Robert Levy to Charles W. Chesnutt, 15 February 1921
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Telephone BRYANT 5600
Cable Address "REOL"
REOL PRODUCTIONS CORPORATION1
126-130 WEST 46TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY
February fifteenth 1921.
Mr. Chas. W. Chesnutt,
1105 Williamson Building,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Dear Sir:
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 7th, as well as a copy of "The Marrow of Tradition", for which I thank you.2
I will return same to you at the earliest possible moment.
Having been continually on the go I have not had the opportunity to read same but I expect to do so before the week is over. My only reason for asking for this book was because I was told that it was a good story which would possibly lend itself for the making of a motion picture.
It is quite likely that I will be in Cleveland some time during this week, maybe Sunday, and as I only expect to stay a few hours, would you be good enough to advise me whether I could reach you on Sunday, should you desire me to do so.
Thanking you for your courtesy and assuring you that your book will be given thorough consideration, I am
Very truly yours, Robert Levy ROBERT LEVY. RL/enCorrespondent: Robert Levy (1888–1959) was a producer and director in Black theater and film in the 1920s. He was the manager of the Lafayette Theater in Harlem from 1916 until 1919, and founded REOL Productions, a film company dedicated to making films for Black audiences. A White Jewish immigrant from Britain, he was at times criticized for not making space for Black leadership in his theater and films.
1. REOL Productions was a film company founded by Robert Levy (1888–1959). Like the Micheaux Film Corporation, its direct rival, REOL sought to produce films based on the writings of Black writers and aimed at Black audiences. The company was incorporated in May of 1920 and released twelve silent films in 1921 and 1922, before being dissolved in 1924. Negotiations over the film rights to Chesnutt's The Marrow of Tradition did not ultimately result in a contract. [back]
2. The Marrow of Tradition was published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company in October 1901. The novel was a thinly veiled account of the Wilmington Massacre of 1898, a White supremacist coup that overthrew an interracial city government, targeted Black elected officials, killed between sixty and three hundred Black citizens, and terrorized several thousand who fled the city and never returned. [back]
