Just a quick note to mention the upcoming Women and Silent Screen VI conference coming up next week in Italy. I am very excited that I will be able to attend this year as this is truly my favorite academic event. There are wonderful presentations, great scholarship, amazing screenings featuring beautiful prints of rare films, and collegial, lively participants. Here’s a link to the conference site and the conference program

I will be presenting on Mabel Normand and focusing on the discourse in the latter part of her career, the obituaries discussing Norman’s death, and situating the discussion within the context of the “New Woman” in the 1920s. My paper is part of a panel on Hollywood’s creation and critique of the New Woman and includes also: Hilary Anne Hallett (Columbia University) “Re-reading Hollywood’s First Sexual Scandal: Virginia Rappe, New Western Women, and the Bohemian Movie Colony”; Shelley Stamp (University of California, Santa Cruz) “Exit Flapper, or Lois Weber’s Critique of Jazz Age Hollywood”; and Anne Morey (Texas A&M University) “School of Scandal: Alice Duer Miller, Scandal, and the New Woman.” I know I will learn a lot from this group, especially with Jennifer Bean (University of Washington) leading the discussion as panel Chair.

I will try to post or tweet as time permits, although it is usually an action packed time.