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Marguerite Bertsch DRAFT

Everything that has been BOLDED AND ITALICIZED is my edit so far. - L.P. (11/10/18)

Marguerite Bertsch (December 14, 1889-1967) was an American screenwriter and film director who worked in the early days of film. Bertsch was born in New York City, and studied at Columbia University.^[1] She worked as a playwright and a public school teacher ^[1] before beginning her career as a screenwriter with Vitagraph Studios in 1913.^[2] She also may have worked as an editor and screenwriter for the Famous Players Film Company, but the dates for this work are unknown.^[3] Her 1917 text How To Write For Moving Pictures: A Manual of Instruction and Information reflected and influenced the screenwriters of the era.^[3] In the early days of film, it was not uncommon for "scenario writers" to be women and she was among those who, beginning in 1916, also directed films. However, she would later be called one of the "forgotten women" of silent film as the non-acting women of early film largely became obscure. Prints of two films that Bertsch had worked on as a screenwriter were rediscovered in the Netherlands, at the Nederlands Filmmuseum. These newly discovered films, The Diver and The Troublesome Step-Daughter, and the 1914 film A Florida Enchantment, are currently the only films from Bertsch's career that have been recovered. The rest are presumed to be lost.^[1]

Career

Bertsch began her film career with Vitagraph Studios in 1913, as a scenario writer.^[2] In 1916, she became the head of the screenwriting department, and began working as a director for the company.^[2] Her first directorial output was the 1916 film The Law Decides, which she directed with William P.S. Earle. Several months later, she directed her first solo feature, The Devil's Prize (1916).^[2] This was considered to be an unusual film for a woman director and writer, as critics state that it was a "tangled tale of illegitimate pregnancy, abandonment, and murder.^[1]"

For reasons that are unknown, Bertsch stopped working for the Vitagraph company in 1918, when she was considered to be at the the height of her career.^[2] There is no record of any film work by her after this point. If you don't want to change this sentence, maybe change it a bit because its pretty similar to "The rest a presumed to be lost"

Personal Life

Very little is known about Bertsch's personal life. However, it has been suggested that she was a supporter of the Social Reform movement.^[1] In How To Write For Moving Pictures, she argued against writing "anything that might stir up in [the audience] vulgar feelings or sexual thoughts.^[1]" The film historian Siobhan B. Somerville has argued that Bertsch screenwriting for Vitagraph's adaptation of the novel A Florida Enchantment reflects this ideology. A number of overtly sexual scenes from the book were cut, including the exclusion of various scenes dealing with racial issues.^[3]The historian R. Bruce Basell further argues that Bertsch's screenplay for the film shows an opposition to the women's emancipation movement, as it (it being the film or women emancipation movement?) suggests that there will be societal chaos if emancipation is achieved.^[4]

Her year of death is typically given as 1967, although the details surrounding her death are unknown.^[1]There is very little information about her life between 1918, when she left Vitagraph, and 1967, when she is believed to have died. Based on census records, it is believed that she was living with various family members from at least 1930 until 1941. During this time, she may have been working as a freelance writer.^[1]

Selected Filmography

Writing and Directing

• The Law Decides (1916)
• The Devil's Prize (1916)
• The Glory of Yolanda (1917)
• The Soul Master (1917)

References