Early Canadian Film Pioneers in Hollywood

For Canada, Hollywood represents both a curse and blessing for its culture. It is a blessing, it can offer exposure for Canadian culture abroad. It can also be a curse. Hollywood decides which images of Canada it will portray. It is a curse because it can be argued that Hollywood is the one symbol that threatens culture according to cultural protectionists around the world. While this may be true for Canada, the fact is that it has been a blessing for Canada's impressive talent that has found expression in the United States. Without a star system equivalent to Hollywood, Canadians naturally found themselves leaving the nest to be with the best. The only region in Canada that has a vibrant star system that has beneficial to its culture is Quebec.

From the onset, Canadians have been key players in Hollywood, which back in the early 20th century was a rather unremarkable place settled by film pioneers. Oddly, despite the nationalist cries, Canada's culture often intertwined with America's. Indeed, Canadians themselves were helping to create the pop culture so popular in Canada that was, if you can follow, dismissed as American cultural hegemony. In a sense, Canada is an integral part of the film industry that helped perpetuate the stereo types we see about Canadian symbols.

This remains true until this day. Often enough, it is not uncommon for someone to say, "...that actor or director is Canadian? I didn't know...." This is understandable for two reasons. First, how does one distinguish between an American and a Canadian? Second, branding Canadian exports of any kind was and still is not Canada's greatest strength. Some of the most popular programming including game shows, sitcoms and dramas in American television and film history usually had a Canadian flavor attached to it.

This fact of great contribution was not without its costs. Preserving and enhancing the Canadian identity has always obsessed nationalists in this country. They were fighting an impossible battle from the day the BNA Act was signed. Canadian business and political interests rarely defended Canadian cultural interests as witnessed during the early years of film development in Canada. Ordinary Canadians were not absolved of this either as they made it clear where their cultural allegiances were as revealed by their appetite for, as an example, American magazines which all but killed the indigenous Canadian industry trying to emerge. It's been a struggle ever since then.

Despite this, Canadians can take heart in their accomplishments in Hollywood. If they are surprised by what seems to be a disproportionate amount of Canadian content on TV and film screens these days they will be pleasantly notified that this is not a recent phenomena but one that has its roots in early Hollywood.

Canadians have been a part of the Hollywood machine forever. This is not meant to be a biographical description of each person but what is hoped is that someone reading this takes note and perhaps is sufficiently interested enough to learn more about some of these figures. What is aimed is to provide readers with an overview of a forgotten and grossly under appreciated portion of our cultural heritage that happens to fall under the category of 'Hollywood'. Here's a precious few list of people who helped to make Hollywood the cultural film Mecca that it is today.

Al Christie, Charles Christie, Marie Dressler, Raymond Massey, Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford, Jack Pickford, Marie Prevost, Walter Huston, Florence Lawrence, Mack Sennett, Sam De Grasse, Joe De Grasse, Fifi D'Orsay, Allan Dwan, Del Lord, Ruby Keeler, Norma Shearer, Douglas Shearer, Jay Silverheels, Nell Shipman, Jack Warner and Fay Wray.

As a Trivial Pursuit (invented by Canadians no less) triviality, Canadian actresses dominated the box office in the late 20's and mid 30s. As a result three Canadians won the Academy Award for Best Actress three years in a row. They were Mary Pickford in 1929 in 'Coquette', Norma Shearer in 1930 for 'The Divorcee' and Marie Dressler in 1931 in 'Min and Bll'.

Perhaps Canada's national identity remains as elusive and fragmented as ever but together these people had a marvelous and undeniable Canadian impact on the motion picture industry in America. None of these people ever lost the love for their birthplace. This pride was echoed several decades later by Phil Esposito when he poured his emotions to the Canadian people following a devastating loss to the Soviets in 1972. He explained that while many of his teammates worked and played in the United States, they came to play for Canada because of the love they had for their country. I suppose this is how most Canadians feel when they are abroad offering their unique services. We salute them here.