Marie Dressler was a top star who died at the height of her popularity. Her career is thoroughly documented, and this synopsis unavoidably recounts the tireless efforts of biographies by Betty Lee and Matthew Kennedy. She remains a comedienne with a loyal following, with a foundation and museum in her birthplace of Cobourg, Ontario. In the context of women behind-the-scenes in early film production, Dressler provides an example of a failed attempt to turn stage and screen fame into an eponymous production company where she had a hand in writing the resulting two-reelers. In the mid-1910s, it was common to turn movie stardom into professional autonomy by creating an eponymous film company. Dressler’s self-produced films were the last before ...