2021 Essays

The "Camera Maid" Conundrum

Grimm, Charles "Buckey"

The phrase “camera maid” seems to have originated in the late teens and early 1920s with the Fox Newsreels’ publicity department, who used it to announce the hiring of female camera operators. Women cinematographers in the silent era remain an under-researched area, especially compared to what has been uncovered about the many women who worked as directors, producers, and screenwriters during the period.