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The Vaudeville Connection By ALEX ALBRIGHT The leaps from vaudeville to silentfilms to talkies were easy for white Edito Jacquie Jones actors-notso for African Americans.

Guest Editors Pearl Bo ser Jane Gaines 10 Consu Iting Editor Interview: The Micheaux Legacy Tony Gittens By PEARL BOWSER (Black Film Institute) Novelist Toni Cade Bambara anddocumentary filmmaker Louis Managing Editor Massiah discuss the resilient legacy ofOscar Micheaux. Jane McKee

Associate Editor/Film Critic Arthur Johnson 16 Associate Editors Pat Aufderheide The Norman Film Manufacturing Roy Campanella II Company Manthia Diawara Victoria M. Marshall By GLORIA]. GIBSON-HuDSON Mark A. Reid The personalpapers andeffects ofa white inventor andfilmmaker open a Miriam Rosen meaningfUl window on Black film history. Clyde Taylor

Editorial Assistants Ellen Nutter Charlene Register 22 Sheila Smith-McKoy Crossed Over and Can't Get Black Features Art Director/Graphic Designer By CLYDE TAYLOR Davie Smith Between 1937and 1939, Black cinema went through one ofits biggest Advertising Director identity crises. 2 Sheila Reid Film Clips Founding Editor New Finds, Old David Nicholson Films: 1985-1989 28 Black Nickelodeon An Introduction Black Film Review (ISSN 0887-5723) is published four times a year by Sojourner Productions, Inc., a non-profit corporation organized and By GREGORY A. WALLER incorporated in the District of Columbia. It is co-produced with the Black During the silent era, theaters catering to Black audiences were popular Film Institute of the University of the District o(Columbia. Subscriptions are $12 per year for individuals, $24 per year for institutions. Add $10 per ccrace" enterprises. Calendar year for overseas subscriptions. Subscription requests and correspon­ Pull-out dence should be sent to PO Box 18665, Washington, DC 20036. Send all other correspondence and submissions to the above address; submissions 32 . must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. The Micheaux Style Logo and contents copyright ©Sojourner Productions, Inc., and in the name of individual contributors. By]. RONALD GREEN A look at the market realities that shaped Oscar Micheaux's vision. Black Film Review welcomes submissions from writers, but we prefer that you first query with a letter. All solicited manuscripts must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. Black Film Review has signed a code of practices with the National Writers Union, 13 Astor Place, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10003. On the cover: Actress This issue of Black Film Review was produced with the assistance of Evelyn P,:,eer (1896-1932), grants from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation, featured in nine Oscar the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the National Alliance of Micheauxfilms, has the Media Arts Centers, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the John D. and Ca herine T. MacArthur Foundation. distinction ofbeing thefirst Black movie star. (Courtesy ofAnnstead-]ohnson Thi i sue of Black Film Review is a product of the Black Film Review Foundation for Theater ch' Projec and is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Research.) soh a grant to the Scribe Video Center, Philadelphia, PA. RidIer Veim: 1be mOs' DNDveri~ What makes the Tyler, Texas "gold rush" on Black films all the more curious is that for n August 1983, the Southwest FilmNideo Archives at almost ten years the story of finding the cache seems to have Southern Methodist University in Dallas received a tip. drowned out the telling ofthe history ofAfrican American What appeared to be old film cans had been found in a independent filmmaking. Or so it seems to film scholars, warehouse inTyler, Texas. Within the next six months, archivists and collectors who have been quietly hunting and enterprisingTexas journalists created a story about the discovery digging and waiting-some­ times for decades-for some key of"lost" Black films that was picked up nationally and carried works to come to light. In the last few years, several separate into U.S. living rooms on "CBS Morning News" and unearthings have brought to our attention titles so significant that "Nighdine." What exactly is it in the American imagination that they produce a new chapter and suggest a revised version of sees historic Mrican American culture as buried treasure? African American film history. Each represents a different story Susan Dalton, archivist at the only 22 were produced for Black release print might have looked ofhow such cultural artifacts are National Center for Film and audiences. Actually, most ofthe like and have supplied missing forgotten and retrieved. Video Preservation, explains the 22 weren't "lost" films at all but footage to more damaged prints To put these exciting excitement: "People confuse . merely additional prints oftitles in circulation. For years, poor discoveries in perspective, historical value with monetary such as Spencer Williams's Blood and cheaply produced 16mm however, we want to remember value~" In addition, there is an ofJesus (1941) and Oscar reductions added to the the African American indepen­ alluring mythology about pre­ Micheaux's Murder in Harlem perception ofMicheaux, in dent companies that appeared 1951 nitrate film stock, which is (1935), alternately titled Lem particular, as an inept film­ and disappeared from as early as always in danger ofeither Hawkins' Confession. These are maker, an evaluation based 1905 to around 1950 from New exploding or decomposing. In films that, although not in solely on shoddy prints ofhis York to Florida, from Chicago the case ofthe Tyler, Texas commercial distribution, were sound films, an evaluation that to Omaha, Nebraska. Such a list discovery, however, it was not housed in various film archives doesn't hold up when one looks would include Peter Jones"Jones only money and history that and were known to film at an exceptionally well­ Photo Play, William A. Foster's were confused. In the retelling, historians. preserved sound title such as Foster Photo Play, George P. the historical value ofthe This is not to say that the Swing (1936) or Micheaux's and Noble Johnson's Lincoln discovery also got inflated. One Tyler, Texas discovery was not more recently discovered silent Motion Picture Company based finds on reading curator William important-it was, but as a kind fums.. . in Lincoln, Nebraska, Ralph Jones' account ofhis acquisition ofstep in solving a mystery. The Cooper's Million Dollar in Black Cinema Treasures: Lost additional prints have helped andFound, that ofthe 100 short historians and archivists to come Hv Ron~r imtl.JiUle (iillnffl and feature films discovered, closer to seeing what the original ,j l\'iui

2 Black Film Review Productions and George through the lives ofperformers, the "Oscar Micheaux Society," o/the Unconquered (1920), has Randol s Premiere Productions. owners, and investors, such as with the first newsletter ofthe made the reconsideration of Recentl remembered and Madame C.]. Walker and organization to come out on the Micheaux's work and every finall acclaimed is independent Sherman Dudley, who built heels ofthis special issue. aspect ofhis career top priority. illiam exander \\Those theaters, organized the managers We have named the In the interview here with Pearl compan produced such and played a significant role in organization, dedicated to the Bowser, producer Louis features as Souls ofSin (1948), developing a support system for history and preservation ofall Messiah and novelist Toni The Fight Never Ends (1947) "race movies," films produced African American film, for Cade Bambara suggest that and The Clansman (1970) as for African American audiences. Micheaux. Still, in the larger Micheaux's work is firmly well as "Soundies" and the "AlI­ Above all, this issue ofBlack scheme offilm history, rooted in African American America" newsreels. These Film Review is dedicated to Micheaux has yet to be given his politics and the social life ofthe newsreels have been shown for honoring these independents, own place. With his life period in which he lived. His the first time in nearly five though it is our hope that the spanning exactly the same years films incorporate and grow out decades at the American issue will also encourage new as that ofRobert Flaherty ofthe African American Museum ofthe Moving Image interest in the histories ofthe (1884-1951), the "father ofthe experience, his own life, and in Astoria, New York, as part of shorter-lived local companies, documentary," as yet, mention stories in the Black press, often "From Harlem to Hollywood, such as the North State Film ofMicheaux doesn't produce the taking on the texture ofthis 1910-1948." This exhibition of Corporation in Winston-Salem, hushed tones ofdiscussion like news. In the volatile '20s, film memorabilia-posters, North Carolina, to which Alex those ofFlaherty, who was not Micheaux did not hesitate to stills, lobby cards, press Albright refers~in his article here. nearly as prolific and no criticize the duplicity ofthe books--documents the history To this end, some ofus have comparison as an entrepreneur. lynch mob, even though the ofAfrican American film begun to work together to form Actually, establishing luridness ofhis representation Micheaux's productivity in oflynching produced an the scholarly community is unwelcome reception for not the same as establishing it Within Our Gates in the few for the Black community, cities in which it played. where the Micheaux legend Neither did Micheaux shirk has been resilient. While from revealing the economic academics disagree about the motive behind the terrorism of actual number offilms the Ku Klux Klan in Symbol of Micheaux produced between the Unconquered This is a new 1918 and 1948, contempo­ Micheaux who emerges to rary Black audiences have challenge what may have been watching "reruns" ofhis mistakenly been interpreted as a films, some ofwhich were "dismissal" ofthe filmmaker by originally loaned to Black the first historians ofAfrican Entertainment Television American film as well as the (BEn by the Library of Black press. In his article here, Congress. Only a handful of Clyde Taylor goes directly back scholars have seen the 12 to 1938-the fateful year ofthe titles that remain ofthe 40 or release ofthe much maligned 50 produced. This special God's Stepchildren, accused by issue, then, marks a begin­ some portions ofthe commu­ ning ofthe task offilling in nity as purveying negative the Micheaux legacy, a job of stereotypes. Could it be, Taylor c: o searching newspapers ofthe asks, that the contradictory ~ (3 c..:> period as well as film sources. strategy ofthe Black press The recent availability to backfired? "Support Black scholars oftwo important entertainment at any cost" silent Micheaux films, Within could not be reconciled with Our Gates (1919) and Symbol the demand for "proper,

Blac - Film Re\iew 3 positive images." In the end, Congress acquisition ofthe less spectacular form than the complete. However, like Within Black audiences were handed 35mm print of Within Our Gates crisp original) for around $25. A Our Gates and Symbolo/the over to Hollywood. is somewhat similar, according to number ofyears and over Unconquered, this early sound archivist Susan Dalton, since an $20,000 in duplication and film may never be exactly My1b of Dfrnmry i1IHI1be Re.ity exchange with the Filmotecha in restoration costs stand between "complete"-although film of Rn\torntion Madrid had to be arranged. the acquisition ofsuch original scholars would argue that this However, the tale ofthis recovery nitrate material and its public state ofincompleteness is the Yes, the chance phone call "out goes back somewhat earlier. availability. mark ofMicheaux's work, ofthe blue" may turn up reels From correspondence historian Recently, another "lost" which he is known to have re- ofour lost African American Thomas Cripps has shared with Oscar Micheaux film was edited, sometimes from one local film heritage, and one always us, we have learned that what we rediscovered. Jan-Christopher screening to the next, to satisfy hopes for miracles. More now know to be Micheaux's Horak, Senior Curator at George state and local censor boards and accurately, however, this second film (after The Home- Eastman House, described the theater managers. restitution has been the steader, 1918) appeared as The job that had to be done on Veiled cooperative work ofmembers Negress on a FIAF list circulated Aristocrats (1932), starring Audimn~ ofboth a national and a 75- "R.ll:e" FIlm in 1965. Cripps surmised from Lorenzo Tucker. Found in a barn member international consor- "Race" films were a part ofthe the synopsis sent to him that the by a private collector, the film, tium offilm archives. The popular entertainment in film was the "lost" Within Our important as the second oftwo cooperation ofmembers of segregated commercial theaters Gates, but it wasn't until 1979 Micheaux adaptations ofCharles FIAF (La Federation in the North and the South. At that he had the chance to Chesnutt's The House Behind the Internationale des Archives du one high point in the history of confirm this at a viewing in Cedars, was acquired by Grape- Film) was instrumental in "race movies," nearly 400 out of Spain, and almost another ten vine Video, which released the repatriating the two silent 2,000 motion picture theaters in years lapsed before a copy ofthe title in August 1~92 for $12.95. Micheaux films returned to the the U.S. catered to African film (this time with Spanish Through an intermediary, U.S. from Belgium and Spain American audiences. But clear subtitles) was returned to the the original nitrate was then in recent years. statistics are difficult to arrive at U.S. donated to George Eastman In order to set the record since the number varies, The acquisition ofthese two House for complete preservation. straight and to place the facts depending on whether one films brings the total number of After repairing the hundreds of before our readers, we decided counts all-white houses with known surviving Micheaux silent splices and torn sprockets, a to interview archivists repre- balcony-only seating for Black films to three. Over thirty years liquid gate optical printer was senting the three U.S. institu- people. And then there is the ago, the International Museum used to generate a new 35mm tions that have been the most question ofwhat counts as a ofPhotography at George negative, eliminating many active behind the scenes in "theater." As Greg Waller Eastman House in Rochester scratches and imperfections. reclaiming and preserving early describes the "Frolic" in acquired a 35mm silent nitrate Since the opening scene ofthe African American film. Eileen Lexington, Kentucky, this 1907 print ofBody andSoul (1924), film is apparently missing, a Bowser, Head ofAcquisitions theater also functioned as a especially important as Paul single shot ofthat scene from the at the Museum ofModern Art saloon. Numbers are further Robeson's first film. Since then, trailer, which is housed in the (MaMA) Film Archive, complicated when you focus on preservation has been completed American Film Institute Collec- stressed the systematic nature of the silent era and "mixed" by generating a new 35mm tion at the Library ofCongress, searching. The 35mm print of houses, that is, vaudeville acetate negative and print from was cut into the film. Next, the Symbolo/the Unconquered, theaters that might have shown the nitrate original as well as a soundtrack, which was in very now housed at MaMA, was films only occasionally. This 16mm negative and prints. The po~ondition,was electronically located on a list ofAmerican phenomenon also calls our latter have been made available rerecorded and "cleaned up" film titles circulated by the attention to the particularly for classroom use through a joint before being transferred to archive in Brussels. (The intimate connection between distribution project with negative film. Finally, a new double subtitle format written African American vaudeville and MaMA's circulating film library. 35mm print was generated and in both French and Flemish is motion picture performers- Several "budget" videotape will be premiered in 1993. The evidence ofits public distribu- often one and the same-as Alex distributors have also pirated total cost ofthe restoration tion in Belgium.) Albright shows in his article these 16mm circulating copies project ran in excess of$25,000 The story ofthe Library of here. Evelyn Preer (pictured on and are selling them (in a much and has taken over a year to the cover ofthis issue), well-

4 Black Film Review known stage actress and part of owner ofthe Norman Film the early scholars as well as their the Lafa ette PIa ers was cast in Manufacturing Company. sources deserve a second look. rune eaux silent films. Micheaux developed a public Henry T. Sampson, for instance, To keep abreast ofwhat's new . e ooper like persona that for a while, at least, in his 1977 resource guide, refers and newly found in the history Sherm D and Sam Jacks gave him an attentive audience to Micheaux's early films as ofMrican American cinema, om stage to for his novels as well as his "protest," a possibility at odds look for the new film Midnight scree. e eran actor Lawrence films-both distributed through with his later characterization as Ramble, a forthcoming docu-

c:: o ~ "0 u

Scene from The Fight Never Ends with Ruby Dee.

Chenault appeared often in the Micheaux Book and Film an "Uncle Tom." Clyde Taylor's mentary on the history of "race movies" between 1920 and Company that he ran with his article here opens up the crucial American race movies. And join 1932, working for the Micheaux brother Swan. A new generation 1937-1939 period in which the Oscar Micheaux Society! For Film Company and Reol ofscholars have begun to take a Micheaux met the greatest more information about the Pictures as well as the Colored new look at the complex criticism from what Taylor calls Micheaux Society, call (919) Players ofPhiladelphia and Micheaux, and some wonder if the «civil servant" mindset ofthe 684-4130.4D orman Film Manufacturing he might have been slighted in Black press. Likewise, Ron Company. the first wave ofscholarship, Green's article asks viewers to Pearl Bowser is the founder and Oscar Micheaux also seems represented by the work of reconsider Micheaux's filmmak­ director ofAftican Diaspora Images and the co-director ofMidnight ing style, often the basis for to have been everywhere during Thomas Cripps, Donald Bogle Ramble. Jane Gaines is the director of this period, as Gloria Gibson­ and Dan Leab, for instance. Was dismissal by both early historians the Program in Film and Video at Hudson shows here in her the first generation ofscholars and the Black press, which Duke University. discussion ofhis correspondence only following the established wanted high production values with Richard E. Norman, line ofthe Black press? along with «positive images." inventor, film director and It may be, however, that

Black Fihn Review 5 HE HISTORY BLACK FILM

,

The Winstead Band. Mattie B. Sloan Collection

6 Black Film Review or white actors, the leaps from minstrelsy to vaudville to Broadway, from silent films to talkies, were natural ones­ complicated only by lack of dramatic talent or, in the last jump, by a voice that could not match an established persona. But Blacks faced hur:dles with each step. The pattern seemed to go like this: once given a chance, Black entertainers demonstrated a talent in a given genre, which then threatened the livelihood ofwhite performers. The white performers then advanced a step to a newly popular form and closed this new form offto Blacks, leaving Blacks with the abandoned form. When Blacks began dominating the minstrel stage, whites moved into vaudeville. When the vaudevillians began making records and, in some cases, performing on Broadway, Blacks were essentially shut out ofthose new forms, relegated to vaudeville and forced to create their own venues and booking agencies. The pattern continued with only briefperiods ofexceptions as the age ofsilent films blossomed into the talking motion picture era. When Oscar Micheaux released his first ftim, The Homesteader, in 1918, both Broadway and vaudeville were essentially closed to Black performers. Work for Black actors, dancers, singers and musicians came in traveling vaude­ ville, tabloid and tent shows, and a few stock companies. Micheaux, like other pioneer Black film producers, was quick to tap the available talent. The Home­ steader featured at least three stars from the ranks ofthese Black-cast shows that criss-crossed America from the turn of the century through the '30s, and to a surprising extent, on into the '40s. While these shows were ignored by the white press, Black newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender,· covered them regularly. Micheaux continued to use performers, who otherwise would have been known only for their scarcely noted and ephemeral performances, until his

Blac Film Review 7 last film -in 1948, capturing many ofthe he became co-producer ofthe company. many Black vaudevillians Micheaux best ofthese nearly forgotten and rarely Working with director Ben Strasser, used in his films. In 1909, Burns began documented entertainers. Scales co-produced the duo's first a vaudeville career that would span three North Carolina was always a good collaborative effort, A Shot in the Night decades, culminating in 1935 with a role state for the traveling companies to play; The film appeared in 1922, using much in Micheaux's Lem Hawkins' Confession. excellent receptions were generally ofthe original cast but adding vaudeville Yet, ofthe Black vaudevillians Micheaux guaranteed in both the cities and small veterans The Tolliver Brothers. North used, none was as famous in their time towns. In Winston-Salem, particularly, State produced two other films before its as Salem T utt Whitney and Homer performers found a warm reception last, His Great Chance (1923). Although Tutt, two brothers from Indiana. because ofW.S. Scales' enterprises, filmed in Winston-Salem, it was released According to Henry Sampson, the two which in 1923 included two vaudeville out ofNorfolk, Virginia, where Strasser produced, wrote and directed at least 25 houses and a movie theater, the had moved. This ftIm managed to tabloids, 2 dramas, 16 musical comedies, Lafayette Theater. Aida Lockhart capture as impressive a lineup ofBlack 150 vaudeville sketches, 300 poems and Booker, one ofthe great unrecorded vaudeville stars as ever made it to the 50 songs. Whitney, a longtime corre~ ballad and blues singers, operated a screen, including Tim and Gertie spondent for the pefender, sometimes boarding house near the theater, so Moore, the entire Sandy Burns Com­ wrote detailed historical accounts ofthe activities in the community were pany, Sam Russell, and The Tolliver older performers and shows. Sampson regularly reported to· the national Black Brothers. calls them the "link ofcontinuity" in press. Micheaux, like the North State Film Black theatricals. In 1921 J.A. Jackson observed in Company, utilized the vast reserves of Micheaux gave the brothers their film Billboard that Blacks in entertainment vaudeville talent. Sandy Burns, who debut in Birthright (1922), in which fields had been victims of"economic began his show career about 1899 with a they received top billing with Evelyn slavery" and predicted that Black-cast traveling opera company, was one of Preer. Preer, star ofnine Micheaux films and Black­ between 1918 and produced films 1926, is primarily would never be considered a able to compete product ofthe with white Lafayette Playe~s productions. stock company, Nevertheless, which provided Black vaudeville Micheaux with a and traveling host ofother stars: entertainers Cleo Desmond, continued to work Laura Bowman, in the film Susie Sutton, industry, ever Andrew Bishop, hopeful offinding Lawrence their financial Chenault, A.B. breakthrough. Comathiere, Lionel Scales at­ Monagas, Walker tempted to make Thompson, that breakthrough. Charles Moore, At his Lafayette and Edward Theater, he Thompson. But premiered the she, like most of

Winston-Salem- c: the others, also o based North State ~ worked regularly in '0 Film Company's ~ the traveling ~ production ofA ~ vaudeville and ~ Giant ofHis Race ~ show productions ~ ofthe late 1910s (1921). Soon after, .c: t-

8 Black Film Review and 20 . These productions included from Chicago) organized the Carolina 'Liza' would get it and then try to break "Canary Cottage" (1920), with Alberta Comedy Four in 1908, and later would up the C.V.B.A. for spite. Don't tell Hunter and Shelton Brooks, and Miller appear with Paul Robeson, both on anyone I wrote you this letter, because if and L e s "Rang Tang" (1927). stage and in film, in The EmperorJones. there is any trouble about it, it is a lie, Ofthe other Lafayette Players who But perhaps none ofthese stars and everybody knows that Boots Hope worked \ .th icheaux, several, like remains as mysterious today as Boots is the king ofliars. Anyway a sailor told T utt and Whitney, were links to Hope, "the world's greatest liar," who me all this and he ought to know legendary performers. Chenault (Birth­ appeared with Homer T utt in The because he had been to SEA. Mum's the right, Br·ute, Gunaslaus Mystery, House Broken Violin (1926). Hope allegedly word." Behind the Cedars, Ghost ofTolson s could tell more lies in a minute than North Carolina had two other Manor), for example, was in the Bert anyone, which only heightens the irony independent production companies Williams and George Walker produc- ofhis only film role, a silent one. As a during that period; one may have made longtime vaudevil­ a film, but even its title seems to have lian and secretary of disappeared as surely as nearly every one the Colored Actors ofthe Black-cast silent films that were Union, he was well­ actually made in North Carolina and respected among elsewhere. The Defender and other his peers and papers ofthe '20s bear sketchy witness to frequently corre­ the efforts and the failings with their sponded with the frequent mentions offilms that, as far as entertainment anyone today knows, were never made. editors ofthe Black As Micheaux ended his film career in press. One ofhis 1948, one ofthe last Black-cast films wittiest letters was distributed by the independent addressed the in­ Lord-Warner Pictures. John Warner, a fighting that white man, spent twenty years practi­ threatened to cally living in Greenville, North shatter the Colored Carolina's Black community, filming Vaudeville Booking documentary shorts ofits residents. He Association's used these shorts as trailers before alliance in 1923, features he showed at his Plaza Theater. when Irvin C. Warner made his only Black-cast Miller's "Broadway theatrical film the year Micheaux made Rastus" was closed his last. Warner, like Micheaux, used the after a single .traveling troupers as stars; however, he tion of"Abyssinia" (1906). Blanche performance at the Lafayette. As J.A.· cast them in a '30s-style musical com­ Thompson (Spiders Web) starred in Jackson points out, Hope manages to edy, low-budget and simple, that had several T utt and Whitney productions, use "all the, titles ofthe bigger colored little chance ofturning a profit. Curi­ such as "The Darktown Politician" and shows ofthe year" in his letter: ously, though, the old-time feel that "In Ethiopiaville," both ofwhich "Dear Friend-'How Come' that doomed Warner's production makes it premiered in 1913. She and Lorenzo 'Liza' will 'Shuffie Along' with 'Broad­ ofhistorical importance now for its Tucker (Daughter ofthe Congo, Easy way Rastus' after he was canned at the capturing, in documentary fashion, the Street, Wages ofSin, When Men Betray) Lafayette Theater? He sure was in performances ofWinstead's "Mighty appeared in Whitney and Tun's "How 'Dumb Luck' when she said 'Follow Minstrels" (1931-1955) and Irvin C. Newtown Prepared" (1916). Walker Me,' and he shouted 'Oh Joy' and began Miller's "Brownskin Models," the Thompsot:1 (Symbol ofthe Unconquered), to 'Jump Steady,' but got mad when she longest running ofany Black-cast Susie Sutton (Brnte) and Laura Bowman told him he would have to 'Go Get It' at vaudeville production (c. 1925-1951). (Lem Hawkins' Confession) were featured the 'Plantation Revue.' So, in revenge, Although the Models may have ap­ in "The Three Twins" (1916) with he began to 'Strut Miss Lizzie,' hoping peared in at least two other films, Abbie Mitchell, another Lafayette that 'Creole Follies' would carry the PIa ers star. Frank Wilson (The Girl news to the 'Dressing Room,' where continued on page 36

Black Film Review 9 THE HISTORY BLACK FILM

10 Black Fibn Revie'w Pearl Bowser: Let us start off by talking take a Hollywood film that deals with the Bambara: Well, yes and no. Here's the about the question of aesthetics and mulatto, how does Micheaux deal no. The wimpy romances that we get in continuity. Do you think there is a Black. differently with that? I don't feel that the Micheaux and we get in many ofthe tragic mulatto is a Hollywood construct. aesthetic that seems to emerge out of this films ofthe '30s that came out of early Black cinema, and is there any Massiah: Race--eolor consciousness-is Philadelphia, Waco and Harlem, that continuity in terms of the then and the not. The mulattoes are not necessarily have a "cultured, refined" hero who now? tragic in andofthemselves. They have their listens to Bach or plays the violin or, at Toni Cade Bambara: My difficulty, of own baggage, but the mulattoes do not least, wears a suit and a tie and has course, is that the body offilms-race equal death or sadness in Micheaux. slicked back hair and always works in a films-that I saw in the '40s, I saw as a Bambara: It's a character with behavior office. The heroine who's a damsel in child. My concerns weren't aesthetic. and motives in Micheaux. It's not an distress-we don't even question her Louis Massiah: It's hardfor me as well to icon. I think that's true ofall the sense ofautonomy. Maybe she's ofa start offwith aesthetics, because it really is particular characters and particular subject thatfirst distinguishes them. There's different caste than the refined, cultured subjects, although we would be hard, hero'who rescues her. But the yes part is a sense ofdanger that's related to race, the pressed to come up with Euro-Amerlcan all the stuffthat surrounds the ro­ sense often-or that's often there. I'm not films ofthe same period that handled mance-behaviors, attitudes, inci­ talking about comedies per se, I'm talking questions oflynching, incest, rape, dents-that validate, critique and reflect about some ofthe Micheaux dramas. color-caste, interracial bandit.ry and more recognizable experience. Bowser: So would that address style and economic crimes that have been motives not aesthetics? Bowser: So the construct of the melo­ for things like lynching. Massiah: More subject, more content. It's drama in Micheaux is the same as in Bowser: Do you think, if you focused on h,ar~ mainstream cinema? really for me to separate the aesthetic the subject matter and that subject matter from European-American films. Massiah: Well the constrnct ofmelodra­ is embedded in the African American mas may be similar, but, in actual acting Bo ser: But the subjects don't necessarily experience, that that lends itself.to a kind styles within the melodrama, there's a little istinguish themselves from Hollywood. of expression of a cultural experience It's the approach to the subject. If you which is unique? bit more space in the Micheauxfilms than

Black Film Review 11 Alice B. Russell (wife ofOscar Micheaux) in a scenefrom God's Step Children. any sort ofmiscellaneous Black role in evidence for that is people used it­ responsible cinema piece in that film Hollywood. The Micheaux character may people used the songs to iron by or they recodes Birth ofa Nation, it sets the have a singular sort ofobsession, but they're used the songs to talk to each other. I record straight as to who raped who, not stereotypes. They may be types, like think music more than books spoke to etc., and then there's this melodramatic E G. Tatum, who s in both Symbol ofthe the experience. I think magazines rather romance piece that's always very interest­ Unconquered andWithin Our Gates, than books spoke to the experience. ing, particularly in Micheaux. I'm who s a type but not a stereotype. Poetry had a vitality that was also true of thinking, too, of Scar ofShame and Bowser: Would you say that Micheaux is dance. I think it's less true ofthe films, Eleven PM, where there's a lot of not concerned with negative or positive but I think we use a different standard backstory. images but with projecting multilayered for film and theater. That is to say that Bowser: What do you mean by backstory? characters? the theater ofthat period-I'm talking Bambara: In Within Our Gates, for Massiah: It seems to me that the characters about the '20s and '30s-were dramas example, the backstory is the real meat are not stereotypical They're not negative, that spoke to the issue oflynching, the ofthe movie. We get the backstory of limited stereotypes. They have room to campaigns against syphilis or the Casper Landrys' daughter, which develop somewhat. Its a singular develop­ situation oforphans and foster children. consists ofseveral things: her education, ment, but they have room to develop from There were those kinds ofpageants, and that allows Micheaux to talk about beginning to end, and, because they're and then there were other kinds ofplays issues ofthe day and the urgency of more involved in plot, you get to see them that one went to becaus~ you were saving the Black land grant colleges, over time as opposed to in a very small intelligent and cultured and maybe you which is one ofhis concerns. Also part window. were a schoolteacher. But they did not ofher backstory is that she was trained Bowser: Do you think these stories relate speak directly, nor did you demand that as ~ bookkeeper, and"that helps in the to the Black experience of that period in a way_ which spoke directly to the audi­ they speak directly, to your everyday, plot because she finds that Mr. ence? ordinary experience. I think Micheaux, Girdlestone, the white plantation owner, Bambara: In that period blues music certainly in Within Our Gates, tries to is trying to cook the books. Also, she is spoke directly to people's experience. My deliver on both things. The socially not the daughter, or mayor may not be

12 Black Fihn Revie"r the daughter, ofher foster parents, the idealized space, as in Westerns, or you Bowser: How does one get to know who Landrys. One ofthe characteristics of get hidden space, as in dramas; that is to we are in these early films of the '20s of Micheaux is that the characters have a say, the camera establishes what block Oscar Micheaux and others? Is there some kind of common expression, some lot ofbackstory. They just don't pop on we're in, what city we're in, what class common ground that the filmmakers use the screen; you think you know them the players belong to or have an affinity to get at that idea of who we are? If you and they're familiar types. But the to. Then everything closes down and, use the term of the period, "racial uplift," backstory fills in plot and makes a with the use ofwindow frames and door how does Micheaux get to that racial connection to social reality. frames and camera close-ups, we reduce uplift in his films? Massiah: Right. As we were looking at everything to the psychological. All Massiah: I think, certainly, by breaking up some ofSymbol ofthe Unconquered conflict is personal, not systemic. thefalse view ofhistory-thefalse view of today~ I was thinking that there s an Therefore, all resolutions can be resolved the Klan, the raping and the lynching. I extraordinary amount ofexposition in by a shrink or a lawyer, or both, but not, think that whatMicheaux is saying about there. Like~ the action in thefirst scene of say, by social transformation. In Mrican the Klan is simple. Hes saying that thefather dying, andthen the next cinema, we're especially aware of te170rism is not even vaguely racial· its dramatic scene is the mother seeing the son characters in their circumstances. So you really about economic subjugation. who spassingfor white~ Driscoll courting get a different kind ofshock, in a Bowser: In Symbol ofthe Unconquered, the white woman~ andDriscolls ashamed different sense ofspace. In Daughters of the whitecapping is used by an interracial that his Black mother is approaching and the Dust, for example-and I think group, Blacks and whites. chokes her. But, beyond that, there was a that's a very Mrican handling ofspace­ Bambara: People are not miscellaneous, great deal oftalking and background no character is background to any other, not meandering about, not simply information~ anditjust seems to me that and we don't get a foregrounded hero encountering each other in a melodra­ by our standards now ofwhat drama is~ dominating space, with everyone else matic, wimpy romance thing. Every­ there s so much filling in the past. I keep feeling "othered" in the background, body has an agenda. -His major players thinking aboutproducers today, white having their elbows sort offallout ofthe have an agenda, good guys and not-so­ producers, when U!0rking with Black frame or in a blur. You get shared space, good guys. He always has an economic filmmakers, don't understanding why and the camera opens up so that we can argument going on. filmmakers go back to Aftica to look at get a collective point ofview. The focus One ofthe quests that we can read in 1992. Maybe it's that samefeeling of is on group and social space. It's shared Within Our Gates is for education-the always needing to contextualize andcreate space and it's democratic space, as necessity for Black folk to take responsi­ our own sense ofhow the history and opposed to idealized space and bility for an Mrocentric curriculum, for characters develop. Maybe thats why all hierarchial space dominated by one autonomy and self-determination in that exposition is there. hero. The way we handle space allows us education. That's one ofthe quests of the hero, I think. In drama classes or in filmmaking to make that connection, and ask the Bowser: In this case, it's the heroineG classes they say its too much exposition~ but spectator to make that connection, Bambara: That's one ofthe quests ofthe it is interesting. So, maybe that is between this story and contiguous heroine, I think. She, ofcourse, is Aftocentric. reality. actively engaged in the Piney Woods Bowser: Is that something that has sort of Massiah: Going along with that, exposition School. transcended the time? Is that the legacy is really going against this sort ofrelentless Bowser: Which was actually a school. of Micheaux? pushingforward ofna17ative, andI think Bambara: The Piney Woods is still a Bambara: One ofthe characteristics of of[Charles] Burnetts work, My Brother's school. And it is her quest for education independent Black film in this coun­ Wedding or Killer ofSheep. Social space that propels the plot. She goes out to try-I'm thinking particularly ofwhat is the interaction, andthe way ofrelating is look for money in order to fund the we called the Watts films-is a necessity so much ofthe beauty ofthe story. It's not school. ofcontext. Nothing happens in a actually the plotgoingftom A to B to C to Massiah: Certainly the very characters and vacuum, and nothing happens with D, although thats there. Even in She's seeing those characters on the screen in the reference to some other movie, but Gotta Have It the actual na17ative is not climate ofwhat Black characters may have rather in connection with social reality. all that wondeifUl What made thatfilm so been in Hollywoodfilms, that by itself One ofthe ways in which it is transmit­ noticeable was the inte17elation ofthe confirms the existence ofa diverse and ted is not necessarily through the story-, characters. Not necessarily things that were caring andcommitted community. but rather in the handling ofspace. For pushing the storyforward, but things that Bowser: How important or deliberate do example, in industry films, you either get established who those characters were. you think Micheaux's use of actuality is-

Black Fihn Review 13 his use of the Piney Woods School or, prospector, is reluctant to respond to the the '80s. Thats not really where thefilm is after opening a story, placing it in the heroine Eve's presence--her obvious resting. The film is resting on the veryfact context of Tuskegee or Hampton Insti­ attraction· to him, her trust ofhim, her ofits existence. The veryfact thatyou were tute? comfort with him. He holds back seeing these wide variety ofcharacters that Bambara: I think that is very characteris­ because he perceives her as white. And you didn't see in Hollywoodfilms. Those tic ofBlack people. I think it is charac­ then, two years later after reading the critics who reduced the work ofMicheaux teristic even ofour science fiction writers letter, he realizes that she's Black. to the work ofcolor orpreoccupation with and our magic realisrn writers. There is Massiah: "Mulatto" is such a difficult it malign thefilms ofthe soundperiod no need or desire to depart from base construct anyway. Your race, Black or Bowser: Yes, such a narrow discourse reality. The impulse, rather, is to white, is your race construct because of satisfies those who would dismiss the illuminate what is happening in actuality history and necessity, as opposed to African work based on its low production values and to hook it. We will see Booker T. and Oscar Micheaux's lack of conformity ancestry andEuropean ancestry and the Washington, we will hear' about the with the rules. The films are dismissed Indian race. But mulatto is more difficult Piney Woods school in Within Our because they don't fit into the Hollywood because the '60s freed usfrom that concept Gates, we will see, when the doctor-hero mode. But so much of his work, particu­ in some ways. looks at the newspapers, actual clippings larly the silent productions, have been Bowser: In one sense, the term itself kind unavailable until recently. The re­ that were familiar to people ofthat of negates the individual in terms of his or discovery of Within Our Gates and period as documentative. her identity, whereas there are many Symbol ofthe Unconquered, two highly These ploys, the use ofactuality, is instances in Micheaux films in which the controversial films in their time (and not only a characteristic ofimpulse; I community embraces the so-called perhaps even in our time) challenges us to think it's also shrewd. It makes it timely. mulatto not as different but as one of take another look. 4D It's also very characteristic ofBlack art many. And that whole idea of getting practice to not be concerned about over, or passing, is the response to immortality, to be ofuse and ofservice whether you can manage to work in the system that will only allow you if you immediately to the community. Be a pioneer subscriber to have this particular look. If you manage But this'newsletter about the ifwe are talking about encoding to get over,it doesn't take away anything Blackness, whatever trait that is, can we from me. You almost congratulate it, African American pioneers! trace it through all cultural practice? because they've gotten over. Quarterly information about That's the test. That's why I keep Some critics of Micheaux have eluded conferences, festivals, special journal bringing up magazines, poetry, music, to his preoccupation with color, and it's editions, new discoveries, tape and film whatever. Ifit doesn't stand that test, always within this romantic context of resources, unusual research sources, man and woman: the woman rediscover­ then it's questionably Black. short articles Massiah:'Its hard to judge Micheaux in ing her identity or her identity becoming Issue No. 1 available February 1993. some ways because so much ofhis work is compatible so that the story has a happy ending. Isn't that kind of a simplistic way Send $10.00, check payable to Duke fragmented, fragmentary. Andthe other of looking at Micheaux's films in terms of University Film & Video. thing isfilm really waspart ofa whole the way the characters look? It's always presentation, and its almost likejust this illusion that not only is the character Please attach the form below or xerox a having certain scenes andtrying to recon­ a mulatto woman, but she is the beautiful copy and send to: struct it. mulatto-all kinds of adjectives that seem Duke University Program in Film & Video Bowser: Does the audience help to to heighten the whiteness of it, the sort of 107A Art Museum define? standard beauty. The concept to me Duke University Massiah: The thing, in terms ofsubject seems to be outside of the culture. Durham, NC 27708 matter, that always pokes its head out is Massiah: Its as if50yearsfrom now we'll this color thing. Its really hard in 1992 to look atShe's Gotta Have It as afilm that understand all ofthe intrigues ofcolor looked atsomeones notion ofthe changing Name _ which are so central to thesefilms made in role ofwomen in relationships in the '80s. Address the '20s. Not to say that there aren't color I think that manypeople would think it is City _ issues in 1992. It was so much having to simplistic anditdoesn't succeed Butsince do with love; love andcolor are so tied in were sort ofstarting out, the narrative has State Zip _ Micheauxfilms. currency. CLove andcolor" hadcurrency in FAX( __ ) _ Bambara: In Symbol ofthe Unconquered, the '20s, andthe changing role ofwomen EMail ( __ ) _ for example, Van Allen, the hero- in relationships may have hadcurrency in

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Black Film Review 15 THE HISTORY BLACK FILM

16 Black Film Review ichard E. Norman, Sr. (1891-1961), an inventor, filmmaker and businessman, was a remarkable individual-a man ofcourage, tenacity and talent. During the '20s, his cinematic mission was two­ fold. As an astute businessmall, he realized that manufacturing films for a target audience could prove lucrative. As a white man ofsocial con­ science, he challenged negative images ofMrican Americans by producing wholesome melodramas using "all-colored casts." His objectives were to introduce aspir­ ing "colored" actors and actresses to the world ofmoving pic­ tures and to present "colored" audiences with exciting and document not only the location ofthe theaters his films played in, but also the entertaining ftIms. price ofthe tickets, the numbers of tickets sold, the race oftheater managers In the early eighties, the Black Film personal and business correspondence and even weather conditions at the time Center/Archive (BFC/A) atlndiana (Norman made a carbon copy ofeach ofthe screenings. University secured a collection of letter he typed), lobby cards, posters, Norman, born in Middleburg, Norman's papers and effects, which photographs, distribution records, Florida, studied chemistry and motion includes a copy ofhis only surviving censorship documents, business receipts pictures as a college student in Tampa. fum, The Flying Ace (1926). In addition and even tickets priced at five and ten He began his career as an inventor, to the film, the collection includes cents. His meticulously kept records developing a cola before he set up his own fum processing laboratory and, ultimately, turned to filmmaking. Ironically, it was inventing that years later destroyed his financial stability. After relocating to Des Moines, Iowa, Norman became a "roving filmmaker," journeying from city to city while developing scripts and then using local white people to "star" in his impromptu productions. Richard E. Norman Jr. explains how his father's adventurous filmmaking worked: He wouldfilm, develop andedit the picture at cost in his Iowa lab headquarters and return to the city with the completed version. After expenses, Dadwouldsplit the profits on a 60-40 basis with the city and the local theatre showing thepicture. After the initialshowings ended the city would retain ownership ofthe film andthey could use itlaterfor

Black Film Review 17 (This letter and subsequent ones are signed: Anita Bush,_ "The Mother of Drama in New York among Colored People.") In reply, a week later, Norman impresses upon her that: "The Crimson Skullwill show real Negro cowboys and real western life and in order to make this production have real merit we must have characters that will look the parts and who can ride and act...." (7/20/ 21) For Norman, clearly the issue of authenticity rather than negative stereotyping was important. In the same letter, he also asks her recommendations for the leading man and the villain. Bush and Norman continued to correspond for several weeks, discussing possibilities for a leading man and negotiating salary. Bush finally recom­ mends Lawrence Chenault, explaining, CC ... he is light [-skinned] and nice looking, and will fIlm welL" (7/30/21) (There are many references to skin color throughout the letters.) In regard to salary, she initially asks for $200 a week and traveling expenses, adding, "My reputation would make your picture a drawing card." (7/24/21) Bush was successful on the vaudeville circuit. She promotional efforts. Bush Stock Company at the Lincoln realized that she had an extensive For a while, Norman continued to Theatre in New York City in 1915. She following as well as gainful contracts, travel and produce films at a profit. had also been instrumental in establish­ and she wanted to be compensated Around 1920, however, he decided to ing the Lafayette Players the following accordingly. However, Norman knew return to Jacksonville, Florida, to year. While Bush was anxious to take on he could not pay such a lavish salary: produce "colored-cast films." a new challenge, her letter to Norman You probably are aware ofthefact In June 1921, Norman sought out indicates that she already thought of thatproduction cost is one ofthe Anita Bush, a very successful theater herselfas a C(star" and ,vould not be most vitalproblems ofNegro actress, to star in two upcoming western exploited. In her letter to him dated July photoplay, andas ourpicture will be productions he was mounting, The 12, 1921, she explains: producedfor colored theatres only, it Crimson Skulland The Bull-Dogger. Her I am nowplaying in vaudeville. But willhave apossible distribution in more significant role would be in The ifyourproposition is worth doing, I about 120 theatres; 85911 ofwhich Crimson Skul~ as The Bull-Dogger will cancel the rest ofmy time. I have have an average seating capacity of would showcase the extraordinary hadexperience in all classes of but250. These figures are no talents ofthe famous cowboy Bill dramatic shows also comedies. But if comparison with the 22,000 white Pickett. Both films were shot in Boley, you want an experienced rider, I theatres in which ourproduct will Oklahoma, which according to can't say that I am one. ButI have find no market. Miss Bush, I want Norman's publicity posters, was «an all­ lots ofnerve andcan learn anything you to realize that I am not trying to colored city." quickly. I can sew, drive, ride a beatyou down in a salaryftom a Bush was well known in New York­ wheel sail a boat, dance anddo most Jew standpoint, but merely impress­ theater circles for founding the Atlita 4nything required in pictures. ing on you that we can't standany

18 Black Film Review such saldry as you demand along promote and increase revenues for Black "Micheaux Film Corporation-Produc­ with the other expenses. (8/31/21) ftlmmakers, Johnson offers the proposal ers and Distributors ofHigh Class After considerable negotiating, Bush to Norman for consideration. He Negro Feature Photoplays." At the was hired for $125 a week plus expenses, concludes his letter by stating, "Our idea bottom is a partial list ofMicheaux and she received an extra allowance of is that four distributors each handling productions, including The Homesteader, $25 a week for her vaudeville partner 250/0 ofthe national territory can handle Deceit, Within Our Gates and The who would be unemployed while Bush the United States trade, with a general Conjure Woman. worked on the films. Chenault was hired manager, auditor, and probably two Micheaux writes to Norman in the for $80 a week plus expenses. The traveling salesmen." summer of 1926 to tell him that the filmmaking began in the fall of 1921 N orman decides not to buy into Franklin Theatre on Lenox Avenue at and took only a few weeks. The Crimson Johnson's plan. He acknowledges that 132nd Street would like to screen Skulland The Bull-Dogger were released distribution is a difficult issue, but has Regeneration. He also requests informa­ in late spring the following year. little confidence that such an organiza­ tion on Norman's most recent release. While Norman was scheduling tion would actually help. Norman Micheaux then"~hifts the discussion to screenings for his two westerns, he responds a few weeks later, stating: filmmakers who are strictly out to make received an interesting letter from Your interesting letter andoffer of money and not a quality production. George P. Johnson ofthe Lincoln combination with Lincoln Picture Note that Micheaux never refers to the Motion Picture Company. Johnson's Company, received. ... We are not a company by name. He writes: impressive letterhead showcases a picture corporation [like the Lincoln Motion SomeJews haveproduced a couple of ofAbraham Lincoln. In the left corner Pictures or the Micheaux Production features, thefirst ofwhich appears to the letterhead states, "Manufacturers of Corporation], andhave a very draw very well although mighty dramatic, commercial, fraternal, indus­ limited number in our company, badly acted andpoorly photographed trial, religious and educational produc­ therefore we are ina betterfinancial ... The first is called c~ Prince of tions." The right side lists the companies condition than mostproducers His Race, "which, while having productions, stating: "producers and catering to Colored Theatres. We drawn very wellat the Royal in distributors offamous Lincoln produc­ owe thisfact to our carefUl manage­ Philadelphia, andI understandift tions-Realization, Trooper, Nature, ment andour abstinencefrom the Royal in Baltimore. .. had Pictorial, Man's Duty, By Right of entangling alliances. An organized serious difficulty in getting a booking ~irth, A Daywith the 10th Cavalry." system ofdistribution might solve the with critical houses. ... We could ' The bottom ofthe letterhead proudly perplexing distribution ofNegro help them a great deal but sinc~_ they acknowledges, "Our reputation is your Pictures, but we doubt that under seem to think they know itall ti'itd protection." present existing conditions, such an regard allofus who have endured The contents ofthe letter are just as organization could be accomplished. through the years gone by as dubbs, impressive as the letterhead, though just (3/20/22) andknow nothing, I am letting howJohnson became aware ofNorman (After reading these words, one can not them find outfor themseives the is unclear-perhaps he had seen one of help but think ofthe "progress" that has things we have learnedfrom exp~ri­ his films. What is clear, however, is that been made since the time ofthese letters ence. Their secondpicture is Ten Johnson views Norman as knowledge­ in the production and distribution of Nights in a Barroom which I am able and worthy ofa possible business African ~erican independent cinema. advised is not as good as thefirst. liaison. In his letter Johnson proposes: For exarriple, what happened with the Since they expect to make between Having lfnder serious consideration distribution ofCharles Burnett's To one hundredseventy-five andtwo theformation ofan organized system Sleep with Anger? Why did it take Julie hundred thousand dollars, you can ofdistribution, one by which the Dash so long to find a distributor for appreciate the disappointment in coloredproducers can be assur;ed of Daughters ofthe Dust? Even though we storefor them. (8/7/26) maximum distribution at maximum move forward, it seems to be at a snail's Interestingly, Donald Bogle notes,· return atan overhead not to exceed pace.) "Whites were behind the Colored 35%, itoccurred to us thatyou There appears to be only one set of Players ofPhiladelphia, yet this com­ might be interested in such a letters between the Micheaux Film pany produced two remarkable films: movement. (3/1/22) Corporation and Norman. Micheaux's Ten Nights in a Barroom with Charles Even though it appears that this idea letterhead depicts a Black woman Gilpin in 1926 and Scar ofShame in was originally conceived ofas a way to picking cotton with the statement 1929." Thomas Cripps adds a bit of

Black Film Review 19 sarcasm, stating, "Their [Colored coloredpicture, but has it borne good and production ofthe device. U nfortu­ Players'] unsuccessful attempt to update fruit? (8/9/26) nately, around the same time, the and blacken Ten Nights in a Ba1foom Although a few years earlier, Norman sound-on-fIlm technique was perfected, into a modern parable groaned under had rejected an offer to establish a making his invention absolutely worth­ the burden ofthe antique script and the business liaison with Johnson, he now less. After filing for bankruptcy, he florid stage style ofCharles Gilpin­ proposes a partnership with Micheaux. continued to distribute films but never probably freshly fired from Universal's Again, distribution is the central con­ again produced his own. Uncle Tom sCabin. What is fascinating cern. Norman believes, "By controlling There is a wealth ofinformation about Micheaux's statement is that first, distribution, or solving it, we could take concerning early Black film in the he feels comfortable discussing his on any independent production ofmerit correspondence ofRichard E. Norman. feelings about white producers with and show them where they would make W onderfulletters between him and his another white producer. And secondly, more money by letting us distribute for brother and business partner Bruce. in his aesthetic judgement, Norman's them. The field is big, you are in the Intriguing letters between Norman and ftlms are ofa higher quality than those North, I am in the South." In fact, at D. Ireland Thomas asking Norman to produced by the Philadelphia company. the time ofthis letter, Norman had consider producing a film on Bessie Micheaux ends the letter by extend­ already begun to distribute other films, Coleman, the famous Mrican American ing an invitation for Norman to "make including Roar ofthe Crowd featuring aviatrix. Letters between Norman and our office your headquarters, and any Joe Louis. "colored" people who desperately service that we can render you, will be Norman ends the letter by thanking wanted to be movie stars and those who ­ pleased to perform it.'~ Clearly a cordial Micheaux for the use ofhis office and wished to just have the opportunity to and trusting relationship existed between extends the same courtesy to him, but see his ftlms. There are even letters from Micheaux and Norman although there adds, "I think the greatest service we Liberia, West Mrica. are no previous or additional letters could render each other would be to From his correspondence it appears which help to explain their mutual have a working agreement and a strict that Norman was truly committed to respect for one another. policy which should be changed in the production and distribution of"all­ In response to Micheaux's almost conference each year." colored cast" fIlms. He was fair in his condescending tone, Norman replies, a In the final analysis, it was not negotiations with Bush, cautious with bit more specifically, "I am somewhat distribution, high salaries or production Johnson and well-respected byJohnson familiar with the adventures ofthe costs which prevented Norman from and Micheaux. One can only speculate Philadelphia Company, making colored realizing his dreams. It was his own how the world ofBlack film might have pictures. Purely another promotion genius. In an effort to coordinate screen been different ifNorman's genius and which has brought out more pictures to lip movement and sound, he designed creative energy had not deceived him in hinder the progress ofthe colored and manufactured a synchronizer that the end. m picture. Indeed, they have a revelation matched sound with the picture. It Gloria J Gibson-Hudson is the assistant director of coming to them." looked like a huge record player with an the Black Film Center/Archive andassistantprofessor Norman, however, changes the focus attached film projection unit. All ofhis in the Department ofAfro-American Studies at Indiana University. ofhis letter from the problems ofthe savings were invested into the patent Colored Players to Micheaux's difficul­ ties. He appears to know intimate details 1~"illll()g·I~.II)ll)! ()f I\II-(:()I()I~(·(I (:.lst 1~"illllS I)~! tll(· N()I~111.lll

1 related to Micheaux's business. Almost 1" i1111 1\/1. 11111 Ie. I(•t lll~ i11 ~ (:()1111 )(til ~ r: as a guardian angel Norman praises while cautioning him, stating: The Green-Eyed Monster (1920) Jack Austin, Steve Reynolds, Alfred Norcom, Dr. R.L. You are a genius in producing Louise Dunbar Brown pictures, butyourgenius has ledyou The Love Bug (1920) Billy Mills, Maud Frisbie, A Debtor to the Law (1924) Robert Stewart astray by producingpictures thatyou The Flying Ace (1926) Kathryn Boyd, Lawrence haven't been able to intensively The Crimson Skuil(1921) Anita Bush, Lawrence Criner, Steve Reynolds Chenault, Bill Pickett, Steve "Peg" Reynolds distribute, andyou have had to rely The Black Gold(1928) Lawrence Criner, on help that has taken advantage of The Bull-Dogger (1921) Bill Pickett, Anita Bush, Kathryn Boyd, Steve "Peg" Reynolds, Marshall Bennie Turpin, Steve "Peg" Reynolds L.B. Tatums and the entire all-colored city of you. We both have spent time, money Tatums, Oklahoma and much effort to educate the Regeneration (1923) Carey Brooks, Stella Mayo, exhibitor andhis patrons to the

20 Black Film Review Blad~ OSCAR MICHEAUX KATHLEEN E______COLLINS SPIKE LEE EUZHAN rnDl!JDD~ PALCY ST CLAIR BOURNE BILL GUNN MENELIKSHABAZZ ELLEN the vision. SUMTER.·MICHELLE PARKERSON the voice.

HENRY HAMPTON MED HONDO From L.A. to London and Martinique to Mali. SOULEMAYNE CISSE YOUSSEF We bring you the world of Black film. CHAHINE HAILE GERIMA SAUN­ Black FIlm Review brings you news, reviews and in-depth intelViews from the most vibrant DRA SHARP ROY CAMPANELLA, movement in contemporary film. Published quar­ II REGINALD HUDLIN CHARLES terly and recognized internationally, Black Film Review is the foremost chronicle of the efforts of BURNED MEDHI CHAREF AVERY filmmakers throughout the Mrican diaspora. And with Hollywood commentary as well as features on BROOKS AYOKA CHENZIRA other filmmakers working outside the mainstream STANLEY NELSON SIDNEY POI­ industry, there is always something for everyone. Subscribe today, or send $3 for a trial issue. TIER ISAAC JULIEN ROBERT You won't want to miss another one. HOOKS IDRISSA OUEDRAOGA , , Black Film Review takes up where the SARA MALDROR BILL' DUKE likes of Variety and Premiere leave off JEAN-MARIE TENO ARTHUR SI because it gives me in-depth articles and interviews about film that's happening in BITA KATHY SANDLER NEEMA the other three quarters of the world­ BARNETTE BILL FOSTER TOP­ the majority of the world. And as a new producer, it's heartening to see acelebra­ PER CAREW ROBERTTOWNSEND tion offilm that reflects my efforts and my MAUREEN BLACKWOOD JOHN perspectives. ,, AKOMFRAH MARTINA ATILLE Gloria Naylor, Author and Independent ROBERT GARD'NER DEBRA Producer of Mama Day.

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Black Film Review '21 The James Wheeler Collection 0\ OJ CfJ 0\ ~ ~ I ~ n CfJ 0\ r" ~ ~ ~ u 0 trj en en~ ~ ~ >~ u r 0 ~ ~

In those years Billie Holiday; in or out ofprison, was fine-tuning the voice ofthe century Benny Goodman was turning jazz into a mass market com­ modity and while Lester Young was blowing away the world's old idea of music. Hitler was installing protocols ofethnic cleansing, building the army that would storm into Poland. Change was everywhere.

22 Black Film Review A chorus line rehearses for the Ralph Cooper production The Duke Is Tops.

he New Deal was bringing about biggest identity crises. Two newspaper mentality perennial in the community. something like the federalization headlines from 1938 bracket the A counterdiscourse came from the ofBlack social experience. In opposing perspectives, the boosterism fdmmakers themselves, demanding unions and organizations like the and the skepticism, that framed the respect for the swarm ofdifficulties of National Negro Congress and the challenge. "1938 Banner Year for Negro their enterprise, economic and other­ Communist Party, Blacks fought Movie Industry" read one in the Pitts­ wise, and the pressing need to entertain back in ways that gave point to Richard burgh Courier. "Negro Films Must Tell in order to survive. Wright's classic, Uncle Tom's Children, the Truth," said another in the Daily The Black press had circulated both even while spittoon-racist congressmen Worker. Between the cheerleading ofthe arguments but weighed in heaviest for ftlibustered in defense oflynching and one and the critical consciousness ofthe support at all costs. "Support these ftIms, segregation. other, Black cinema danced toward its even ifit hurts," editorialized one The lindy-hop bounced in as perhaps uncertain future. For a quarter century, journalist, knowing that the flimsy art of the first sign ofcontemporary youth Black cinema producers had played high most ofthese movies was bound to culture. For the first time, national Black roller with some ofthe juicier prospects produce some torment. Mostly the celebrities, led byJoe Louis, became ofsocial representation. The gamy Black Black press pounded the need to commonplace. Hollywood was having ftIm industry had a lot riding on its bets, sacrifice now for the rise ofa greater the most golden ofits classic cinema including an audience held captive by Black fdm industry later. years, sometimes in color movies like segregation, desperate to be liberated The movies were as sincere as their Gone With the Wind. It was a time when from the miasma ofracist stereotypes. opportunism would let them be: a bit of both optimists and realists had plenty of The more than 300 films already obligatory uplift, garnished with as food for celebration or critique. produced by this time were defined by a much glamour, sensation and melo­ These were years Black cinema, narrow range ofdiscourse. One param­ drama as they could scrape together. movies made by Blacks or for Black eter was the demand for proper, positive Oscar Micheaux differed from these audiences, went through one ofits images coming from the civil-servant individualists only by being more rugged

Black Film Review 23 about his self-determination. His paleo­ movies had tried to counterbalance length films and one short is on the con, Booker T. Washington self-help Hollywood's racial contempt with self­ credit side ofthe ledger for the indus­ rationale was probably widespread studied uplift, Cooper made a big splash tty." In speaking of"Black Hollywood," among the majority ofproducers, except with films that imitated Hollywood in Morris clouded the difference between that this ideal fired real emotion in him, Black-genre for genre, formula for the old race movie industty, that might while most ofthe others were aptly formula-and uplift or any other social as well have been on Mars as far as described as "get-rich Wallingfords." consciousness was left to fend for itself Hollywood was concerned, and the Come the late '30s and the contours emergent situation in which any picture ofthe game began to shift. Having with someone Black, made no matter migrated, the majority ofthe Black where, by no matter whom, with no population became urban and, therefore, Startingwith his 1937 gangster matter what inoney, was considered a hungered for urbanity, industrialized, movie, Dark Manhattan, which had a race movie." About this time the vety and sought modernity. The shift to breakthrough success, Cooper's pictures name "race movies" began to disappear. Northern cities was also a shift to less boasted slicker production values and And, for the players at least, the scrappy segregated accommodations. Theaters more professional acting and casting. independence ofthe earlier industty was catering to Black audiences began to They were a part ofa new era when less a badge ofhonor than a threat. One disappear. The old plea to support Black most "race" movies were made on the actor, Teresa Harris, spoke ofworking in movies now in order to reap rewards fringes ofHollywood. a Ralph Cooper production. "A person later began to wear thin. "[H]ere is the record ofBlack Holly­ ofany standing professionally [H"arris In walks Ralph Cooper, one ofa wood!" trumpeted Earl]. Morris, the had small parts in three Hollywood handful ofmajor innovators in Black author ofthe Pittsburgh Couriers films] takes a long chance with his cinema histoty. Where the old race "Banner Year" stoty. "Nine feature reputation in joining pioneer compa-

Ralph Cooper (left) and Clarence Brooks in a scene.from Dark Manhattan.

24 Black Film Review nies." Her rationale for doing so was a colored audience will go to see a picture slandered Negroes, holding them up to long way from building a future Black just because it's colored." ridicule, playing light-skinned Negroes industry: "If[an All-Negro motion With the new opportunities, an old against their darker brothers." This was picture company] succeeds, the competi­ issue took on new life and meaning. The not a new criticism, nor should we ever tion will make Hollywood perk up and quality ofthe screen representation was think that protest against offensive produce better films with Negroes in now measured in terms ofits value as an movies was something new. From the more ofa variety ofroles." object ofrace pride and not simply by beginning, Mrican Americans had made Hollywood was beginning to recog­ the feats ofthe producers to get it made. dramatic demonstrations oftheir rage nize the market potential ofthe Black But this functionary missed some ofthe when they were outhoused on the audience that independent Black cinema point, seeing the problem as one where screen. had breathlessly cultivated, and the the "pictures will have to be sold on But there was also a left/right political equations between inside and outside merit and not by appeal to race pride." dimension to the protest against began to change. More Black entertain­ The content ofrace pride and its Micheaux's 1938 movie. In his rapt ers were getting their breaks in major application to movies was also changing. Booker T.-ism, Micheaux had made a industry projects. Featured roles, Quality could be demonstrated by using character say, "Only one Negro in a cameos, walk-ons, segments and even well-known Black stars like Duke million tries to think." That kind of all-Black cast movies were becoming Ellington, Ethel Waters and Count message was too much for this new more common. The cry of"more jobs" Basie to carry films at the box office. But breed ofyoung militants. It opened up a was suddenly proposed as an adequate there was a segment that saw quality in gulfbetween what looked to them as goal in the campaign for democratic terms ofthe refinement ofthe socio­ Tomism and the "progressive and symbolic representation. Where race political values in Black representations. enlightened" kind ofmovies they movies once meant simply a chance to wanted to encourage him to make. pick up a couple ofextra bucks or have Ifanything, the new voice ofprotest fun play-acting as ifin the "real" movies seems to have been harder on transgres­ Better quality Black movies wasn't and maybe enhance one's vaudeville sion by Blacks than by whites. This: may the only new demand Blacks were career, they now served as a stepping have reflected a growing sense that the making. In the fresh mix ofthe era, the stone for crossover possibilities. two separate arenas ofBlack representa­ "New Negro" sensib.ility ofBlack tion--one in-house and tribal, and the professionals in the '20s was taking on other public and oppressive-were mass proportions in the '30s and, in the merging, as in fact they were. Micheaux frer Lena Horne had some Northern cities particularly, with a A films that had once played almost successes in studio pictures, the produc­ decided left curve. From this more exclusively to segregated Black audiences ers of The Duke is Tops reshaped its politically progressive sector, keener were now in less secluded venues. The ~ publicity, changing the title to Bronze protests arose against nasty misportayals. stakes had risen, throwing some ofthe Venus (a take-offon the film Blonde In a piece in the Amsterdam News, in lazy thinking ofthe self-protecting Black Venus, which starred Marlene Dietrich), 1937, journalist St. Clair Bourne independent fIlm movement into naked promoting Horne as its star, where reported the storm aroused by "Black relief originally she played in support ofRalph Magic," a March ofTime item portray­ Cooper. The energies ofindependence ing Harlem as a primitive voodoo were drifting toward the big time. capital. "The outlandish and stupidly B.ut other parts ofthe equation were distorted scenes ... constitute one ofthe The critique that "Negro Films beginning to shift, too. Black people grossest as well as latest libels perpetrated Must Tell the Truth" was relatively new, were reaching wider levels ofparticipa­ upon this uptown community." in public anyway. It voices some ofthe tion in the national life. They were also Micheaux didn't escape the new tone feelings that circulated privately among making new demands oftheir self­ ofdissent. In 1938, his Gods Stepchil­ Black intellectuals during the New representation. The Pittsburgh Courier dren was picketed in N ew York and Movement ofthe '20s and early '30s. carried a story in 1939 titled "Warns Boston and fired upon by a dozen For the most part, the intellectuals Colored Companies Their Films Must Harlem organizations, sparked by the dismissed race movies as a waste ofgood Be Good." The warning came from a Young Communist League. Beatrice opportunities, just one more set of picture buyer for RKO who said, "The Goodloe ofthe League explained that contradictions to be settled in time. time has long since passed when a they asked the film be pulled "because it Loren Miller, who wrote the Daily .

Black Film Review 25 Workers "Truth" article, also noted the public was poised for a new initiative in issues like this one, but with few memo-. flagging ofold excuses in defense of films. Paul Robeson supported the rable or treasurable movies left to savor movies without quality. "Nothing can Greater New York Committee for Better (except for their documentary or retard a sound growth more than the Films, a Harlem organization formed in historical interest), hardly any truths habit ofheaping indiscriminate praise on 1939, with hopes offacilitating more beyond comic-book banalities to any effort, however shoddy, ifthat effort challenging productions. But the ponder, and the promises ofdeliverance IS covered with the mantle ofrace pride." intellectuals were to be drowned out in from cinema subjection held out in the Miller objected to cheap movie produc­ the din ofclicking sequins. Ifthere had pioneer days ofthe '20s gone dramati­ tion values, but unlike the movie buyer been any doubt as to which direction cally unfulfilled. The late '30s run of from RKO, he also defined quality as Black-oriented films would go, either Black movies toward Hollywood success truthfulness. "[G]angster melodramas or towards the boom psychology of (someone has called this posture goo-goo success stories, using Negro "Banner Years" or towards "Telling the "crossed over and can't get Black") actors, distort reality just as much as did Truth," the decision was clear by 1940. lasted for a period roughly like the Imitation ofLife [1934]." We can place historical significance stretch from She's Gotta Have It (1986) on this moment in Ralph Cooper's until today. Jacqueline Bobo, in her career. Cooper quit Million Dollar article "The Subject is Money: Recon- . Productions in 1940 because he was sidering the Black Film Audience as a iller offered some idea ofthe M tired ofplaying gangsters. He went East Theoretical Paradigm," records that "truth" that Negro films must tell. "The to star in Am I Guilty?, in which he plays when it was over, a Hollywood producer truth is that every time any Negro steps a doctor who gets entangled in a gang was asked about the desires and needs of outside the black belt ofhis hometown ring, then helps to foil their schemes, Black moviegoers. He said, "Let (em to buy a hot dog, select a school for his only to be put on trial himself. It was escape to John Wayne like everyone child, ride a train, look for a job or get not the race relations truth that Miller else." married, divorced or buried, he runs into called for, and it was still a gangster problems arising out ofhis Jim Crow movie, but presumably it was more status in society." He insisted that the serious than Cooper's other efforts, at producer ofBlack films had to deal with There'S obviously a moral to this least where his role was concerned. these issues ((and he has to indicate story, but what is it? Part ofit lies in the whether. he believes existing racial pattern noted by critic Ed Guerrero: relations are justifiable or unjustifiable." "When independent Black films become And in an insight familiar in contempo­ Anyone paying attention to U.S. significant enough to attract Hollywood rary politics ofrepresentation, he adds, cultural history knows the rest ofthe attention, the emergent imagery is "The dilemma impels him to take a story. Am I Guilty?, which Clarence (covered' by commercial alternatives, (propagandistic' stand either one way or Muse called "one ofthe best colored twisting those images back to their another." pictures made," couldn't get theater traditional signification." To this can be Miller was voicing an alternative that bookings. And Cooper never played in a added the chilling effect such Holly­ would later become part ofthe split movie again. From this point on, wood attention can have on indepen­ between intellectual and populist straight through the '40s, there was a dent efforts. This pattern includes the tendencies in Black cinema when the stream oflow- budget, "all-colored cast" dropping ofBlack themes in Hollywood new Black independent movement movies-singing cowboys who got the as soon as the challenge to dominant began in the'60s, giving some substance girl, Black detective thrillers, baggy pants cultural symbolism has been killed of[ to his vision. But Miller was hardly a comedies, but mostly nightclub glamour In the crisis ofthe late '30s, Black utopian idealist. He realized that the bashes with lots ofsinging and skin­ movies foreshadowed the dissolution of audience was hooked on familiar genres dancing and "gangstuh" posing-as Black institutions in the glare ofthe but argued that "the important consider­ routinely cranked out and anonymous flickering illusion ofintegration. ation is how this material is treated, how as any sub-B formula. On a deeper level ofcontradiction we well it reflects life in the Negro commu­ And then somewhere in the foggy can find even more evidence ofthe nity. A gangster film, for example, may '50s, race movies-Black independent persistence ofthe "conditions ofpossibil­ be as melodramatic as Bargain With cinema "Phase One"-disappeared, ity" ofBlack popular culture: it must Bullets or as serious as DeadEnd" almost from memory, to be resurrected endure a struggle between liberated self­ There were signs that the Black by scholars and aficionados in special representation (the intellectualist drive)

26 Black Film Review and the suction ofa box office circum­ scribed by the limits ofwhite perception (the populist motive). Weighing these No Regret social energies, it is not easy to lay the blame on the strugglers ofthose years or ofother generations. The blame squarely ( Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien) belongs to "Monopolated Light and Power," so there is no use picking on the A New Film by Marlon Riggs Formats Available: Video and I6mm. Running Time: 38 min. little guys. Ifanything, this fable ofthe late '30s reminds us that historical context has everything to do with how such crises turn out and how the struggle will be played out on the screen. The '60s established a new historical discourse after which emergent Black perception could be written differently in movies. If there is today a wider acceptance on the part ofthe "whiteaudience", that responsiveness need not be taken for granted. It should be calibrated and made the object ofscrutiny as reflecting, among other things, achievements in the drive for Mrican American self-empow­ Through music, poetry and quiet, at times chilling self-disclosure, five erment. seropositive black gay men speak of their individual confrontation with Given the different socio-political AIDS, illuminating the difficult journey black men throughout America terrains, Spike Lee is not Ralph Cooper, though both are important entrepre­ make in coping with the personal and social devastation of the epidemic. neurs and innovators. Still, there are From panic, resignation and silence to the discovery of the redemptive, enduring lessons to be learned from the healing power in being vocal and visible as HIV-positive black gay-men, dilemmas of'37-'39. One ofthem is the importance ofchange. Unfortunately, each tells a singular and at the same time familiar story of this might well mean that these lessons self-transformation - a story in which a once shameful, unmentionable always have to be learned allover again Ilaffliction" is forged into atool of personal and communal empowerment. and assimilated to new historical UEloquent... NO REGRET has vision and afocus. This film showcases both human strength and frailty.u moments. So there is no end to this - S.F. Bay Times story. The situation ofBlack cinema I'Through increasingly more revealing and personal interviews, the video portrays the difficult and often painful journey today may be ofsimilar dimensions and that black men throughout this country encounter in coping with the personal and social devastation of this epidemic." - Bay Area Reporter character to the crisis ofthe late '30s. But given the character ofthe United Also of Interest: AFFIRMATIONS Marlon Riggs video 1990 I IO mins. AMONG GOOD States as a racial democracy, it probably CHR 1ST I AN P E 0 P LES jaqueline Woodson and Catherine Saalfield video 1991 I JO mins. won't be the last one. 4D ANTHEM Marlon Riggs video 1990 /9 mins. BILLY TURNERrS SECRET Michael Mayson 16mm and video 1990 / 26 mins. BIRD IN THE HAND Melanie Nelson and Catherine Saalfield video 1992/ JO mins. IF SHE G R 0 VVS UP GAY Karen Sloe 16mm and video 198J / 2J mins. Clyde Taylor is professor ofliterature andfilm studies INTERNATIONAL SVVEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM Greta Schiller and at Tufts University and the author ofnumerous articles on B!4ck film and culture. Andrea Weiss 16mm 1987-88/ JO t11ins. THE MALE GAYZE jack Waters video 1990 / II mins. THIS IS NOT AN AIDS ADVERTISEMENT Isaac julien 1988/ IOmins. TINY AND r RUBY: HELL DIVIN VVOMEN Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss 16mm 1987-88 / Jomins. TONGUES UNITED Marlon Riggs 16mm and video 1989 /55mins, VOGUING: THE M ES SAG E David Bronstein, Dorothy Low and jack Walworth video 1989 / qmins. CONTACT: FRAMELINE DISTRIBUTION P.O. BOX 14792 SAN FRANCISCOr CA 94114 (4 5) 7 03 86 5 0

Black Fibn Rcvie"w 27

approach to moviegoing and ftIm ~bene£t performances at local halls, and per ad that read: "Colored People Take exhibition must take more into account the Grand Colored Skating Rink cashed Notice. Come where you are welcome than simply what images were projected in on the skating fad in 1906-1907. At and meet your friends." Except for the on screen. the same time, saloons and "roof fact that it did not open on weekdays For example, when the operators ofthe gardens" located atop saloons-some­ until seven o'clock in the evening, the Frolic advertised their theater as a place where times owned and operated byMrican Frolic offered basically the same exhibi­ AfiicanAmericans are "welcome and can Americans-featured music and tion format as the city's other nickelode­ mingle with their fellows unhampered," they vaudeville-style performances. ons: five-cent admission, pictures were responding to thefact that "the other InLexington, as elsewhere, the public changed three times weekly, Sunday picture shows have either excluded the opinion of~oons, commercial entertain­ showings from two o'clock in the colored people orputthem in a cramped ment andleisure-time activity, in general, afternoon to eleven at night, illustrated cage." Thecity's two vaudeville theaters both reflected thewaymajorsocial class distinction songs and simple musical accompani­ adopted an explicit whites-o~y policy soon within theAfiicanAmerican communitywas ment for the films. What Walker and after theyopened in 1907. The Lexington articulated-oneAfiican Methodist Thompson attempted to sell was not OperaHouse, on the other hand, reselVed Episcopal church elder called it the difference movies and illustrated songs, or even the part ofits balcony as well as its third-Hoor between "ignorant and dissolute blacks" and act ofmoviegoing,'so much as the place gallety for AfiicanAmericans when certain the "colored professional people ofintelli­ itself: They promised that their store­ min.strel shows ortouring productions of gence." front theater would be a congenial (~UncleTom's Cabin" were booked. Yet the meeting place, lavishly redecorated: presence ofeven a few "well-dressed respect­ hen an electrician from "[T]he building has been entirely able looking negroes" in the backrowofthe Louisville, Pete Walker, renovated and papered, and handsome first Hoor ofthe OperaHouse Glused an irate and a Lexington paper­ pictures by Remington in gilt frames white patron to complain, and by 1905 the hanger, Webster Thomp- adorn the walls. A new front has been management had added a "gallery entrance" son, opened the Frolic, they tried to set built, which is beautifully panelled with separate from the main lobby, according to their venue distinctly apart from saloon- . dark red and green ingrain paper set off local newspapers. theaters and the "low dives" that were with gold molding." Judging from their under attack by prominent minsters and promotional efforts, Walker and he new theaters that opened the Goo.d Citizens League ofColored Thompson sought to ally themselves downtown in the 1910s either Citizens. In fact, Walker and Thompson with the "better" part ofthe Mrican provided side-street "colored" first planned to open their picture show American community that wanted to see entrances or simply denied in a room above a saloon that had served itselfas "progressive, cultured and admission to Mrican Americans. as a roofgarden theater, but they opted aristocratic." They intended the Frolic to Though the Lexington correspondent instead for a building on West Main be perceived not as an alternative to the for the Freeman drew attention to these Street that had formerly housed a Black­ saloon but as a complement to conditions and accused those "said-to-be owned restaurant. On the edge ofthe Lexington's Mrican American churches, leaders" who attended segregated downtown commercial district, the schools and social clubs. theaters as thereby "sanction[ing] Jim block that was home to the Frolic also Crow" and "disgracing ... the Negro contained the office ofLexington's -.--.--- he Frolic seems to have stayed race," no large scale public protest was Mrican American weekly newspaper, in business for less than a year, mounted by the local Black community. two "colored" boarding houses, a as did the Pekin, another From the turn ofthe century on­ distillery, a junk dealer and several retail Black-run nickelodeon that wards, however several attempts were stores. To an extent, the Frolic can be opened in 1909. Much more successful made to cater exclusively or primarily to termed a "neighborhood" theater, unlike was the 250- to 300-seat Gem Theater, an audience ofMrican Americans from the city's white picture shows and which went through several owners Lexington and surrounding rural areas. vaudeville houses, which were all located between 1910 and 1916. Located, like The annual Colored A&M Fair re­ within the downtown shopping area. the Frolic, on West Main Street, the mained a well-attended, profitable event During the 1910s, three other Black Gem began operation after two "colored that often included moving pictures and theaters at different times opened within businessmen" from Cincinnati refur­ live entertainment on its midway. a block ofwhere the Frolic stood. bished a white nickelodeon that had Certain "enterprising colored citizens" Walker and Thompson announced been damaged by fire. In 1912 this regularly staged recitals, dances and the premiere ofthe Frolic with a newspa- theater was acquired by "Senator" R.F.

30 Black Film Review Bell, an entrepreneur who would later longer films, the Gem drew on basically Uncle Remus' Visit to New Yorkwith a become a real estate dealer and be given the same range ofmotion pictures as the "prestige" Vitagraph adaption ofSir Walter a political patronage job at Lexington's city's larger and more luxurious white Scott's The Lady in the Lake. In March 1916, first city-funded "colored" park. B~ll also theaters, which had by this time intro­ significantly the month that D.W. Griffith's operated another short-lived theater, the duced ushers, elaborate electric marquees The Birth ofa Nation played the Lexington Lincoln, across the street from the Gem and «refined" interior decoration. Even Opera House after an unsuccessful local and opened a "vaudeville and moving ifthe same films eventually played at protest effort, Burden again booked a series of picture house" in nearby Winchester, Black-operated nickelodeons, self-styled Mrican American productions, including Kentucky, which he declared to be "the "picture palaces," and small venues in Money Talks in Darktown, By the Help of first ofa chain ofcolored houses to be surrounding towns, there were still Uncle Eben and a newsreel on a crack established in towns adjacent to Lexing­ major distinctions among different «colored" National Guard unit. ton." exhibitors and their ways ofprogram­ Regardless ofwhether or not Money Talks ming motion pictures and live acts, in Darktown reworked «coontown" cliches or ocal sources, particularly the distinctions which complicate notions of the newsreels reified Booker T. Washington's "Colored Notes" column in the moviegoing experience. notion of«notable Negroes," the very Lexington's daily Republican existence ofsuch films is significant. By newspaper, The Leader, provide fter Willis Burden took over booking them, Burden did "promote the much information about the booking the Gem in 1914, he race" and help to link Lexington moviegoers patterns at the Gem, giving us some clue experimented with a resident with the African American community in about the conditions under which the stock company before larger urban areas. city's Mrican Americans received and opting exclusively for "high class motion negotiated the movies. During 1911­ pictures," which included bills changing ronically, the Gem seems to have closed 1912, the Gem devoted Sundays to daily and musical accompaniment around September 1916, about the motion pictures, often westerns, with provided by a small band featuring a trap time Birth ofa Nation returned to live musical accompaniment that might drummer and, at times, a trombonist. Lexington for its second sold-out, include a saxophone trio. Protests by Basically, this was a scaled-down version week-long run. Maybe the unprecedented Lexington's Sabbatarian forces did little ofthe practice at white nickelodeons, box office success ofGriffith's film and the to stem the strong appeal ofSunday suggesting that the Gem was competing enthusiasm with which white spectators movies for white and Black theaters with the «colored" balconies in greeted its melodramatic celebration ofJim alike. Daily evening shows at the Gem Lexington's newvenues for customers. In Crow's founding principles are the most featured films and live acts booked keeping with national trends, the Gem, telling indication ofthe movie's place and role through "colored" vaudeville agencies for example, made serials a staple com­ in a small, biracial city and a racist society. If like the Central Vaudeville Circuit and modity and booked more feature-length so, that is all the more reason to pay attention the Dudley Circuit that also serviced «photoplays." In retrospect, the dilemma to how «colored" theaters defined themselves larger cities in the South and the ofthe Gem seems unresolvable: To and sought out a clientele in the Mrican Midwest. Promotional notices in the compete for Mrican American patrons, American community, how they negotiated Leader mention «coon shouters" and Burden sought to provide an equal, if the shifting policies and politics ofJim Crow, «ragtime" singers, as well as song-and­ separate, moviegoing experience, yet the and how they competed with, or mirrored or dance teams, novelty acts and local entertainment he offered upheld and posed an alternative to, white theaters, which talent. endorsed, directly or indirectly, the often stood as embodiments ofwhite eco­ V nder R.F. Bell's management, the unequal and unjust conditions in Jim nomic, social and cultural power in a radically Gem increased the number ofreels of Crow, V.SA. unjust society. The more we learn about motion pictures it screened and contin­ So it is all the more noteworthy that Black moviegoing, the less likely we will be to ued to book live acts, though with what soon after he took over the Gem, Burden accept and perpetuate well-entrenched, seems to have been a greater reliance on began to book «race" films: newsreels of reductive notions ofthe "mass" audience and local performers. For example, Bell «notable Negroes" and early fictional ofthe movies as, in the words ofAmerican drummed up business in November efforts like The Streets ofHarlem andJim Magazine in 1913, «art democratic, art for the 1913 by staging a week-long contest Dandys Dream. Typically, these films ran race." m among Lexington's vocal quartets. for three days and were co-billed with the

Though it was clearly a second-run theater's more standard fare, leading to Gregory A Waller tetlChesfilm andpopular cukure atthe house which had not yet begun to screen odd combinations like the scheduling of University ofKentu£ky.

Black Film Review 31 THE HISTORY BLACK FILM

Many critics and historians have been im- pressed by Oscar Micheaux's long, produc- tive career, during which he produced almost forty independent feature films and seven novels. Few critics, however, have respected his work, and most would agree with James Nesteby; who wrote in Black Im- ages in American Films, that the films are "racked by uneven talents and close budgets." Since, many books and articles on the subject tend to agree with Nesteby; including the ground-breaking studies on "race movies" by noted film authorities Donald Bogle, Thomas Cripps and Daniel Leab, it is clear that there is something abo t Micheaux's work that invites disdain. Anyone who has seen the workwill understand that response. Micheaux fums seem rough and amateurish compared to the standards ofHollywood and Europe,. so his "inadequa­ cies" are obvious to anyone who assumes the criteria ofHolIywood ftlm.

One difficulty ofthe American their greatest migration North. This is formal style ofgloss, illusionism and industrial revolution was that both the about the time Micheaux was getting closure. Micheaux's style might be labor and consumer markets were underway, as was D.W. Griffith. understood better as a retention ofearly radically fragmented. The factories and Hollywood, itselfseeking a dependable film traits, from before the advent of urban centers were attracting new ethnic mass market, began trying to assimilate glossy illusionism, than as a failed groups all the time, including the Black the new urban diversity. To achieve this imitation ofwhite movies. It is, in fact, a Southerners who were in the midst of impossible task, Hollywood developed a non-assimilative style that glosses a living

32 Black Film Review struggle with an implicit "twoness," the ately comical to anyone demanding and from the classical three points double-consciousness ofthe Mrican Hollywood production qualities. would give an inappropriately glossy American experience. Yet for anyone sympathetic to the effect. Had Micheaux had the ~pital to One example ofsuch a style is found economic status ofthe characters-for shoot "correctly," the scene might have in Micheaux's treatment ofa minor whom we are meant to care-this shot changed stylistically from subtly tragic to character in The Girl From Chicago sequence is realistic. There is both hope merely mediocre. It is possible to object (1932), the sister ofMaryAustin, a and pathos in the desires ofthe two that Micheaux's shot is grainy. Yet shots middle-aged woman who runs a board­ sisters, well expressed by the "grain" of in cinema verite, neo-realism and new ing house in the small town of the untrained but beautiful voice and in wave films are often grainy. Those are Batesburg, Mississippi (reminiscent of the style ofits representation. There is accepted as mature, purposeful and Patesville in the novel The Conjure integrity in the unity oftime, place and effective, stylistically appropriate to the Woman (1989) by Charles Chesnutt on action that sets this song apart as a haven circumstances oftheir production and to whose work Micheaux based two films). from the surrounding confusion. The their representational scheme. Austin sets aside her boarding house hopes and fears in this scene are repre­ Finally, it is possible to object that the savings, hoping to accumulate enough sented by stylized contrasts: confusion piano in this shot-sequence is tinny and to send her sister'North to seek her versus unity ofshooting and editing, the out oftune and without deliberate fortune as a singer. roughness ofthe recording and ofthe irony-yet the piano in one ofBenny The first five minutes of The Girl untrained voice as opposed to the Carter's jazz groups, "Benny Carter and From Chicago are composed ofsome 30 sm.oothness ofthe vocal talent and the His Swing Quartet," is tinny and out of shots full ofdisturbing content­ self-confidence ofthe singer. tune and is not used ironically at all. The peonage and potential seduction or Still, the scene is not pathetic, since instruments in Carter's "Waltzing the rape-as well as a disturbing style­ the audience would be aware that Black Blues" and "Jingle Bells" sound, in flagrantly discontinuous matching, singers, writers, dancers, musicians and relation to earlier jazz, like the "original expressionistic shooting, some awkward composers very much like MaryAustin's instruments" movement ofGustav blocking and acting, and some practi­ sister were making it in Chicago and Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt cally comic but illusion-rending audio Harlem at the time. Jazz, blues, jazz in classical music today. Benny Carter glitches. Then a shot-sequence ofover dance and the Harlem Renaissance were certainly could produce polished three minutes occurs in which Mary common cultural knowledge in 1932. music-he spent much ofhis career Austin, in medium shot, stands beside When many ofthe characters move to writing for very smooth orchestras and her sister who, seated in the foreground Harlem in the second halfofthe film, in for slick Hollywood films and main­ at the piano, performs an entire song. fact, the hero Alonzo utters the line stream television programs and commer­ The transition to this shot is accented on "Home to Harlem," a reference to the cials. His choice of"tinny" original the leading side ofthe cut by a shot of famous novel ofthat title by one ofthe instruments for some ofhis recording the villain JeffBallinger's car exiting leading lights ofthe Harlem Renais­ sessions was aesthetically legitimate and screen right, and on the trailing side by a sance, Claude McKay. Instead of resulted in some ofhis most engaging strong piano tone that is struck a sympathy, this scene invokes not only work. Micheaux's instruments were also fraction ofa beat after the cut. The the hopes ofmigration but the fears as legitimate, in spite ofthe fact that audience is made to spring, via syncopa­ well-which Hollywood has never Micheaux's choices were determined by tion, into this sequence out ofa particu­ done. economICS. larly fragmented experience. There are several possible objections After MaryAustin's sister's song ends, Mary Austin's sister sings "Blue to this scene. It is possible to object, for the shot-sequence continues with Austin Lagoon" in a light operatic voice. Partly example, that the sister's voice is not a congratulating her sister on the perfec­ because the recording quality is low, her "good" one, that it breaks in places­ tion ofher performance and lamenting voice seems to break up occasionally, but so did Louis Armstrong's. It is the lack offinancial resources that and the humble upright piano sounds possible to object that the shot is too prevent her from sending her sister to tinny. The weak, single-point lighting dark. However, the darkness of Chicago. Austin strikes her open hand and the hard, live acoustics seem Micheaux's shot serves its purpose in with her fist and says, "IfI only had a consisten~ with the low production depicting the interior ofa depression-era, few more boarders, I could soon send values and the declamatory acting style lower-middle-class house, a house that you." MaryAustin's references to her ofthe previous scene. The effect is would typically be dark and compart­ own lack offinancial resources express bound to be excruciating or inappropri- mentalized. To light this scene strongly the anguish ofany "producer" or

Black Film Review 33 manager oftalent-such as Micheaux himself The question ofMicheaux's e actually becomes a theme itself There are several production numbers ill the second halfofthe fum, the most illlportant ofwhich features the girl from Chicago herself: Liza Hatfield, as the lead chanteuse ofa jazz band. This equence echoes the earlier "production number" in the boarding house. The Two positions: Lecturer or Senior song Liza sings, "Love is a Rhapsody," is Lecturer positions in Film/Video intended to be seductive and polished. Production and Screenwriting to begin Since she turns out to be the central Fall 1993. problem in the film, her relation to The department offers a multi-disciplin­ explicitly higher production values­ ary program in film and video produc­ those ofParis and ofthe Radium Club tion, screenwriting, critical and cultural studies, international communication, where she sings in Harlem-provides a John Akomfrah Film Retrospective communication policy and technology, The New Wave in Black British Cinema conclusion about the theme offinancing ethnic/minorityissues in communica­ Malcolm X, Handsworth Songs, Testament, for Mrican Americans struggling with tion, and mass communication. Touch of the Tar Brush, Who Needs A twoness. Since the glossier production PRODUCfION POSITION Heart? number is located in a realm ofvillainy, MFA, PhD, and/or a strong record of furtiveness and seduction, one can production required. College level assume Liza represents the "wrong" teaching experience strongly prefer~. Administrative experience in productIon approach to production and style. highly desirable. Major administrative Though Micheaux probably did not duties may accompany this position in D'Getto Eyes intend every aspect ofhis style, it has the near future. New Works by Black, latin, Asian and served important themes and provided a Native American Directors SCREENWRITING POSITION featuring; Thomas Allen Harris, Cyrille complex answer to the dilemma of Professional and/or teaching experience Phipps, Luis Va/davino, Randy Redroad, twoness. In The Girl From Chicago, in screenwriting and story analysis Luisa Sanchez and more. Micheaux has represented not only the required; additional production teaching skills desirable. Please submit a one-page hopes ofone amateur singer and the statement of screenplay teaching accomplishments ofone professional philosophy with other materials listed singer; he has incorporated ideas about below. Salute to B ack Women Directors the production, financing and stylistic Both positions renewable annually. value ofeach. The high financing and Julie Dash. Camille Billops, Jacqueline stylistic values are associated with Liza Production samples and/or Screenplays Shearer with emerging artists; Dawn Suggs, Vejan Hatfield, a virtual prostitute; the lower will not be returned unless accompanied by SASE. Send cover letter, resume, Smith, leah G- ·am. Cheryl Dunye, production values are associated with the sample work (on VHS only) or screen­ Daresha Kyl and others. hopes ofa minor character with unde­ play samples and three letters of recom­ veloped talent and personal integrity. mendation to: Micheaux associates his own style and Faculty Search Committee integrity with both these modes, as a Production/Screenwriting hope and a fear. Though he would like Department Radio-Teleyision-Film Touring the US and Canada in 1993 University ofTexas at Austin to assimilate into American cinema, he For more information or to receive our Austin, Texas 78712-1091 25th Anniversary Catalogue, call: illustrates assimilation as a dangerous Third World Newsreel attraction. Q) The University ofTexas at Austin is an 335 West 38th Street, 5th Floor Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity New York, NY 10018 employer, and applications from women 212/947-9277 J Ronald Green is aprofessor offilm history, theory and members ofethnic minorities are and criticism at Ohio State University. strongly encouraged.

34 Black Film Revie"T IPftI THE HISTORY ()F BLACK FILM I~' () Il I~' l' Il ~ I' III~~ Il Il I~~ /\ I) I\ (:

Bobo, jacqueline, THE SUBJECT IS Melodrama. ed. Marcia Landy (Detroit: Kisch, john and Edward Mapp. A SEPA­ MONEY: Reconsidering.the Black Film Wayne State University Press, 1990). RATE CINEMA: Fifty Years of Black Cast Audience as a Theoretical Paradigm. Posters (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Gaines, jane M. FIRE AND DESIRE: Race, Black American Literature Forum 25, no. 2 Giroux, 1992). Melodrama, and Oscar Micheaux. In Black (Summer 1991). American Cinema. Ed. Manthia Diawara Klotman, Phyllis. FRAME BY FRAME: A Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, (New York: Routledge and Chapman, Hall/ Black Filmography (Bloomington: Indiana Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive American Film Institute, 1993). University Press, 1979). History of Blacks in American Films (New Gomery, Douglas. SHARED PLEASURES: A Leab, Daniel j. FROM SAMBO TO York: Viking, 1973). History of Movie Presentation in the United SUPERSPADE: The Black Experience in Bowser, Pearl and Louise Spence. IN States (Madison: University of Wisconsin Motion Pictures. (Boston: Houghton SEARCH OF OSCAR MICHEAUX: The Press, 1992), chapt. 8, "Movie Theatres for Mifflin, 1975). Black Americans." Filmmaker's "Biographical Legend" and Nesteby, james. BLACK IMAGES IN forthcoming, Rutgers "Race Propaganda" Green, j. Ronald. Oscar Micheaux's AMERICAN FILMS, 1896-1954: The University Press). Production Values. In Black American Interplay Between Civil Rights and Film Carbine, Mary. THE FINEST OUTSIDE Cinema. Ed. Manthia Diawara (Routledge Culture (New York: Lanham, 1982). and Chapman, Hall/American Film Institute, THE LOOP: Motion Picture Exhibition in Pines, jim. Blacks in Film (London: Studio Chicago's Black Metropolis, 1905 - 28. 1993). Vista, 1975). (May Camera Obscura 23 1990). Green, j. Ronald and Horace Neal, jr. Reid, Mark A. Redefining Black Film Cripps, Thomas. .OSCAR MICHEAUX AND RACIAL SLUR: A SLOW FADE TO BLACK: (Berkeley: University of California The Negro in American Film, 1900 ­ Response to 'The Rediscovery of Oscar Press, 1993) chapt. 1 on "Early African 1942. (New York: Oxford University Press, Micheaux', journal ofFilm and Video, 40: 4 American Film Companies." 1971 ). (Fall 1988). Sampson, Harry. BLACKS IN BLACK AND Diawara, Manthia, ed. Black American Hooks, Bell. Micheaux: Celebrating WHITE: A Source Book on Black Films Cinema (New York: Routledge and Blackness. Black American Literature Forum (Metchuen, N.j.: Scarecrow Press, 1977). Chapman, Hall/American Film Institute, 25, no. 2 (Summer 1991). Reprinted in bell 1993). hooks, Black Looks: Race and Representation Waller, Greg. ANOTHER AUDIENCE: (Boston: South End Press, 1992). Black Moviegoing, 1907-1916. Cinema Gaines, jane M .. SCAR OF SHAME: Skin journal31, no. 2 (Winter 1992). Color and Caste in Black Silent Melo­ jones, G. William. BLACK CINEMA drama." Cinema journal XXVI, no. 4 TREASURES: Lost and Found (Denton, TX: (Summer 1987); reprinted in Imitations of University of North Texas, 1991). Life: A Reader on Film and Television

The editors ofBlack Film Review wish to express appreciation for the generous contributions ofour donors: Juanita Anderson Juanita Moore .Elden Cave Margo Okamwa-Rey Charles Fuller Sue Ross James Gibbs John Stewart Sally Huguley Rahdi. Taylor Christopher T Moore Josephine Wade

Black Film Review 35 CHEAUX, VAUDEVILLE Frazier's dance oflamps, Allie Johnson's CO ~D FROM PAGE 9 high-wire act, the Wootens' or ChiefIron arner's is the only one to present them Hand's trick biCycles, and the countless in a context designed to duplicate a sketches and shon plays. typical performance, with an emcee, Had Micheaux's films, particularly lindyhoppers, three chorus routines and those ofthe '20s and early '30s survived, specialty acts. Micheaux, meanwhile, was that record would still be incomplete, but cnE~)IE the only one to capture Miller himselfon it would at least be a much more descrip­ Published continually since 1967, Cineaste is today in­ ternationally recognized as America's leading magazine £lm,. in his 1931 production Dark Town tive account ofwhat entertained so many on the art and politics of the cinema. "A trenchant, eter­ nally zestful magazine," says the International Film Guide, Revue. Americans so grandly. We do them all a "in the forefront of American film periodicals. Cineaste Micheaux died in Charlotte in 1951. disservice to persist in believing that the always has something worth reading, and it permits its writers more space to develop ideas than most maga­ It seems no small irony that he would die only ones worth remembering are those zines." Published quarterly, Cineaste covers the entire world of in the place where Black-cast films had who somehow made a screen or record­ cinema - including Hollywood, the independents, Europe, and the Third World-with exclusive interviews, been regionally distributed through 1948, ing performance that still survives or, in lively articles, and in-depth reviews. Subscribe now, or send $2 for a sample copy, and see what you've been at the moment the industty effectively cases as rare, made their mark in the white missing! folded. The South had been the last stand press ofthe period. Historians pay too Here's $15 ($24 foreign) for 4 issues 0 ofthe traveling Black-cast vaudeville much attention to the white-dominated Here's $28 ($40 foreign) for 8 issues 0 shows, most still using the designation newspapers ofthe eras and to the more NAME _ ADDRESS _ "minstrel" to describe themselves contemporaty notions that one needed to CITY STATE__-----I...7IP _ (Rabbit's Foot Minstrels, Cotton Blos­ make it in NewYork or Chicago to be Cineaste som Minstrels, Florida Blossom Min­ considered a valuable performer. As a P.O. Box 2242 New York, NY 10009 strels, Georgia Minstrels-all shows result, many ofthe names above are identical in format to the better known mysteries to students ofAmerican Silas Green from New Orleans) even popular culture, even to students ofBlack though they had collectively abandoned histoty. Perhaps a renewed interest in the traditional minstrel show format early Micheaux will change that, for Micheaux in the twentieth centuty for that ofthe epitomizes the plight shared by them all. THE WORLD'S LARGEST SELECTION OF QUALITY more malleable vaudeville. Like Micheaux, each one ofthem faced "African-American Videos" Unfortunately, we can never recapture the difficult facts that New York venues the lost performances on stage ofthe great were not always open to them, the white Black performers, such as Smiling Billy press seldom noticed them, and their Kersands, Black Patti, P.G. Lowrey, money, when it was made, probably W.C. Handy, Bert Williams and George came more often from Blacks scattered Walker, Bob Cole and BillyJohnson, across America, particularly the South, Evelyn Preer, Cleo Desmond, Andrew than it did from the urban centers ofthe Bishop and the rest ofthe Lafayette North. Players, Ernest Hogan, Salem T utt Today, few ofthe early performers are Whitney, Homer Tutt, Bill King, James still living; tomorrow there will be fewer. Reese Europe, Tim Brymn, Fournoy Some, like Katie Btyant Abraham, a Miller andAubrey Lyles, S.H. Dudley, featured dancer with Silas Green from Irvin C. Miller and Sam Lucas. What we 1926-32, and Milton Quigless,. a musi­ have today are snippets ofsound and cian with Rabbit's Foot Minstrels in occasional images salvaged from a lost 1922, have excellent recollections ofthis film, usually silent, that can hardly do long-ago world-although both have justice to these magical personalities. great difficulty explaining exactly what it Gospel. Soul. Reggae. Blues. Jazz. Sports. fitness Most, in fact, can be documented only was Coy Herndon did with his hoops. 4D History. Opera. Lectures. Africa. Education through reports in newspapers ofthe day, Theatre. Movies. Classics (From 1930's-4O's) • Comedy. Documentaries. Etc....• and one can only imagine what their Alex Albright is an assistantprofessor ofEnglish at 1OO's OF VIDEOS-MANY ONLY AVAILABLE FROM performances might have been like: Coy East Carolina State University where he edits the North Carolina Literary Review. Herndon's hoop- rolling spectacular, N~~~~~,~br'~~~t~~~ Princess Mysteria's fortune telling, Joe

36 Black Film Review lSlon, e oleee

concerned about Black Ifyou're feature actors and actresses that go against the images in commercial film and television, you grain and fill you in on the rich history of already know that Hollywood Blacks in American filmmaking-­ does not reflect the multicultural a history that goes back to 1910! nature ofcontemporary socie~ And, Black Film Review is the You know that when Blacks are only magazine that brings you not absent they are confined to news, reviews and in-depth predictable, one-dimensional interviews from the most vibrant roles. You may argue that movies movement in contemporary film. and television shape our reality You know about Spike Lee but or that they simply reflect that what about Euzhan Paley orJulie reali~ In any case, no one can Dash? Charles Burnett or deny the need to take a closer Soulemayne Cisse? Throughout look at what is coming out of the Mrican diaspora, Black this powerful medium. filmmakers are giving us alternatives to the Black Film Review is the forum you've been images produced in Hollywood and giving looking for. Four times a year, we bring you birth to a whole new cinema...be there! film criticism from a Black perspective. We look behind the surface and challenge ordinary BlackFllm assumptions about the Black image. We IIIUl!IDUl!i!) Film BULK RATE US Postage om PAID 2025 Eye St., N.W. Washington, DC 20066 Permit No. 1031 SuSte 213 Washington, D.C. 20006 ddress COTTection Requested

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