ALICE GUY BLACHE- (b.1873 - d.1968) - Producer, Director, Writer

Alice Guy Blache was the first woman film director whose career lasted over 20 years.  Some of her accomplishments include; synchronized sound, colorization, special effects, super imposition, and development of film as a narrative. She was a pioneer in cinema whose innovations and artistry in filmmaking contributed immensely to the motion picture industry.



THE EARLY YEARS

Alice Guy   was born in Paris France on July 1, 1873. Her, mother, Mariette, and father, Emile Guy, both from France, resided in, Santiago, Chile, where, Emile, owned and ran a chain of bookstores. During her mother’s pregnancy, Alice’s mother thought it best to travel back home to France to have her child. (Alice). She left Alice with her mother who raised her in Switzerland until four years of age.  Alice’s mother brought her back to Chile where she lived for a couple of years.

By 1877, Alice’s father brought her back to France and enrolled her in a strict catholic boarding school where two of her older sisters were already studying.   In 1884, Alice’s father’s chain of bookstores went into bankruptcy. Shortly thereafter, her oldest brother, Reginald, then seventeen years old, died from a severe heart illness.  Within a few months, her father died; he was fifty one. During her   last couple of years at school, Alice studied typing and stenography.

 In 1894 she was hired in a secretarial position by, Leon Gaumont, manager of the, Felix Richard Still Photography Company.  Within a few months,   Leon Gaumont, had the opportunity to buy the entire inventory from the company’s owner and opened up his own camera manufacturing company. He took Alice along and had her run the office.  Leon Gaumont bought the patent of a Phonoscope motion picture camera. Alice found great interest in this camera and experimented with it as much as she could. She learned the techniques for still photography and early moving pictures.

Within a year, in 1896, Gaumont made a change in his business and founded the Gaumont Film Company. Alice, who was promoted to head of productions, directed her first film, “La Fee aux Choux” (The Cabbage Fairy).  With this she became the first female filmmaker in the world. (By 1906, Alice, had directed over 300 films. Her skills as a producer, writer and director gained her fame and respect amongst her peers).  Alice became  a notoriety in France and received plenty of awards. Some of these were given by the “Exposition Universelles” which included;

-1900- Paris, & 1903- Lille, “Diplome de Collaboratrice” (awards to collaborator)

-1904-St.Louis, 1905- Liege, & 1906- Milan, Gold medals-in recognition of her contributions toward the art of film development.

-1907, “Palmes Academiques” for Director of Films.

Throughout her career at the Gaumont Film Company, Alice took charge and held most of the responsibilities of production, directing, and writing of films.  She did all the ground work, searching all over Paris for the best locations for shooting a film, finding the best deals for equipment and props as well as for costumes to which she often made them herself.  Also, she was in charge of hiring staff for all areas of the company and even performed acting parts in many of the films herself.

SOLAX STUDIOS

In 1907, Alice married, Herbert Blaché, a manager who ran   Gaumont’s British and German offices.  A short time later, Alice, left  Gaumont’s  studio in France and moved with Blache to the United States. While there, Alice managed the Gaumont studio in, Flushing, New York and eventually rented the space and opened up her own studio, Solax.  In the early years, she produced and directed mostly westerns and melodrama films.   Within a few years, Alice had two children, daughter, Simone, and son, Reginald.

For the first few years at the Solax studios, Alice produced one reeler films (10-15min.) By 1912, the Solax Company had become very successful and Alice built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey costing over $100,000.00.  Alice had complete control over every film, from scripting to the directing of movies.

Fort Lee was an area in which many other film studios were based and today that city is considered to be the birthplace of the motion picture industry.  The Solax studio rented space to notable and early pioneer figures and studios such as; Goldwyn Picture Corporation, Selznick Picture Corporation, and Pathe Studios.  Some of the others  worthy of mention  who either rented at Solax Studios or other  movie plants in Fort Lee, included;  Fox Entertainment, Metro Picture Company(MGM), Universal Films, and Paramount, Triangle Film, and Champion Film Company.  Some of the most popular stars that performed in Solax pictures were, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore, and Olga Petrova.

Solax Studios had its own film processing laboratory, elaborate sets and stage built with a glass roof which allowed for natural lighting, administration offices, costume design area, dressing rooms, and fabrication workshops. Solax’s rate of production of films matched that of D.W. Griffith, who was producing an immense amount of 2 reeler films per week at the Biographe studios.

 In 1913, Alice wanted to spend more time on writing and directing films and so, made her husband, Herbert Blache, president of Solax.  After a few months, Blache resigned from Solax and created his own company, Blache Features, using all of Solax’s facilities equipment and actors for his productions.  Blaché Features became much more successful than Solax   and eventually, did shut down its operations in 1914.  At this time, the demand for more feature length films (5 reels or more) increased and so the Blache’s joined the, Popular Plays and Players Production Company which produced feature films for other film distributors. By 1916, the Blaches parted ways with the company and formed the U.S. Amusement Corporation which distributed films to some of the same distributors as the Popular Company had.

THE DECLINE

A short time later, Alice and her husband’s relationship began to show signs of trouble. Herbert Blache had been undermining Alice’s decisions for a long time and had gained a reputation as that of a philanderer.  They decided to separate and Alice went to work for William Randolph Hearst‘s International Film Service division. During this time film companies, old and new, began to re-locate to the west coast. Hollywood, California had a massive area of empty land that offered a better climate for shooting films and was less costly for production of movies.  This affected the east coast film industry greatly and within a short time many of the film companies that remained there, closed up shop.  Blache’s Film Company was one of the ones that were affected and Alice had no choice but to terminate the business and in doing so, filed for bankruptcy. It was not long after this that the Blache’s divorce was finalized.

Alice took her children and moved to New York City. While there, she was hired to direct a film for, Leonce Perrot. During the ten weeks of shooting, an outbreak of the, Spanish Influenza, immerged and four of Alice’s colleagues were killed by it. Herbert Blache, who had moved to California, came to New York for business and to visit his children. Alarmed at the gaunt looking Alice, Herbert convinced her to move to California and gave her a job as an assistant director for two of the films he was producing; “The Brat” and “Stronger than Death” both of which starred, Alla Nazimova. In the middle of shooting, Alice, had to return to Fort Lee, New Jersey, to oversee the auction of the Solax properties. The auction was a failure bringing a huge loss of money for Alice.  She returned to California and completed one more film” Tarnished Reputation”1920. This was the last film Alice made.

LATER YEARS

By 1922, Alice, now  40 years old, divorced,  and  having lost her company and dreams, left American and went back to France taking her children with her and lived there  for over 40 years. While in France, Alice had little luck in finding work in films. She spent her time   giving lecture on filmmaking to students at schools in both France and Switzerland, wrote a few novels, wrote articles of short stories for women’s magazines, and worked on her memoirs which were published in 1976. In 1964, Alice returned to the United States and lived with her daughter, Simone. She died in a nursing home in, Mahwah, New Jersey on March 24^th, 1968 at the age of 95.

Alice Guy Blache is an important figure in the history of cinema and her achievements are nothing less than impressive. She was one of the first business women in the film industry. Alice contributed greatly toward the progress of   both France’s and the American’s cinema industry.  She produced comedies, westerns, dramas, a biblical epic, and  literary classical themes.  In her films, Alice depicted family relationships, issues of class, finances, addictions, and more. She dared to learn, pursue, and   develop ideas and techniques in a male dominated industry at a time when women were not even allowed to vote.  She was not afraid and jumped into the new era of   film production   with full force. In doing so, Alice, cemented her reputation as the first successful female filmmaker of the cinema field. 

The Gaumont Film Company founded in 1985 by French film producer, Leon Gaumont, is the oldest Film company in the world.

As there are over 300 movies that Alice Guy Blache was involved with, it is impossible to list all of them here, therefore, there are only a handful of films mentioned in this post. For those who are interested in viewing Alice’s filmography, there are many websites on the internet which have the complete list of her movies.

1896-La Fee aux Choux-one of the earliest narrative fiction films ever made. Length 60 seconds. Alice appears in this film in the character of a male.

1905-La Esmerelda –This film was based on the Victor Hugo novel, Hunchback of Notre Dame.

1912-Falling Leaves-   12 minute short feature.

1912-Algie, the Miner-10   minute short feature.

1912- Matrimony’s   Speed Limit- This is one of the only two surviving films produced by Alice Guy Blache.  14 minute short.

1920-Tarnished Reputation-Alice Guy Blache’s final film. 50 minute feature.

 I apologize   for some of the missing French accents, unfortunately, my computer is not co-operating too well and seems to be inserting and not inserting the accents as it pleases.





Herbert Blache



Alice Guy Blache Tombstone