Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515786
could be arranged, shued, and cut in ways that would make the final eect much more powerful for an audience, women were technical masters." To find out more about these remarkable women, I searched for recorded evidence of female editors working in Hollywood between 1900 and 1940. Here I came up with a surprisingly short list of 11 names, all belonging to women who had very sig- nificant editing careers: Anne Bauchens, Margaret Booth, Adrienne Fazan, Viola Lawrence, Alma Macrorie, Barbara McLean, Irene Morra, Blanche Sewell, Rose Smith, Dorothy Spencer and Eda Warren. Other names cropped up in my research: Dorothy Arzner accumulated a handful of editing credits before turning to directing; Patricia Rooney, Madge Tyrone, Mildred Rich and Helen Lewis edited a number of films but their careers petered out after a few years. Undoubtedly, there must have been others lost to recorded history. O f t h e 1 1 , I d e c i d e d to c o n ce n t ra te on four (based largely on availability of information): Margaret Booth ("Camille," "Mutiny on the Bounty"), Barbara McLean ("All About Eve," "Wilson," "Alexander's Ragtime Band"), Adrienne Fazan ("Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris") and A n n e B a u c h e n s (" Th e Te n C o m m a n d - ments," "The Greatest Show on Earth"). All of these women were gifted artists who were at the right place at the right time. They seem extremely hard-working, dedi- cating their lives to the studios, seemingly for the joy of doing a good job, whether or not they got their due from their employers. They cultivated strong key relationships with powerful figures within the studio sys- tem and displayed a lot of loyalty, resulting in some extraordinarily long-lasting work- ing relationships. They seemed perceptive about the moods and whimsies of directors and producers, possessing what today would probably be called emotional intel- ligence: knowing how to handle delicate 24 C I N E M O N T A G E F E A T U R E 'Anne told me, "Go up to the ranch for a few days — I'll take care of this."' ONE FRAME AT A TIME: Anne Bauchens followed Cecil B. DeMille to Hollywood. Right inset, Barbara McLean watches dailies with Darryl Zanuck. Left inset, a magazine interview with editor Alma Macrorie.