"Dorothy Arzner, the only female director in the Hollywood studio system during the late ’20s and early ’30s, became infamous for her distinctly dapper butch look and slicked-back hair. Ida Lupino (1918–1995), the superb noir actress who became the second woman, after Arzner, to be admitted to the Directors Guild, deployed a different demeanor: “I love being called 'Mother,' ” Lupino said in 1967 (recounted in William Donati’s 1996 biography Ida Lupino) about the persona she assumed while in the helmer’s chair (the back of which read “Mother of Us All”). “I would never shout orders at anyone. I hate women who order men around, professionally or personally. I wouldn’t dare do that with my old man . . . and I don’t do it with guys on the set. I say, ‘Darlings, Mother has a problem. I’d love to do this. Can you do it? It sounds kooky, but I want to do it.’ And they do it"
I've heard of Lupino, but unlike Arzner, I am not familiar with her work. Once I work through Binoche's and Huppert's and Almadovar's catalogue on Netflix, I might give her a look.
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