Inspired by Moirafinnie’s article on Golden Age editor Margaret Booth, I thought I would focus on another pioneering woman of the film industry, actress-scenarist-producer Kathlyn Williams. A mighty presence on the silent screen — and behind it  – Williams was considered a movie star even before Hollywood was considered the film industry capital. 

Small production companies began moving to Hollywood around 1911-1912, but it was not really  the filmmaking center until after World War I. Prior to that, movie-making was based in New York City (and New Jersey), Chicago, and Jacksonville, Florida. In recent years, I have become fascinated with the pre-Hollywood time period. Sometimes called the Griffith era, because D.W.’s  films dominated the period and set the standards for filmmaking techniques still used today, this period encompasses roughly 1906 to 1918. Film history books like to find consistent threads during this period, smooth over the chaos, and make sense of the burgeoning industry because that’s what historians do. But, I like the era precisely  because of its “looseness.” The rules, standards, and conventions of making movies were not yet set in stone at this time, and making movies seemed more like an adventure.

 During this pioneering period, production companies were patterned after traveling theatrical troupes in which members often handled diverse duties in order to keep the troupe going. Performers worked behind the camera or contributed scenarios to do their fair share to make the production company a success. In this atmosphere, actresses often wrote their own scripts or scenarios, handled props and sets, did their own stunts, and worked closely with the director on the development of their characters or screen personas. 

As the industry moved to Hollywood, small production companies grew into large studios, which demanded a more structured system for making movies. The “flickers” had turned into films, which were longer, more complex, better crafted, and a budding art form. But, the sense of adventure behind the camera — the madcap antics of small production companies –was sacrificed in the process. Women were slowly eased out of the behind-the-camera creative positions, losing status in an industry that became something of a boys’ club. And, still is. 

Kathlyn Williams was not only an actress, writer, and producer during this early era, she was a true adventurer. She became a major screen success while working for Selig Polyscope, an important production company of the era. Selig developed a reputation for producing jungle adventures and animal films, especially after a Selig troupe established a studio in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1910. The company rented a menagerie of exotic animals from a showman and trainer named Big Otto, eventually purchasing the animals out right. The jungle and animal adventures starred Williams, who was Selig’s biggest sensation between 1910 and 1916.

 A native of Montana, the athletic Williams was an animal lover who thrived on adventure for much of her life. She gamely agreed to do her own animal stunts during her Selig years, despite a lack of training or experience with exotic animals. In this pioneering era of filmmaking, the industry had no standard safety policies to protect actors, nor was there any organization to monitor the use of animals on set. While the Selig producers would never have deliberately put Williams in harm’s way, the lack of standard procedures and stunt coordinators on these films was an invitation to trouble.

 Williams did have a close call during the production of Lost in the Jungle, which was shot in Jacksonville in 1911. For this action-filled short, the title tells the whole story. Williams starred as Meta Kruga, who lives an idyllic existence with her father 50 miles into the interior of Africa. Mr. Kruga wants his daughter to marry a neighbor, Hans, but Meta refuses because she has fallen for a young Englishman. After Kruga throws her out of the house, Meta becomes lost in a jungle infested with vicious animals and hidden dangers. Sharing the big screen with Williams was a collection of animal stars, including Toddles the elephant, Charlie the lion, Elmer the camel, and four unnamed leopards. Despite the presence of dashing, young newcomer Tom Mix, Toddles was the big hero of Lost in the Jungle. After Williams’ character is attacked by a leopard, the elephant picks up the injured girl with his trunk and carries her home on his head. Based on the remembrances of several cast members, Toddles was apparently quite the character on the set, though undoubtedly his antics have been exaggerated by the haze of memory and nostalgia. The big male elephant’s best trick was to inhale a substance and then spray it through his trunk. When no one was paying attention, Toddles liked to dip his trunk into the coffee pots and shower the unsuspecting cast and crew with cold coffee and grounds.

 Two months prior to shooting Lost in the Jungle, Williams began winning the trust and affection of Toddles by tossing him oranges every morning. She knew that her safety in her big scenes with Toddles was dependent on forging a connection with the elephant. Though Toddles often heaved the oranges back at her during these bonding sessions, the ploy worked well enough so that the climactic sequence occurred without a hitch. One reviewer remarked about the final film, “Everyone who views the picture will feel like hugging the ponderous brute when he kneels and assists the helpless girl. It is a thrilling rescue and fairly startles one by its novelty and realism.”

 Though Toddles proved to be an amiable costar, the same could not be said for the leopards. One incident with the big cats resulted in severe scalp lacerations as well as a mountain of publicity for Williams. Conflicting accounts of the story have evolved over the years, but the most consistent versions include a leopard, Ms. Williams, and some chickens. While shooting the scene of the leopard attack, Williams lay down behind a log. A chicken was supposed to be tossed over her as a way to entice one of the trained leopards to leap over the log. The camera would then capture the leopard leaping over her in midair, making it look like it was on the attack. This strategy worked well enough in rehearsal, but during the actual shooting, the leopard became distracted when Williams’ hair (which was light blonde and about the same color value as the chicken) blew in the wind. The big cat struck the actress in the head with his massive paw, severely cutting her scalp. Williams was covered in blood to her waist. Years later, Olive Mix, Tom’s ex-wife, wrote about this incident, wildly embellishing her husband’s role in the incident. According to Olive by way of Tom, after the leopard swiped at Williams, he grabbed the big cat by the tail and swung it away from the bleeding actress. However, since Mix’s part was so small he was not even billed, it is just as likely that  he was not even on the set that day.

 While I admire Williams’ adventurous spirit, I cringe whenever I read about the exploitation of animals by movie-makers. In these early days, there was no American Humane Association on the set to look after the interests of the animals. However much Williams loved her animals, they were still put in situations that did not have their care and well-being at heart.

 The escapade with the big cat did not deter Williams from starring in other animal pictures — or from handling other adventurous stunts for that matter. After leaving Florida, she starred in a handful of aviation films for Selig in Chicago that required her to fly with stunt pilots. She was so intoxicated by flight that she took pilot lessons and eventually received a pilot’s license. Williams moved to the Los Angeles area with the Selig organization in 1912, where she continued as the studio’s premiere adventuress. There, the studio expanded their operations, even constructing the Selig Jungle Zoo opposite Eastlake Park in Los Angeles to house animals for their films, including The Adventures of Kathlyn, a 13-episode serial starring Williams. Not only was The Adventures of Kathlyn a film serial, but the episodes were published in story form in the Chicago Tribune. Reportedly, the stories increased circulation of the Tribune by 10 percent. She also wrote several films for herself and directed a few, including The Leopard’s Foundling and The Last Dance. Years later, Williams was interviewed by the fanzine Movie Weekly, and the writer colorfully summed up her early career by noting, “Death was her leading man, not once, but many times.”

 As the industry evolved and audience tastes expanded beyond one and two-reel escapades, Williams established a career as a serious actress. She eventually left Selig for other production companies and studios, settling into character parts in the 1920s. Offscreen, she became known for entertaining the elite of Hollywood with sophisticated dinners and cocktail parties.

 Williams lived a long life, but sadly, much of it was heartbreaking. A series of personal tragedies, including the death of her only child, Victor, in 1922 and her third divorce in the early 1930s, curtailed her socializing and resulted in her retirement from the screen around 1934. In 1949, Williams was involved in a car accident in which she lost a limb and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life — a dire fate for someone who thrived on adventure. She withdrew into isolation and depression and died in 1960. Like so many other pioneering women from the early days of the film industry, Kathlyn Williams’s stardom did not survive the studio system, and after her retirement, her contributions were largely forgotten. Only with the advent of the Internet has her star risen again, though much information about her is inaccurate and exaggerated. I was surprised to read that she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 7038 1/2 Hollywood Blvd.), and when I was trying to verify the fact, I discovered that — in a final insult — her name was misspelled as Kathleen.