Film director, Dorothy Arzner completed 16 features from 1927-43.
She became a typist at Paramount and worked her way up as stenographer, script clerk, assistant film editor and editor.
Her first opportunity as a director came in 1927 with a film called Fashions for Women. She directed Clara Bow in The Wild Party and went on to launch the careers of Rosalind Russell, Katherine Hepburn and Lucille Ball.
This month the National Film Theatre is holding a retrospective of her work.
Jenni is joined by Hilary Smith, programming and education manager at NFT and Angela Martin, senior lecturer in film and media at Sheffield Hallam University.
