Valeria's Letters Research Paper

Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary edited and annotated by Cari Beauchamp is collection of letters written by Valeria Belletti to friend Irma Prina describing her adventures in the developing filmmaking business in the 1920s. In her letters, she talked about her various encounters with the stars and movie moguls, shared the gossip going around the lot, and kept her friend informed on what was happening in her personal life. The letters begin in the fall of 1924, after Valeria became so enchanted with her trip to California, that she decided she would not be returning to New York. Her first job in Los Angeles was as an assistant to a holistic doctor. She was, however, fired a month later. Valeria took this in stride, telling Irma, “that’s one more experience added to my life - that of being fired. I often wondered how it
Valeria worked with many women who had enviable jobs in the industry, jobs that, had she worked a little harder, she too could have gotten. While there were men that would say sexist things and deny her jobs and positions that she could have excelled in, Valeria also never pushed back against it. She was very honest in her letters to Irma, admitting that she quickly loses focus and determination to get done the things she says she wants to do. Because the industry is so quick pace, this made it easy for her to find herself in ruts and getting stuck in situations that she wasn’t happy with.
Valeria was in some ways a pioneer for women working in the industry, in that she excelled in every job she had. She moved across the country to a place where she knew no one to start over in life because she knew that she need a more exciting life than what she was getting in New York. While there are many faults to Valeria, she was always able to figure out how to she was going to survive and find her next