Patricia Douglas, who was actually 20, appears in the media, as depicted in the documentary Girl 27 . (Photo: Everett Collection)

The sheer number of women who have alleged sexual misconduct, from harassment to rape, against once-powerful producer Harvey Weinstein is shocking. In voicing their support for the victims, many celebrities have indicated that they had had an inkling something was going on, but they hadn’t spoken out, frequently saying that they had remained silent because the offending action hadn’t happened to them or they didn’t want their career to be affected. In other words, over the course of decades, the industry has seemingly accepted such misbehavior as part of show business.

Actress Zoe Kazan made a powerful reference to this in a string of posts on Twitter: “In all the discussion re: Weinstein, not seeing enough about *how* & *why* a predator can fly under the radar in an industry for so long. Sexual harassment being rampant in our industry — being the undertow, the room tone — provides camouflage for the worst kinds of behavior. He may be a monster but he’s not a ‘lone wolf.’ There’s a whole system that enables, tacitly endorses & disguises his behavior as acceptable. I hope holding him accountable brings about change. But that only happens if we don’t act like he’s the exception, when he’s an exemplar.”

In all the discussion re: Weinstein, not seeing enough about *how* & *why* a predator can fly under the radar in an industry for so long. — zoe kazan (@zoeinthecities) October 9, 2017

In fact, the woman who seems to have been the first to publicly call out the studios, Patricia Douglas, did so in 1937. Douglas wasn’t a famous actress; her IMDb page lists only two uncredited roles as a dancer. But she’s noteworthy because of her case, which writer David Stenn documented in the 2007 film Girl 27.

“I think she wouldn’t be surprised about the allegations [coming out today], and I think she would be modest about being the pioneer in this field,” Stenn tells Yahoo Entertainment. “I don’t think she ever saw herself as special or unique, and she was both.”

The story goes like this: 20-year-old Douglas, who treated acting like a hobby, went to an MGM casting call that she thought was for background work in a movie, according to Hollywood history podcast You Must Remember This. The 120 women who showed up for the “audition” were fancied up and given a skimpy outfit, then taken to a boozy party that the studio was throwing for its executives and 300 salesman to celebrate a banner year. They were the hired eye candy, although they reportedly weren’t told anything.

“They never mentioned it was for a party. Ever. I wouldn’t have gone!” Douglas, who died in November 2003, recalled to Stenn in an April 2003 piece for Vanity Fair. “Oh God, oh God, I wouldn’t have gone.”

View photos David Stenn took his documentary Girl 27 to the Sundance Film Festival in 2007. (Photo: Clayton Chase/WireImage for Sundance Film Festival ) More

In addition to the women, who were paid $7.50 for their work, the party featured 500 cases of Scotch and champagne. Stenn cited testimony from a waiter at the party saying that the men were drunk and rowdy. The waiter said that he saw “girls get up and move from the tables because the men were attempting to molest them.”

Douglas told Stenn that David Ross, from the Chicago office, had tried to “cop a feel” on her during a dance. She attempted to escape into the restroom, but when she came out, she said, Ross and an accomplice held her down and poured liquor into her mouth. She managed to get away eventually, but she said he found her again and threw her into a car, where he raped her.

“When Ross was finished, Douglas stumbled out of the car screaming,” You Must Remember This host Karina Longworth noted in a 2015 episode on MGM. “[Douglas] was taken to the Culver City Hospital, which, like the Culver City Police Department, was essentially a satellite of MGM. The doctor who examined Douglas said he could find no evidence of intercourse, and Douglas was taken home in an MGM car.”