For the casual viewer, Cotton Clouds is a story inspired by child labor, an American blemish that is relatable all across our nation. But, for the viewer whose home is Roanoke, VA, the film has a much closer tie.
The film Cotton Clouds is a fictional story inspired by a real little girl that lived in Roanoke, VA in the first part of the 20th century, working in the cotton mill in Norwich Village: a small industrial community in the river valley, downhill from the more affluent Grandin Village that was situated high above. The famous photographer, Lewis Hine, captured photos of her that now live in the National Archives as a testament to that time in our history when our children, 14 and under, made up 25% of our workforce.
Back in 1911, when the film was set, the real Mamie may have climbed the big, steep hill to attend the relatively new Virginia Heights School, the one room schoolhouse that sat high on the hill overlooking both Norwich Village far below and the new community that would become Grandin at its feet.
In the film Mamie works in the mill after school until circumstances of an overworked mother and a drunken father cause her to have to quit school so she and her older brother can bring in more money for the large family.
We see Mamie as she walks through the streets of Roanoke, steadfastly trodding throughout her mundane days. Several times throughout the film, Mamie passes posters hanging on the walls of buildings. Mamie pays them no mind at all. But, if you look very closely, you'll find a hidden tribute to one of the Silver Screen’s first leading ladies and the namesake of Roanoke’s own Grandin Road and Village!
Ethel Grandin was born in New York City in 1894 into a family of entertainers. Ethel’s grandmother was an actor and a dancer and her uncle Elma Grandin was a leading man on Broadway. Ethel started working as an actress in Joseph’s Jefferson’s Rip Van Winkle at just 7 years old. From that experience she went on to work with other actors of the turn of the century, performing in Vaudeville acts until joining the esteemed songwriter and actor, Chauncey Olcott’s company for three years. In 1910, at the age of 16, Ethel joined the Cecil Spooner Stock Company and toured for just one year. This was the year, according to our research, that Ethel Grandin most likely visited Roanoke. On Christmas Day of 1910, The Roanoke Academy of Music on Salem Avenue in Downtown played host to Cecil Spooner’s play, The Little Terror and this happened to be the year that young Ethel Grandin was touring with Spooner.
According to the Roanoke Times and Nelson Harris in his book Greater Raleigh Court, the late Judge James Brice recounted that as a young boy he had heard a customer in his father’s drug store, Brice’s Drugs and Soda (located where Grace’s Pizza is today) tell stories of how when the (now) Grandin Village was being developed in the early 1900s, one of the realty company partners attended a performance at the Academy of Music, where Ethel Grandin was the leading lady. He was starstruck and decided to name the central boulevard in the new development after her.
Ethel Grandin grew tired of the travel required for touring theatre, so she returned to New York in 1911 (apparently shortly after her visit to Roanoke) and auditioned for a film company. She met with a film director with IMP (Independent Motion Pictures...later to be part of Universal Pictures) who signed her on as his lead actress.
Soon after, she departed for Los Angeles with IMP along with a dedicated cinematographer who would soon become her husband.
Ethel Grandin starred in over 30 films between 1910 and 1922 and even formed her own production company with her husband: Grandin Films. Most people believe that she never knew that she had a street, a village and a neighborhood movie theatre named after her!
Ethel Grandin was a pioneer in the field of filmmaking as an actress and an entrepreneur and business owner. She was born into privilege and in direct contradiction to Mamie’s situation. However, both were instrumental in changing a town in Virginia as well as this country in ways they could never have imagined.
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