Charles W. Chesnutt to William B. Pratt, 9 March 1922
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March 9, 1922.
Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company,
4 Park Street,
Boston, Mass.
Attention Mr. W. B. Pratt,
Manager Syndicate Bureau.
Gentlemen:
I am sorry to have to report that Micheaux Film Corporation2 has failed to remit for its two notes of $100.00 each, due December 15, 1921, and January 15, 1922,3 for motion picture rights in my "The House Behind the Cedars."4 They make an explanation which sounds reasonable, and asked that I give them until April /15th to make a remittance, and I am writing them today consenting to this request.5 I shall remit promptly your proportion of whatever I get, when I get it.6
Correspondent: William Brace Pratt (1886–1961) was a White Bostonian whose mother was a daughter of Henry Oscar Houghton, co-founder of Houghton Mifflin Company. He graduated from Yale in 1906 and 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. Chesnutt jotted down his calculation of the 25% of the cashier's check he received two months later; see Charles Henson's letter on behalf of Micheaux Film Corporation from May 17, 1922. Chesnutt mailed a check in the calculated amount of $26.06 to Houghton Mifflin Company on May 24, 1922. [back]
2. 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]
3. 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]
4. The House Behind the Cedars (Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 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]
5. See Chesnutt's letter of March 9, 1922, to Oscar Micheaux in response to this request for an extension. [back]
6. 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]
