Jane Marsh Beveridge

Jane Marsh Beveridge (born Jane Smart;[1] December 2, 1915 – September 16, 1998) was a Canadian director, producer, editor, screenwriter,[2][3][4] teacher, and sculptor.[5] She was best known as one of the pioneering film makers at the National Film Board of Canada.[2][3][4][5]

Early years and education

Marsh was born in Ottawa, Ontario to Russel S. Smart and Emma Louise (Louie) Parr;[1] her father was a successful, self-made patent attorney, and her mother was "an accomplished Ottawa hostess".[6] Russell and Louie had four children: Helen (b. 1909), Elizabeth (b. 1913), Jane (b. 1915) and Russell Jr. (b. 1921).[1] The family had a summer house, which they named 'The Barge', on Kingsmere Lake located next door to the future Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon Mackenzie King.[7] She earned her bachelor's (1954) and master's (1956) degrees from Sarah Lawrence College.[5]

Career

Marsh joined the National Film Board of Canada (the NFB) in 1941,[4][5] initially working as a screenwriter.[4] She originally tried to create several films on women’s role during war that were never published.[4] She was eventually given her first directing position on the short film Alexis Tremblay: Habitant (1943) alongside cinematographer Judith Crawley.[3][4]

Marsh was permitted to return to her original focus on women and war after an increase in interest for films about “the role of women during World War II”.[5] For two years she developed six films for the “Canada Carries On” series,[3][4][5] which included the women-focused films Women are Warriors (1942), Proudly She Marches (1943), and Wings on Her Shoulder (1943).[4] The films Marsh spearheaded in this series were the only war propaganda films at the NFB directed by a woman.[2][3][4][5] Women are Warriors, changed by supervisors from its original title Work for Women,[2] documented “women’s participation in the war effort in England, the USSR, and Canada”.[2]

Marc St-Pierre, a writer for the NFB, claims that because Marsh’s wartime films are the “only war propaganda films directed by a woman, about women, and speaking directly to women”[4] that they are “firmly feminist”[4] and “constitute a key moment in the history of women and film in Canada”.[4] Wyndham Wise suggests that Women are Warriors, specifically, promoted the concept that “women were not leisurely idlers before the conflict”.[3] During her research for this film Marsh created an unpublished report highlighting the difficulties that women faced historically and contemporarily[2] in which she suggests that women are either “1) Put up on a pedestal and hypnotized into thinking they are frail, incompetent and dependent or 2) subjugated for the expediency of 1. lust 2. cheap labour”[2] by men. Additionally, she asserts that men think women should never “be allowed to use their faculties for anything”[2] other than “1. to make men comfortable 2. to bear children”.[2]

Marsh faced difficulty in advancing her career and left the NFB in 1944.[2][4][5] Most sources cite struggles with her supervisor, John Grierson,[2][3][4][5] either over the furthering of her career[3][4][5] or about the direction of the “Canada Carries On” series.[2] Marsh herself declared, “I resigned in April 1944, as Grierson had developed megalomania about the Canada Carries On potential.”[2] She and others have suggested that Grierson did not want to have a woman producing “Canada Carries On”, despite Marsh’s qualifications and experience with the series.[2][4][5] Grierson has acknowledged that he was wrong, but reiterated that he never would have given a woman the position.[2][4] Marsh commented that during the years that Grierson was NFB’s commissioner women “were so grateful to be working in interesting jobs that they didn’t realize they were slaves”.[2][5]

After leaving the NFB Marsh moved to New York to work for the British Information Services, where she created a series on the British Second Army’s activities in Europe.[5] She stated that this series was intended “to let the Americans know that the British and Canadians were still fighting the war too.”[5] Marsh left the filmmaking profession entirely in 1948, moving on to earn her B.A. and M.A. from Sarah Lawrence College as well as become a teacher and sculptor.[3][5]

Films

Women Are Warriors

This 1942 documentary, produced by Raymond Spottiswoode and directed, edited, and scripted by Marsh, details how women participated in Canada, England, and Russia's war efforts during World War II.[8] The film highlights jobs such as parachute nurses, army doctors, factory workers, and technicians,[8] as well as "ferrying planes from factory to airfield",[8] "operating anti-aircraft guns",[8] "fighting on the front lines",[8] and joining "active service auxiliaries".[8]

Inside Fighting Canada

Produced by James Beveridge and directed, edited, and scripted by Marsh, this 1942 documentary is an account of how "Canada was transformed into a fighting machine"[9] during World War II.[9] The film served as war propaganda that emphasized how "Canadians responded to the needs of war"[9] by documenting how well the country was training airmen and soldiers, producing "war materials",[9] and guarding Canada's borders.[9]

Proudly She Marches

The lives of Canadian women as they prepared for "the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service"[10] are documented in this 1943 film produced by Raymond Spottiswoode and directed by Marsh.[10]

Wings on Her Shoulder

Marsh directed this 1943 documentary, which is an account of how the nine thousand members of the Woman's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force operated during World War II and prepared for their post-war role.[11] After the war ended these aviators planned to act as "an essential factor in the air communications of peace-time civilization".[11]

Alexis Tremblay: Habitant

This was the first film that Marsh directed, despite several of her war oriented films finishing production sooner.[3][4] Judith Crawley was the cinematographer and Marsh served as director, editor, and script writer for the film,[3][4][12] which depicted the everyday life of a Québec farmer, Alexis Tremblay, and his family.[12] The film follows the family as several seasons pass and takes account of how each season shapes their different routines and types of work, from harvesting and baking in the fall to preparing the fields in the spring.[12]

Air Cadets

This 1944 documentary, directed, edited, and scripted by Marsh, documented how Canada's "young flying enthusiasts"[13] came from all over the nation to congregate at a Royal Canadian Air Force station and experience how the "spiritual and material value of their training"[13] came to fruition.[13]

Winter on a Quebec Farm, Winter on a Spring Farm, and Summer on a Quebec Farm

Produced by Gudrun Parker, directed by Marsh, with cinematography by Judith Crawley, this series of films is entirely about French-Canadian farmers and their way of life.[14][15][16] The series depicts the abundance and variety of work to be done on a farm, no matter the season.[14][15][16]

Filmography

Year Film Length Role Production Agency
1942 Women Are Warriors/Les Femmes dans la Mêlée 14 min Director, Editor,

Script Writer

 National Film Board of Canada
1942 Inside Fighting Canada/Canada en Guerre 11 min Director, Editor,

Script Writer

 National Film Board of Canada
1943 Proudly She Marches/Carrières de Femmes 18 min Director National Film Board of Canada
1943 Wings on Her Shoulder/Nos Femmes Ailées 9 min Director National Film Board of Canada
1943 Alexis Tremblay: Habitant/Terre de nos aïeux 37 min Director, Editor,

Script Writer

 National Film Board of Canada
1944 Air Cadets/Les Cadets de l'air 15 min Director, Editor,

Script Writer

 National Film Board of Canada
1947 Winter on a Quebec Farm 12 min Director National Film Board of Canada
1947 Spring on a Quebec Farm 10 min Director National Film Board of Canada
1947 Summer on a Quebec Farm 10 min Director National Film Board of Canada

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Barker, Christopher. The Arms of the Infinite: Elizabeth Smart and George Barker. London: Pomona Press. pp. 37, 40.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Martineau, Barbara Halpern (January–February 1981). "Leading Ladies Behind the Camera". Cinema Canada.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Wise, Wyndham (2015-02-01). Take One's Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442656208.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Women and Film: A tribute to the female pioneers at the NFB". Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Jane Marsh -- femfilm.ca: Canadian Women Film Directors Database". femfilm.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  6. ↑ Elizabeth Smart. Necessary Secrets: The Journals of Elizabeth Smart (1987, Alice Van Wart ed.)
  7. ↑ Brooks, Victoria (2000). Literary Trips: Following in the Footsteps of Fame. GreatestEscapes.com Pub. ISBN 9780968613702.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-14.
  10. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  11. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  12. 1 2 3 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  13. 1 2 3 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  14. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  15. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  16. 1 2 Canada, Government of Canada, National Film Board of. "National Film Board of Canada". onf-nfb.gc.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-15.

External links

Further reading

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