William B. Pratt to Charles W. Chesnutt, 3 March 1921
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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
March 3, 1921.
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt,
1106 Williamson Building,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Dear Mr. Chesnutt:
Following your suggestion of February 19, we have made a formal contract with Mr. Micheaux1 for "The House Behind the Cedars",2 which we have sent with a letter, copy of which is enclosed.
I am very much interested to hear whether "The Marrow of Tradition"3 is definitely placed as well. If there is anything further we can do to help along these negotiations, do not hesitate to let me know.4
Very truly yours, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. W.B. Pratt per M.C.G. P/G Enc.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
SYNDICATE BUREAU
W. B. PRATT MANAGER
4 PARK STREET BOSTON
FICTION
BIOGRAPHY
NATURE SERIES
CHILDREN'S STORIES
JUVENILE VERSE
SPECIAL ARTICLES
March 3, 1921.
Mr. S. E. Micheaux,
Secretary and Treasurer,
Micheaux Film Corporation,5
538 South Dearborn Street,
Chicago, Illinois.
Dear Mr. Micheaux:
Mr. Charles W. Chesnutt has advised us of your request to have sent to you a contract covering the motion picture production by you of "The House Behind the Cedars." We are accordingly sending you this contract herewith.6 It is in duplicate, and we will ask you kindly to sign both copies and forward to Mr. Chesnutt, together with your check for $100, as specified in the contract,7 and Mr. Chesnutt will then sign and return one copy to you for your files.8
Very truly yours, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY. P/G Enc.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. Swan Emerson Micheaux (1896–1975) was Oscar Micheaux's younger brother and served as secretary, treasurer, and booking manager of the Micheaux Film Corporation from 1920 to 1927. He was suspected of financial mismanagement and forced to resign in 1928. [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. 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 60 and 300 Black citizens, and terrorized several thousand who fled the city and never returned. [back]
4. See Chesnutt's correspondence with Robert Levy (1888–1959) of the REOL Film Corporation in February of 1921, regarding the adaptation of The Marrow of Tradition into a film. The deal fell through later that spring and the film was never made. [back]
5. 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]
6. In the postscript of a letter to Chesnutt from January 29, 1921, Oscar Micheaux requested that Chesnutt ask his publisher to prepare the contract. Chesnutt overlooked this until he received a follow-up from Swan E. Micheaux on February 18, 1821, prompting Chesnutt to redress this with the Micheaux Corporation on February 19 and with William B. Pratt of Houghton Mifflin. In his letter to Chesnutt on March 3, 1921, Pratt enclosed a letter of the same date to Swan E. Micheaux, in which he had included the contract. The contract itself has not been located. [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. Delays in the signing of the movie-rights contract for The House Behind the Cedars continued from March 1921 throughout the summer (see Swan E. Micheaux to Chesnutt, June 17, 1921, and Chesnutt's reply). The contract was eventually signed in late August or early September. [back]
