Guy-Blaché, Alice

Guy-Blaché, Alice
orig. Alice Guy

born July 1, 1873, Paris, France
died March 24, 1968, Mahwah, N.J., U.S.

French-born U.S. pioneer of French and American film industries.

The first woman director, she is also generally acknowledged to be the first director to film a narrative story. She directed her first film, The Cabbage Fairy, in 1896 to demonstrate the entertainment possibilities of the motion-picture camera manufactured by her employer, Léon Gaumont. She became the Gaumont film company's head of production, directing nearly all early Gaumont films. About 1901 Guy began to work on longer, more elaborate projects, notably Esmeralda (1905), based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Life of Christ (1906). From 1906 to 1907 she directed about 100 films, using experimental sound technology. She married cameraman Herbert Blaché in 1907 and followed him to the U.S., where in 1910 she founded the successful Solax Company. As president of Solax she directed about 45 films and supervised nearly 300 other productions. Only a handful of the hundreds of films she made survive.

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▪ French director
née  Guy 
born July 1, 1873, Paris, France
died March 24, 1968, Mahwah, N.J., U.S.

      pioneer of the French and American film industries. The first woman director, she is also generally acknowledged to be the first director to film a narrative story.

      Hired as Léon Gaumont's secretary, Guy directed her first moving picture, La Fée aux choux (“The Cabbage Fairy”), in 1896 to demonstrate the entertainment possibilities of the motion-picture camera manufactured by her employer. (Many historians support Guy's claim that her fairy tale preceded the story films of Georges Méliès, (Méliès, Georges) but a few date her film to as late as 1900.) She soon thereafter became the Gaumont film company's head of production, directing nearly all the Gaumont films made until 1905, when the company's growth necessitated her hiring additional directors.

      Most of the early Gaumont films were inexpensively produced and ran for only a minute or two, but about 1901 Guy began working on slightly longer, more elaborate projects, notably Esmeralda (1905), based on Victor Hugo (Hugo, Victor)'s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and La Vie du Christ (1906; “The Life of Christ”). She experimented with cinematic tricks and learned through experience to mask off parts of the film picture, use double exposures, and run film backward to achieve certain desired effects. From 1906 to 1907 she directed about 100 short “sound” pictures, using Gaumont's Chronophone, which synchronized the filmed image with sound recorded on a wax cylinder.

      In 1907 Guy married cameraman Herbert Blaché and followed him to the United States, where in 1910 she established the financially and critically successful Solax Company. As president of Solax, she directed 40 to 50 films and supervised nearly 300 other productions. By 1912 the company had outgrown its original site in Flushing, New York, so she built a new, state-of-the-art studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In 1913, however, she and her husband established a new company, and Solax closed the next year. Guy-Blaché continued to direct for her husband's companies, and when changes in the industry put the Blachés and other independents out of business, she worked briefly for some of the bigger studios.

      Guy-Blaché moved to France with her two children in 1922 after her marriage failed. She was unable to find work in the film industry there, however. Indeed, as time passed, she discovered that many of her accomplishments had been forgotten or, worse, had been credited to one of her male colleagues. The French government belatedly awarded her the Legion of Honour in 1953. In 1964 she returned to the United States, where she remained until her death. Her memoirs, Autobiographie d'une pionnière du cinéma, 1873–1968 (The Memoires of Alice Guy Blaché; 1986) were published in 1976, but only a handful of the hundreds of films she made survive.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Guy-Blaché, Alice — orig. Alice Guy (1 jul. 1873, París, Francia–24 mar. 1968, Mahwah, N.J., EE.UU.). Precursora de la industria del cine en Francia y EE.UU., de nacionalidad estadounidense y nacida en Francia. Fue la primera mujer cineasta y, por lo general, es… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Alice Guy-Blaché — (* 1. Juli 1873 in Saint Mandé; † 24. März 1968 in Mahwah, New Jersey) war eine Pionierin des Films und die erste Filmregisseurin. Ihren ersten Film, La Fée aux Choux, drehte sie 1896, wodurch sie als eine der ersten Regisseure überhaupt einen… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Guy-Blaché — Alice Guy Blaché (* 1. Juli 1873 in Saint Mandé; † 24. März 1968 in Mahwah, New Jersey) war eine Pionierin des Films und die erste Filmregisseurin. Ihren ersten Film, La Fée aux Choux, drehte sie 1896, wodurch sie als eine der ersten Regisseure… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alice Guy-Blaché — (July 1, 1873 ndash; March 24, 1968) was a pioneer filmmaker who was the first female director in the motion picture industry and is considered to be one of the first directors of a fiction film. Early yearsAlice Guy was born to French parents… …   Wikipedia

  • Guy-Blaché — /gi blaˈʃeɪ/ (say gee blah shay) noun Alice, 1873–1968, French film director and producer …  

  • Alice Guy — Blaché (* 1. Juli 1873 in Saint Mandé; † 24. März 1968 in Mahwah, New Jersey) war eine Pionierin des Films und die erste Filmregisseurin. Ihren ersten Film, La Fée aux Choux, drehte sie 1896, wodurch sie als eine der ersten Regisseure überhaupt… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alice Guy — Blaché Nacimiento 1 de julio de …   Wikipedia Español

  • Guy — /guy/; Fr. /gee/, n. a male given name: from a Germanic word meaning woods. * * * (as used in expressions) Bolton Guy Reginald Burgess Guy Francis de Moncy Dorchester of Dorchester Guy Carleton 1st Baron Fawkes Guy Guy Blaché Alice Alice Guy… …   Universalium

  • guy — guy1 /guy/, n., v., guyed, guying. n. 1. Informal. a man or boy; fellow: He s a nice guy. 2. Usually, guys. Informal. persons of either sex; people: Could one of you guys help me with this? 3. Chiefly Brit. Slang. a grotesquely dressed person. 4 …   Universalium

  • Alice — /al is/, n. 1. a city in S Texas. 20,961. 2. the. See Alice Springs. 3. a female given name: from a Germanic word meaning of noble rank. * * * (as used in expressions) Alice Springs Childress Alice Guy Blaché Alice Alice Guy Jane Alice Peters… …   Universalium

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