Oscar Micheaux to Charles W. Chesnutt, 28 Feburary 1922
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Feburay 28, 1922.
Mr. Charles W. Chesnut,
Cleveland Ohio.
Dear Mr. Chesnut:
I have your letters in regard to the two notes which areof one hundred dollars each, and being the amount still due on the Motion Picture Rights1 for the "House Behind the Cedars",2 and have just returned from Florida where owing to the hatred that exists among our people and the white people, I was compelled to change my plans with regard to producing the pictures down there--not caring to subject our ladies to possible insult which we are most likely to encounter,3 and I am sending you this letter from the Studio where on tomorrow we begin the producing of "The Dungeon", being the first of a series of six pictures we are going to produce here, including your story.4
I am compelled to ask you to give us until about April 15 before making remittance, as it will take everything we have in the way of cash to complete this production, which will be through in three weeks, after which you may expect your check on these deferred payments.5
Regretting that I have been compelled to delay payments of the same, but assuring you that you may expect consideration as set forth above, we are
Very truly yours, Oscar Micheaux OM/EHCorrespondent: Oscar Micheaux (1884–1951) was a Black American writer and film director known for his films about race and racism. Originally from Illinois, he began his career as a novelist and later founded the Micheaux Film and Book Company (ultimately renamed Micheaux Film Corporation) in 1919. He first adapted his early novel The Homesteader to film, and directed and produced over three dozen films in the 1920s and 30s, typically writing the scripts as well as overseeing the low-budget production and distribution of the films. Several of his films were loosely based on the works of Black authors, including Chesnutt. After the demise of his company in 1940, Micheaux founded a publishing business and wrote several more novels.
1. Chesnutt came to an arrangement regarding the movie-rights contract for his novel The House Behind the Cedars with Micheaux Film Corporation, which produced a series of five $100.00 promissory ("cognovit") notes, each due on the 15th of the month (September to January). These were paid with delays and incurred additional interest and penalties: the September note was paid on October 1; the October note around November 13; November's on December 4; and December's not until May 1922. The last note was not paid at all. Chesnutt declined several offers of stocks or bonds in the company in trade for the notes, and passed 25% of each payment on to Houghton Mifflin Company. [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. Oscar Micheaux explored and then abandoned the option of shooting in Jacksonville, Florida out of concern that his Black cast and crew would encounter discrimination. But many of Micheaux's films, including the film version of The House Behind the Cedars, were shot at least partly in the South, namely around Roanoke, Virginia, where the Micheaux Film Corporation had a branch office. [back]
4. The Micheaux Film Corporation's lost silent film The Dungeon, a crime drama, was filmed in the spring of 1922 in Roanoke, Virginia, and released in May of that year. It starred Shingzie Howard (1902–1992), who also played Rena in Micheaux's film version of Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars, filmed later the same year. [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]
