Charles W. Chesnutt to William Brace Pratt, 20 January 1921
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January 20, 1921.
Houghton Mifflin Company,
Syndicate Bureau,
W. B. Pratt, Manager,
4 Park Street,
Boston, Mass.
Dear Mr. Pratt:-
Referring to our correspondence with reference to the motion picture production of my books, I beg to say that I have a letter from Micheaux Film Corporation,1 538 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, in which they make me a proposition to produce "The House Behind the Cedars."2 Of course they want to chop it up more or less, and probably change the class of people from whom they get most of their patronage and to whom they must make their appeal, namely, colored people, since the producers themselves are of that class. But from what I have observed this is no more than the usual fate of a novel which is filmed, and one could only hope that it will be done with reasonable taste and judgment. I have seen one of the films produced by this company, and it was n't at all bad.3
They make me the following proposition:-4
"Having sought now to make it clear as to changes that I would reserve the right to make in the event of an agreement, I am prepared and have concluded to purchase the film rights to this novel with a view to producing it if nothing happens to change my present plans, starting about the latter May or early June. If, therefore, you are agreeable to accepting such changes as I may see fit to incorporate and which are only to make the story more acceptable to a peculiar clientele, I am willing to pay for all screen rights the sum of $500.00 payable, a portion down on acceptance say $25.00, $75.00 in thirty days thereafter or say March 1st, the balance June 15th,
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or on date of release should it be filmed and released before that time which is not likely, since I have two other pictures to make before I reach this.5 And, besides, it is necessary to film this in the summer as you will realize. In the event of agreement the present title will be retained and the photoplay from same approximating most likely seven reels long would be advertised about so 'Oscar Micheaux presents "The House Behind the Cedars" a story of the South by Charles W. Chesnutt, featuring Evelyn Preer.'"6
I know nothing from experience about moving picture productions or authors' royalties in connection therewith, and this does not seem like a very large remuneration. However, I don't suppose the concern itself is making a great deal of money, in fact, I do not see how it could, yet if they pay according to their stated terms, it will be that much better than nothing, and I really don't know whether a film could be made from the story which would appeal to a wider audience; at least no concern has been clamoring for the right to reproduce it.7
If this proposition is agreeable to you I will write to Mr. Micheaux accepting it. I imagine that these things are sometimes done on a royalty basis, but the accounting for and collection of royalties is a somewhat uncertain thing, since the author necessarily, in small matters, must be entirely at the mercy of the producer.
If the arrangement is made, or whatever arrangement is made, I will account to you on the basis suggested in your letter of August 12, 1920, that is to say, one-third to you and two-thirds to myself.8
Yours very truly,Correspondent: William Brace Pratt (1886–1961) was a White Bostonian who graduated from Yale in 1906. He worked for Houghton Mifflin's Special Sales department from 1907 to 1929; as the manager of the syndicate bureau, he frequently correspondended with Chesnutt about the film rights to his works in the 1920s.
1. The Micheaux Film Corporation began in 1919 as the Micheaux Book and Film Company. Founded by Black novelist, film director, and film producer Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951), it was based in Chicago, with offices in New York City and Roanoke, Virginia, and became the most successful Black-owned film company of the 20th century. In the 1920s and '30s, Micheaux produced at least three dozen films featuring Black actors and themes he believed to be of particular interest to Black audiences, three of them based loosely on Chesnutt's work. In 1928, the company voluntarily filed for bankruptcy, reorganized, and survived until 1940. Most of the films are lost. [back]
2. The House Behind the Cedars (Houghton Mifflin, 1900) was Chesnutt's first published novel. House evolved over more than a decade from a short story, "Rena Walden," first drafted in the late 1880s. It was the only novel by Chesnutt to be serialized, once in 1900-1901 in the monthly Self Culture and again in 1921-1922 in the Black weekly Chicago Defender. House was also his only novel to be adapted to film (1924 and 1932). [back]
3. By January 1921, four Micheaux films had been released: The Homesteader (1919), Within Our Gates (released February 1920), The Brute (released August 1920), and The Symbol of the Unconquered (released December 1920). Chesnutt is likely either referring to The Brute (shown in September 1920 in Cleveland at the Engineer's Auditorium, sponsored by the Cleveland Association of Colored Men) or Within Our Gates (shown in October at the East Tech High School Auditorium, sponsored by the NAACP). [back]
4. The quoted paragraph is copied from page 3 of Oscar Micheaux's January 18, 1921, letter, in which Micheaux also details the changes he would make to the novel's plot. [back]
5. The lost 1924 silent film version of The House Behind the Cedars, produced by the Micheaux Film Corporation with a script by Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951), was very loosely based on Chesnutt's novel. It was filmed in 1923 in Roanoke, Virginia, and New York City, starring the Black actors Shingzie Howard (1902–1992) as Rena, Lawrence Chenault (1877–1943) as her White suitor, and Douglass Griffin as Frank Fowler. It premiered at Philadelphia’s Royal Theater in December 1924 and was shown in the spring of 1925 in Black movie theaters nationwide. Chesnutt saw it, but it is not known when. Micheaux later remade the film with sound under the title Veiled Aristocrats (1932) without notifying Chesnutt. [back]
6. Evelyn Preer (1896–1932) was a Black film and stage actor and singer whose career began with a major role in The Homesteader (1919), the first movie of the Micheaux Corporation. She was part of the Lafayette Players, a pioneering Black repertory troupe, and on film played the lead in many Micheaux productions between 1919 and 1926, including in the lost 1926 film possibly based on The Conjure Woman. She was considered for, but ultimately not cast in, the 1924 movie adaptation of The House Behind the Cedars. [back]
7. Between January and September 1921, Oscar Micheaux negotiated with Chesnutt to pay $500 in five installments for the film rights to Chesnutt's novel The House Behind the Cedars. This was a low sum for movie rights to a novel, but Chesnutt likely took into account that Black-produced films had low budgets. Ultimately, 25% (rather than the originally suggested 33%) of the money received went to Chesnutt's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Company. Several of the payments were delayed, and Chesnutt never received the final installment. Micheaux's film adaptation was released in December 1924. [back]
8. See Pratt's August 12, 1920, letter to Chesnutt. The royalties were eventually reduced on Pratt's suggestion to 25%, instead of the suggested one third suggested here. [back]
