Alice Guy Blaché, with music by Cécile Chaminade

History is defined by the dominant
While other voices have been kept sealed too long
This is why we should have a united front

Nineteenth century France is where I belong
Though I worked and lived also in the U.S.
My passion for moving pictures was so strong

That my first narrative film was a success
The Cabbage Patch Fairy even had sequels
But I must start from my birth to then progress

Emile and Marie Guy were no rebels
I was their fifth child and first wanted to act
Father said it was not meant for demoiselles

My reputation had to be kept intact
It was more bourgeois to learn stenography
My skills working at Gaumont had an impact

I began as a simple secretary
A private screening of the Lumière Brothers
Made me see potential in this artistry

I came up with close-ups, double exposures,
Hand-tinted colours, special effects, split-screens
And synchronised sound amongst many others

French literature inspired some of my scenes
The Passion of Christ and social issues too
I tried to go beyond portraying routines

An African-American cast came through
I discussed planned parenthood and child abuse
Kids are the best performers for how they’re true

I was a working mum while I would produce
Simone and Reginald were on set with me
They watched how I changed the traditions in use

I had men and women swap clothes to be free
Gender role reversals meant males in corsets
The habitual garment for Alice Guy

Blaché I became with marriage and more projects
I fell in love with Herbert, an English man
For him I relinquished Paris and baguettes

We ventured into the New World with a plan
Expanding the magic of motion pictures
Solax my production company began

Fort Lee gave wave to cinematic mixtures
I was thirty three and he was twenty four
All was going according to the scriptures

With the Great War no instant was as before
The licensing fees of Edison to work
Ended East Coast filmmaking forevermore

My husband was spellbound by Hollywood’s perk
His Californian girls led us to divorce
I couldn’t find a job not even as a clerk

Back to France with my children and no remorse
Yet the scene had changed for female directors
The Great Depression deprived me of my force

I depended on my daughter’s job sectors
At the American Embassy posts changed
The two of us became country collectors

In books about cinema I was estranged
My works were credited to male filmmakers
Historians took no care in this exchange

Many hundreds of screenplays I would create
Shooting and editing were all my domain
Even the business plan I could conjugate

Script theft was something I knew how to refrain
I used powder to detect the fingerprints
We were writing the new rules to entertain

The Picture Show provided several glints
One of the mistresses of my former consort
Had her historical title in misprints

Lois Weber was first in the U.S. court
I was the first female filmmaker worldwide
There’s no desire of merit in this report.