Outside the System: Gene Gauntier and the Consolidation of Early American Cinema

Gene Gauntier’s career as an actor, screenwriter, and producer offers an important case study within American film’s transitional era, as the creative opportunities and collaborative character of stock-company productions gradually gave way to the centralized spaces and practices of studio-era Hollywood. Gauntier progressed within less than a decade from inexperienced stage actress to leading lady and screenwriter at Kalem and then became an independent producer and studio owner. Her status and significance within the American film industry was then rapidly eclipsed by the consolidation of production and distribution structures and a more narrowly defined and highly gendered discourse of stardom. Making detailed use of her evolving construction in the contemporary trade press and her memoirs, this article traces Gauntier’s rise and demise within the shifting industrial discourses and practices of this period and brings to light information concerning her exit from the industry and her life afterward.