With 20 feature credits to her name, Dorothy Arzner is the most prolific female director of all time. History has neglected to give the trailblazing filmmaker her due, but Paramount recently honored the late talent. The studio has dedicated its Dressing Room building on Melrose Ave to Arzner. “Paramount reserves this honor for the most respected of its industry professionals, and Arzner is in excellent company on the lot with other edifices named after such female legends as Lucille Ball, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Edith Head, Sherry Lansing, Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and Mae West,” Deadline reports.
Born in 1897, Arzner decided to pursue a career in the business after visiting a film studio. “I remember making the observation, ‘If one was going to be in this movie business, one should be a director, because he was the one who told everyone else what to do,” she recounted. The multi-hyphenate originally worked as a stenographer with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation — which became Paramount. She later served as a script writer and film editor. “Her talents weren’t overlooked and just when Columbia was about to make a deal for her to write and direct her own films, Paramount made her an offer just as she was about to walk out the door,” the source details. Her directorial debut, “Fashions for Women” “was a huge success, but it was her 1929 college girl pic ‘The Wild Party’ that would become one of several benchmarks in her career as it was [Clara] Bow’s first talkie.” It was Arzner who invented the first boom microphone.
The pioneer became the first woman to join the DGA in 1938 and remained the sole female member until Ida Lupino joined over a decade later in 1950. Arzner died in 1979.
“Arzner never hid the fact that she was gay, and her cinematic canon was one known for its free-spirited, independent female protagonists,” Deadline writes.
The Dressing Room building has hosted occupants such as Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, and Olivia Newton-John,” and is currently used by a number of producers’ for their offices.
“Today we are doing our small part to honor her and to leave our own mark for the next generation rather than be the ones who failed to advance what she gave us,” said Paramount Pictures CEO and Chairman Jim Gianopulos at a ceremony at the studio held last week.
He added, “All of us at Paramount feel very honored to walk onto this lot every day, in the footsteps of such pioneers as Dorothy Arzner, who aspired to achieve their fullest potential, often in the face of debilitating odds. Theirs are stories of advances made because they were unafraid to explore new territory, to defy the constraints of their present day, and stake claims to the future. During her career on this lot and beyond, Dorothy Arzner made astonishing, even revolutionary, creative contributions on a daily basis,” he observed. “We are the custodians of her work and it’s our obligation to pay tribute to her artistry and protect her legacy.”
Directors Mimi Leder (“The Leftovers,” “Deep Impact”), Betty Thomas (“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”), and Eleanor Coppola (“Paris Can Wait”) were among the guests at the ceremony.
Past events honoring Arzner include a retrospective at the 2014 San Sebastian International Film Festival and a 2015 retrospective at UCLA.