In the Silent Days women probably had more control then any generation since. Women wrote, directed, produced, did costuming, and well...invented things or had things invented for them such as double exposure and fake eyelashes. Oh and they were Film Executives...or at least June Mathis was.
There were 3 great female writers during the silent era: Anita Loos, Frances Marion, and June Mathis. The other two wrote well into the talkie era but Mathis' career was cut short, she died unexpectedly in 1927. However she is worthy of remembering: she was the first female movie executive, wrote the 6th best selling silent film of all time (Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse), oh and she kinda discovered that one kid...what was his name? Rudolph Valentino.
I think for that fact alone she deserves a statue and acclaim for centuries to come. I mean...she discovered the Greatest Sex Symbol of all time. Talk about a good eye! Poor Valentino...so may people passed on him as 'too ethnic' or as D.W. Griffith put it so eloquently, "Too ethnic and too fat". But June seen something in him, and she was the first person to give him a big break, with Four Horsemen. Sure The Sheik followed but that whole Rudolph Valen-tango thing started with Four Horsemen. The Sheik doesn't tango.
Unlike Loos and Marion, Mathis never got a chance to tell her story, never had a chance to be remembered. To find information on her is ALMOST as hard as Lottie Pickford. But not impossible. And though the other two women were amazing, I think Mathis may possibly be the coolest and most naughty...even if we don't remember her that way.
Interesting things about June Mathis:
*She began writing scenarios (early screenplays) after winning a contest in New York. Her scenarios were filmed almost immediatly and became successful.
*For a time she was in vaudeville, and played oppiosite the Great Early Drag Queen Julian Eltinge...talk about liberal for her era!
*After only ONE YEAR in Hollywood she was moved to Head of Metro's Scenario Department, making her the first and at the time ONLY female executive
*She seen Valentino in a bit part, and wanted him for her film. Metro didnt want an unknown in a lead role, but she got her way (and Four Horsemen grossed $6 mil...in 1920s dollars...)
*She was a very mystical woman, and was a Spiritualist. She believed in reincarnation and many of her spiritual beliefs are evident in her scripts...especially 'The Young Rajah'
*She wrote many deep themed scripts, with Four Horsemen being called one of the first 'anti war' movies. However she also write several fun scripts, especially for Colleen Moore
*Died while watching a Broadway play with her Grandmother, only a year after Valentino's death
Mathis and Valentino
Mathis and Valentino were extremely close friends, with her being a mother figure to him. They fought when Natacha Rambova (his second wife) became too controlling causing them not to speak for a few years. However shortly before Son of the Sheik was filmed they kissed and made up, with Mathis urging him to see a doctor as he was feeling ill...but obviously he didn't listen.
Several of Valentino's lead role films were written by Mathis including "Four Horsemen", "Young Rajah", "The Conquering Power", "Camille", and "Blood and Sand". However she wrote neither of his Sheik movies (ironically Frances Marion penned Son of the Sheik).
Man Eater
Mathis had many a boytoy...or was at least rumored to. She supposedly dated (and was spurned by) Rex Ingram (who Valentino did not like, the feeling was mutual). She also was rumored to be dating her 'latest leading man' George Walsh, though she returned from Italy with an Italian cameraman named Sylvano (or Silvano in some texts) Balboni. They were married until her death, at which time he apparently went back to Italy.
Ironically even though she was linked with those good looking boys she worked with, very rarely has she ever been romantically linked with Valentino...and judging by the facts its unlikely.
Scandals
Unfortanitly for Mathis there are two main things she's remembered for; and neither of them are true or flattering: Greed and Ben Hur. Both films were disasters to which her name was attached...though she had little to do with either.
Greed was Eric Von Stroheim's 10 hour masterpiece. The studio told him no way in hell. He cut it down to 6 hours. He then asked Rex Ingram to cut it down to 4 and a half hours. A routine cutter named Joseph W. Farnham then chopped it down to 2 and a half hours. Mathis was instructed as an Executive to have the film cut, and she left a memo, but that was it. She had no hand in it. In fact her and Von Stroheim were friends and had worked together before, it would be odd for her to 'butcher his masterpiece'.
Ben Hur was an even bigger disaster. She was in charge, and the crew set off for Italy to film. George Walsh was the star, Charles Brabin the director. Brabin and Mathis constantly fought, and in the end almost the whole crew was done away with, actors and all. As an Executive Mathis took the heat, though it was mostly Brabin's fault.
Death and Legacy
Mathis died at age 38 from a heart attack while watching a Broadway play. She had been sickly as a child and had a lifelong heart condition; though she tended not to heed Doctor's advice about taking better care of herself. At the time of her death she had been working on several Colleen Moore and Anna Q. Nilsson pictures. She died shortly before talkies took over, making one wonder what kind of scripts she could have wrote had she lived.
She's buried next to Valentino in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Unlike a lot of silent film creators a good chunk of her works survive, which is lucky. I will personally celebrate the day a full copy of "The Young Rajah" is found in good condition. Mathis wrote in a scene for Valentino to run around in a bathing suit...obviously a wise woman.
For a full biography on Mathis click here.
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