Blaché was born in Paris, France during a time when her parents were working in Chile where her father owned a chain of bookstores. She lived with her grandmother in Switzerland for a few years until her parents came to take her back to Chile with them.
She studied at a boarding school in France. It wasn't until Blaché was in her teens when her family returned from Chile that her family was together again. Her father and brother died shortly after their return.
The New Film Industry
Blaché began her career in still photography as a secretary for Leon Gaumont who worked for a camera manufacturer at the time. When the company encountered financial difficulties, Gaumont and a few others (including Gustav Eiffel for whom the Eiffel Tower was named) bought the company. The new company was called L. Gaumont et Cie. They manufactured equipment for the moving picture industry and began making short films to promote the products they made.
Blaché was very innovative in her filmmaking, especially for the time. She is considered the first filmmaker to develop narrative films. She was one of the pioneers in using recordings to accompany films. She was also an innovator in using special effects such as double exposure masking techniques and running a film backwards. She is credited as being one of the first women to work as writer, director and producer in the film industry.
In 1896, Blaché made a 60-second film "The Cabbage Fairy." Although short, it is considered to be the first "narrative" film as it told a story. Blaché's efforts so pleased Gaumont that she was put in charge of production at his film division in 1897.
Quickly becoming the number two film studio in France (Pathé was number one), Gaumont began to own and operate its own movie theaters. In 1906, Blaché produced and directed her first full-length feature film, "The Life of Christ." It was shot in 25 scenes and required 300 extras. "The Spring Fairy," which used color special effects was shot that same year.
Making Movies in the United States
Alice married Herbert Bache in 1907 and Herbert was promoted to head the Gaumont distribution in the United States. The couple moved to New York and Blaché had two daughters while serving as production manager.
In 1910, the Blaché’s along with a third employee from Gaumont, formed their own company, Solax. Bache served as artistic director at Solax. Their first American film was "A Child's Sacrifice" in 1910. In 1912, Blaché directed "A Fool and His Money." This film is believed to be the first to use an entirely African-American cast.
Solax enjoyed a success that exceeded the Blaché’s dreams. They moved to a larger studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, fast becoming the film capital of America at that time. Blaché wrote an article, "Woman's Place in Photoplay Production" for the July 11, 1914 edition of The Moving Picture World. Some of the first courses in filmmaking at Columbia University were taught by Alice Blaché in 1917.
The film industry saw many changes after World War I. Solax was one of the film studios which encountered financial setbacks. "Tarnished Reputations" (1920) would be the last film Blaché ever directed.
The Blaché’s divorced in 1922 and Alice had difficulty obtaining work on her own. She returned to France hoping to renew some of her contacts there. However, she was unable to take any of her American-made prints with her and little had survived from her years at Gaumont. Without proof of her work, Blaché was unable to find employment in the European film industry and returned to the states in 1927.
All in all, Blache wroté, produced and/or directed close to 700 films. Ironically, when she searched for hours through the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., she could find only a handful of prints - early one-reelers - to prove she had ever worked in the film industry.
However, Blaché did give lectures on film and wrote novels from film scripts. In 1955, the government of France awarded her the Legion of Honor.
In 1964, Blaché returned to the United States once again to be with one of her daughters. She died in a nursing home in Mahwah, New Jersey.
Remembering Alice Guy-Blaché
In 1995, the National Film Board of Canada released a documentary about the life of Alice Guy-Blaché: The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché. In March 2002, Continuum published “Alice Guy-Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema, The Memoirs of Alice Guy-Blaché.
Film historians succeeded where Blaché could not: a little over one hundred of the films she directed have been found and preserved.
An historical marker is located at the site where the Blaché’s Solax Studio used to stand in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The Fort Lee Film Commission annually presents the “Alice Award” to a Fort Lee High School student showing promise in the field of film.
Penny White - Penny White has been writing since the age of ten. She is an avid supporter of women's history. She also loves music, movies, NCIS, ...
