead of sitting around and possibly getting into trouble. The studios found more talent than expected. Many women were offered the opportunity to direct before the fall of the studio system.

It was just before World War II, that the studio system began to collapse, after the U.S. Department of Justice’ antitrust division filed suit against the eight major studios, accusing them of ‘monopolizing the distribution of their films.’ The Paramount suit, as the case was later called, was finally settled in May 1948. Although, the major studios delayed the process as long as possible, maintaining sufficient control over their theaters until the late 1950’s(Belton,79). This changed the dynamics of movie production, and everyone looked for guarantees, and this was somewhat, an end to a significant era.

The history of women filmmakers has largely been ignored by major film historians, until recently. Women were far more prominent in the creation of the visual art form of movie making, than they are now. When the first survey of film history was written, unfortunately most of the women directors were not acknowledged for their accomplishments. Creative women have been participants in the history of film making since the rudimentary stages of the business. Gradually, we are finding more information about the early days and how that has influenced the present.

Anthony Slide(1996) expresses "As mysterious as the question of why the female director disappeared in the U.S is the reason why so little attention has been paid to these pioneering figures in women’s history. Perhaps the cause lies in the fact that these women were not feminists and did not espouse feminist issues. Yet by their being, they were advancing women’s rights. Women did not have the right to vote in the U.S, but these individuals in the film industry did have the right to direct - and they seized it"(xi). The enigmatic remark about women being allowed to direct, when they didn’t even have the power to vote, albeit being denied their credit, proclaims the contradiction of a preconceived notion of what the feminist movement entailed. The determination to acknowledge and inform others, became the inspiration for many of today’s woman directors. This brings up another interesting point that many people assume women directors make ‘feminist’ movies, but there are stigmas attached to what feminism is assumed to mean vs what it truly means, then and now. For example, one assumption is that a feminist director has a political agenda, and intends to use film as her means of persuasion. Her themes may consists of specific messages that are not just of entertainment value.

However, it is interesting to observe that by 1927, times had changed and woman directors were a curiosity in the film industry. During the previous decade, it was easy to make the transition from actress, screenwriter, or editor, to director, but as mentioned by Anthony Slide(1996), "by the late 1920’s departmentalization was taking place. The advent of guilds and unions in the 1930’s further hampered the role of the female director. They were male dominated and remained so, through into 1960’s"(xi).

He also believes that it is ironic that not only was the first book on women directors in silent films, written by a man, but the first film on the subject was produced by two men. The book , Early Women Directors was written by Slide in 1977, and then revised in 1996, which was then named after his film - The Silent Feminists: America’s First Women Directors. As of 1996, no facility in New York has expressed any interest in offering a screening of the film, yet it was well received at film festivals abroad(Slide,1996,xii).

Nonetheless, not only are women directors being neglected in Hollywood, but Hollywood seems to be renouncing the values of its foundations. The women who helped create such a vast industry, are being forgotten. What makes their contribution and hard work less important to be remembered than the work of any man? As time progressed, the number of woman directors recognized in Hollywood, diminished. What caused this shift in dynamics? Is it possible that the fall of the studio system and the development of the unions and guilds, directly influenced this anomaly, or just a coincidence? Several authors have attempted to answer these questions. But, does such a cogent answer exist?

The questions that inspired, Anthony Slide(1996) to research further back in time were: "Why were there so many women directors fifty and sixty years ago and why so few today? Why had their work been so pointedly ignored by critics and historians? The few references in modern books and articles to women in the film industry began with Dorothy Arzner. The interest in entertainment did not appear to extend back before the coming of sound"(v). These are interesting thoughts to ponder. Unfortunately, even Slide has been unable to unveil all the answers to these questions, but it is certainly food for thought.

THE EARLY YEARS - Antecedents

 During the silent era, it might have been said that women virtually controlled the film industry. Many of the stars were women and a slew of them had their own production companies; major stars, such as Mary Pickford, Corinne Griffith, or Mable Normand. Slide(1977) found that "In 1918 alone, some forty-four women were employed in the film industry as scenario writers. The top screenwriters of the silent era were Beulah Marie Dix, Frances Marion, Bess Meredyth and Anita Loos, women whose names are still widely known. How many male screenwriters from the silent era are remembered today?"(10).

There were no rules about who could direct, and certainly no restrictions to which genre they chose. "Women could direct comedy. Women could direct Westerns; in 1917, at Universal, Ruth Ann Baldwin made forty-nine westerns. There wasn’t a genre that women could not tackle and in which a woman was prevented from directing. During the first three decades of its existence, the American film industry was, in many ways, a woman’s world"(Slide, 1996,vi).

As a result of the women’s movement and the research into women’s film history, edification is set in motion. We have become conscious of the presence of women directors and the many other roles; including running their own production companies. Author Barbara Quart(1988) says: "Before it became a powerful elitist operation, the industry’s hunger for material and moviemakers left little room for sexual prejudice"(17). Many of those early films unfortunately are now lost, damaged irrevocably, or scattered, a problem generally for early films. Although, it appears minimal for the products of mainstream powerful companies like Edison and Biograph, than for small independent companies like Alice Guy’s Solax.

Women were also able to learn the technical aspects of movie production. "Access was possible in a time of great rough-and-tumble activity and innovation, when no one knew the potential of film making"(Quart,18). Anthony Slide found that in the mid-teens there were at least three camera women, Dorothy Dunn, Grace Davidson and Margaret Ordway, not to mention one female assistant director, Mrs. Edna G. Riley, and four female studio managers, Alexia Durant, Nellie Grant, Lillian Greenberger and Annie Marchant. There were many women who cut films previous to actual film editors. Slide(1977) attests "The only aspect of film production in which I can find no record of female participation during the silent era is art direction"(11). And of course, there was Margaret Booth, who started editing in 1924, headed the editorial department at M-G-M from 1939-68(Unterburger,42)

There was a distinct place for women in all areas of silent film production. Women directors left their mark on the silent film, and at the time, they were not that unusual. Slide(1996) found "a 1920 volume on careers for women devoted a full chapter to the woman film director"(13). How many career guides for women today would offer even a paragraph for such a vocation? There were more than thirty women directors in the American film industry during the silent era, ranging from Alice Guy Blaché(1873-1968), who established the creditability that women could be directors, to Dorothy Arzner(1900-1979), who prevailed into the sound era. Although, there were also many prominent one-shot women directors during the 1920’s, it all comes back to two major women who dominated that particular era: Mrs. Wallace Reid (a.k.a actress Dorothy Davenport) and the previously mentioned Dorothy Arzner.

Given the enormous need for product in the very early years, the generally low cost of production, and the much smaller scale of film making, there was little to lose(Quart,18). Yet Slide(1977) believes that "many of these women directors were equal to, if not a little better than, their male colleagues. All of them, without a doubt, were pioneers in the true sense of the word"(13).

One of the most remarkable pioneers of cinema, as a woman director, was Alice Guy (as she was referred to in Europe. She was known as Alice Guy Blaché in the United States). Not only was she the screen’s first women director, she was one of the first directors ever. Slide(1977) observed that Photoplay(March, 1912) described her as "a striking example of a modern woman in business who is doing a man’s work. She is doing successfully what men are trying to do. She is succeeding in a line of work in which hundreds of men have failed"(15).

Alice Guy began her grand passion with film making in 1896, during her employment as a secretary for Léon Gaumont, the owner of a photographic company, which she encouraged him to establish (Blaché,23). When Gaumont expanded his business to the making of motion pictures, Guy made her desires known to make a film. An amused Gaumont gave his consent, and Alice Guy's first film, with the help of a friend and her sister Evonne Serand, was titled La Fée aux Choux [The Cabbage Fairy], which is now a classic and the negative is preserved by the Cinematheque Francaise(Heck-Rabi,3) This was the first film to be considered a narrative film, that contained a definitive plot. According to Anthony Slide's The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors(1996), Guy said about her first film, "I should exaggerate if I told you it was a masterpiece, but the public then was not jaded. The actors were young and pleasing, and the film had enough success that I was allowed to try again"(16).

However, Alice Guy wasn’t only known for her development and introduction of the narrative style in film. In her memoirs, she reflects back on the early days of Gaumont. She was allowed to travel around to test the equipment. Thus the first form of documentaries were created. But these felt different from making movies. The atmosphere was incongruous as the settings were real, not ones that she had carved out of wood. She recalled that "The trade of cinematographer was not always a happy one. Concern for the truth obliges one to see and document sources which are sometimes tragic"(Blaché,70).

But her success did not come without struggle, for many reasons. "This was a hard period for me" Alice Guy expressed in her memoirs, "I had been left to work out the difficulties at the beginning, to break new ground, but when the affair became interesting, my directorship was bitterly disputed. However, I was combative and thanks to president [Gustave] Eiffle, who always encouraged me with kindness, the whole Board of Directors, recognizing my efforts, decided to leave me at the head of the service. Apparently there was nothing to complain of, since in spite of the underground war waged against me by the director of the production workshops [Rene Decaux], and in spite of all the ill-temper that led him to commit a thousand pettinesses... not only against me but also against the employees who worked under my orders... But I succeeded in keeping my post until 1907, that is to say for eleven years"(Blaché,31).

Even in the early days, Alice Guy was denied her credit. In her memoirs, she recalls that "Monsieur [Georges] Sadoul, author of a history of cinema from those heroic times... who, misled, and doubtless in all good faith (he says himself that he is ignorant of that epoch and speaks only from hearsay), has attributed my first films to people who probably worked for Gaumont Studios only as actors, whose names I don’t even know"(33). Yet, she was fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Monsieur Sadoul and show him documents which persuaded him that the films in question were indeed, hers. "He promised to rectify this passage in next editions, which he faithfully did"(Blaché,33). This shows that even then, a woman had to provide proof to be credited for her own work.

Times were certainly different then. The legalities of production were less protected. As Alice Guy recollects "We paid no attention to copyright and sought our inspiration just about everywhere. Personally I was inspired: By two Grand Guignol plays for L’Asile de nuit; Le Paralytique; Lui; Au Telephone: By Some Guillaume drawings for Amoureux transis; professeur de languues vivantes (Concerning this film, Gaumont asked me sternly how I happened to know that milieu); La Feve enchantee: and by various plays, legend novels for Levres closes; La Legende de Saint-Nicolas; Conscience de Pretre"(Blaché,38). But, nothing was going to get in her way. As the stories developed, so did the technology. Film became longer and much better quality due to Planchon, a co-worker of Lumiere. And development was made much easier when one of Gaumont’s engineers, Santou, created the first system of automatic development, fixing and drying of films, replacing the inconveniences of developing film by hand. At the same time, the cinema camera became more stable and more tight. Alice Guy declared "The series of big films began, as well as documentaries"(Blaché,38).

Under the supervision of Gaumont, Alice Guy also went on to direct some of the earlier films with sound. Slide(1977) discovered "In 1905, Leon Gaumont invented and marketed a device that recorded sound on wax cylinders, called the "Chronophone," which synchronized a projector with sound. Yet again, it fell to Alice Guy to pioneer "talking pictures," of which she directed more than a hundred during 1906 and early 1907(Foster,161). Curiously there appears to be doubt as to whether these early experimental films were successful"(19). In her memoirs, Alice Guy reflects on her experience of experimenting with the ‘Chronophone.’ As she recalled, "It is easy to record on the wax cylinder. That ease cost me some of the most embarrassing moments of my life... My mother and I went to spend an evening at the house of friends in the faubourg Saint-Germain, a very agreeable environment, but very formal. Our friends asked us to bring an instrument and some cylinders, among others, the ‘Ave Maria.’ In the attentative silence, the first part of the ‘Ave Maria’ played without incident (but with all the faults of the early efforts.) The end came and I was going to take the needle from the last groove; someone interrupted me, saying "Wait, there’s still something there." I obeyed, unhappily, and in a deep silence a masculine voice rose offering these words: "Oh! the cad, he has a hairy a...." A still deeper silence followed. When I lifted my eyes, the dismayed audience worked such a reaction on me that I was taken by irrepressible giggles which infected the listeners. I promised myself to examine the cylinders in future before playing them in public"(Blaché,30).

In 1906, after great success with Gaumont, fate intervened for Alice Guy. She fell in love with English cameraman, Herbert Blaché(1882-1953). He was in France learning the techniques of film making at the Gaumont Studio. He and Guy worked together, and, by early 1907, they married. Leon Gaumont told them that he had sold the patents of the chronophone to two American entrepreneurs in Cleveland, Ohio(Blaché,55). He also mentioned that he had promised to send them a specialist to assist in explaining the function of the product. He chose Herbert Blaché to satisfy this position because of his familiarity of the language. So, within three days of their marriage, they sailed to the U.S. "I left my family and my country with a heavy heart, persuaded that I was abandoning my fine metier forever" expressed Alice Guy (Blaché,55).

Not long after arriving in the U.S, the patent-holders seemed to make no great effort to launch the Chronophone. Alice Guy and her new husband, Herbert Blaché, sent an S.O.S to Gaumont explaining the situation. Gaumont had just finished setting up a factory in Flushing, Long Island, for the development and printing of films in the U.S. "[Gaumont] had a little studio constructed for the filming with chronophone. He recalled us to Long Island then, and confided the direction of the group to my husband"(Blaché,61). Moreover, author Slide shares Alice Guy's return to film making via her memoirs, "The Gaumount Studio was not being used every day. The temptation was too strong; I resolved to rent it and try making a few films"(62). Meanwhile, in the United States, Cinema was still in limbo, and the Americans were disputing the commendation to Thomas Alva Edison, the invention of the cinematograph(Blaché,61).

In 1910, Herbert and Alice Guy Blaché founded the Solax company in New York, with a blazing sun as its trademark. Alice Guy was hired as president and director-in-chief. She explained that "An organization had been created [The Motion Picture Patents Company] which grouped the productions of the several existing companies, Essanay, Vitagraph, Biograph, etc. in to a program to be distributed to the movie theatres, indispensable, one had to pay a rather large sum. We did so, and our company gained membership in this group"(Blaché,62). Between September 7, 1910, through June 1914, the span of Solax's existence, Alice Guy supervised the direction of 331 one-reel productions - the entire output of the studio("Alice Guy Blaché").

1912 was a momentous year for the Blachés. Guy custom built her own studio in Fort Lee, N.J. She hired an electrical engineer, Max Mayer (whose name is unjustly forgotten for he was the voluntary victim of the first X-ray experiments)(Blaché,63). "He gave our studio an installation unique at that time: an entirely removable ceiling, real keyboard for lights, spot lights, etc. Our cameras, projectors, printing, perforation, were by Bell & Howell, whose reputation is well known. Finally our film supplier was Kodak, which had arrived at an unequaled degree of perfection" Guy recollects(Blaché,63)

According to author, Gwendolyn Audrey Foster(1995), "Alice Guy offered a feminist attitude towards work." In 1912, Alice Guy was interviewed by Harvey Gates, in which she spoke about sexist treatment of women. "Women are commonly in a state of dependence... art is practically the only field open to them... so long as a woman remains in what they term ‘her place’ she suffers little vexation. Yet let her assume the prerogatives usually accorded to her brothers she is frowned upon... I have a right to be where I am. It is a constant conflict when a woman in a French studio attempts to handle and superintend men in their work"(160). Alice Guy was extremely successful when it came to working with men despite sexism within the film industry.

On one occasion, Alice Guy was contacted by Columbia University and was invited to talk to the student about Cinema. "I objected, my English was faulty, I was no lecturer" she expressed in her memoirs. Her objection was challenged. The university had requested her not only for her knowledge of the industry, but because she was a woman. She mentioned the difficulties in the beginning, the joy of each discovery, the conclusions from each discovery, and the hope that was founded on the next generation(Blaché,69).

Quart(1988) found in the July 11, 1914 issue of The Moving Picture World, that Alice Guy Blaché wrote a piece on Woman’s Place in Photoplay Production: "It has long been a source of wonder to me that many woman have not seized upon the wonderful opportunity offered to them by the motion picture art to make their way to fame and fortune as producers of photodramas. Of all arts there is probably none in which they can make such splendid use of talents so much more natural to woman than to a man and so necessary to its perfection. There is no doubt in my mind that a woman’s success in many lines of endeavor is still made very difficult by a strong prejudice against one of her sex doing work that has been done only by men for hundreds of years. Of course this prejudice is fast disappearing and there are many vocations in which it had not been present for a long time. In the arts of acting, music, painting and literature, woman has long held her place among the most successful workers, and when it is considered how vitally all of these arts enter into production of motion pictures one wonders why the names of scores of women are not found among the successful creators of photodrama offerings"(31).

Slide(1977) affirms "By identifying a film as a product of a specific studio, movie audiences could be trained to expect and enjoy a certain type of entertainment"(15)... But with the shift of film industry economics at the time of World War I, the Blaché operation got forced out of business. During a transitory period from March 1915-1918, they helped Metro Pictures, by arranging to have their pictures distributed by a small firm which later became M-G-M. " A humble and unintentional contribution to the birth of a giant"(Slide,1977,51). Quart(1988) proclaimed "From 1920 on Alice Guy could no longer get work in the U.S. After the firm dissolved, so did her marriage. She tried to salvage the remnants of her movies made, to regain the credit she deserved, unfortunately to no avail. Although since then, a few of her films have emerged in private collections"(19). Also, as Guy anticipated, the "directing and producing credit for her films, were falsely assigned to her co-workers" and her name, unintentionally or purposefully, was omitted from the histories of French and American film(Quart,19). In retrospect, it is ironic that, as Gaumont Studios grew and Alice Guy hired more people, no more than a century later, film historians forgot the contribution she made and even wrongly attributed her films to them(Foster,162). But in 1953, she was finally acknowledged and honored as the first woman filmmaker in the world at the Cinematheque Francaise(Slide,1977,17).

After Alice Guy, there came Lois Weber(1881- 1938) who began her career as a director in 1908. Her powerful personality, coupled with the subjects she presented, influenced many of her contemporaries. "She helped shape the careers of such women filmmakers as Frances Marion, Jeanie Macpherson, Cleo Madison, Lule Warrenton and Ruth Stonehouse. There were also several men who benefited from her influence and would go on to their own greatness, such as directors Rupert Julian (Phantom of the Opera [Universal/Jewel,1925]), Frank Lloyd (The Sea Hawk [First National,1924]). Up and coming director Henry Hathaway (1898-1985), who would make his mark working with Gary Cooper and Tyrone Power Jr. during the sound era, years later generously praised Weber's influence while he was under her sanction. Yet John Ford, unfortunately never gave Weber the credit she deserved for helping him during his early struggles in Hollywood"("Lois Weber").

But undiscouraged, Lois Weber once said "I like to direct because I believe that a woman more or less intuitively brings out many of the emotions that are rarely expressed on the screen. I may miss what some male directors get, but I will get other effects that they will miss"(Heck-Rabi,58). Lois Weber was one of the most popular members of staff at the Universal Studios. In the autumn of 1913, she was elected mayor of Universal City(Slide, 1977,38).

In his book The Silent Feminists: America's First Women Directors(1996), Slide quoted Weber's thoughts on the importance of creativity vs. technical aspects in producing movies "A real director should be absolute. He (or she) alone knows the effects he (or she) wants to produce, and he (or she) alone should have authority in the arrangement, cutting, titling or anything else which it may be found necessary to do the finished project. What other artist has his (or her) creative work interfered with by someone else... We ought to realize that the work of a picture director, worthy of the name, is creative. The pure mechanical side of producing interests me. The camera is fascinating to me. I long for stereoscopic and natural color photography, but I would sacrifice the latter for the former"(38).

Even though her directing career started in 1908, it was actually around 1907, that Lois Weber joined the Gaumont Talking Picture Company. As she recalled some years later, "I wrote the story for the first picture, besides directing it and playing the lead." It is interesting to note that both Lois Weber and Alice Guy Blaché worked as directors of early sound-on-cylinder ‘talkies’(Slide,1977,36) And, coincidental that they both experimented for the Gaumont Company in the early years of their careers...

In 1909, Weber and husband of three years, stage manager, Wendell Phillips Smalley joined Edwin S. Porter’s new enterprise, called the ‘Rex company(Slide,1977,36). "In 1912, when Porter left to assist in the formation of Famous Players, and the Rex Company became part of Universal, the Smalley’s were placed in full charge of production"(Slide,1977,36). Slide(1977) claims "The years with Universal were to prove the most important for Weber. She and her husband would turn out during 1913 and 1914, two two-reelers a month; each short would be co-directed by them, feature the couple in the leading roles, and be written by Weber"(36).They even had their own players, two being Cleo Madison and Dorothy Davenport (who later became Mrs. Wallace Reid), who also became directors

By 1917, Weber had risen to the height of her fame. She was hailed as the screen’s greatest woman director. There was only one move that a woman of Weber’s talent and ability could make, and that was the formation of her own company with her own studio. "For a long time it has been a dream of mine, as I suppose it has been for many other directors, to have a company and studio of my own." Said Weber in an interview in the summer of 1917. "Now that dream is about to be a realization, for I have the grounds; the stage is fast nearing completion and we are already in some buildings. And not only is it a complete and efficient studio but it will be the pleasantest to work in of any large number I have seen. It may sound sentimental and feminine to many; but I am sure that we will make better pictures all the way round from having an inspiring and delightful environment in which to work"(Slide,1977,44).

"When the history of the dramatic early development of motion pictures is written," noted Motion Picture Magazine in 1921, "Lois Weber will occupy a unique position. Associated with the work since infancy, she has set a high pace in its growth, for not only is she a producer of some of the most interesting and notable productions we have had, but she writes her own stories and continuity, selects her cast, directs the pictures, plans to the minutest detail in all the scenic effects, and, finally, titles, cuts, and assembles the film. Few men have assumed such a responsibility"(Quart,31).

Quart(1988) states that "around 1916, Weber was ‘the most important director on the Universal Lot’ and had a private studio financed for her under the name of Weber Productions. However, with The Blot(1920) and the four other films that followed, Weber revealed herself as out of step with the postwar public’s tastes, and she found herself a box-office failure, unable to find work. Her marriage broke up, she lost her company, and she had a nervous breakdown"(Quart,20).

After a brief comeback at the age of 44!..and then sad attempts to start businesses that failed, her brief return to the limelight in 1934, was with a campaign to introduce visual aids to teaching, "to supplement the blackboard with the camera"(Quart,50). Weber was too far ahead of her time. Her multimedia idea was rejected. Weber died in 1939, alone, impoverished, forgotten(Quart,20). It is also interesting to note that Frances Marion was gracious enough to pay the funeral expenses, as it was Weber who gave Marion her first job back in 1914(Slide,1977,51).

But, with the knowledge of the film industry’s potential, especially for money and power became distinct, new arrangements for production and distribution took place, complicated consolidations and shifts of power occurred. It seemed that women director’s could have some impact as long as they could create their own companies, or as long as conditions remained stable enough within existing studios to allow actresses or women screenwriters to try their hand at directing.

There were many small time women directors, such as Germaine Dulac, Lottie Lyell, Cleo Madison, Ol’ga Preobrazhenskaya, Ruth Stonehouse, Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, to name a few, but the next great was Dorothy Arzner(1900-1979). Ms. Arzner once said "I have never had any obstacles put in my way by the men in the business. They all tried to help me. Men actors never show any prejudice against working with me. All the men who help from cameramen, (who are so terribly important) to assistants, property men, actors, everybody helped me"(Slide,1977,100).

Director, editor and writer, Arzner(1900 - 1979) worked her way up from script typist for William C. DeMille to chief film editor at Realart, a subsidiary of Paramount, where she cut and edited 52 pictures(Foster,19). Arzner was asked to join the parent company and edited Blood and Sand(Foster,19). She also worked as a scenarist on such films as The Breed of the Border(Foster,19); The Red Kimono(Directed by Mrs. Wallace Reid, 1925), to name a few. Arzner paid her dues and cast her eye upon the director's chair. "I watched Cecil B. DeMille at work and I remember making the observation, 'If one was going to be in this movie business, one should be a director because he was the one who told everyone else what to do. In fact, he was the whole works’"("Dorothy Arzner"). She became one of Paramount's busiest directors in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Yet many of her talents would never have found their way to the screen had she not proved herself in the cutting room first.

During these fundamental years, it is interesting to see how Hollywood responded to the ambitions of women. Author Judith Mayne(1994) explains that "Actors, [Ester] Ralston and [Clara] Bow were from poor struggling families, and the sudden wealth afforded them due to their Hollywood careers was overwhelming. On one level, then, the aspirations of director for Arzner, and Actress for Ralston and Bow, demonstrated the different effects of class privilege(49)."

Foster(1995) claims Arzner created "‘all-women’ environments with a backdrop of ‘patriarchal societal conventions’"(19). Working Girls(1930) was the sentiment of the times. "These themes were developed around the difficulties women faced in the male-defined work environment, and the manner in which women are so often pitted against on another in society"(Foster,18).

Contemporary feminist critics, and authors have brought particular attention to Arzner’s role as a star-maker of female actors. Arzner was entrusted in directing Paramount’s most valuable commodity, Clara Bow, in her first talking picture. "This proved that she had gained the respect she commanded"(Mayne,45). She was also credited for her invention of the boom-microphone. During the direction of her first ‘talkie,’ she suggested the "use of a fishing pole as a microphone extension"(Foster,19).

Among Arzner’s fourteen sound films, the most famous are: Merrily We Go to Hell(1932), Christopher Strong(1933), Nana(1934), and Dance, Girl, Dance(1940);(Slide,1977,101). The veteran director contracted pneumonia and had to leave First Comes Courage a week before it finished shooting. She was seriously ill for an entire year thereafter. When she recovered, Arzner decided that 30 years in the movie business was more than enough. However, her retirement was not completely restful. She directed 50 Pepsi-Cola commercials for her dear friend (and Pepsi-Cola executive) Joan Crawford, in the 1950's. Arzner also taught film making at UCLA for four years in the 1960's(Foster,20).

Amy Unterburger(1996) mentions in a short essay that "Arzner’s position inside the studio system has made a unique subject for debate. As the women’s movement set about reassessing the role of women in history, so feminist film theorists began not only to reexamine the role of women as a creative force in cinema, but also to consider the implications behind the notion of women as spectacle. The Work of Dorothy Arzner has proved a rich area for investigation into both these questions"(20).

Arzner appeared to be one of the only women to reign in the director's chair for the big studios. She was a self-effacing, private and soft-spoken woman, yet, it was her personal power and dedication to professionalism radiating from within that made her much more than a "woman director." Heck-Rabi(1984) declared that "Her unique method of indirection (the assistant director yelled when needed), her willingness to rewrite with the author, her insistence on the director taking complete responsibility for the film along with final decisions and final cut, augmented by her dexterity as an editor"(91). She was a pioneer, a role model and a supreme artisan.

When Arzner retired, Lupino had not yet begun, and for some years no women directors were working in the motion picture industry in the U.S.(Quart,26). In an article titled "Discovering Ida Lupino," Lupino expressed "I never planned to become a director. The fates and a combination of luck, good and bad,were responsible"(Heck-Rabi,223).Lupino became one of the few woman directors to enjoy success in Hollywood. It seemed that she was predestined by her heritage to conquer Hollywood in such an astounding way.

Ida Lupino was born under the dining room table in London towards the end of the first World War. As part of one of Britain’s oldest theatrical families, she was also the first to receive international fame as an actor(Heck-Rabi,223). Lupino’s extraordinary heritage rationalizes her success in the performing arts, and the innate obligatory pursuit of excellence, she excelled in several occupations within the motion picture industry. She became an actress because the family tradition made it compulsory. Pleasing the family and living with constant expectations of having to perform inspired Lupino to explore all avenues of her practically inexhaustible spectrum of talents. She was the grandniece to Harry and Mark, niece to Barry, and second cousin of Lupino Lane, all performing artists. Her maternal forbearers were a theatrical family, too, and her mother, Connie a child actress(Heck-Rabi,224).

After a decade of acting, she found the glamorous side oppressive, Ida Lupino always craved more from life. She jumped on the band wagon and formed her own company in 1949, Emerald Productions, later renamed Filmmakers, Inc.(Sova,111). She wanted to try new roles as scripting, directing and producing. Author Louise Heck-Rabi(1984) explains why: "Restive and dissatisfied as an actress, finding the glamour side of acting life totally distressing. She learned directing while keeping busy at Warner Brothers where you were either between pictures or on suspension"(225). She perfected her skills on movie sets, by watching directors of the so-called "Tough Guy" school, among them Lupino’s favorites Wild Bill Wellman, Raoul Walsh, Fritz Lang, and Michael Curtiz. "There was none of this nonsense. I mean you got your backside in there, baby, and you did it." she recalled(Heck-Rabi,243).

Lupino is quoted as saying "If Hollywood is to remain on top of the film world, I know one thing for sure, there must be more experimentation with out of the way film subjects"(Heck-Rabi,25). And that was exactly what she intended to do. Her break came after the director of the movie Not Wanted(1949), which Lupino had co-written and was producing, suffered a heart-attack after the first three days of shooting. Lupino stepped in and completed the task, although the credit still was attributed to the original director, Elmer Clifton(Heck-Rabi,225).

Heck-Rabi(1984) noted that in Holiday (9 January, 1951), Lupino won a Holiday award for her accomplishments with her first three films. The Award read: "To the woman in the motion picture industry who has done most to improve standards and to honestly represent American life, ideals and people to the rest of the world"(,232). It also stated that she "Helped produce and direct low budget films of honesty and significance. Without excessive sentimentality and equally without blatant sensationalism, Not Wanted surprised the cliche set not only by winning critical acclaim but by making a decent showing at the box office, since she has touched upon the problem of polio(Never Fear) and has given us a non-sensational and moving picture on the distasteful subject of rape(Outrage). For pioneering, for good picture making, for integrity, Miss Lupino has helped Hollywood in the eyes of the world"(Heck-Rabi,233).

The film The Hitch-Hiker(1952) now considered Lupino’s best feature film, was her own personal favorite. "The script was based on the real life case of William Cook, the 21 year old kidnapper and hitch-hiker and slayer of six. In its 71 minutes, this taut thriller builds terror and tension to a maddeningly exciting finish" explains Heck-Rabi(1984,237). Even back in fifties, she was able to break the stereotypical feminism genre to direct a thriller. No-one questioned her motives, or informed her that this was not a movie that could be directed by a woman.

But, when Lupino and then husband, Collier Young’s film company folded in 1954, she reluctantly accepted work as an actress in television. To her surprise, she found that she loved it. Her transition into TV directing was initiated by actor, Richard Boone, when during a conversation she expressed: "Here I am, a little old ex-limey broad who can’t get a job." Boone assigned her to direct a Have Gun Will Travel script, which included a rape, eight murders, and a sandstorm. "Doll" said Boone (he called her Doll, Ides or Loopy) "I don’t care what you do, just don’t ask me to rehearse"(Heck-Rabi,240).

From the mid-fifties well into the sixties, Lupino is credited with directing approximately one hundred television shows. Some say up to one hundred, though she claimed to have directed hundreds(Unterburger,247). Of these, she believes her best was the Mary Seurat show (part of the On Trial series), which she wrote and directed(Heck-Rabi,241).

Lupino’s television assignments encompassed every genre. The inescapable conclusion is that the small TV screen provided her with more challenging materials to direct than the large movie screen ever did, in addition to the opportunity to express a personal viewpoint(Heck-Rabi,243). Interestingly, she became stereotyped as a director who was superior at Westerns and action shows, though she longed to do a love story (Unterburger,248).

Was Lupino unique as a film director? Heck-Rabi(1984) explains that a census of film directors believed that she was. In June 1980 "A committee of women members of the Directors Guild of America invited executives of all the major studios and television networks to a meeting. The producers were presented with a package of statistics that pointed out that of the 7332 feature films released by major distributors during the last thirty years, only 14, or two-tenths of 1 per cent, were directed by women. And that out of 65,500 hours of national network, primetime dramatic television for the same period, only 115 hours... or two-tenths of 1 percent, were directed by women. And 35 of those 115 hours were directed by Ida Lupino. No other woman had accomplished this stunning feat. Yet, Lupino is the first to point out that it would have been hard for her to become a director, except that she worked for her own company. Surprisingly, she does not regard her successful directing career as gratifying and insists that it has all been simple economic necessity. If one includes the numerous television features she has directed, the total, sufficiently large that ‘I’ve lost count’ she explains"(Heck-Rabi,276). Lupino made seven feature films from 1949 to 1954, before directing in televisions. Quart(1988) says that "While one may question those who claim ‘technical brilliance’ for her work, it is certainly true that Lupino ‘dealt with the significant subjects not overtly and frankly considered in Hollywood films up to that time period and did so in a distinctive style’ to create a sizable achievement"(28).

For television, some of her work included shows for the following series: Four Star Playhouse(1959), On Trial(1959), Alfred Hitchcock Presents(1960), Have Gun Will Travel(1960-61), Dick Powell Theatre(1961), Thriller(1961-62), Hong Kong(1962), The Untouchables(1962-63), Mr. Novak(1963-65), Breaking Point(1963), Dr. Kildare(1964), Kraft Suspense Theatre(1964), Twilight Zone(1964), Gilligan’s Island(1964-66), Bewitched(1964), The Fugitive(1964), The Rogues(1965), Dundee and Culhane(1965), The Virginian(1966), The Big Valley(1966), Daniel Boone(1967). She also directed a TV pilot titled I Love A Mystery(1966);(Heck-Rabi, 248-249).

As a television director, she was highly regarded due to the fact that "her technically proficient films boasted small budgets, usually less than $200,000, and no stars; they were usually shot in about 13 days"(Unterburger,247). She was respected by the actors because in her calm motherly way, she "used the soft touch as a director" Lupino once admitted. "She cooed instructions to her cast and crew, and encouraged them to call her ‘mother,’ because she wanted the productions to operate like one big happy family(Unterburger,247). She always performed her duties with determination. Moreover, given her extensive acting experience, her directorial skills were appreciated by all the actors she worked with.

However, Unterburger(1998) believed that "although she was apparently rhetorically unconcerned with feminist issues, in her own life she worked prolifically, and critics have astutely noted that her rhetoric about feminism was belied by the way she conducted her own life. In her later years, Lupino softened her rhetoric and lamented that there were not more women working as directors and producers in Hollywood"(247).

The Next Generation...

Documentation shows that "between 1940 and 1980, fewer than one fifth of one percent of all movies released by Hollywood studios were directed by women, as opposed to nearly 50 percent in 1920. Women still represent fewer than 10 percent of director worldwide and only about 6 percent in Hollywood"(Redding & Brownworth,14). At any rate, women directors have provided more opportunities for other women, in all aspects of the production process, from producer to cinematographer to editor, and eventually, even director. Then again, it is not unusual for a well known actress, such as Barbra Streisand, Penny Marshall and Jodie Foster, to turn to directing while also maintaining a solid acting career. With the exception of the few women during the silent era, and maybe Ida Lupino, maintaining both roles of actress and director in the 40's, 50's, and 60's, just wasn’t done.

However, there has been a consistency in the paltry theme of women directors achieving success, and the fact that film critics and historians have often neglected to mention it. Although, when a women director fails, she is not so invisible. For example; Muriel Box, one of the only women to sustain a directorial career in Britain since the late 1920's, and achieve success in the British Film Industry, was never able to direct again, after her film Rattle Of A Simple Man bombed in 1964. According to authors of the book Film Fatales, even with her remarkable status, Dorothy Arzner, the only woman to direct in the heyday of hollywood, ‘chose to retire’ at the age of thirty seven. She complained that when her last film lagged at the box office, it was the interference of the studio that had caused the film to fail(Redding & Brownworth,9).

After Lupino’s movie, The Hitck-Hiker was released in 1953, there was a lull in Hollywood movies directed by women. This is when the independent director crept into the industry, as Hollywood didn’t seem to be accepting resumes. During the 60's there was the avant-garde Film movement(Unterburger,xi). American filmmaker, Carolee Schneemann wrote, directed, filmed, starred and edited the movie Fuses. Although the artistic film was not exactly appreciated at the time, it was considered a key film of this movement(Unterburger,xi). In 1971, Actress Barbara Loden became the first American feminist film director with her direction of Wanda, which won the International Critics Prize in Venice(Unterburger,xi). In 1975, The Directors Guild of America honored Dorothy Arzner for her contribution to the industry. This was another impressive achievement for women, as she was the first woman member of the Directors Guild(Unterburger,xii). Albeit, in 1976, Italian director Lina Wertmuller (1918-1982) was nominated for an Academy Award for Paqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties), becoming the first woman ever nominated in the best director category(Unterburger,xii).

But a breakthrough transpired in 1979 when Australian director, Gillian Armstrong directed her first feature film, My Brilliant Career. This was the first commercial feature film directed by an Australian woman in 46 years(Unterburger, xii). Four years later, Susan Seidelman arrived on the scene with her independent film Smithereens. But, it was another three years till she achieved recognition in directing her box-office hit Desperately Seeking Susan(Unterburger,xii).

Moreover, it wasn’t until 1983, that Hollywood’s eyes were reopened when A-list actress/singer Barbra Streisand returned to the roots of the studio systems by producing, directing, co-writing, starring, and singing in the movie Yentl(Unterburger, xii). This opened the door a crack for other women directors to reestablish awareness in the ‘boys club’.

Nevertheless,the double standard regarding women in the film industry remained a strong factor. For instance, according to Redding & Brownworth(1997) "Lizzie Borden, whose film Working Girls won outstanding acclaim as an independent smash at Sundance and other major film festivals, three years prior to Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape, which was declared the first independent breakthrough. Or Susan Seidelman, whose Smithereens was the first independent American feature to win the Cannes International Film Festival, which was also attributed to Soderbergh seven years later"(9)

Authors, Redding and Brownworth(1997) avow "The complication of being a female director is immense; one so often begins as an independent because there is no entree for women in studios, but even major success as an independent can go unrecognized, making it more difficult to make films, even as an independent, let alone be granted access to the studio system and the big money that attaches to filmmaking there"(9).

Louise Heck-Rabi(1984) believes that "Women agree that women who really want to make films will do so. Having the guts is the basic ingredient, never mind stature and knowing men who will help you. If one really wants to do it, one will"(xiii). So with Hollywood’s exclusion of women directors, they ventured out on their own, starting with the independent film. They were left to their own devises and to struggle through the darkness.

"And then there was Light... who was institutionalized for depression as a young mother in the early 60’s"(Redding & Brownworth,41). Allie Light ignored her psychiatric advise, went back to college and became a filmmaker"(Redding & Brownworth,41). She was 1991’s Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature; 1993’s Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Interview Program; 1994 Sundance Film Festival’s Freedom of Expression Award and the Grande Prize at the Atlanta Film Festival(Redding & Brownworth,37).

Light has always been interested in autobiographies, and found it easy to move from poetry to documenting lives. She wrote a letter to the authors saying "I’ve been thinking about your question - why I make documentaries - and the answer is that I’m interested in my own life, so I’m also interested in the lives of others. The natural extension of this is to begin to create characters’ lives and to eventually make dramatic films"(Redding & Brownworth,44).

In her interview with Redding and Brownworth(1997), she explained that for her 1993 movie Dialogues with Madwomen, her unique fundraising approach was that she sent a letter to every woman she knew asking for a $25 donation to help fund the film "that’s how we got the first money - $2000. Most everyone can afford $25, and I did say in the letter that I didn’t want people to give more because I wanted women who didn’t have a lot of money to feel that they had the same input, and I think the people who wanted to give more sent me $25 at other times"(42).

Another outstanding achiever is one of England’s most diverse young filmmakers, Pratibha Paramar. Born in India and raised in Kenya, she emigrated to England with her family when she was 11(Redding & Brownworth,45). Paramar is an impassioned feminist. Her documentaries cover controversial subjects, lesbian and gay issues, significant focus on artists and writers and the role they play in consciousness-raising through reinventing culture in a different image from the mainstream(Redding & Brownworth,56). "The repertoire of her films illuminates a filmmaker for whom personal is indeed political, a filmmaker whose goals are activist as well as artistic, a filmmaker whose vision compromises neither her own ideology nor her subjects" explains Redding and Brownworth(1997)(57). Paramar confides "I wanted to explain what is was like to be Indian and lesbian, Indian and gay, The experience is different in different places - you get that from the ways each person talks about those emotions"(Redding & Brownworth,57).

It is an assiduous task, just being a woman and trying to achieve recognition as a director. This isn’t the only obstacle for Michelle Parkerson. She is one of a handful of African-American women making films in the United States. She is one of even fewer black lesbians making films(Redding & Brownworth,58). Those facts alone make it surprising that she is accumulating a prestigious repertoire of films.

"So I got into film because I was an artist, but also because it was going to serve my politics" Parker said. "I’m learning to make a living at making films. More and more I’m getting a chance to direct, and that’s a great joy just to be able to do one thing at a time. Independents are usually doing most of the jobs: producer, director, editor etc. Not to have to worry about the producing is a great joy at this point. It shows me there is progress"(Redding & Brownworth,61). She also explains that as a teacher: "I try to make my female students pay attention to the throes of technology, because it’s a tremendous empowerment, and I think a lot young women feel that working with machinery de-feminizes you. If you can edit, you don’t have to be waiting around for a directing job"(Redding & Brownworth,62).

Redding and Brownworth(1997) mention that Parkerson feels that the media plays a large part in how films by African-American women are received. "If you’re not Steven Spielberg, we’re not going to read about you in Ladies Home Journal," Parkerson noted. "You’ve got to be a mega-entity for the masses to know of you nationally. People don’t feel it’s legitimate if you haven’t done a Hollywood film. Documentaries make you a second hand citizen in the film industry. No matter how many you’ve done, if you haven’t done a feature, you’re not a real director. That built in bias keeps people like Debbie Allen and Niema Barnett from being more prominent. People look at documentaries and sitcoms as something less than a ‘real’ movie. I think people are looking for a change from what Hollywood and television are offering. But we don’t have a consistent value for it: The distribution and exhibition ends have got to be marketed well. People are making political films, but people aren’t seeing them at their local theatres. We’ve got to get them out in the world. How are these films being marketed and reaching audiences - being advertised in papers? how many reviews are they getting, critical analysis outside of academia? If it’s in 16mm, most theatre chains don’t have that anymore. That’s part of the exclusionary element" says Parkerson "The feminist movement has given more visibility to us too. As it turned its eyes towards restoring white women into film history text--Dorothy Arzner and Alice Guy Blaché. Also, the black press and foreign press have acknowledged us. I just do my work offering a black lesbian experience"said Parkerson(63).

Also there was independent filmmaker Catherine Saalfield, who reflects on her benevolence to independents: "I can’t separate my work into either art or activism," said Saalfield "For me, filmmaking is the most effective, creative and satisfying form of activism(Redding & Brownworth,66). Redding and Brownworth(1997) explains that Saalfied often combines documentary work with an activist agenda(68). Her brand of activism underscores the importance of the old feminist slogan "the personal is political." As Saalfield says simply, "You can’t separate your activism from your art any more than you can separate your sexuality from your identity"(Redding & Brownworth,70).

Freedom of speech has allowed many independent filmmakers to present personal messages, awareness, and somewhat unrestrictive creativity through their films and documentaries. Even though some have been offered the key to Hollywood, some have borrowed it, and others have refused it. Some feel that creativity is what gets Hollywood’s attention in the first place, but they stifle it once you’re there.

For example: Independent/Hollywood director Lizzie Borden believes there is a high irony attached to Hollywood’s de-sexing of the nineties, as it was her depiction of sex in the movie Working Girls(1986), that brought her to Hollywood in the first place(Redding & Brownworth,129). What she is doing is making films that investigate sex, race, class and power from a female vantage point. "I make films that answer questions. It has to do with asking questions that there are no absolute answers to, and creating a film in which there’s enough ambiguity that people from both different sides can jump into the fray with opinions on both sides"(Redding & Brownworth,130).

According to Redding and Brownworth(1997); Borden is far more open about issues women face as directors in Hollywood, than most in tinsletown. She feels that some directors have to adopt a public persona just to continue their work. Like Penny Marshall, "who is an extremely bright women, an excellent director, and one of the biggest moneymaking female directors, is notorious for what insiders refer to as her "Laverne act"; pretending to be a bit flaky has made her less threatening to male producers and allowed her to forge ahead with her own projects"(134).

Borden has been walking that fine line between trying to do what you want cinematically and trying to do something, since she moved to Hollywood, hovering in a kind of limbo between independent director and a Hollywood director(Redding & Brownworth,134). The director has had to deal with the Hollywood image of the female body image, in regards to censorship questions and problems in devising projects that everyone can commit to. But the one place that Borden didn’t anticipate opposition of her ideas, was in working for the Playboy channel, on cable Television. Much to her surprise she found they actually had the strictest guidelines about sex. "They had more rules than anywhere else." Borden calls it "Hollywood’s fear of the forbidden"(Redding & Brownworth,138).

Furthermore, Hollywood has made Borden wonder if she should return completely to independent filmmaking, but she isn’t ready to leave yet. "You know, I still haven’t really made a real Hollywood movie, yet. Basically I want to do female dramas, films that are about real women. I know it can happen here in Hollywood. I’d just like it to happen now. And I’d like to be the one doing it"(Redding & Brownworth,144).

But, even with as much success as Borden has had, yet, possibly a more well known director is Susan Seidelman. As one of America’s most successful independent women directors, Smithereens, which Seidelman co-wrote, gave her entree into Hollywood. Yet it was her first big box office hit, Desperately Seeking Susan(1985), that launched her film career, along with much bigger budgets(Redding & Brownworth,146). The immediate success gave Seidelman a certain authenticity with the Hollywood executives, and certainly to the Hollywood audience. She worked with the largest budgets of any female director in the United States. Her later films, with their elite casts (Streep, Falk, Malchovich), and well-known screenwriters(Nora Ephron), have achieved various degrees of success but sustained her position as one of the top women directors in the U.S.(Redding & Brownworth,146).

"It was a good thing I was naive when I started. I didn't realize how few women directors there were, how hard it was for women to do what men had been doing for years. I didn’t know how bad it was, what the statistics were. If I had, well, the good thing for me about the women’s movement was I thought I could do it, just go out and direct" recalls Seidelman(Redding & Brownworth,147).

She also explains that "despite the box office successes of women filmmakers like Penny Marshall, Barbra Streisand, Amy Heckerling and action film director, Katherine Bigelow, money to make movies has traditionally been, and remains, out of reach for women directors, especially as independents. The pattern hasn’t changed significantly since Dorothy Arzner was the first woman to direct top stars like Joan Crawford, and Katherine Hepburn, When women filmmakers succeed, credit accrues to everyone but the director"(Redding & Brownworth,148). Yet, behold the number of films directed by women directors nominated for Academy Awards - Best Picture: Children of a Lesser God by Randa Haines(1986); Awakenings by Penny Marshall(1990); The Prince Of Tides by Barbra Streisand(1991); and The Piano by Jane Campion(1993). Yet no woman [since Lina Wertmuller in 1976] has [ever] been nominated in the Best Director category(Redding & Brownworth,148).

Seidelman said emphatically "The only words of wisdom I can offer are: don’t listen to statistics! Just do it! Sometimes it’s better not to think about the business angle. In making Smithereens, I was sort of naive, and I’m glad I was, because I never thought of the end result. I never thought about distribution. In film school we thought ‘Let’s make a movie because we love the story’ The kids are very practical today and business oriented. The best work comes from your own passion for something rather than calculating what the response will be"(Redding & Brownworth,155).

But, those who would dismiss Seidelman as anti-feminist or having lost the promise of her early cinematic form miss her essence. In the twenty years since Seidelman graduated from film school she has carved a specific niche in independent filmmaking and built a strong foundation for other women directors to follow (Redding & Brownworth,156).

Anthony Slide(1996) expresses "Women have come a long way since the days of Alice Guy and Lois Weber, but at the same time progress has been retrogressive. Today, the English-speaking cinema has one brilliant female director in the form of Jane Campion"(xii). When Campion’s student film Peel(1982) won the Palme d’Or for the Best Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986, few realized that within four short years, the native New Zealander would become a major force in the independent film industry.

Despite the obvious feminist politics that underlie her films, Campion denies a political agenda: "I think it’s quite clear in my work that my orientation isn’t political or doesn’t come out of modern politics. The ability to be honest about what is really happening is the most important thing I’ve got. I’m not a deep intellectual, I just have my ideas. I reckon I’m really lucky to be able to just dream up my own ideas and that someone’s prepared to pay for them"(Redding & Brownworth,184).

When asked if it was the dream of her life to direct films, her reply was: "No, I did not plan explicitly to become a director of films. I simply had a few ideas that I wanted to adapt to the screen. I had always been fascinated with film. However, I had thought for the longest time that I would not be able to do this because it is so difficult. I started filming and I was entirely happy because all the pictures were mine"(Campion,89).  Amy Unterburger(1998) explains that Campion began directing features after making several highly acclaimed, award winning short films which were extensively screened on the international film festival circuit. Her first two features are alike in that they focused on the relationship between two young women, and how they are affected by the adults who control their worlds. Her debut, 2 Friends, was made for Australian television in 1985 and did not have its American theatrical premiere until 1996(60).

With all the international praise Campion’s work is gathering, it’s no surprise that Hollywood came knocking. What is surprising is that Campion is not too interested. "The privilege I have at the moment is to pursue the kind of ideas that wouldn’t happen in America. They wouldn’t happen unless I took it into my head to do it" she said. "It is important to broaden the scope of the cinema appetite. If you go and do the American thing, then you’re not really doing what your real freedom is"(Campion,73). Campion emphasizes that "If you have the vision and you work hard to make it available to people, you can do anything. I think what goes wrong is that people don’t realize how hard it is to do good work. That may sound awfully school maamish of me, but you can’t just turn up on the day and call yourself a director"(81).

Although, in a 1991 interview titled In the Country of the Hypersensitive, the question asked of all English speaking directors, is of the relationship they have with Hollywood and the ability to work within the Hollywood mold. Campion’s response was "Why not? I have nothing against the idea of having a comfortable budget at my disposition to make films with. I believe that the system does not necessarily erase your personality"(Campion,85).

Nevertheless, the issue of being a feminist director has often been applied to Campion due to her dedication to female characters When asked if she considered herself a feminist director, she replied: "I have to admit that I no longer know what this means or expresses. I think that feminist culture arose as a reaction to stereotypical representations, to male dominated perspectives. A lot had to be clarified which, I think, has to be clarified now: my stance towards filming is not defined just by this challenge. This whole discussion is too limited. I am interested in life as a whole. Even if my representation to female characters has a feminist structure, this is nevertheless only one aspect to my approach"(Campion,86). She continues: "I am a woman. So it seems totally natural that I have female protagonists. I want to understand as well as possible what life is all about. Consequently I want to inquire into how other women live their lives, what particularities their lives are composed of. I think this is the main reason why men tell stories predominantly about men. I can’t imagine telling the story of a man. I don’t know why I should, either. Although I am curious about their world I still prefer to be in the center of my imaginary world myself(Campion,88).

Campion is only the second woman ever to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Director. Lina Wertmuller was the other. "She’s a big heroine of mine anyway. I love her work and Seven Beauties is an absolute classic" Campion said. "It’s great to be nominated in that regard because I remember feeling so much encouragement when I was at film school, from seeing people like Lina Wertmuller and Gillian Armstrong doing what they did and realizing it was possible to be a woman and a director"(Campion,174). Yet, she was one of the last people to find out her film The Piano had been nominated, because she had her phone off the hook(Campion,173).

Historically, the movie industry has been idle in advocating the visions of women directors. Yet, without funding from the Australian and New Zealand Governments, the notion of Campion’s success is skeptical. Certainly not due to lack of talent but according to Campion "the Hollywood scene is very male dominated, and not incredibly intelligent. So, a lot of it is about exploring concepts of masculinity and virility, which makes men strong and proud"(Campion,195).

Interviewer, Susan Saccoccia believes that Campion’s successes have given her a larger palette, but she still paints small miniatures. Her canvas is not Hollywood, she says, but the independent film industry, which targets a "huge" audience not satisfied by standard big-studio fare(Campion,204).

However, Jane Campion’s accomplishments have been accompanied by many awards such as: Palme D’or, Best short film, Cannes film festival, for Peel(1982); Best experimental film, Australian Film Institute Awards, for Passionless Moments(1984); Best direction and Screenplay, Australian Film Institute Awards, for Girl’s Own Story(1984); Best director and Best TV Film, Australian Film Institute Awards, for 2 Friends(1985), Academy Award, Best original screenplay, and Best Director and Best Screenplay, Australian Film Institute Awards, for The Piano(1993).

Then of course, we can’t exclude the actors turned directors. One of the most prominent Hollywood women directors played Laverne in the TV series Laverne & Shirley for many years. The first time in the directors chair for Penny Marshall, was directing four episodes of Laverne & Shirley, all of them airing during the second half of the ABC-TV show’s lengthy run(Crown,92). In May 1994, after directing her fifth big-screen movie,she told Millimeter Magazine "It was a shock to me, on my first movie, to find out they didn’t use multi-cameras"(Crown,95)

Crown(1999) reports that in the October 10th, 1986 issue of The Hollywood Reporter, it blamed Marshall’s "lightweight direction" for the failure of the movie Jumpin’ Jack Flash(96). However, they neglected to mention that she jumped in at the last minute, when the original director, Howard Zieff and his entire staff, was fired(Crown,100). As Lawrence Crown(1999) puts it: "Handing the reins of a troubled picture to a forty-three-year-old first time director, and to one who’d directed only a few episodes of Laverne & Shirley, might not have seemed like the best decision. However, Penny was willing and available on short notice"(100). However, before she was assigned Jumpin’ Jack Flash, she was scheduled to direct Peggy Sue Got Married, but was pulled from the project, as she was assumed to be ‘too inexperienced’(Foster,242).

Then for her second time in the directors chair, with Big(1988), Marshall contradicted almost every critical and industry expectation. After all, according to Crown(1999), the conventional insider wisdom was: "hadn’t Laverne fallen flat on her face with Jumpin’ Jack Flash just two years earlier?"(102). This was the perfect example of how women directors are treated when their movies fail. Due to her celebrity status and connections within the industry, she was given a second chance. Unfortunately this isn’t the case for the less known. "If you’re lucky enough to have a hit movie, then you’re allowed four failures," Penny Marshall told Carrie Fisher. "But I don’t know if that applies to women. And I don’t wish to find out"(Foster,242).

Crown(1999) believes that Marshall has "a demystified working class approach to directing, which, in many ways, harks back to the days of the studio system"(98). "Now, instead of being one of three or four women directing features, I’m now one of five or six," she joked, adding "In reality, there are many more women directing films today, and thousands more who want to"(Crown,90).

And not so new to the scene, as we’ve seen her in commercials since the age of three, ultimately, directing is not such an outrageous move for Jodie Foster. Her first feature film, 1994’s Nell, produced by her own company, Egg Productions, won an Academy Award nomination. This followed her successful directorial debut of Little Man Tate(1991), and followed by the 1995 hit, Home For The Holidays(Stevens,34).

"As a child, I knew I wanted to be a director. I was fortunate as an actress to work with some excellent directors, and watching them inspired and educated me" Foster explained in an interview with film director, Jon Stevens(1997)(34). She feels that "the most valuable lesson I’ve learned from the directors, is that your style of directing should be about being yourself, listening to you own voice"(Stevens,35).

Foster has similar work ethics to Arzner, regarding the importance of collaborating with the writer. For example, Arzner insisted throughout her career: "No director will have a good script or a good picture unless he has a good writer. I bow to a writer at all times. In fact, I have always tried to keep a writer on the set with me. That's how much respect I have for them"(Mayne,51). Arzner and Zoe Akins exhibited what the collaboration between director and writer could accomplish. Sarah and Son gave particular inflection to the notion of "woman director" and the "woman's film." Several critics noted that Sarah and Son was made by women: "It is very much a woman's picture, adapted by a woman, directed by a woman, and enacted by a woman. Some critics even noted that it was edited by a woman and the PA's were women. The film was rather a triumph for women(Mayne,53).

In comparison, Foster explains "I work very closely with writers because I need to make the script mine, so there isn’t a color, a prop, a piece of dialog that I can’t talk about and relate to personally. I have to have a clear and linear idea about the story and the characters"(Stevens,37). She continues "I like collaboration. If somebody’s got a great idea, I want it. At the same time, the movie is ultimately the director’s movie. That has to be very clear. You want to have one voice on the film, not ten"(Stevens,38).

Foster has been inspired by the remarkable life and career of German filmmaker, Leni Reifenstahl. Reifenstahl also maintains a place in women’s history as the "most influential filmmaker of the Third Reich"(Unterburger,354). Foster has also been more fortunate, as has grown up in Hollywood, but doesn't appear to be demanding directorship there. Foster has taken a step back from the limelight and taking time to carefully select future endeavors.

In addition to Foster, there is Barbra Streisand. Although she has only directed five movies, she is still considered a multi-talented women director. Her three motion pictures reflect the "unconventionally gendered educator-student, at crossroads in life, whose unexpected love for an intermediary enables her or him to (re)connect with a mate in the future"(Unterburger,400).

Author, Barbara Koenig Quart(1988) explains that "with Yentl, Streisand also provides another instance of how a seriously feminist film can work entirely within the established structure. Yentl makes accessible to a large audience, ideas that have previously been broached only in works of ‘serious’ female fiction writers and academic feminist theorists"(83). Quart(1988) also makes the point that when Yentl sings "Papa, I have a voice now/ Papa, I have a choice now" it reflects feminism "It is the American dream; Streisand does it well and moves very large audiences with it. More power to her"(85).

There are actually more unintentionally anonymous women directors that have been excluded from this section. It has been assumed that these women have only played a small part in the history of film, but this is not so. This brings us to the here and now. Women are making a point to be noticed again. People like Anthony Slide, Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, Barbara Koenig Quart and Amy Unterburger, to name a few, are enhancing this process. Women never stopped making movies, they just temporarily disappeared from the spotlight. Historians are attempting to recover women’s history and document the heritage of the motion picture industry. Women directors have made great strides, but it seems there is still a long way to go.

Part III. Discussion

This historical study: Feminism in Hollywood: The Acceptance of the Women Director has been an enlightening and inspirational, as it has unveiled remarkable information about these triumphant women. Many people may unconsciously be aware of women directors like Penny Marshall, Jane Campion, Jodie Foster, Nora Ephron, Amy Heckerling, and Katherine Bigelow. However, the accomplishments of many women directors have still been excluded from recent studies, unless you are specifically searching and have an idea of who you are looking for. Directors like: Coppola, Scorcese, Cameron, and even Spielberg, are known names to the average movie-goer. This is possibly due to the movie being advertised as "Directed by.." more so, than a movie directed by a women, with the possible exception of the previous mentioned(Marshall, Campion, Foster, Ephron, Heckerling and Bigelow). Then again, the assumption is that these women directors are household names. Recognition is not as profound as expected, as even some media majors are unaware of the most well known women directors.

Nevertheless, the reinforced perception is that Hollywood seems to deny any discrimination towards women. A strong summation is that there is still a high intolerance of women directors. This may be an influence in why presently there is a limited repertoire of documentary films that represent women and their contribution to the history of cinema. Also, it was intriguing to see that Weber and Arzner referred to directors as ‘He’; for instance ‘he was in charge’. If women perceive directors as ‘he,’ it is unsurprising that the discrimination occurs, as it seems to be a conditioned response to refer to a director as ‘he.’

It is obvious that women in the motion picture industry have managed to accomplish many feats. Some by determination, like Alice guy, and others by naivete, such as Jane Campion. But they all have the one thing in common that keeps the ambitious energy fluent; Passion. Each of them had their own distinct incentives to become directors. These different elements are probably what keeps them employed. Further more, for those who have been validated as ‘Hollywood’ directors, it hasn’t always been easy surviving there.

Throughout this study, ‘Why’ questions have continuously been encountered. For example, in regards to Anthony Slide’s comment, with almost as many women students entering film schools today, WHY is the percentage of graduates as directors, so diminutive. A whole other study could be done to see if any of these students are being directly or indirectly coerced to refrain from directing. Also, WHY has the history of motion pictures ignored so many female antecedents, or triumphant female pioneers. And, WHY was their credit assigned to their male counterparts. The goal was not to disclose a definitive answer to these questions, but acquire insight towards the influences that may affect the lack of answers.

In response to the query of whether the fall of the studio system, and the development of guilds and unions has made any impact on the inconsistency, an interesting point came up: Did these implications have any thing to do with the restrictions of actors, script writers, editors, etc. in attempting to become directors. Because in theatre, if you are the director, you are forbidden to pick up a broom and sweep the stage as that is a specific job for a specific person... But it was pointed out that it’s not because the equity union doesn’t allow a director to sweep a stage, but because it’s the stagehands union that doesn’t allow ‘a director’ to sweep the stage, as he is generally not a member of that particular union. By allowing a director to sweep a stage denies the union member his rightful job. It is also the same for DGA (Directors Guild of America)directors. By not being a member of the unions/DGA, it’s like they are telling you that "You’re not a member of our club, so you can’t play..."

Jane Campion made an interesting comment: "I had always been fascinated with film. However, I had thought for the longest time that I would not be able to do this because it is so difficult"(Campion,89). Although, there are so many testimonials about the obstacles that many women directors have been exposed to, and how they successfully overcame them, this should opened women’s eyes and determined that ‘when you believe in something so much, anything is possible!’ As Anthony Slide(1996) says: "There is nothing connected with the staging of motion picture that a woman cannot do as easily as a man, and there is no reason why she cannot completely master every technicality of the art. The technique of the drama had been mastered by so many women that it is considered as much her field as a man’s and its adaptation to picture work in no way removes it from its sphere. The technique of motion picture photography like the technique of the drama is fitted to a woman’s activities"(90)

Author Louise Heck-Rabi(1984) suggests that "Nowadays, there are several types of film ventures to explore. The most expansive is the documentary. But we can’t exclude the feature-length film, pornography, the "art" film, the women’s film (usually feminist), expanded cinema, TV commercials, music videos, video tape and cable TV production. Video tape remains a glittering question mark as a film field for women to work in. The technical capabilities are being explored. They have learned to use Video synthesizers and computers in their Television productions. The doors to cable TV are not locked, and this facet of the film industry may prove to be promising for women who want to get involved in the image industry(XV).

One of the major factors in the lack of credit is the lack of documentation. For example: "The major problem in any attempt to rediscover America’s first female directors is that the films themselves are missing. Of Alice Guy Blaché’s American films, only a handful of short subjects and only one feature film is known to survive. Only one of the films by Frances Marion has been preserved. Margery Wilson, best known for her performance as Brown Eyes in Intolerance, will not be remembered for the films she directed, as none of them exist. Lois Weber directed some forty feature films, but only a dozen can be found in film archives. It is not even a simple matter of being lost. An equal problem is that what films survived are not always the best examples of the director’s work" Slide explains(1996,xi).

To gather more information, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has an extensive film archive. This may include material that has not been extensively reviewed. Also, the authors of Film Fatales: the independent director, referenced Women filmmakers, a company located in Manhattan, NY. And, California has many resources regarding historical memorabilia, i.e Judith Mayne found photos of Arzner at UCLA along with other personal possessions. Simone Blaché worked with Anthony Slide on her mother’s memoirs, and was living in New Jersey in 1997. It would be interesting to get a first hand account of her recollections about her mother’s accomplishments. And then interviews with historians like Anthony Slide and Victoria Redding, as well as contacting the independent directors to get their perspectives on the history of women directors, including their views on working within the industry.

Due to the deterioration of many of the early films, many institutes are trying to recover and restore history. On the American Movie Classics website(www.amc.com), it refers to their film restoration department, and there is a testimonial from Jodie Foster to encourage viewer assistance by donating funds for the project. Maybe she would consider doing an interview as she is a prominent part in all aspects of this subject. And MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art) in New York, as well as the American Film Institute are also involved in the venture of historical film restoration. There is so much more information to be recovered, discovered and interpreted.

References

"Alice Guy Blaché" (www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/BTC/direct30.html.)

Belton, John (1994) . American cinema / American culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc

Blaché, Roberta & Simone, & Slide, Anthony (ed) (1986) . The memoirs of Alice Guy Blaché . Lanham: The Scarecrow Press

Campion, Jane & Wexman, Virginia Wright (Eds) (1999) . Jane Campion interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi

Crown, Lawrence (1999) . Penny Marshall: an unauthorized biography. Los Angeles: Renaissance Books

"Dorothy Arzner" (www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/BTC/direct29.html.)

Foster, Gwendolyn Audrey (1995) . Women film directors: an international bio-critical dictionary. Westport: Greenwood Press

Heck-Rabi, Louise (1984) . Women filmmakers: a critical reception. Metchen: The Scarecrow Press, Inc

"Lois Weber" (www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/BTC/direct33.html.)

Mayne, Judith (1994) . Directed by Dorothy Arzner . Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Quart, Barbara Koenig (1988) . Women directors: the emergence of a new cinema. New York: Praeger Publishers

Redding, Judith M. & Brownworth, Victoria A. (1997) . Film fatales: independent film directors. Seattle: Seal Press

Slide, Anthony (1977) . Early women directors . Cranbury: A.S Barnes and Co.,Inc.

Slide, Anthony (1996) . The silent feminist: America’s first women directors . Lanham: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.

Sova, Dawn. B (1998) . Women in Hollywood: from vamp to studio Head . New York: Fromm International

Stevens, Jon (1997) . Actors turned directors . Beverly Hills: Silman-James Press

Unterburger, Amy L. (1998) . Women filmmakers & their films. Detroit: St.James Press