Discovering Catharine Review/Interview

​Discovering Catharine is a documentary, on the film festival circuit at the moment, but most likely on streaming in the near future.

An intro before the film, written by Catharine Waugh McCulloch, says, “To mothers, some of whom now suffer through unjust laws. To legislators, who have the power to change the laws.” This movie is a significant piece of history. One that most of us were unaware of, as executive producer Ann McCulloch had been as well. She didn’t know much about Catharine until she was forty. Why is this important to point out? Ann is Catharine’s Great Granddaughter. For this film, Ann reaches into the past to bring her great-grandmother forward… where she had always seemed to be. We need her right now, and she’d happily join in whatever situation she was needed.

There’s a park in the town where Ann grew up, in Evanston, Illinois. The park was named after Catharine. Ann’s relatives told Ann that Catharine had been a lawyer. That was unique because she was a woman. She also learned that Catharine worked on suffrage. Engrossed, she gathers a team and gets to work. This is the beginning of what becomes this remarkable documentary.

At the 25^th Phoenix Film Festival, a postcard on a table caught my eye. Staring up at me was the face of Catharine Waugh McCulloch. I couldn’t walk away. I had to know her story. I grabbed the card and watched the screening of her film. At the end of the film were director Susan Hope Engel and Ann. I was so taken by it, I stayed for the Q&A, enjoying what they had to say. It was terrific meeting Catharine through Ann and Susan’s vision.

What a life Catharine had. Born in Ransomville, New York, on June 4, 1862, three years before the end of slavery and before the American Equal Rights Association campaigned for women’s suffrage, it seemed her soul’s purpose was to ensure that everyone else had one and that women had a chance. She was a feminist, a suffragist, and a lawyer who received her Teacher’s Certificate in 1877. There was no stopping her then. She graduated first in her class in 1882. Her family moved to Illinois, where she stayed until she died of cancer in 1945 at the age of 82. My grandmother, also from Illinois, played basketball and attended college when it wasn’t popular for women to pursue such endeavors. As a result, I was curious to learn more about Ann’s great-grandmother, since it’s too late to ask my grandmother any questions.

Just peeking at the timeline of Catharine’s life was exhausting. A lot was going on in the late 19^th Century, in the nation and in her life, but whatever it was, she wanted to get her nails in it… and we’re all the better for it. She went to Law School at a school called Union College, which is now Northwestern. She was admitted to the Illinois Bar a year later. She opened her own practice in Rockford, Illinois, since women are still, sadly, untouchable in that regard. She meets Susan B Anthony that same year. Three years later, she marries Frank McCulloch, with whom she had been friends when they were classmates. Being an ardent supporter of and fighting for women’s rights, she and Frank open a joint practice in Chicago. At that time, there were only about 200 female lawyers in this country. Catharine was the first woman in Illinois elected as Justice of the Peace. What an honor… for Illinois.

She was fierce in her ability to fight for justice… fight for you. It’s so wonderful that her passion is recognized this way. This hour-long film is impeccably directed, sadly reminding us of what women could soon lose. Oh, to have Catharine here today to campaign on behalf of all women again, and for the rights to include more women in our history books. I feel things would be different. She accomplished so much, it’s mind-boggling.

Accompanying the film is a superb score and outstanding images of Catharine and the people in her life. They’re a large part of what makes the film so likable because with each image, you feel like you know her more. And you want to know her more. I must admit that the one-hour length isn’t nearly enough time. Susan is well aware there’s much more of Catharine for people to discover. I’m hoping she’ll make something happen on that front. Maybe a series would be good because the interviews alone are so penetrating, they could have gone on forever, and you’d still want more. You wouldn’t believe what Catharine was capable of doing and did do until you hear it in these interviews. Why haven’t any of us heard of her before now?

Here’s some of my chat with Ann.

Ann: I knew her story was tremendous. I felt tremendous obligation to do it the right way. I didn’t know the production team would do such a good job.

She never dreamed people would ask for more.

Ann: Young people. They love it, too.

That fact motivated her.

Ann: I’ve had young people say that they took everything for granted. I’ve worked on it for so long, and so has Susan, that we’ve lost the ability to know if we’re hitting the right tone for a multi-age audience. She created a stepping stone for others. That would be the guiding vision.

Catharine didn’t want the microphone. It wasn’t about that for her. If she had the ability to network the way that we do now, I don’t know what that would have been like

I asked her if anyone in current politics reminded her of her grandmother.

Ann: The women who were presenting at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, many of those women impressed me as the Catharine of today.” I was so excited by that convention because it was inclusive.

What was your involvement in the creation process of the film?

Ann: It was very collaborative. I was involved in some of the decisions, but I didn’t start out by saying I have to be involved. I was… we didn’t have a big budget, and I was not there during the interviews, so I had really no perspective on how vibrant they were until I saw the first cut.

So, for me, the creation, the animation, all of that stuff was a gift that all of these creative people coming together could do. I would not have known how to specify—we had one of the largest collections of still images, all of the writings, all the photographs, all of that, so the B-Roll was really, really extensive. I made sure we were on point and relied on the team she (Susan) assembled. She did a great job. She’s a perfectionist, probably goes with the trade, right?

Ann smiles.

When I started at age forty, and my children were so young, I thought the issue of equal rights for women, gender equity, was going to be in pretty good shape by the time they were young adults. I was working with a college grad who was very optimistic, very positive, and broad perspective, and I looked at my children and I looked at things happening in our country and I thought, “It’s going in the right direction.” I don’t want to spend too much time on the historical problems and dwell on them. People won’t relate, but look where we are now?  

I ask if she’s worried that voting rights are on the chopping block?

Ann: I am. Have you heard about the Save Act? How upsetting, that’s what they call it when they’re instilling this much fear about election integrity, and yet there was no concern about this past election. Why is that?

I agreed.

Ann: See what other countries do where voting is electronic. No problem online. It’s on a Saturday, when everyone has the day off. It’s convenient. It doesn’t have to have these crazy rules, state-by-state, where some states choose to not invest in the voting technology, so it’s harder. The thought and the planning that goes into making it so hard to disqualify people. When we have the tech to make it secure and accessible.

I tell her we need clones of Catharine. She was so intelligent and clever in the way she approached things. We need lots of her and if they don’t show up, we’re in trouble.

Ann: Some people are now only captured in soundbites. How can we explain to them… their role?  She had a way of working within the system. She did a lot of work with church leaders and professors, trying to find like-minded people and she’d publish pamphlets, the pro and the con, in a respectable way. It wasn’t power-crazed antics and didn’t alienate people.

Ann: Podcasts are an antidote to “fake news” and reality shows. An alternative. That’s why they’re popular. But young people have so many soundbites thrown at them, to actually hear one podcast stay on a topic for a half-hour podcast or documentary, it reassures their faith in society, which they need right now.

She said she’s looking forward to seeing how men feel about the film, because they had tried to make sure it wasn’t slanted only toward women. Gender exaggeration, in either direction, isn’t an issue with the film. I spoke to a few men who watched the documentary, and they thought it was an intense film that provided them with insight into issues they hadn’t yet had to consider, and they appreciated the look into the past from a different angle. I’d say all expectations were met.