Good afternoon everyone!

How is it going? I've been watching films from the start of cinema on Thursday nights, so here is a roundup of the women of early film.

Sarah Whitely was the earliest born woman to appear in a film, because she appeared in the first film ever made, Roundhay Garden Scene. It's only 22 seconds, and you can see the full thing at the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knD2EhjGwWI

You can read more about her here, and about her daughter Elizabeth who did early work in photography:

Louis and Elizabeth experimented with colour photography on metal and pottery, fixing the colours in a special kiln built at the Whitley home in Roundhay, and they founded the Leeds Technical School of Applied Art in 1877.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1460284?section=official-listing

Next up we have Something Good, starring Gertie Brown. This is ten years after Roundhay Garden Scene and is the first time there is noticeable onscreen chemistry.  Don't take this as a diss on the early films that are basically just people falling over! I LOVE those. Some of the finest innovations in hilarious physical mishaps happened in the 1800s! Anyway, here's Something Good (full 29s at the link):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIKU5kncg8U

Here's more about Gertie Brown in an interview with Allyson Nadia Feild, who identified the performers:

Gertie Brown and Saint Suttle were partners in a group called the Rag-time Four with John and Maud Brewer around 1898 and 1899. And they were largely responsible for craze and the cake dance, which was a variation of the popular cakewalks at the time. And I believe they were at Selig Studios filming a cakewalk film and then did this film as a kind of impromptu parody of the May Irwin kiss, which was the very famous kiss filmed in 1896 - one of the first films that was publicly exhibited, which featured a kiss between May Irwin and John Rice.

https://text.npr.org/677157673

Last night I watched Cendrillon by Georges Méliès, which is the first film I've seen that had a plot (again, beyond "falling over") and which has a much less identified cast than I'd expected. Jehanne d'Alcy stars as the Queen, though, and was one of the first performers to quit the stage for films! You can see her here, full film (six minutes!) at the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1hzP9yzb_U

Love,

Alex.