Emily Benton Frith

{{Short description|American documentary film director}}

{{Orphan|date=April 2021}}

Emily Benton Frith (March 22, 1894 – March 5, 1986) was an American documentary film producer and cinematographer who is known for her educational films for children. Frith was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1894. She founded an independent film company called Frith Films in the 1930s and made over 60 films for pre-school and primary school aged children. The California-based company was sold in 1967.{{Cite journal|last=|first=|date=September 1, 1967|title=Trade Notes and Jottings|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_film-video-news_1967-09_24_4/page/38/mode/2up?q=%22emily+benton+frith%22|journal=Film News|volume=24|issue=4|pages=38|via=Internet Archive}} During the Korean war, one of Frith's films, Bill German: 12 Year Old Businessman, was designated by the US Department of Education's list of "102 Motion Pictures on Democracy."{{Cite book|last=Reed|first=Seerley|title=102 Pictures on Democracy: 16mm Sound Films Selected and Recommended by the Office of Education Advisory Committee|publisher=Federal Security Agency|year=1950|isbn=|location=|pages=47}}{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscocine93sanfrich/page/46/mode/2up?q=%22emily+benton+frith%22|title=San Francisco Cinematheque Program Notes|publisher=San Francisco Cinematheque|year=1993|isbn=|location=|pages=47|via=Internet Archive}} Many of Frith's films, such as Fire! Patty Learns What to Do, and What it Means to be an American, are available online through the Prelinger Archives. Frith's work was included in an exhibit called "Mental Hygiene: Social Guidance Films 1945-70" at the Museum of the Moving Image in 2000.{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Ken|date=Jan 2, 2000|title=Film; The Dos and Don't of the Doo-Wop Age|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/02/movies/film-the-dos-and-don-ts-of-the-doo-wop-age.html|access-date=Feb 12, 2021}} Frith died in 1986 in The Dalles, Oregon.