Moving Pictures

Yesterday I spent the morning and early afternoon writing a first draft of the introduction to my book idea. I think I have a structure, so the introduction is all about context, setting the scene. Moving pictures came into being in the late 1800s (hard to imagine), when a small group of men began experimenting with progressing stills photography towards capturing moving images. Clever men from France, Britain, Germany and the USA. Perhaps we all have a vague idea, a general sense of those early, jerking, flickering images, silent of course – a man boxing with a kangaroo, a woman twirling in a full skirt. These images are somehow familiar; I know I’ve seen them at some point. What I didn’t know was that it was a woman who saw the results of this extraordinary new technology and realised its potential for telling stories – script, characters, story- arc and so on. Alice Guy worked for Leon Gaumont in Paris, and it was she who made the first films (before that, moving image was perceived as being a means of capturing and presenting news stories and images of everyday life).

This got me thinking – what was the role and standing of women during this period, particularly in the USA? To introduce the views and experiences of older women working in the film and TV industry today, I need to explore the history of women’s ‘rights’ in America, and then examine how the burgeoning film (and later TV) industry as it parallels the drive towards equality. In many ways the progression mirrors that of Britain and Europe, but it’s a fascinating, hitherto (for me) unknown area of history. Key women, as individuals and groups, mobilised and campaigned throughout the 1800s and into the early 20^th century, focusing on suffrage of course, but also pushing for freedoms in education and birth control. Again, as in Europe, the First World War had a huge impact. For the most part, until 1916 and 1917, women did not work unless they were unmarried, and even then the choices were limited to teaching, nursing and providing governess care to children. The War brought a change with the federal government’s realisation that if the male workforce was required to enter the fray, women would need to take up the slack. The US armed forces allowed women to become reservists for the first time, with the rank of Yeoman. At my age, I can happily say that I was a fan of the original Star Trek series, but confess to always being puzzled by the rank of ‘yeoman’ (Yeoman Janice Rand, of the red mini-dress and extraordinary, braided blonde bee-hive ‘do’!). Well, now I know.

The push for women’s equality had a stark ‘stop-start’ trajectory through the first half of the 20^th century, the two World Wars bringing women into the workplace in every walk of life (I read that, in aeroplane manufacture, bosses reported that women’s ability to precision-weld and rivet far out-classed their male counterparts, but get this – it was concluded that this must be because of women’s skills in needlework!), but peace sent them back into the kitchen. The 1950s, particularly in the US, was, in some ways, an incredibly retrograde time for women – motherhood and apple pie! The push for equality gathered momentum in the 1960s and continued through the ensuing decades to today, setbacks aplenty, but also victories – progress.

So, how did the film and TV industry reflect this? Did it at all? Before the advent of the great Hollywood studio system in the early 1920s, the fledgling film industry was filled with women film-makers, many at the helm of their new, independent movie companies. Hard to imagine. Then, even though mega-star Mary Pickford set up United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffiths and Douglas Fairbanks Snr, for the most part the male-dominated rise of the big-business studios effectively shut down the indie scene, and DIDN’T bring those pioneering women across. The aim, therefore, is to also investigate the role and standing of women in the entertainment industry, both before and behind the camera. Who were they? What were the films that featured women and, especially, what work was out there for a 50-plus year old actress during each decade?

Later in the afternoon, and into the evening, I had a lovely time catching up with my friend G and getting to meet her husband R and their bright-as-can-be eight year old daughter. There’s something about that age, when curiosity and confidence beats shyness – we had a fine old time talking about her enjoyment of ‘doing plays’ at her elementary school! Over wine and BBQ chicken, conversation rolled through the years since last G and I saw each other (2003!) – really makes you stop and think about everything that has happened. When last we met, we were both still living in London. Now, she is here in LA (Santa Monica, filled with straight, palm-fringed roads, lined with smart houses and low-rise apartment buildings – in terms of property prices and population, R likened it St John’s Wood in North London!) and I am in leafy Minch’. R also gave a fascinating insight into how it is to be a Brit’ working in the USA, the extremely complicated, and quite punitive work-visa set up (as the wife of someone who has a particular classification of work-visa here in the US, G is prohibited from undertaking any paid work anywhere in the world! Including Britain!!), the education and healthcare systems and so on. One again, time and distance count for little, and it was so good to spend time with them. In honour of our meeting, I even managed to find a bar of Cadbury’s chocolate to take with!

Have a meeting with another actress today – to me, S is instantly recognizable and, as with all these women, has a face that the camera connects with so easily. Also, her manager has been fantastic, very funny and insightful. Have asked whether she might be free to see me herself today!

Thoughts begin to turn homeward… only two more full days in Tinsel Town, both busy, and then it’s the long flight back to England and Rob. Someone commented that they weren’t sure whether I am will be coming home encouraged or discouraged. Will have a better idea on Wednesday morning, but right now, I think, encouraged by it all. A long way to go, but ground has been covered. Any fantasy I ever had of ever wanting to work in LA, in LaLaLand, in Tinsel Town has, however, been obliterated. No bad thing!