Alice Guy Lois Weber Ruth Ann Baldwin Mabel Normand Cleo Madison ALICE GUY THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 8:00 pm (ET)/5:00 pm (PT) THE LOST GARDEN (1995) A moving and solidly researched documentary on Alice Guy with a lot of rare footage from her various films as well as a little-known television interview with an aged Guy herself. Directed by Marquise Lepage. Written by: Alison McMahan Reference: The Birth of Film Narrative The Life and Work of Alice Guy Blache, The World’s First Woman Filmmaker, by Alison McMahan THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 9:00 pm (ET)/6:00 pm (PT) THE OCEAN WAIF (1916) — U.S. television premiere of the film One of the existing three of 22 features Alice Guy directed, The Ocean Waif was written by Frederick Chapin and produced after Guy’s own company, Solax, had ceased production, and she had become a director for hire. This film was made for the International Film Service, owned by Hearst, and had to meet the distributor’s guidelines and stick closely to the Hearst agenda: A more romantic story, a likeable hero, a suspenseful plot, a dramatic and happy ending and most importantly, a pure young woman. Although it was not commercially successful, this love story was unique for its day because it gives equal screen time to each lover's point of view. Millie (Doris Kenyon), who is found abandoned on the beach and raised by a cruel fisherman, is the "Ocean Waif" of the title. Sem is their not-very-bright neighbor, who loves Millie and tries to save her from the worst of her stepfather's abuse. Millie escapes and hides in a large abandoned mansion, but is discovered when novelist Ronald Roberts (Carlyle Blackwell) decides to rent it. Gradually, the two fall in love, but Roberts is engaged to Beatrice (Dyne Donaldson), a society woman. When Millie's stepfather is found dead, Roberts is accused of the murder and Beatrice breaks off the engagement. When Sem realizes that Millie loves Roberts, he confesses that he murdered her stepfather and then commits suicide, leaving the couple free to marry. Written by: Alison McMahan Reference: The Birth of Film Narrative The Life and Work of Alice Guy Blache, The World’s First Woman Filmmaker, by Alison McMahan THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 10:00 pm (ET)/7:00 pm (PT) MATRIMONY’S SPEED LIMIT (1913) In this film directed and produced by Alice Guy , an heiress (Marion Swayne) sends a fake telegram to her fiance (Billy Quirck), who refuses to marry her because he has just gone bankrupt. The telegram leads him to believe that he will inherit a large sum of money if he is married by noon. The humor comes from watching the fiance propose to a series of strangers as he struggles to make sure he is married in time. This film inspired for Buster Keaton’s 7 Chances, which was itself the source of inspiration for the recent Hollywood film The Bachelor. Written by: Alison McMahan Reference: The Birth of Film Narrative The Life and Work of Alice Guy Blache, The World’s First Woman Filmmaker, by Alison McMahan THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 10:15 pm (ET)/7:15 pm (PT) A HOUSE DIVIDED (1913) This is Alice Guy ’s best-known film. She produced and directed the comedy which shows a husband and wife each suspicious that the other is unfaithful. The film clearly depicts an equal power balance in marriage and is amazingly modern in its tone and subject, with sterling performances by Marion Swayne and Billy Quirck as the couple. Written by: Alison McMahan Reference: The Birth of Film Narrative The Life and Work of Alice Guy Blache, The World’s First Woman Filmmaker, by Alison McMahan THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 10:30 pm (ET)/7:30 pm (PT) THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN CITIZEN (1911) — U.S. television premiere of the film When Alice Guy first arrived in the U.S. in 1907, she went through Ellis Island, where she saw an American policeman force a new immigrant to help his wife carry a heavy bundle. The event inspired this film, which includes footage of actual immigrants reaching Battery Park from Ellis Island. The film stars Blanche Cornwall and Lee Beggs. Written by: Alison McMahan Reference: The Birth of Film Narrative The Life and Work of Alice Guy Blache, The World’s First Woman Filmmaker, by Alison McMahan back to top LOIS WEBER THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 11:00 pm (ET)/8:00 pm (PT) WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN? (1916) - world television premiere of the film - restoration by The Library of Congress - original score by Martin Marks Where Are My Children? is a controversial, daring film on birth control directed Lois Weber and adapted Weber from an original story by Lucy Payton and Franklyn Hall. It was released the same year that Margaret Sanger was imprisoned for disseminating information on contraception. The film makes a strong case for the importance of educating women about birth control, but it also mounts an unequivocal condemnation of abortion. Concentrating on a story of wealthy women who repeatedly patronize an abortion doctor in order to avoid bearing children, the film’s title derives from the climatic scene where a district attorney (Tyrone Power, Sr.) learns that his wife has been using an abortion doctor’s services. He arrives home to confront his wife, demanding to know, "Where are my children?" In the wake of the landmark 1915 Supreme Court decision denying films protection under the First Amendment, Where Are My Children? was banned by the Pennsylvania State Board of Censors and theater owners cancelled bookings in several cities around the country. Despite endorsement from high-profile crusaders, even those favorable to the cause disputed some of the film’s tactics and reviewers questioned its moralistic focus on wealthy women. In addition, the Birth Control League in Portland, Oregon, protested what it perceived to be the film’s conflation of contraception and abortion. However, that Sanger, one of the era’s leading radical progressives, turned to motion pictures to promote her cause, and that Weber, one of the most respected filmmakers of the day, brought her reputation for high quality feature films to this knotty issue is indicative of cinema’s new stature in the mid-1910s. Written by: Shelley Stamp, Universtiry of California, Santa Cruz THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 12:10 am (ET)/9:10 pm (PT) THE HYPOCRITES (1915) A story of religious hypocrisy, The Hypocrites opens on an upstanding young clergyman (Courtnay Foote) lecturing his jaded, inattentive congregation. After the service he confiscates a newspaper from a choir boy and scolds him for reading on the Sabbath. He falls asleep after noticing a reproduction of a painting depicting Truth in the image of a naked woman. He dreams that he is a medieval monk preparing a statue of Truth, then that he accompanies Truth through various modern scenes where she holds a mirror up to reveal hypocrisies. When the clergyman is found dead in the church with the newspaper across his lap at the end of the film, only two women mourn, while the rest of the congregation is outraged to learn that their pastor has been reading a newspaper on Sunday. Written, produced and directed by Weber, The Hypocrites was an unusually ambitious film for its time. The film caused a considerable amount of controversy, largely because of sequences featuring an unclothed actress, Margaret Edwards, playing "The Naked Truth." Banned by the Ohio Censorship Board, the film was subject to scrutiny in many other cities, including Boston, where it could only be exhibited provided that the naked female figure was somehow covered–ironic, given that the film itself depicts seemingly-pious hypocrites unable to confront "the nakedness of truth." The publicity resulting from the banning drew an even larger audience to the film. The Hypocrites also demonstrates Weber’s interest in creating a "voiceless" cinematic language capable of bringing thought-provoking material to a wide audience. Unusual visual effects present the figure of "Naked Truth" luminously super-imposed over natural settings, seeming to appear and disappear at will. In complicated matte shots, she holds the mirror of truth up to various scenes, showing how hypocrisy rules modern politics, childrearing and family life. Written by: Shelley Stamp, Universtiry of California, Santa Cruz THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 1:00 am (ET)/10:00 pm (PT) TOO WISE WIVES (1921) Two wives are contrasted in this marital drama: Marie Graham (Claire Windsor), who "lives only for her home and husband," and Sara Daly (Mona Lisa), opportunistically wed to a wealthy man only because he can provide her with the material pleasures she desires. Marie’s constant fussing around her husband, David, though intended to please him, actually angers him. Sara, also in love with David, tries to lure him for an illicit rendez vous, but Marie intercepts the note and confronts her friend. When David learns of the deception, he denounces Sara and reaffirms his love for his wife. The story was written by Lois Weber and Marion Orth and the film reveals producer, director and screenwriter Weber’s keen interest in marriage, while her own real-life marriage to collaborator Phillips Smalley was falling apart. "There is no doubt that marriage is the most important event in our lives," she said, "and, at the same time, the least studied or understood." Written by: Shelley Stamp, Universtiry of California, Santa Cruz THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 2:30 am (ET)/11:30 pm (PT) HOW MEN PROPOSE (1913) How Men Propose illustrates Lois Weber’s interest in male-female relationships, even in this early comic short. Structured around repetition and reversal, the comedy shows its heroine entertaining multiple marriage proposals from different suitors, each unaware of the other. If at first the humor seems to revolve around the heroine’s fickleness, those assumptions are reversed in the final scene. There we learn she is a professional journalist studying how men propose and wisely exploiting the men’s willingness to be fooled by her feminine charms. By keeping viewers unaware of the heroine’s motives until the end, the film challenges expectations about conventional male and female behavior. Written by: Shelley Stamp, Universtiry of California, Santa Cruz back to top RUTH ANN BALDWIN THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 3:00 am (ET)/12:00 am (PT) ‘49-’17 (1917) — U.S. television premiere of the film — restored by Kino in association with the Library of Congress Directed and adapted by Ruth Ann Baldwin from a story by William Wallace Cook and filmed near San Diego, CA, ‘49-’17 is the story of a judge who had taken part in the gold rush of 1849. He hires an acting troupe to recreate the experience in this rather fanciful silent Western. The make-believe turns serious when a real gold mine is discovered nearby and a local girl (Donna Drew) is kidnapped by a nasty gambler (Jean Hersholt). Written by: Kino International Corp. back to top MABEL NORMAND THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 4:15 am (ET)/1:15 am (PT) CAUGHT IN A CABARET (1914) Starring and directed by Mabel Normand, Caught in a Caberet features Charlie Chaplin, Harry McCoy, Alice Davenport, Chester Conklin, Mack Swain, Minta Durfee and others. A waiter portrayed by Chaplin pretends to be foreign nobility in an attempt to court an upper-class lady (Normand). Witty and more plot-centered than many other of the Keystone shorts, this film also features Durfee performing an eye-catching rendition of the hoochie-coochie. Caught in a Cabaret has traditionally been credited to Chaplin, but film scholar Christina Mugno makes a convincing case that it was, in fact, directed by Normand. Written by: Radha Vatsal, Coordinator, The Women Film Pioneers Project, Duke University THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 4:30 am (ET)/1:30 am (PT) MABEL’S BUSY DAY (1914) Directed and starring Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, the cast of Mabel’s Busy Day includes Chester Conklin, Harry McCoy, Slim Summerville and others. Spunky hot dog seller (Normand) is ripped off by a scoundrel (Chaplin) in this short slapstick classic. Fast-paced physical mayhem ensues; Normand shows that she gives and takes a punch with the rest of the guys, while retaining her charm and appeal throughout. Written by: Radha Vatsal, Coordinator,The Women Film Pioneers Project, Duke University back to top CLEO MADISON THURSDAY, AUGUST 17 4:45 am (ET)/1:45 am (PT) ELEANOR’S CATCH ( 1916) — U.S. television premiere of the film This delightful short, written by William V Mong and directed, produced and starring Cleo Madison as a young city girl dragged into a life of crime by a ne’er-do-well suitor. Madison a successful actress, was one of many women who directed films at Universal, particularly in the mid-teens. A terrific surprise ending gives the character and Madison an early claim to promoting women’s equality in the workforce. Written by: Jessica Rosner, Kino International Corp. back to top