There was a Chilean girl named Alice Guy, whose father was a publisher at Valparaiso. An earthquake ruined him,
and lie died. Then Aliee Guy went to Paris to live, with her mother and sister.
When she was sixteen she studied
stenography, and got work in the oflicc of Gaumont Paris, producers of mo
tion pictures. She heeame secretary to Gaumont, and one day said to him: "I don't like these pietures of trains and lire departments. Let me product4 some of the French short stories." l ltiinately she produced for him "The Passion Play" and "Ksincralda," and drew a salary of one thousand francs a month. Then she married Herbert Ulachc and came with him to New York, where he represented Gaumont Why Madame Blache had that spirit of enterprise that gave her courage and impulse to work. She made a careful study of the motion picture field in America, and asked, "Why can't I produce pictures here on my own account?"
She looked around, and at Flushing, Long Island, she found a building that would answer for a studio. She rented it. She and her husband had ten thousand dollars between them, saved from their salaries, and tlii< became the capital of Madame Blache in founding the Solax Company in I !MMl. Blache still held his position. "1 will manage this enterprise," said his wife.
She went to work with vast energy. First she studied her possible material, and read far into tlie night. Then she wrote her own scenarios and produced such pic tures as "Fra Diavolo," "Carmen," Poe's "Pit and the Pendulum," and "Dick Whittington and His Cat."
The capital proved sufficient: for the prolits piled up fast. Three years ago the plant was moved to Fort Lee. New Jersey, and il is now a half-niillion-dollar eiitcr p?-i---. Madame Blaclie's productions often cn-t twenty thousand dollars. Thecompany's net profits are reputed to range between lift ecu and twenty thousand doll..
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