Italian-American Women in Early Silent Film

Overview

Little evidence exists to support Italian-American women’s involvement in the early US silent film industry. While a few women acted in early silent films (profiled below), it is difficult to trace the presence of women working behind the scenes (as colorists, scenarists, costume designers, etc.). According to Giorgio Bertellini,1 Southern Italians who immigrated to New York City mostly lived in the Mulberry District of the Lower East Side and East Harlem; families from the same village or area tended to cluster together. There was a robust vaudeville or ‘café-chantant’ culture amongst the Italian immigrant community, which evolved to include film screenings; this explains why many Italian-American film actors began their careers as stage actors. Former Italian café-chantants included the Excelsior Cinematografico (147 Mulberry Street), the Bleecker Street Theatre (157 Bleecker Street), The Teatro Cassese (196 Grand Street), the Cinematografo Caruso (124 Houston Street), and the Cinematografo Sirignano (196 Grand Street). The Italian women who acted in early silent films often played non-white (or otherwise racially ambiguous) characters (Rafaela Ottiano and Tina Modotti particularly specialized in playing Mexican and other hispanic characters). Bertellini emphasizes that Italian immigrants were suspended between ‘white’ and ‘non-white’ racial categorizations of the time; furthermore, he writes, “Southern Italian immgrants arrived at Ellis Island with a different, yet not unrelated set of narratives. Their racialized typecasting, predicated upon their alleged incongruous physicality, as well as their violent hyperemotionality, signified the tenuous state of a problematic adaption.”2 Interestingly, female Italian characters were typically played by non-Italian actors (e.g. Marion Leonard, Mary Pickford, Clara Williams), while their male counterparts were often played by Italian men (e.g. Rudolph Valentino, Monty Banks). To continue this line of inquiry, future researchers may wish to investigate document collections concerning the lower east side immigrant community around the turn of the twentieth century.

Table reproduced from Patrick Mullins,3 demonstrating the growth of the Italian immigrant vaudeville scene. Mullins notes, however, that separating the ethnic venues so cleanly is likely misleading; some venues appeared to have attracted working-class immigrants more broadly.

Mimi Aguglia

Mimi Aguglia (née Girolama Aguglia) was born on December 21, 1884 in Palermo, Sicily4. Aguglia immigrated to the United States with her family in 1908 and, according to Giorgio Bertellini,5 brought the Sicillian stage repertoire she had perfected with partner Giovannia Grasso to the Italian-American vaudeville stage in 1909. Aguglia appeared in only one silent film, Fox Film Co.’s The Last Man on Earth (dir. John G. Blystone, 1924), but had several Spanish-language credits at Fox.6 She passed away on July 31, 1970.7

Tina Modotti

Tina Modotti (née Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini) was born in Udine, Fruli, Italy, in 1896. In 1913, Modotti moved to San Francisco to live with her father8; she became involved in the Bay Area theater scene and subsequently tried her hand at film acting. Modotti appeared in three films: Dial Film Co.’s The Tiger’s Coat (dir. Roy Clements, 1920), Fox Film Co’s Riding With Death (dir. Jacques Jaccard, 1921), and Sawyer-Lubins Co.’s I Can Explain (dir. George D. Baker, 1922).9 Shortly thereafter, Modotti moved to Mexico City, where she began her storied photography career and became increasingly involved in communist politics. Modotti passed away in Mexico City in 1942.10

Rafaella Ottiano

Rafaella Ottiano was born in 1888 in Venice Italy. She established herself as a stage actress in Europe before moving to Hollywood in 1924.11 Ottiano has two silent credits: Marlborough Productions’ The Law and the Lady (John L. McCutcheon, 1924) and Herman Jans Co.’s Married ? (George Terwilliger, 1926).12 Ottiano went on to develop a significant film career after the silent period and passed away in Boston in 1942.13

Vivian Prescott

Vivian Prescott (likely stage name) was born in Genoa, Italy, date unknown.14 Prescott appeared in over 200 films between 1910 and 1916; among them were many early D.W. Griffith films and Crystal Comedy shorts.15 Prescott married race car driver Neil Whalen (some accounts cite Prescott as the first female to ride in a race car16) between 1913 and 1916, subsequently retiring from cinema and public view.17 Very little personal information about Prescott is accessible; she is nearly invisible in the legal archive (perhaps due to the use of another name).