Women and Early Hollywood
Lillian Gish and Maude Adams
Two women filmmakers that made a huge influence in Film History were Lillian Gish and Maude Adams. Gish made a huge impact on most of her films as different types of female characters. Maude Adams made an influence in film by inventing new light systems and ways of making moving pictures brighter. This essay will focus on how much of an impact these two ladies have made in the early days of cinema.
Lillian Gish was an actress of Early Hollywood and was considered the First Lady of American Cinema. She was a phenomenal actress and showed great enthusiasm and drama throughout her films acting. Her most notable collaborations was with D.W. Griffith in Birth of a Nation (1915); and Intolerance (1916). In these films Lillian Gish plays as a sort of a suffering but yet strong young woman. After numerous years of becoming an actress and becoming a star she was known as “The First Lady of American Cinema.” She earned this title because when you watch each of her films, she felt that film was a new art form and she wanted to stand out differently than other actors of the time. An example would be in Birth of a Nation, Lillian Gish was portrayed as not only the leading lady but acts as an independent and free woman. Her character was being forced to be married but refuses and runs away. She then bumps into an African American captain named Gus who asks that he wants to get married, which scares her. She then runs but then jumps off a cliff to her death. She appears to be this independent strong woman at first but then becomes a damsel in distress. What she emphasizes is she changes all her characters public persona and her private ambition, which allows us to see her as a clever character. What this means about Gish is that she acts in most of her films portrayed her as a weak character but then becomes a strong heroine or vice versa. Griffith used this motive in most of his films with her and knew her personality within these films. In the next film Intolerance, she makes a great performance as an Eternal Mother that describes many of the famous stories portrayed in the film. She does a magnificent job in this film describing these stories to the audience.
Maude Adams worked behind the scenes as a lighting technician and a film manufacturer. As a lighting technician, she identified problems and opportunities to help improve stage lighting, which helped direct the research of technicians. Once her career as a lighting technician started, she influenced many filmmakers and celebrities to this day. Industrial Light & Magic for example was influenced by her lighting career also Eastman Kodak and General Electric. During the nineteenth century, her and Bassett Jones created an incandescent electrical lighting which allowed more light for theatre and cinema productions. During this time the lights that were currently being used were extremely weak and made the picture very dim. The use of this new light fixture allowed many of the lights to be stronger, brighter and also didn’t take a whole lot of energy. These lights were also very small and mobile they were able to be transported easier than others. She helped with the advancement of lighting technology that allowed us to see the film a lot clearer than before. Adam’s other traits she has is that she had a very collaborative approach. In the mid 1920s she did start her own production company as Maude Adams Production, she was mostly in charge of the studio with Robert Flaherty. According to the Film Daily in 1926, they reportedly made a few test films during this time with pottery and stained-glass windows and a local museum. Although, where they shot these films at was the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum has no records of these films being produced. She has influenced many women filmmakers throughout the years and still does to this day.
These women have made a tremendous impact on early cinema. Their work still continues to influence many today. Lillian Gish’s acting has influenced many actresses from the early days to today. Maude Adams also influenced many companies by her lighting techniques and continues to be an influential part of cinema to this day as well.
Works Cited
Cooper, Mark G. “Lillian Gish.” – Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University, September 27, 2013. https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-lillian-gish/.
Jackson, Vicky. “Maude Adams.” Maude Adams – Women Film Pioneers Project, Columbia University, 21 Mar. 2016, https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/maude-adams/.
“Lillian Gish.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, October 16, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/lillian-gish-about-lillian-gish/614/.
“Maude Adams.” A Mormon Actress: 'Maude Adams: A Biography' by Ada Patterson, IDS Film, 1907, http://www.ldsfilm.com/actors/MaudeAdamsBio.html.
Cooper, Mark G. “Lillian Gish.” – Women Film Pioneers Project. Columbia University, September 27, 2013. https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-lillian-gish/.
“Lillian Gish.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, October 16, 2015. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/lillian-gish-about-lillian-gish/614/.
“Lillian Gish.” – Women Film Pioneers Project.
Jackson, Vicky. “Maude Adams.” Maude Adams – Women Film Pioneers Project, Columbia University, 21 Mar. 2016, https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/maude-adams/.
“Maude Adams.” – Women Film Pioneers Project.
“Maude Adams.” A Mormon Actress: 'Maude Adams: A Biography' by Ada Patterson, IDS Film, 1907, http://www.ldsfilm.com/actors/MaudeAdamsBio.html.