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BODIES OF WORK

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In her recent Calendar series, “A Capsule History of Women Directors, 1900-1980,” Nancy Mills states that prior to the 1960s only two women film directors “developed a body of work,” referring to Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino.

She seems to be ignoring the entire silent period, in which many women directed, and in which two women in particular developed very large and significant bodies of work: Lois Weber and Alice Guy Blache.

Both of these women directed scores of films during the first three decades of this century.

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Judging by most of the writing I see on early film history in The Times, sometimes I wonder if anyone there knows that there were actually movies in 1927! If you don’t have people who know this period at all, why don’t you either get some, or stop publishing the articles period?

ROBERT CUSHMAN

Los Angeles

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