Silent professional women detectives?

[Lokke Heiss]

I'm beginning my review of last year's Pordenone festival, and in writing about the Amazing Partnership (1921) which features a professional woman detective, I can't come up with a film where a woman is a professional detective until, well about twenty years ago.

Amateurs, sure--Miss Marple and Nancy Drew. Spies yes. But try to come up with a film that had a woman who is a professional detective--(silent or sound), until the 80s or so. I dare you.

Fiction, yes--Nero Wolfe's Dol Bonner comes to mind. But that's not until 1937, and the first time Hand in the Glove was filmed until forty years later.

Any ideas to silent films I haven't thought of?

[Derek B.]

I'm beginning my review of last year's Pordenone festival, and in writing about the Amazing Partnership (1921) which features a professional woman detective, I can't come up with a film where a woman is a professional detective until, well about twenty years ago.

Any ideas to silent films I haven't thought of?

Alice Joyce played Madelyn Mack in at least two shorts for Kalem, The Riddle of the Tin Soldier (1913) and The Riddle of the Green Umbrella (1914). You can find a novel/collection of the written shorts here (at Google books) or elsewhere online.

[Lokke Heiss]

Alice Joyce played Madelyn Mack in at least two shorts for Kalem, The Riddle of the Tin Soldier (1913) and The Riddle of the Green Umbrella (1914). You can find a novel/collection of the written shorts here (at Google books) or elsewhere online.

Thanks. I'll enjoy reading the short stories. Did the two films survive? I googled the Alice Joy website, but other than seeing all the red 'lost' flags, I didn't see those two mentioned.

[Derek B.]

Alice Joyce played Madelyn Mack in at least two shorts for Kalem, The Riddle of the Tin Soldier (1913) and The Riddle of the Green Umbrella (1914). You can find a novel/collection of the written shorts here (at Google books) or elsewhere online.

Thanks. I'll enjoy reading the short stories. Did the two films survive? I googled the Alice Joy website, but other than seeing all the red 'lost' flags, I didn't see those two mentioned.

I think that for the shorts Greta only indicates survival for those that survive and doesn't note the status of those that are lost. (She can correct me if I am wrong.) So the lack of a note indicating survival unfortunately indicates that they probably do not survive. Compared to the almost complete loss of Joyce's work at Vitagraph, the survival of her Kalems is better but most are still missing.

[slightly edited for improved clarity.]

[silentfilm]

What about Gale Henry in The Detectress (1919)? It's on the Slapstick Encyclopedia.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246564/

[missdupont]

Not an adult, but Baby Peggy played a detective in one of the shorts played at last year's Niles Essanay Silent Film Festival.