"Tom Sawyer" was the first of over three hundred screenplays Gene Gauntier either wrote and produced or sold. In 1907, she wrote the script for "The Days of '61", the first film ever made about the American Civil War. That same year she wrote the screenplay and acted in the first "Ben Hur" film. The film was adapted in two days:"I was not familiar with "Ben Hur" and the mere reading of the book would take two days. But this time my self-confidence writing was unlimited and I promised. What is more by dint of working nearly two nights I turned in the script on schedule...and we turned out the greatest spectacle and money-maker up to that time."