Editing Betty Box (section)

==Early life and career==

Born in [[Beckenham]], Kent, England, Betty Box initially planned to be a commercial artist or journalist.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50611106 |title=FEW OTHER WOMEN DO HER JOB. |newspaper=[[The Courier-Mail]] |location=Brisbane |date=20 September 1954 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She entered the motion picture industry in 1942, joining her brother [[Sydney Box|Sydney]] and his wife, director [[Muriel Box]] at [[Verity Films]], where she helped produce more than 200 wartime [[propaganda]] shorts.<ref name="box">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204960423 |title=She Still Governs the Stars. |newspaper=[[The Age]] |location=Melbourne |date=10 February 1951 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She said:<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58527447 |title=A BOX OFFICE SUCCESS. |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] | date=11 April 1973 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=55 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Sitting around was no good for me, my brother said, and he asked me to work for him. He was running an organisation that made training and recruitment films. I went along as a general dogsbody, and as more men were called up, there were more opportunities for me. We worked from 7 a.m. until 10 or 11 at night. I learnt more in those two years than I would in ten years in peacetime.}}

Following World War II, she made an easy transition to feature films, beginning with ''[[The Years Between (film)|The Years Between]]'' (1946).

When her brother assumed control of [[Gainsborough Pictures]] that year, he named her Head of Production at the Poole Street, [[Hoxton]] studio, where she produced ten films during the next two years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51389240 |title=Producers run in Box family. |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] | date=29 March 1947 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=32 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sydney Box; Betty Evelyn Box (Mrs P.E. Rogers); Muriel Box - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw170151/Sydney-Box-Betty-Evelyn-Box-Mrs-PE-Rogers-Muriel-Box |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=www.npg.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> While tight budgets and shooting schedules compromised the quality of some of them, others – such as ''[[When the Bough Breaks (1947 film)|When the Bough Breaks]]'' (1947) – proved to be among the most politically interesting films of the period. "Every story I have at the moment has a murder in it", she said in 1947. "It's no wonder I'm being called 'Bloodthirsty Box'."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26395616 |title=Top-Line British Film Producer Is A Woman. |newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]] |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=21 January 1947 |access-date=17 December 2015 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> She was also known for the trio of popular ''[[The Huggetts (film series)|Huggetts]]'' films, starting with ''[[Here Come the Huggetts]]'' (1948) and followed by ''[[Vote for Huggett]]'' and ''[[The Huggetts Abroad]]'' (1949).<ref name="box"/>