First Ladies of Film: The Not so Silent Women of Early American Cinema
Graduation Date
Fall 2011
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Mairi Pleggi, PhD
Second Reader
Cynthia Taylor, PhD
Abstract
During the first quarter of the twentieth century, particularly between the years 1906 and 1926, the American film industry offered women opportunities that existed in no other workplace. This was the golden era of female filmmaking, when many women had a high degree of control behind the camera in creative roles such as producer, director, and scenario writer. This thesis seeks to uncover the social and economic forces that shaped women's access to cinema production, and why, by the introduction of sound in 1927, Hollywood’s shifting business history caused a virtual disappearance of these opportunities.
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