January 27, 2024 • 4 mins
I came to the world during a spring drizzle
My family was middle-class and Christian
Toiling young in missions became my chisel
For social justice in my work of fiction
They called it an unladylike profession
The craft of moving picture composition
Before that music was my one obsession
I was a pianist, organist and singer
When I reached New York I made the progression
The musical comedies made me linger
In the company of dear Philips Smalley
He became my husband, the perfect dinger
Our work-love companionship was so jolly
Being hired at Gaumont was so life-changing
One short film every week was quite a folly
With Madame and Monsieur Blaché mentoring
I was remodeled to auteur filmmaker
It was a grand cinematic beginning
Motherhood did not turn out to be my sector
The loss of Phoebe made me focus on film
My world became the screen and the projector
Making pictures in the West Coast was less dim
Universal City chose me as its mayor
My stories were fruit of conscience not of whim
Of progressive goals I became the conveyor
Birth control, addiction, eugenics and more
I captured on film and was called soothsayer
Structural complexity I would explore
The first U.S. feature by a woman was mine
Lois Weber Productions had so much in store
People would say I was ahead of my time
I enjoyed empowering female workmates
After the Twenties nothing was as before
Ladies’ brains were ignored, their bodies were baits
The wings they had creatively flapped were now clipped
The only sway was in their dresses and gaits
My film about gender politics was ripped
I had to abandon the Land of the Free
To the Old Continent and Orient we tripped
With Philips it was no longer meant to be
I returned to the New World and was divorced
Yet love had not at all given up on me
My need for a new life was therefore reinforced
With Captain Harry Gantz we set up a Ranch
All that was left of my fortune he outsourced
I tried to claim my cinematic revanche
But censorship smothered artistic freedom
Defeat tumbled upon me like an avalanche
I made one talkie, no spectator had come
I ultimately found delight in teaching
Movies act as a kinetic museum
I supplanted the black board with a screening
Despite this industry left me penniless
It must not discourage female pioneering.
My family was middle-class and Christian
Toiling young in missions became my chisel
For social justice in my work of fiction
They called it an unladylike profession
The craft of moving picture composition
Before that music was my one obsession
I was a pianist, organist and singer
When I reached New York I made the progression
The musical comedies made me linger
In the company of dear Philips Smalley
He became my husband, the perfect dinger
Our work-love companionship was so jolly
Being hired at Gaumont was so life-changing
One short film every week was quite a folly
With Madame and Monsieur Blaché mentoring
I was remodeled to auteur filmmaker
It was a grand cinematic beginning
Motherhood did not turn out to be my sector
The loss of Phoebe made me focus on film
My world became the screen and the projector
Making pictures in the West Coast was less dim
Universal City chose me as its mayor
My stories were fruit of conscience not of whim
Of progressive goals I became the conveyor
Birth control, addiction, eugenics and more
I captured on film and was called soothsayer
Structural complexity I would explore
The first U.S. feature by a woman was mine
Lois Weber Productions had so much in store
People would say I was ahead of my time
I enjoyed empowering female workmates
After the Twenties nothing was as before
Ladies’ brains were ignored, their bodies were baits
The wings they had creatively flapped were now clipped
The only sway was in their dresses and gaits
My film about gender politics was ripped
I had to abandon the Land of the Free
To the Old Continent and Orient we tripped
With Philips it was no longer meant to be
I returned to the New World and was divorced
Yet love had not at all given up on me
My need for a new life was therefore reinforced
With Captain Harry Gantz we set up a Ranch
All that was left of my fortune he outsourced
I tried to claim my cinematic revanche
But censorship smothered artistic freedom
Defeat tumbled upon me like an avalanche
I made one talkie, no spectator had come
I ultimately found delight in teaching
Movies act as a kinetic museum
I supplanted the black board with a screening
Despite this industry left me penniless
It must not discourage female pioneering.
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