Cathrine Curtis

Cathrine Curtis (1889 - 1955)[1] was an American actress, film producer, investor, and radio personality. She was one of the first female film producers, and she was also a political organizer noted for her extreme far-right views.

Cathrine Curtis
Born
Cathrine Taylor

1889
Albany, New York, U.S.
Died1962
California
OccupationFilm producer, actress, political organizer
Spouse(s)Joseph O'Neil, Perit Coit Myers, Jr.

Early life

Curtis was born in Albany, New York,[1] to wealthy parents George Taylor (a capitalist) and Flora Beach, Curtis attended boarding school in New York City[2] and graduated from St. Agnes High School in Albany. She attended New York University but left before graduating.[3]

Career

Curtis owned and operated a ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. She began investing in stocks at the age of 15.[3] In Phoenix, one of her neighbors was novelist Harold Bell Wright, who invited her to Hollywood to play a role in his film, The Shepherd of the Hills.[3][4]

Hollywood career

While working on the film, she decided she wanted to become a producer, and she decided to stay in Los Angeles.[5] Her first credit as a producer was on King Vidor's 1921 silent film The Sky Pilot[6]. She planned an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World (ultimately released in 1925), but legal wrangling ensued over rights.[7] She was noted as one of the only film producers of her day, and was notable for being the first woman in that position.[8] Curtis ran her own production company, The Cathrine Curtis Pictures Corporation. Created in 1919, the company had offices in New York City and Los Angeles.[9] She seems to have lost interest after marrying her husband Joseph O'Neill but continued making advertorial films through the end of the decade.

Political leanings

After moving back to New York City after the stock market crash, she continued investing and became a radio personality, producing a twice-weekly show, Women and Money, for WMCA, where she began espousing a brand of feminism centered around women's financial independence.[3] Her criticism of the New Deal eventually led to cancellation of the program.[1]

Curtis was also a far-right activist and organizer known for her anti-Communist stance, antisemitism, and isolationist views. She created a number of committees and organizations in her day, including the National Legion of Mothers of America and the Women's National Committee to Keep the U.S. Out of War. Her criticism of the New Deal and lobbying on behalf of women investors[10] led her to create the Women Investors Research Institute, a non-profit organization that grew to 300,000 members in 1939.[1]

Personal life

Curtis was married several times; her husbands included lawyer Joseph O'Neil[11] (divorced 1929)[12]</ref> and Perit Coit Myers Jr.[13][14] Myers and Curtis had a daughter, Gretchen, together.

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References
  1. Jeansonne, Glen; Luhrssen, David (2006). Cook, Bernard A. (ed.). Women and War: A Historical Encyclopedia from Antiquity to the Present. ABC-CLIO. pp. 137–138. ISBN 9781851097708. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  2. Woman's Journal. IPC Magazines. 1921.
  3. Jeansonne, Glen (June 9, 1997). Women of the Far Right: The Mothers' Movement and World War II. University of Chicago Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780226395890. cathrine curtis actress.
  4. Parton, Lemuel F. (December 18, 1941). "Who's News This Week". The Plumas Independent. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  5. "Cathrine Curtis". The Belleville Republic County Democrat. May 25, 1921. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  6. "Cathrine Curtis to Produce Series of Movies on Home". The Glen Falls Post-Gazette. June 6, 1927. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  7. "Archives On The Air 172: Jurassic Conmen—Cathrine Curtis Corporation Records". Archives on the Air. Wyoming Public Media. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  8. "First of Her Sex in the Field of Film Production". The Woman Citizen. VI (19): 11. February 11, 1922. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  9. "Cathrine Curtis Pictures Corporation". The Editor. 51 (6): VII. September 25, 1919. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  10. "Congress Urged to Substitute Sound Finance Bill". The San Francisco Examiner. August 4, 1935. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  11. "Pioneer Woman Movie Producer Secretly Wed". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 26, 1924. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  12. "Catherine O'Neil Divorced: Decree Revealed by Lawyer's Suit for $5,000 for Services," New York Times, 9 Nov 1929: 40
  13. "Thinks Public Wants More Art in Movies". The Boston Globe. February 26, 1926. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
  14. "Phoenix Woman Is Head of New Film Company". The Arizona Republic. August 23, 1919. Retrieved January 14, 2019.
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