Frances Hubbard Flaherty (December 5, 1883 – June 22, 1972) was a film writer and director known for ''
Louisiana Story
''Louisiana Story'' is a 1948 American black-and-white drama film directed by Robert J. Flaherty. Although it has historically been represented as a documentary film, the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned ...
'' (1948) — for which she received an
Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story — ''The Land'' (1942), and
''Moana'' (1926).
In 1955, Flaherty founded The Flaherty Seminar, a film study center for filmmakers, curators, and students. She was married to collaborator and
documentary filmmaker
Robert J. Flaherty from 1914 until his death in 1951.
Biography
Frances Johnson Hubbard was born in
Bonn,
Germany into "a household of erudition, gentility, and privilege," the daughter of Lucius L. Hubbard (1849-1933), who was studying mineralogy at the
University of Bonn, and his wife Frances (1852-1927).
[Robert J. Christopher (ed.), ''Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922'' (McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2005: ), pp. 40-42.] She graduated from
Bryn Mawr College in 1905,
studied music and poetry in
Paris and was also secretary of the local Suffragette Society.
She met Robert Flaherty in 1903 in
Painesdale, Michigan, where he was employed by her father; the two fell in love, but Flaherty, then "a lumberjack-handyman... of no means and few expectations," was dismissed by her father, after which Frances had a nervous breakdown and was treated at a sanatorium in
Dansville, New York, while Flaherty went to
British Columbia. Frances visited him there during the summer of 1908, but the two quarreled, and Frances broke their engagement and went back East.
Over the next few years, she "traveled to New York and Paris to continue her conservatory training in music and piano, and in 1911 she visited the West Indies and South America." On November 12, 1914, she married Flaherty in a civil ceremony in
New York City; it is not clear how their relationship was renewed: "Legend has it that she sent him a congratulatory telegram on hearing reports of his return with the rediscovery of the Belcher Islands confirmed; and he shot back a reply that included a proposal of marriage." She herself wrote in a self-profile for the tenth reunion of her Bryn Mawr class in 1915:
Coming back for a visit to my own country last July, I found myself caught by the war, and doubly caught in the toils of an old romance. I married my husband for several very plain and simple reasons: 1. Because an innate sense for the preservation of his own genius has saved him from all educational institutions or instruction of any kind. 2. Because that genius is for (a) exploration, (Profession: Exploration and Mining), and (b) music and the arts, (Avocations: playing the violin and portrait photography).
The couple had three children, Barbara van Ingen (married to Botha van Ingen of
Van Ingen & Van Ingen
Van Ingen & Van Ingen, simply Van Ingen, or Van Ingen of Mysore (1900–1999) were Indian taxidermists located in Mysore, South India, best known for their tiger and leopard taxidermy trophy mounts. ''A History of Taxidermy. Art, science and bad t ...
in Mysore),
Monica Flaherty Frassetto
Monica Flaherty Frassetto (1920–2008) was a filmmaker and archaeologist.
Biography
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, Frassetto was the daughter of pioneering filmmakers Robert J. Flaherty and Frances Hubbard Flaherty. On her third birthday, Frass ...
, and Frances Rohr. They were married until Robert's death in 1951.
Flaherty worked alongside her husband Robert Flaherty on several films, including ''
Louisiana Story
''Louisiana Story'' is a 1948 American black-and-white drama film directed by Robert J. Flaherty. Although it has historically been represented as a documentary film, the events and characters depicted are fictional and the film was commissioned ...
'' (
1948
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
), for which she earned an
Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story.
Flaherty appeared in a feature-length documentary on her and her husband's film work, ''Hidden and Seeking'' (1971) directed by Peter Werner.
She was a crucial part of Robert Flaherty's success in film. She took on the role of
director at times, helped to edit and distribute his films, even landing governmental film contracts for England.
In 1955, she invited filmmakers, critics, curators, musicians and others to the Flaherty farm in
Vermont, a film study center that still exists as the Flaherty Seminar.
Flaherty died on June 22, 1972 in
Dummerston, Vermont.
[Turner Browne and Elaine Partnow, ''Macmillan Biographical Encyclopaedia of Photographic Artists'' (Macmillan, 1983: ), p. 198.]
Publications
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References
Further reading
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External links
Frances Hubbard Flaherty: A True Seer Memorial Tribute presented August 29, 1972 at the 18th Annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar by D. Marie Grieco
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaherty, Frances H.
1883 births
1972 deaths
People from Dummerston, Vermont
American women screenwriters
American documentary film directors
Screenwriters from Vermont
Bryn Mawr College alumni
20th-century American women writers
20th-century American screenwriters