“Alice Guy
Blaché not only
paved the way
for women
filmmakers
but for all
filmmakers.”
Diane Raver
COURTESY OF ALISON MCMAHAN & FORT LEE FILM COMMISSION
former executive director and founder,
Garden State Film Festival
honored by the Directors Guild of
America. She received a posthumous
special directorial award for lifetime
achievement from Martin Scorsese, who
directed the classic film Goodfellas, parts
of which were filmed in Fort Lee, after
years of lobbying by the Fort Lee Film
Commission.
“Her ideas about narrative filmmaking
predated all the great American filmmakers and most filmmakers in the world,”
Meyers says. “She built and operated her
own studio here in New Jersey, then the
motion picture capital of the world, and
the films that survive are wonderful.”
In 2013, Blaché was inducted posthumously into the New Jersey Hall of Fame,
honoring individuals who have made
invaluable contributions to society and
the world beyond.
“Her legacy was unprecedented,”
Raver adds, “and she remains the
unsung heroine of our industry.”
Blaché returned to the U.S. in 1964 to
live with daughter Simone, and died
March 24, 1968, at the age of 95, at a
nursing home in Mahwah.
The Fort Lee Film Commission
created a new headstone for her grave
in Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah. It
includes the Fort Lee Film Commission
logo and the words “First Woman of
World Cinema and Owner of Solax
Studio, Fort Lee, N.J.” ◆
THE HISTORY OF ALICE GUY BLACHÉ
AND FORT LEE’S SOLAX STUDIO
1910
Alice Guy Blaché and her husband, Herbert, along
with a third partner, create Solax Studios in New
York. Her early films are melodramas and westerns.
1912
She builds a studio in Fort Lee, said to cost more than
$100,000. Solax produces two one-reelers (10-15
minute films) a week. She writes and directs at least
half the films and oversees all production.
1913
Dick Whittington and His Cat is released. At three
reels in length (45 minutes), a $35,000 budget and
elaborate costuming and staging (including burning
a boat), it is her most ambitious Solax project.
1914-16
The Blachés join Metro-Popular Plays and Players,
a production company that produces features for
distributors. These films