Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only
Page 44
New York Age, October 24, 1925
BODY AND SOUL*
As writer, director, and producer.
Cast: Paul Robeson (Rev. Isaiah T. Jenkins/his brother Sylvester), Julia Theresa Russell (Isabelle, the Girl), Mercedes Gilbert (Martha Jane, her Mother), Lawrence Chenault (Yellow Curly Hinds), Marshall Rodgers (Speakeasy Proprietor), Lillian Johnson (Sister Ca’line), Madame Robinson (Sister Lucy), Chester A. Alexander (Deacon Simpkins), Walter Cornick (Brother Amos), Tom Fletcher.
“The two sides of the preacher’s personality are symbolized by the cover of a Police Gazette that hangs on the wall of the preacher’s speakeasy hangout, contrasted with a portrait of Booker T. Washington that gazes from the matron’s wall as she refuses permission for her daughter to marry [Paul] Robeson. But Micheaux, using a contrived ending, has the young girl awaken from a nightmare, which the audience has been watching, and marry the now pious preacher. The film becomes at once a trick played on an audience expecting to see another white man’s Negro, and a symbolic turning away from those stereotyped traits.”
Thomas R. Cripps, “Paul Robeson and Black Identity in American Movies,” Massachusetts Review (Summer 1970)
1926
THE CONJURE WOMAN
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on the book by Charles W. Chesnutt.
Cast: Evelyn Preer, Lawrence Chenault, Percy Verwayen, Mattie Wilkes, Alma Sewell, Sidney Easton.
“This may not have been a very successful film.”
“An Oscar Micheaux Filmography,” Oscar Micheaux & His Circle
1927
THE SPIDER’S WEB
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “The Policy Players.”
Cast: Evelyn Preer (Norma Shepard, the niece), Lorenzo McLane (Elmer Harris, the detective), Edward Thompson (Martinez, a Cuban numbers banker), Henrietta Loveless (Mary Austin, a widow), Grace Smith/Smythe (Madame Boley), Zodie Jackson, Marshall Rodgers, Billy Gulfport, Cy Williams, Josiah Diggs, Cincinnatus Major (the lawyer), Edna Barr (Creole belle), Palestine Delores Williams, Dorothy Treadwell.
“How the guilty parties are at last discovered and brought to justice makes up as interesting a story of Negro life as one can wish to see.”
Chicago Defender, January 15, 1927
THE MILLIONAIRE
As writer, director, and producer.
Cast: Grace Smith (Celia Wellington), J. Lawrence Criner (Pelham Guitry), Lionel Monagas (The Lizard), Cleo Desmond, William Edmondson, Vera Bracken, S.T. Jacks, E. G. Tatum, Mrs. and Mr. Robert S. Abbott (editor-publisher of the Chicago Defender).
“This unusual story is about a Negro soldier of fortune in South America. After years of working and accumulating his fortune he returns to America, where he meets a young lady. Unfortunately, the woman he likes is part of a crime family.”
Philadelphia Tribune, November 24, 1927
1928
THIRTY YEARS LATER
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on the Henry Francis Downing play The Racial Tangle.
Cast: William Edmondson (George Eldridge Van Paul), A. B. DeComathiere (Habisham Strutt), Ardelle Dabney (Clara Booker), Gertrude Snelson (Mrs. Van Paul), Barrington Carter, Madame Robinson, Arthur Ray, Ruth Williams, Mabel/Mable Kelly (Hester Morgan).
“This picture is based on the famous Alice-Kip Rhinelander case and has attracted wide attention among both races throughout the country. It is a remarkable film and filled with heart, interest, and truths of interest to the race.”
Kansas City Call, April 13, 1928
THE BROKEN VIOLIN
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished novel “House of Mystery.” (Presented by Frank G. Kirby for Micheaux Productions)
Cast: William A. Clayton Jr., Ardelle Dabney, Salem Tutt Whitney, J. Homer Tutt, Alice B. Russell, Ethel Smith, Ike Paul, Daisy Foster, Gertrude Snelson, Boots Hope, William “Pickaninny” Hill.
“A race drama of intense interest and thrillingly dramatic episodes. The continuity is well established and the interest sustained. The artists for the cast were carefully selected.”
Pittsburgh Courier, August 25, 1928
1929
THE WAGES OF SIN
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “Alias Jefferson Lee.”
Cast: Lorenzo/AlonzoTucker (Winston Le Jaune), William A. Clayton Jr. (Jefferson Le Jaune, aka Jefferson Lee), Katherine Noisette, Rudolph Hind, Ardelle Dabney, Bessie Gibbens, Sylvia Birdsong, Alice B. Russell, William Baker, Gertrude Snelson.
“Has to do with the life of two brothers, one of whom goes straight while the other goes wrong, led on by wild life. Thrills and heroism make this an unusual production.”
New York Amsterdam News, January 30, 1929
WHEN MEN BETRAY
As writer, director, and producer.
Cast: Katherine Noisette, William A. Clayton Jr., Bessie Gibbens, Gertrude Snelson, Lorenzo Tucker, Ethel Smith, Alice B. Russell.
“An absorbing tale, teeming with action though bitter with tragedy, a tale that is brutally frank, but true to the phase of life it portrays.”
The Afro-American (Baltimore), August 3, 1929
1930
EASY STREET
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “Caspar Olden’s Will” (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Richard B. Harrison, William A. Clayton Jr., Lorenzo Tucker, Alice B. Russell, Willor Lee Guilford.
“It shows the ‘inside actions’ of city slickers in their attempt to swindle an old man of honestly earned money. It’s a plot sensational with surprise, action, love, suspense, and intrigue.”
Pittsburgh Courier, August 6, 1930
A DAUGHTER OF THE CONGO
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on the Henry Francis Downing novel The American Cavalryman:
A Liberian Romance. Theme song: “That Gets It,” composed by
Roland C. Irving and Earl B. Westfield. (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Katherine Noisette (Lupelta), Lorenzo Tucker (Captain Paul Dale), Salem Tutt Whitney (Kojo, the rumhound President), Roland C. Irving (Lieutenant Brown), Joe Byrd (Whereaboe), Wilhelmina Williams (Ressha), Clarence Redd (Lodango), Alice B. Russell (Miss Pattie), Charles Moore (John Calvert), Gertrude Snelson (Calvert’s sister), Percy Verwayen (Pidgy Muffy), Madame Robinson (Lobue), Daisy Harding (singer), Willor Lee Guilford (Hulda), “Speedy” Wilson (Mwamba), Rudolph Dawson (tap dancer), Sylvia Birdsong, Ida Forsyne, Jennie B. Hillman.
Received “coverage in the Negro World, as it held political implications for [Marcus] Garvey’s movement. The newspaper covered Micheaux’s film primarily because the lead actor, Roland C. Irving, had toured Africa where the film had been set and because the story, at least, was in the interest of Garvey’s back-to-Africa movement.”
Charlene Regester, “The African-American Press and Race Movies: 1909–1929,” from Oscar Micheaux & His Circle
1931
THE EXILE*
As writer, director, and co-producer.
Sc: Based on The Conquest.
Ph: Lester Lang, Walter Strenge. Dances and Ensemble Staging: Leonard Harper. Musical Score: Donald Heywood.
Cast: Eunice Brooks (Edith Duval), Stanleigh Morrell (Jean Baptiste), Celeste Cole (Singer), Katherine Noisette (Madge), Charles Moore (Jack Stewart), Nora Newsome (Agnes Stewart), George Randol (Bill Prescott), A. B. DeComathiere (Outlaw), Carl Mahon (“Jango,” an Abyssinian student), Lou Vernon (District Attorney), Roland Holder (Tap Dancer), Louise “Jota” Cook (Dancer), Lorenzo Tucker, George Cooper Sr., Norman Reeves, Inex Persaud, Donald Heywood’s Band and Chorus, Leonard Harper’s Connie Inn’s Chorus.
“While it has many obvious faults, it is by far the best pict
ure Mr. Micheaux ever turned out. It has a fairly good plot, continuity, and is genuinely entertaining in spots.”
W. E. Clark, New York Age, May 23, 1931
DARKTOWN REVUE* (short subject)
As director and producer.
Songs by Donald Heywood: “Is That Religion?” “Watermelon Time,” “Blow, Bugle Blow,” “Mister Trouble,” “Ain’t It A Shame,” “Jazz Grand Opera,” “Satan Is a Devil.”
Cast: Amon Davis, Andrew Tribble, Tim Moore, and the Donald Heywood Choir.
“A succession of apparently discrete musical and comedy numbers stuck together. What makes Darktown Revue interesting is that its succession is carefully patterned by a series of contrasts—contrasts which at first appear simple, but built until finally they become complex, critical, and interconnected.”
Arthur Knight, Disintegrating the Musical
1932
VEILED ARISTOCRATS*
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on the Charles W. Chesnutt novel The House Behind the Cedars. Songs include: “River, Stay Away from My Door.” (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Lucille Lewis (Rena Walden), Walter Fleming (John Walden), Laura Bowman (Molly Walden), Lawrence Chenault (Judge Straight), Lorenzo Tucker (John Warwick), Carl Mahon (Frank Fowler), Barrington Guy (George Tryon), Willor Lee Guilford (Miss Waring), Bernardine Mason (Singer), Aurora Edwards (Cook), Mabel Garrett (Maid), Arnold Wiley (Driver), A. B. DeComathiere, Katherine Noisette, Donald Heywood.
“It may have been whittled to bits by censors, exhibitors, projectionists, angry patrons…but what’s left of Aristocrats is choice: off-putting, unsettling, staggering toward emotional profundity.”
Richard Corliss, “An Oscar for Micheaux” (Time online)
HARLEM AFTER MIDNIGHT
As actor, writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished short stories.
Cast: Lorenzo Tucker, Bee Freeman, Alfred “Slick” Chester, Rex Ingram, Lionel Monagas, Babe Townsend, Dorothy Van Engle, Lawrence Chenault, A. B. DeComathiere, Pearl McCormack, Alice B. Russell, Carlton Moss, Sam Patterson, Sol Johnson, Count LeShine, Oscar Micheaux.
“The story is built around Negro gangsters who kidnap a wealthy Jew and just about get away with it, until Micheaux, in the role of a clever sleuth, breaks up the racket.”
Atlanta Daily World, September 9, 1934
TEN MINUTES TO LIVE*
As actor, writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished short stories. (“Producer’s Note: This photoplay is adapted from the following short stories of Negro night life in Harlem: Story No. 1: ‘The Faker’; Story No. 2: ‘The Killer’; Story No. 3: [Unknown Title.]”)
Ph: Lester Lang. Asst Dir: A. B. DeComathiere. Music: Donald Heywood. (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: A. B. DeComathiere (Marshall, the producer), Alice B. Russell (the killer), William A. Clayton Jr. (“The Escape King”), Willor Lee Guilford (wronged wife/Letha), Carl Mahon (Anthony), Lawrence Chenault (Harold Stokes), Lorenzo Tucker (Nelson Gentry), Laura Bowman, Clementine Phelps, Mabel Garrett, Tressie Mitchell, Walter Fleming, Ethel Smith, Galle De Gaston, Tressie Mitchell, George Williams, Dixie Serenaders, Donald Heywood, Oscar Micheaux.
“Calling into question the Western metaphysical dualism which associates whiteness with purity and blackness with taint, the subtext of Micheaux’s seemingly simple melodrama interrogates internalized racism and the color caste system.”
bell hooks, “Micheaux: Celebrating Blackness,” Black American Literature Forum (Summer 1991)
THE GIRL FROM CHICAGO*
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “Jeff Ballinger’s Woman.”
Ph: Sam Orleans. Asst Dir: Vere E. Johns. Recording Engineer: Richard Halpenny.
(Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Carl Mahon (Alonzo White), Starr Calloway (Norma Shepard), Alice B. Russell (Miss Warren), Eunice Brooks (Mary Austin), Minta Cato (Her Sister Minnie), John Everett (Jeff Ballinger), Frank Wilson (Wade Washington), Cherokee Thornton (A Snitch), Grace Smith (Liza Hatfield), Erwin Gary (Numbers Collector), Juano Hernandez (Gomez), Alfred “Slick” Chester, Chick Evans with Bud Harris’s Rhythm Rascals Orchestra.
“ Lying Lips and The Girl from Chicago …are not among black pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s better films, to put it kindly. Melodramas with musical interludes, awkwardly constructed and amateurishly acted, they yet are stirring expressions of middle class aspirations. The first exposes the predicament of nightclub entertainers who are expected to prostitute themselves after hours, while the second condemns the numbers racket.”
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times, April 26, 1990
1933
THE PHANTOM OF KENWOOD
As writer, director, and producer. (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Frank Wilson, Bebe Townsend, Bee Freeman, Pearl McCormack, Carlton Moss.
“Deals with the theme of a perfect murder and in telling how it is solved holds intense and intriguing moments from start to finish.”
Philadelphia Tribune, May 4, 1933
1935
LEM HAWKINS’ CONFESSION* (aka MURDER IN HARLEM)
As actor, writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “The Stanfield Murder Case.” Ph: Charles Levine. Original Music and Cabaret Sequences: Clarence Williams. Songs include: “Harlem Rhythm Dance” (sung by Eunice Wilson). Art Dir: Tony Contineri. Production Manager: Charles P. Nason. Sound: Harry Belock, Armand Schattini.
(Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Pictures)
Cast: Clarence Brooks (Henry Glory), Dorothy Van Engle (Claudia Vance), Andrew Bishop (Anthony Brisbane), Alex/Alec Lovejoy (Lem Hawkins), Laura Bowman (Mrs. Epps), Bee Freeman (The Catbird), Alice B. Russell (Mrs. Vance), Lorenzo McClane (Arthur Vance), Lionel Monagas, Sandy Burns, Lea Morris, Joie Brown, Jr., Henrietta Loveless, Helen Lawrence, David Hanna, Alfred “Slick” Chester, Byron Shores, Roland Smith, Eunice Wilson (singer), Clarence Williams, Oscar Micheaux.
“Micheaux attempted something quite ambitious, and in the history of representations of the Mary Phagan/Leo Frank story, quite unusual. By using as a narrative structure a series of interrelated, often contradictory, confessions and testimonies that fit neatly into a detective story genre, he is insisting that we move beyond the bifurcated accusations of the Leo Frank trial in which blatant antisemitism and racism shape the arguments. By introducing the plot twist of a third possible killer—indeed, the one who really is guilty—he ostensibly breaks the racially fraught African-American/Jewish tension in the story…And, as his narrative structure proves, truths are always more complicated and subjective than they may first appear.”
Michael Bronski, “The Return of the Repressed: Leo Frank Through the Eyes of Oscar Micheaux,” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies (2005)
1937
TEMPTATION
As writer, director, and producer.
Cast: Ethel Moses (Helen Ware), Lorenzo Tucker (Robert Fletcher), Andrew Bishop (Kid Cotton), Alfred “Slick” Chester, Larry Seymour, Hilda Rogers, the Pope Sisters, Lillian Fitzgerald, Dot and Dash, the Six Sizzlers, Taft Rice, Bobby Hargraves and his Kit Kat Club Orchestra.
“A sophisticated sex drama in the De Mille vein.”
Donald Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks
UNDERWORLD*
As writer (“adaptation and dialogue”), director and producer.
Sc: Based on Edna Mae Baker’s story “Chicago after Midnight.”
Ph: Lester Lang. Ed: Jack Kemp, Nathan Cy Braunstein.
(Alfred N. Sack Presents for Sack Amusement Enterprises)
Cast: Bee Freeman (Dinah Jackson), Sol Johnson (Paul Bronson), Alfred “Slick” Chester (LeRoy Giles), Ethel Moses (Evelyn Martin), Oscar Polk (S
am Brown), Lorenzo Tucker, Larry Seymour, Amanda Randolph, Anna May Fritz, Bernice Gray, Eddie Matthews, Mitchell Modeste, Willie Kew, Dorothy “Dot” Salters, Raymond Collins (Rope Dancer), Carrie Bell Powell, Stringbean, The Pope Sisters, Harlem Sepia Chorus, Six Sizzlers, The Girls from Nagasaki, Bobby Hargraves and his Kit Kat Club Orchestra.
“A stirring and highly dramatic film, one that should not be missed. The All-Colored cast is one of the finest ever assembled in one production.”
The Philadelphia Tribune, January 6, 1938
1938
SWING!*
As writer, director, and producer.
Sc: Based on Micheaux’s unpublished story “Mandy.”
Ph: Lester Lang. Ed: Patricia Rooney. Sound: Edward Fenton, E. A. Schabbehor.
Musical Dir: Leon Gross. Songs include: “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.” (Produced by A. Burton Russell for Micheaux Productions)
Cast: Cora Green (Amanda “Mandy” Jenkins), Larry Seymour (Cornell Jenkins), Hazel Diaz (Eloise Jackson/Cora Smith), Alex Lovejoy (Lem Jackson/“Big Yellow” Jones), Carman Newsome (Ted Gregory), Dorothy Van Engle (Lena Powell), Mandy Randolph (Liza Freeman), Trixie Smith (Lucy), Nat Reed (Sammy), Sammy Gardiner (Taylor), Columbus Jackson (A Hustler), George R. Taylor (Theatrical Backer), Trumpet Player (Doli Armena), Tyler Twins (Tap Dancers), Muscle Dancer (Consuelo Harris), Leon Gross and his Orchestra.
“The night life scenes are set in bright and flashing style, with colorful clubs and glamorous girls. The film at no time spares the stark and realistic side of life, bringing a vivid picture of a woman who loves not too wisely—but too well. Her unfaithful man is portrayed in every sordid trait. Seldom has a production with this compelling human interest power carried such a lighter side.”