William B. Pratt to Charles W. Chesnutt, 26 May 1922
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HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
SYNDICATE BUREAU
W. B. PRATT MANAGER
4 PARK STREET BOSTON
FICTION
BIOGRAPHY
NATURE SERIES
CHILDREN'S STORIES
JUVENILE VERSE
SPECIAL ARTICLES
May 26, 1922.
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt,
1106 Wiliamson Building,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Dear Mr. Chesnutt:
Thank you for sending on the check for $26.06. This is a good omen that they may also pay the next note.1
Will you keep me informed as to just when the motion picture itself is to be actually released.2 There might be an opportunity to yoke up the book sale with this in some way.3
Very truly yours, W. B. Pratt Manager, Syndicate Bureau. WBP/GCorrespondent: 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. A May 1922 check for $104.26 was the last payment Chesnutt ever received from Micheaux Film Corporation for the film rights to The House Behind the Cedars. An unlocated letter by the Micheaux Film Corporation from April 19, 1922, acknowledged by Chesnutt on April 28, enclosed two checks, one to be cashed May 15, the other June 15, 1922. But the May 15 check (covering the December 1921 promissory note) bounced. Both checks were then replaced by new cashier's checks with interest by Micheaux auditor Charles Henson on May 17, 1922, but only the first of these (for $104.25) could be cashed. Chesnutt passed on 25% ($26.06) to Houghton Mifflin Company on May 24, 1922, as per the contractual agreement, and requested that Micheaux pay the protest fee for the bounced check in his letter of May 23, 1922, but there is no record that the company did so. Instead, Charles Henson's letter of May 27, 1922, asked for more time to cover the June cashier's check (covering the January 1922 promissory note). Chesnutt's repeated inquiries to the company after this date failed to produce a payment on the last note. [back]
2. 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]
3. The 1924 release of the film version of The House Behind the Cedars does not seem to have resulted in increased sales of the novel, given that Houghton Mifflin Company notified Chesnutt on April 28, 1924 that they would melt down the printing plates for the novel and also for his short story collection The Wife of His Youth because of low demand. [back]
