Eleanor Gates (1875–1951)

Eleanor Gates was born in Minnesota and described her early life in her 1902 novel The Biography of a Prairie Girl. She was married twice, firstly in 1901 to Richard Walton Tully, a fellow dramatist and stage producer, and secondly in 1914 to Frederick Ferdinand Moore, an author and later the editor-founder of the Book Dealers’ Weekly. Eleanor Gates worked as a journalist, wrote popular novels, and created seven plays that made it to Broadway. In 1915, she founded the Liberty Feature Film Company, the only film company owned and managed by women. In the one year that it existed, Liberty created several two-reeler films, including an adaptation of her play The Poor Little Rich Girl, starring Mary Pickford.