First female TV directors….in the 1940s. Yes.
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Classic TV: The 40s
Thor-Delta — 11 years ago(October 08, 2014 08:13 PM)
Two of the earliest female TV directors:
Beulah Zachary
and
Fran Harris
Both worked for WBKB in Chicago. Both have an incomplete filmography on IMDb. Most of WBKB's live "one-off" drama output of the 1940s isn't listed on IMDb.
Critical response varied. Billboard magazine panned "Bright Star Shining", but gave a rather positive review of "Perfect Ending", both directed by Fran Harris.
When it comes to Beulah Zachary's output, Billboard gave a mixed review of "Sham" (panning the cast but praising the direction) and gave a mixed review of "The Dark Cellar" (panning the direction but praising the cast).
Here's a 1948 review of Zachary's "Ladies in Retirement", panning the cast but praising the direction (and also on the page is an interesting article about FM radio in Detroitin 1948, FM radio was just as much in its infancy as TV was):
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tkUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT10&dq=%2 2beulah+zachary%22+wbkb+ladies+retirement&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Iv w1VI-wGtCm8AXrzoLoCQ&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22beulah%20z achary%22%20wbkb%20ladies%20retirement&f=false
Beulah Zachary also directed actual theatre, and was later producer of "Kukla, Fran and Ollie"
The Johnny O'Keefe Show dollwind it up and it makes a comeback -
Thor-Delta — 11 years ago(October 09, 2014 01:29 PM)
Last year I watched some shorts directed by a French director named Alice Guy, who directed in the very early silent era (her first films came out in the 1890s)
Female directors of any kind are rare in the first half of the 20th century, let alone female TV directors. Film or TV, their pioneering efforts deserve more recognition
The Johnny O'Keefe Show dollwind it up and it makes a comeback