1911 E2 - Kathy Feeley

1911 E2 - Kathy Feeley

From The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever by Tristan Ettleman

March 11, 2026 · 59 min · Season 13 · Episode 2

About this episode

Kathy Feeley discusses her film picks and the contributions of women in early cinema.

Kathy Feeley, professor of history at the University of Redlands, wrote Mary Pickford: Hollywood and the New Woman , so it makes sense that two of her picks center the film icon and pioneer, still in the early years of her career. But the rest of Kathy’s selections also paint a picture of women’s contributions before and behind the camera in an era before mass corporatization and the sidelining of women in various roles across the film industry. Kathy co-edited, with Jennifer Frost, When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History . She is also, again with Jennifer Frost, co-author of the forthcoming “‘Of Inestimable Value to All of Us’: Olivia de Havilland, the Studio Contract, and the Screen Actors Guild, 1943-1945” in Labor: Studies in Working Class History . Visit the5bestfilmsofeveryyearever.com/list to submit your top five for 1911! Films and resources mentioned: Their First Misunderstanding (1911) - Thomas H. Ince and George Loane Tucker Sweet Memories (1911) - Thomas H. Ince Rosalie and Léontine Go to the Theatre (1911) - Romeo Bosetti A Heroine of ‘76 (1911) - Lois Weber, Phillips Smalley, and Edwin S. Porter Cupid and the Comet (1911) - Alice Guy-Blaché…

People in this episode

Host: Tristan Ettleman

Guest: Kathy Feeley

Topics covered

  • film history
  • women in film
  • Mary Pickford
  • film pioneers
  • gossip in history

Keywords

  • Kathy Feeley
  • Mary Pickford
  • women filmmakers
  • film history
  • 1911 films

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Redlands, Women Film Pioneers Project, Media History Digital Library, Cinema’s First Nasty Women

Books & works: Mary Pickford: Hollywood and the New Woman, When Private Talk Goes Public: Gossip in American History, ‘Of Inestimable Value to All of Us’: Olivia de Havilland, the Studio Contract, and the Screen Actors Guild, 1943-1945, Their First Misunderstanding, Sweet Memories, Rosalie and Léontine Go to the Theatre, A Heroine of ‘76, Cupid and the Comet, Bringing Up Baby

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