As viewers, actresses, directors and writers, women were centrally involved in cinema throughout the first half of the twentieth century - indeed film-going was the most important way in which women participated in the era's urban mass culture. However, the significance of women's early contributions has until now remained scant and dispersed, eclipsed in historical opinion formed through the texts of men. In magisterial scale and including extracts form Woolf, HD, Flanner and others, Red Velvet Seat restores this film culture to visibility, using women's written accounts to understand the significance of cinema for them.