Charles W. Chesnutt to William B. Pratt, 19 September 1921
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September 19, 1921.
Houghton Mifflin Company,
4 Park Street,
Boston, Mass.
Attention Mr. W. B. Pratt,
Syndicate Manager.
Dear Mr. Pratt:
Replying to yours of September 15th, on my recent visit to Chicago I closed with the Chicago Defender1 for the right to run "The House Behind the Cedars"2 serially in their newspaper. After discussing the matter with them and with Micheaux, I decided that it was a more desirable proposition to deal directly with the Defender. They balked on $200.00 and I finally closed with them for $125.00, which they paid, and I enclose you herewith my check for $31.25, to the order of Houghton Mifflin Company, being one-fourth of the amount.
I think you are mistaken about the circulation of the Defender. I do not know where you got the information that its circulation is 16,000, it must have been from some earlier data; I imagine it is much larger. They run a power press, which under union rules requires nine men to operate it, although they use but six; they have their own typesetting machines, a regular stereotyping plant, an artist and a considerable staff. They claim 200,000 circulation and I imagine it must run up well toward 100,000.3 They are advertising the appearance of the novel in their paper quite extensively, and seem to think it will boom the circulation of the book. I hope it will have some effect upon it.
I also closed with the Micheaux Film Corporation,4 on the basis of $500.00 for the moving picture rights of "The House Behind the Cedars," for which amount they have given me their five cognovit notes, payable September, October, November, December, 1921, and January the 15th, 1922, respectively, with interest at seven percent.5 I believe they will meet their obligations, and if they don't pay the notes according to the terms of the contract, their rights are to cease and determine. I sent the first of the notes to Chicago for collection, and was waiting to hear from it before writing you, but my bank has just advised me by telephone, in answer to an inquiry, that their Chicago correspondent has not yet reported on the collection, but that they expect a report perhaps today or tommorrow.6 As soon as I hear about it I will write you, and will remit your proportion of the money as fast as the notes are paid.
Very truly yours,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 Chicago Defender, a Black weekly newspaper, was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott (1870–1940), who was its publisher and editor until his death. From early on, the paper had an anti-segregation, anti-lynching platform, encouraged Blacks to move North, and reached a broad national audience. Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars was serialized in the paper in 1921–1922. [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. Pratt had given his estimate of the Defender's circulation in his letter to Chesnutt from July 30, 1921. See the July 28, 1921, letter from Robert E. Butler (1899–1971), circulation manager of the Defender, regarding the claim to have "Circulation over 200,000 weekly with a Million Readers." [back]
4. 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]
5. 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]
6. The first promissory or "cognovit" note, due September 15, 1921, was not paid on time and incurred a penalty, for which the Micheaux Film Corporation reimbursed Chesnutt after paying the note by check on October 1, 1921. The October through December notes had similar delays; the last note was not paid. [back]
