San Francisco and Women

Positively a Renaissance woman with a background in art, acting, photography, and journalism, Frances Marion positioned herself at the forefront of early filmmaking in Hollywood. Her legacy lives on with more than 300 films in her portfolio and two screenwriting Academy Awards, and yet her name lacks the notoriety of many of her contemporaries. Marion's work in filmmaking helped to propel Hollywood from the era of silent movies to the world of "talkies," which was around the time businessmen and major studios started taking over the once-bohemian industry from early pioneers like Marion. Marion also came to fame during a time when filmmaking boasted gender equity in its ranks. Women in the silent era of filmmaking "directed, produced and edited hundreds of silent movies," and by some estimates more than half of all silent movies were made by women (Blakemore, 2016). Sisterhood, a conscientious effort to help other women in the industry and create a supportive environment, undoubtedly helped Marion and she helped other women achieve their filmmaking goals too. When the major motion picture studios started to usurp women's power in filmmaking, Marion herself grew disillusioned and dismayed with the changing tenor of the business. She "walked away" by the late 1930s, claiming that screenwriting "offered no creative control and little credit for anyone less than a writer-producer," (Blakemore, 2016). Yet by then, Marion had already established her presence in Hollywood and amassed hundreds of films in her impressive portfolio.

Born Marion Benson Owens to an upper middle class white family in San Francisco, Marion was practically destined to succeed as a multifaceted creative. Her parents actively encouraged Marion's creative pursuits, unconventional social norms, and worldly outlook. When she was still a teenager, Marion traveled with her parents to Mexico, where she went trekking in the mountains with a group of Yaqui Indians, something unheard of for women in the early 20th century (Beauchamp, 1997). Marion also came of age in San Francisco, where half of all the residents were born on foreign soil and another third were the direct children of immigrants (Beauchamp, 1997). Fascinated with people and diversity, Marion became an astute observer of the world around her. She traveled on streetcars for fun and learned several languages, including French and Spanish, fluently (Beauchamp, 1997). The wide body of writing credited by Marion is due in part to her worldly background and exposure to cultural and economic diversity in her youth.

In 1906, Marion's formerly well-off family lost nearly everything in the San Francisco earthquake and the subsequent fires that besieged the city. Her encounters with lean times only enhanced Marion's entrenchment in the burgeoning artist and bohemian community of Berkeley, where she met her first husband, an art teacher. Surrounding herself with artists and fellow creative thinkers, Marion subverted gender norms and roles from an early age. She spoke freely of having sex with her boyfriend the art teacher even before they married, and when they divorced a few years later, she spoke of their breakup without shame or guilt (Beauchamp, 1997). Marion married four times in total, and had numerous other lovers throughout her lifetime. Yet her career never depended on men; Marion built her own filmmaking career from the ground up and relied not on males but on other women for mentorship and professional guidance.

Marion had two early mentors that laid a firm foundation for her later success. The first was the actor Marie Dressler, who Marion first met as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner. Dressler was old enough to be Marion's mother, and helped the young reporter get her first story for the theater section of the paper (Beauchamp, 1997). Marion would have a chance encounter with Dressler years later in Los Angeles, after Marion and Dressler were both establishing themselves in the budding motion picture industry there. Years later, when Marion's success surpassed even that of Dressler's, Marion would be credited for "resurrecting" Dressler's career by writing roles for older women (Blakemore, 2016). Similarly, Marion would assist struggling female screenwriters like Lorna Moon in how to boost their careers ("Profile: Fances Marion," n.d.). Once again, the success of Hollywood women depended on sisterhood and mutual support. The long-lasting friendship between Marion and actor Mary Pickford has been well documented and is proof that women in Hollywood relied on each other. Pickford personally appointed Marion as her personal screenwriter (Zeidel, 2009).

Marion's second mentor, and perhaps her most significant, was Lois Weber, "the most successful female director in Hollywood at the time," (Blakemore, 2016). Weber was known for a poignant, sophisticated method of cinematography and storytelling including "sophisticated camera angles and split-screen techniques," (Beauchamp, 1997, p. 36). When Marion first met Weber, she wanted to start designing costumes and sets, but Weber offered her a job as an actor instead. Marion initially refused, saying she preferred the "dark side of the camera," the behind-the-scenes work that defined her life as a writer and photographer (cited by Beauchamp, p. 37). Right then, Weber taught Marion one of her first lessons in Hollywood: everyone ended up doing "a little bit of everything" in order to promote the interests of the industry; Marion found herself doing everything from writing press releases to acting on screen (Beauchamp, 1997, p. 37). This introduction to every aspect of the filmmaking business helped to provide a rounded vision of the industry, turning Marion into a true professional worth every penny of the more than $3,000 per week she ended up earning at the pinnacle of her career -- the equivalent of more than $40,000 per week today (Beauchamp, 1997).