Item Data
- Collection Title: Ruth Storm Collection
- Item Title: Sheila
- ID Number: RS-018
- Date Range: 1950s
- Description: In "Sheila: Portrait of a Filmmaker as a Young Girl," c. 1955, the director of "She Must Be Seeing Things" and co-director of "Committed," Sheila McLaughlin stands at a drawing board in upstate NY, waters a Maine garden, and gazes at a whirligig
- Biographical/Historical Note: According to Sheila McLaughlin, Ruth's last lover and partner, Almeda "Meda" Benoit (1910-2007) and Sheila's mother Isabel McLaughlin went to school together on Staten Island. Meda was better at Latin and was assigned to coach Sheila's mother. As a result they became lifelong friends. Sheila recalls seeing Ruth Storm and Meda together when she was a young child and they were visiting Sheila's mother in upstate NY and sensing the power of a butch-femme relationship. She herself kept in touch with Meda until Meda's death in March 2007. Sheila found this reel after her mother's death while emptyig her house.
- Genres: Amateur Films
- Places: Corea, Maine
- Access & Use: Contact Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) info@lesbianhomemovieproject.org. No re-use without permission.
- Color or B&W: Color
- Related Versions:
- Running Time: 3:08
- Rights: Lesbian Home Movie Project (LHMP) holds all rights.
- Sound: Silent
- Subjects: Lesbians, Filmmakers
- Creators: Ruth Huntington Storm (1888-1981)
- Collaborators & Participants: Almeda "Meda" Benoit
Margaret Isabell Morris McLaughlin
Sheila McLaughlin
Ruth Huntington Storm
- Source Format: 16mm
- Format: 16mm
- Viewing Log: Sheila & her mother on a porch in upstate NY, Sheila at chalk board on an easel. Corea, Maine. Ruth's place. Sheila waters garden with a coffee can while Meda looks on. Sheila's mother washes station wagon. Ruth Storm joins her. Sheila sits on outdoor chamber pot. She beckons for a pinwheel. Meda brings it to her. Sheila's mother and Meda go into cabin. Sailboat in bay. Woman climbs on rocks. Twilight approaches. Lobster boat.