Charles W. Chesnutt to William Brace Pratt, 17 November 1921
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November 17, 1921.
Houghton Mifflin Company,
4 Park Street,
Boston, Mass.
Attention Mr. W. B. Pratt,
Manager Syndicate Bureau.
My dear Mr. Pratt:
I enclose you herewith my check for $25.00, being 25 per cent. of amount collected from Micheaux Film Corporation1 for their note due October 15th, which was collected several weeks later.2 I have every reason to believe that the other notes will go through all right, though the payment may be delayed a little each month.3
Yours very truly, CWC/FLCorrespondent: 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 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]
2. See Oscar Micheaux's letter to Chesnutt from November 13, 1921, and Chesnutt's letter to Swan E. Micheaux (1896–1975) from November 19, 1921 regarding the delayed October payment. [back]
3. 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]
