Universal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early Hollywood

265 Pages·2010·8.66 MB·English

by  Mark Garrett Cooper

Film / Women’s Studies
“With rigorous focus, admirable “A meticulous and probing UU
economy, and wide-ranging research, institutional history attuned to nn
Cooper outlines a sophisticated the hierarchies of gender. Cooper
ii
strategy for investigating how and identifi es a set of truly signifi cant vv
why Universal Studios hired women questions regarding the early ee
as directors and then stopped doing access of women to directorial
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so. This is the book we have been positions in silent cinema and the ss
waiting for.” abrupt curtailment of that access.” aa
— Kay Armatage, author of The Girl — Diane Negra, author of Off-White ll UUnniivveerrssaall

from God’s Country: Nell Shipman and Hollywood: American Culture and
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the Silent Cinema Ethnic Female Stardom
oo WWoommeenn
Between 1912 and 1919, the Universal Film Manufacturing Company mm
credited eleven women with directing at least 170 fi lms, but by the
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mid-1920s all of these directors had left Universal and only one still
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worked in the fi lm industry at all. Two generations of cinema historians have
either overlooked or been stymied by the mystery of why Universal fi rst
Filmmaking and
systematically supported and promoted women directors and then abruptly C F
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reversed that policy. a m Institutional Change
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In this trailblazing study, Mark Garrett Cooper approaches the phenomenon g
e a in Early Hollywood
as a case study in how corporate movie studios interpret and act on i k
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institutional culture in deciding what it means to work as a man or woman. In E g
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work roles. Drawing on a range of historical and sociological approaches to Robotog lly sti
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Mark Garrett Cooper is an associate professor of English and fi lm and media .tu
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studies and the director of the Moving Image Research Collections at the of th
University of South Carolina. He is the author of Love Rules: Silent Hollywood e Tw
and the Rise of the Managerial Class. in
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A volume in the series le, 1 Cooper
9
Women & Film History International 1
4
.
ISBN978-0-252-07700-5
University of Illinois Press
Urbana and Chicago www.press.uillinois.edu Illinois
Universal Women
Women and Film History International
Series Editors
Kay Armatage, Jane M. Gaines, and Christine Gledhill
A new generation of motion picture historians is
rediscovering the vital and diverse contributions of
women to world film history whether as producers,
actors or spectators. Taking advantage of new print
material and moving picture archival discoveries as well
as the benefits of digital access and storage, this series
investigates the significance of gender in the cinema.
A list of books in the series appears
at the end of this book.
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Universal
Women
Filmmaking and
Institutional Change
in Early Hollywood
Mark Garrett Cooper
University of Illinois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
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© 2010 by Mark Garrett Cooper
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 C P 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cooper, Mark Garrett.
Universal women : filmmaking and institutional change
in early Hollywood / Mark Garrett Cooper.
p. cm. — (Women and film history international)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-252-03522-7 (cloth : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-252-07700-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Universal Film Manufacturing Company—History.
2. Women motion picture producers and directors—United States.
3. Women motion picture producers and directors—History—
20th century. I. Title.
PN1999.U57C66 2010
791.43023'30922—dc22 2009027087
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For UFF-FSU
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface: A Puzzle, Some Premises,
and a Hypothesis xiii
Part one PossIbIlIty 1
1. Universal’s Names 9
2. Universal’s Organization 25
3. Universal City 45
Part tWo ImPossIbIlIty 91
4. Genre: A Category of Institutional Analysis 99
5. Serials: The Foreclosure of Collaboration 110
6. Gender and the Dramatic Feature 128
Postscript: Eleanor’s Catch 173
Notes 187
Index 221
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acknowledgments
Grants from Florida State University allowed me to conduct the research
for this book, which would not have been possible absent the resources of
numerous archives and the amazing professionals who staff them. I thank
the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci-
ences and especially Barbara Hall, whose generosity and wisdom benefited
the project throughout its gestation, Kristine Krueger, and Lea Whittington;
the Los Angeles Public Library; the Special Collections Department of UCLA’s
Charles E. Young Research Library, especially Octavio Olvera; the Seaver Center
for Western History Research, particularly Betty Uyeda and Beth Werling;
the Pacific Region U.S. National Archives in Laguna Niguel, especially Lisa
Gezelter (and I would like to thank G. Russell Overton for his advice on
navigating that collection); George Eastman House; the Museum of Modern
Art, particularly Charles Silver; the Library of Congress and especially the
indefatigable Madeline Matz and Rosemary Hanes; the British Film Institute,
particularly Kathleen Dickson and Vicky Hedley; the National Archives of the
United Kingdom; the British Library; the Centre National de la Cinématogra-
phie, especially Eric Le Roy and Sandra Larrosa; the Amsterdam Filmmuseum,
particularly Elif Rongen and Ronny Temme; and the Swedish Film Institute,
especially Jon Wengström and Magnus Rosborn.
In addition to these public archives, three experts on Universal’s early
history generously shared their insights and personal collections. Richard
Koszarski allowed me to invade his dining room for a day of research inter-
rupted only by an excellent pastrami sandwich. Robert S. Birchard and Marc
Wanamaker each generously provided me with materials and advice. I hope
they will recognize something of their Universals in my account, but in any
ix
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