Sylvia Scarlett in 35mm Fri, Mar 29 | 7:30pm | TMT
While a sewing circle is commonly defined as “a social meeting of women who congregate to sew and talk together,” some women in early Hollywood co-opted this term to denote sapphic inclinations. Initiated by early silent film producer and actor Alla Nazimova, who openly identified as bisexual, her “sewing circle” was a space open and welcoming to many women. We adopt the term for this series to highlight figures long considered icons by women who love women. Throughout the decades, queer people have identified with or felt shaped or validated by the personae of these figures at a time when representation was scarce. As Richard Dyer’s classic study of movie stars Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society (1986) notes, “audiences cannot make media images mean anything they want to, but they can select from the complexity of the image the meanings and feelings, the variations, inflections and LIMITED SERIES THE SEWING CIRCLE: SAPPHIC ICONS OF EARLY HOLLYWOOD MAR 22–APR 4, 2024
contradictions, that work for them.” Programmed and notes by Sari Navarro.
Salomé with Live Score by Sarah Davachi Fri, Mar 22 | 7:30pm | DGT Alla Nazimova is credited with originally using the discreet term “sewing circle” as a euphemism for her weekly sapphic gatherings for women in the film industry. Nazimova produced and starred in this screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s one-act play Salomé , loosely based on the biblical story of King Herod’s execution of John the Baptist. Though not credited onscreen, Nazimova also co-directed the film and wrote the screenplay under the pen name Peter M. Winters. Salomé has been noted to consist of a predominantly queer cast, which has been interpreted as Nazimova’s nod to Wilde’s sexual orientation. DIRECTED BY: Charles Bryant. WRITTEN BY: Peter M. Winters. WITH: Alla Nazimova, Rose Dione, Nigel De Brulier, Mitchell Lewis. 1922. 72 min. USA. B&W. Silent. English intertitles. DCP.
studio system during this male-dominated period. She was also openly lesbian. The Bride Wore Red was her only film collaboration with queer icon Joan Crawford, with whom many folks fearful of openly identifying with their sexuality in the early 20th century could find a kindred spirit. Crawford plays cabaret girl Anni Pavlovitch, whose social status is briefly changed by Count Armalia (George Zucco) in an experiment to prove that luck is based on chance. DIRECTED BY: Dorothy Arzner. WRITTEN BY: Tess Slesinger, Bradbury Foote. WITH: Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone, Robert Young, Billie Burke. 1937. 103 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Christopher Strong Director Dorothy Arzner was known to tackle stories with complicated female leads and Christopher Strong was no exception. In her first leading role, Katharine Hepburn stars as aviatrix Lady Cynthia Darrington, who enters an illicit love affair. Though not an overtly queer storyline, when interpreted through a queer lens, Cynthia’s taboo romance with the married Sir Christopher Strong (Colin Clive) and her strained yet sentimental relationship with Christopher’s wife, Lady Elaine Strong (Billie Burke), take on new, layered meaning. A rare opportunity to see this archival 35mm print!
The Bride Wore Red in 35mm with Christopher Strong in 35mm Sat, Mar 23 | 2pm | TMT The Bride Wore Red
In the beginnings of what many refer to as the Golden Age of Hollywood, Dorothy Arzner was a trailblazer as the only woman directing films in the
8
Powered by FlippingBook