Oscar Micheaux: The Great and Only (50 page)

The day after his death, Micheaux's body was shipped back to Kansas for a family funeral; after the service he was buried in an unmarked grave in a Great Bend cemetery.

 

As far as can be determined, Oscar Micheaux's obituary was not reported in any white newspaper in America. The
Chicago Defender
gave Micheaux's death three paragraphs on page one, with no mention that he had ever lived in Chicago or produced some of his best-known films there. The
New York Amsterdam News
announced his death on the front page with a long article, hailing him as “one of Harlem's most distinguished citizens.”

No will has ever been probated. Perhaps, in spite of the many bank accounts that Micheaux had strewn across America, in spite of all the money that had passed through his hands, there was nothing left to be declared.

In the month that Micheaux died, one of his masterpieces,
Harlem After Midnight,
was playing at the Ambassador Theatre in Kingston, Jamaica; another,
God's Stepchildren,
was hopping around theaters in the Deep South. Not long after, these and other Micheaux pictures disappeared into seeming oblivion.

 

Micheaux's widow, Alice B. Russell, wasted no time in vacating Harlem and moving back to New Jersey, where she lived close to family members, determinedly out of the public eye. As far as is known, she never gave a single interview. Bitter over her husband's destiny, according to some accounts, Mrs. Micheaux burned all his business papers and filmmaking memorabilia and junked the remaining prints of his pictures.

Alice B. Russell Micheaux outlived her husband by nearly thirty-five years, but was indigent for the last twelve, a senile ward of the state at the Woodland Nursing Home in Rye, New York. When she died of a heart attack on New Year's Day, 1985, at ninety-five, her occupation was listed on the state certificate of death as “Vocalist.” Micheaux's faithful and loving partner was buried as a pauper at Greenwood Union Cemetery, “So. Acre W/19 Lot 31, Grave #6,” an unmarked site that can be found only by consulting records in the cemetery office.

 

Unmarked gravestones wouldn't be the last bleak image if this were a film written, directed, and produced by the great and only. Even Micheaux's bleakest film productions—
Within Our Gates
or
God's Stepchildren
—held out hope for future generations.

For twenty years after his death, Micheaux was largely forgotten. Unlike Hollywood films, his weren't shown routinely on television, weren't available for rental in 16 mm format; they vanished from public consciousness, and many of them were lost altogether. His novels went out of print. All of this during a time when America was galvanized by the Civil Rights movement, a time when black history and heroes were avidly being rediscovered and reclaimed.

The rediscovery of Micheaux began, fittingly, in South Dakota in the late 1960s, when local historians began to research and write about the black pioneer whose first novel had been such an authentic account of the homesteading experience. The excitement spread to film circles in the early 1970s, when a handful of black show business historians started writing about race cinema and Micheaux's accomplishments in that arena. As part of their research, scholars and documentary filmmakers
initiated valuable interviews with the last surviving actors and personnel who had worked with Micheaux. When these first pieces about race cinema were being published, only a handful of Micheaux's films were known to have survived, all in poor condition; it would take time, luck, and persistence to reintroduce his best work to audiences.

Micheaux's 1925 film
Body and Soul,
for example, was located in the late 1960s, on deposit at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Transferred to 16 mm, the picture, featuring Paul Robeson in his impressive dual roles, was publicized as part of Pearl Bowser's Black Historical Film Series at the Jewish Museum and Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1970, though it had to be pulled from the series at the last moment. Bowser began showing it in Paris in 1981, and then as part of her “Black Independent Films: 1920–1980” program that toured the United States.
Body and Soul
was meticulously restored in 1986, and a high-quality tape was made available to the general public in 1998 for the Robeson centennial. At the New York Film Festival in 2000, the silent film was presented with a newly commissioned orchestral score by jazz trombonist Wycliffe Gordon.

Detective work abroad has affirmed the international distribution of some Micheaux pictures. A print of
Within Our Gates
was located by Thomas Cripps in the Cineteca Nacional in Madrid, Spain, in the spring of 1979, shortly after he completed his distinguished black film history
Slow Fade to Black.
The 1919 production, which had overcome opposition by a group of Chicago ministers, bore the Spanish title
La Negra.
Another decade passed before a swap could be arranged with the Library of Congress:
La Negra
for a print of the 1931 version of
Dracula
starring Bela Lugosi. By 1995,
Within Our Gates
had been restored and made widely available by Smithsonian Video.

In 1983, a Southern Methodist University archivist named G. William Jones received a phone call from a superintendent who was clearing out a building in Tyler, Texas, about eighty-five miles east of Dallas. Jones was guided to “a stack of octagonal steel film cans ten feet high, ten feet deep and ten feet wide sitting in a corner” of a warehouse used by the long-defunct Sack Amusement Enterprises. The piles of film-footage cans yielded more than one hundred short and feature films, including twenty-two separate “black-audience” pictures. “Some of these films were on pre-1950 nitrate stock, and were already in a state of decomposition,” wrote Jones in his book
Black Cinema Treasures: Lost and Found.
But among the
treasures was a good-condition copy of
Murder in Harlem
(the Southern retitling of
Lem Hawkins' Confession)
, Micheaux's 1935 restaging of the Leo Frank case.

The Symbol of the Unconquered,
Micheaux's fourth silent feature, which had been presumed lost, surfaced at the Cinématique Royale in Brussels in the late 1990s. Advised by Jane Gaines and Charlene Regester, the coeditors of the
Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter,
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) undertook restoration of the 35 mm print with translation of the French and Flemish intertitles. The recovered version of Micheaux's 1920 homesteading picture, with its anti-Ku Klux Klan theme, had its television premiere in midsummer 1998, along with a New York City unveiling at the Apollo Theater. Jazz drummer and composer Max Roach provided a new musical score.

These rediscovered gems alone would confirm Micheaux's greatness as a filmmaker, even before one considers the novels and larger body of work he created—and the unique struggle of his life and career.

 

In the late 1980s, Micheaux's relatives in Great Bend, Kansas, took up his cause. Spearheaded by a local white attorney, Martin Keenan—a one-man Micheaux booster who whipped up the enthusiasm of everyone he met—they collected enough donations to pay for a headstone to adorn his grave in the Rose Cemetery in Great Bend. The headstone reads:

 

Pioneer Black Film Maker & Author

OSCAR MICHEAUX

Jan. 1, 1884

Mar. 25, 1951

A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME

 

The recognition, long overdue, started to snowball.
The Conquest
and
The Homesteader
were republished by the University of Nebraska Press. General reference encyclopedias (like the three-volume
The American Negro Reference Book
of 1966) that once had ignored Micheaux now made ample space for him in their updated editions. Micheaux was missing from mainstream film reference books like the four-volume
Magill's Survey of Cinema,
or the first edition of Ephraim Katz's inclusive
Film En
cyclopedia,
both from 1980, but the editors scrambled to give him long appreciative essays in later editions.

By the turn of the millennium, distinguished historians like Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cornel West were routinely citing Micheaux among the one hundred most influential African-Americans of the twentieth century. Awards were created in his name, film festivals in his honor; college courses sprang up by the dozens, devoted to race cinema and his films; original lobby cards for Micheaux movies and first editions of his books sell for thousands of dollars on eBay.

Today, as film scholar Charlene Regester has noted, there is almost a “mad dash to honor Oscar Micheaux.”

 

Even Hollywood, prodded by black activists in the film industry, got into the act. In 1986, Micheaux was voted a Golden Jubilee Special Award for lifetime achievement from the Directors Guild of America (DGA). Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa had been similarly honored in the past, but Micheaux was the first director to receive the award posthumously. In presenting the award to Micheaux's niece, Verna Crowe, Sidney Poitier described the race-picture pioneer as an “enormous genius,” a “role model by which we can sculpt our future in the American film industry.” President Ronald Reagan sent a telegram declaring that Micheaux “stands tall in the history of the cinema—for the obstacles he overcame, and for the obstacles nobody in his day could overcome. Nothing daunted him, and his work remains as a testament to courage and artistic excellence.”

The following year, Micheaux got his own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, near those of actress Dorothy Dandridge and entertainer Harry Belafonte. The Walk of Fame honors are always “sponsored,” and the cost of his honor was underwritten by the Educational and Benevolent Foundation of the DGA, which also pays for the upkeep of D. W. Griffith's gravesite in Crestwood, Kentucky. Micheaux would have savored that irony.

In 1996, the Producers Guild of America established an Oscar Micheaux Award for an individual or individuals whose contributions to the profession of producing had been made despite tremendous odds. The honorees to date have included celebrated photographer Gordon Parks, musician Quincy Jones, and actor-director Tim Reid.

It's easy to be cynical about Hollywood, which has lagged behind every
major industry in America, in some ways reacting to the Civil Rights movement as though it were running away in slow motion from a monster in a horror movie. Black actors have made huge strides, actresses less so; inside the studios and behind the cameras, discrimination persists and inequality reigns. Film and television are the subject of a yearly report by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and annually the NAACP denounces the industry's “token gestures of opportunity.” Representation among writers, directors, and producers is still a disgrace.

When Micheaux was honored by the Directors Guild, Saundra Sharp wrote in the
Black Film Review,
“He probably would have been too busy to come. He would have been filming in Chicago, or editing in New York, or in Oklahoma petitioning a theater owner to show his next film. Oscar Micheaux would have been at work.”

True enough:

 

Got to keep going!

Make something out of it!

Let's make some money—yeah man!

 

The realist would have been busy. But the idealist would have welcomed the almost happy ending.

BOOKS

The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer
(Lincoln, Nebraska: Woodruff Press, 1913)

The Forged Note: A Romance of the Darker Races
(Lincoln, Nebraska: Western Book Supply Company, 1915)

The Homesteader
(Sioux City, Iowa: Western Book Supply Company, 1917)

The Wind from Nowhere
(New York: The Book Supply Company, 1943)

The Case of Mrs. Wingate
(New York: The Book Supply Company, 1945)

The Story of Dorothy Stanfield
(New York: The Book Supply Company, 1946)

The Masquerade
(New York: The Book Supply Company, 1947)

All films are black and white. All produced before 1930 are silent.
A Daughter of the Congo
and
Easy Street
are part-silent.
The Exile
is the first of Micheaux's sound films. Cast and crew are listed in the original order their names appeared on the screen, where possible. “Unbilled” players and technical personnel are added, where they can be reasonably documented. Various websites—for example, the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)—feature credits for Micheaux films with arguable discrepancies, including spellings. Curiously, many of Micheaux's actors had spellings that varied with their billings in different films, or changed slightly from their billing onstage. For example, Grace Smith was billed sometimes as “Grace Smythe,” Alex Lovejoy as “Alec Lovejoy.”

The extant films (which vary in their quality and running times) are noted with an asterisk (*). The “ghost” films are noted with two asterisks (**). The films are listed according to their “year of release,” but even this varies according to filmographies in other books.

 

1919

THE HOMESTEADER

As writer, director, and producer.

Sc: Based on the Micheaux novel.

 

Cast: Charles D. Lucas (Jean Baptiste), Evelyn Preer (Orlean McCarthy), Iris Hall (Agnes Stewart), Charles Moore (Jack Stewart), Inez Smith (Ethel McCarthy), Vernon Duncan (N. Justine McCarthy), Trevy Woods (Glavis, Ethel's husband), William George (Agnes's white lover), Bill Prescott.

1920

WITHIN OUR GATES*

As actor, writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer (Sylvia Landry), William Starks (Jasper Landry), Mattie Edwards (Jasper Landry's wife), Grant Edwards (Emil Landry), E. G. Tatum (Efrem, Gridlestone's faithful servant), Charles D. Lucas (Dr. V. Vivian), Flo Clements (Alma Prichard), Jack Chenault (Larry Prichard), S. T. Jacks (Reverend Wilson Jacobs), Grant Gorman (Armand Gridlestone), Ralph Johnson (Philip Gridlestone), James D. Ruffin (Conrad Drebert), Bernice Ladd (Mrs. Geradine Stratton), Mrs. Evelyn (Mrs. Elena Warwick), William Smith (Philip Gentry, the detective), LaFont Harris (Emil as a young adult), Jimmie Cook, Oscar Micheaux.

THE BRUTE

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer (Mildred Carrison, the mistreated wife), A. B. DeComathiere/Comathiere (“Bull” Magee, the brute), Susie Sutton (Aunt Clara), Lawrence Chenault (Herbert Lanyon, the lover), Alice Gorgas (Margaret Pendleton, the vamp), Sam Langford (prizefighter Tug Wilson), Marty Cutler (prizefighter Sidney Kirkwood), Laura Bowman (Mrs. Carrison), Mattie Edwards (a guest in “The Hole”), Virgil Williams (referee), Flo Clements (Irene Lanyon), Lewis Schooler (“Klondike”), E. G. Tatum, Harry Plater, Al Gaines.

THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED*

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Iris Hall (Evon Mason), Walker Thompson (Hugh Van Allen), Lawrence Chenault (Jefferson Driscoll), George Catlin (Dick Mason), Edward E. King (Tom Cutschawl), Mattie Wilkes (Driscoll's mother), E. G. Tatum (Abraham), Leigh “Lee” Whipper (Tugi Boj, the Indian Fakir), Edward Fraction (Peter Kaden), Lena L. Loach (Christina), Louis Dean, James Burris.

1921

THE GUNSAULUS MYSTERY

As writer, director, and producer.

Ph: Leonard Galezio.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer (Ida May Gilpin), Ed “Dick” Abrams (Sidney Wyeth), Lawrence Chenault (Anthony Brisbane), Louis DeBulger (Lem Hopkins), E. G. Tatum, Mattie
Wilkes, Bessie/Bessye Bearden, Ethel Williams, Edward “Eddie” Brown, Mabel Young, Hattie Christian, Ethel Watts/Waters, George Russell, W. D. Sindle, Alex Kroll, Inez Clough.

1922

THE DUNGEON

As writer, director and producer.

 

Cast: William E. Fountaine, Shingzie Howard, William B. F. Crowell, J. Kenneth Goodman, Earle Brown “Carl” Cooke, Blanche Thompson.

THE VIRGIN OF SEMINOLE

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: William E. Fountaine, Shingzie Howard, William B. F. Crowell.

1923

JASPER LANDRY'S WILL** (aka CASPER OLDEN'S WILL)

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: William E. Fountaine, Shingzie Howard, William B. F. Crowell.

A FOOL'S ERRAND**

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: William E. Fountaine, Shingzie Howard, William B. F. Crowell.

DECEIT

As writer, director, and producer.

Ph: Leonard Galezio.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer (Doris Rutledge/Evelyn Bently), Norman Johnstone/Johnston (Alfred DuBois/Gregory Wainright), A. B. DeComathiere (Rev. Christian Bently), Cleo Desmond (Charlotte Chesboro), Louis DeBulger (Mr. Chesboro), Mable Young (Mrs. Levine), Cornelius Watkins (Gregory Wainright, as a boy), Mrs. Irvin C. Miller (Mrs. Wainright), Ira O. McGowan (Mr. Wainright), Lewis Schooler (actor/waiter), Jerry Brown (Actress), James Carey (a crooked banker), Viola Miles (Teacher), Mary Watkins (Teacher), N. Brown (Teacher), J. Coldwell (Preacher), F. Sandifier (Preacher), Jessie R. Billings (Preacher), Allen D. Dixon (Preacher), Leonard Galezio (Censor), Sadie Carey (Censor), William Patterson (Censor and Member of Rescue Party), Milton Henry (Member of Rescue Party).

1924

BIRTHRIGHT

As writer, director, and producer.

Sc: Based on the novel by T. S. Stribling.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer (Cissie Deldine), J. Homer Tutt (Peter Siner), Salem Tutt Whitney (Tump Pack), Callie Mines (Aunt Caroline), E. G. Tatum (The Persimmon), Ed Elkas (Sheriff A. Dawson Bobbs), Alma Sewell (Old Rose), Lawrence Chenault (Henry Hooker/Captain Renfrew), William B. F. Crowell.

1925

A SON OF SATAN (aka THE GHOST OF TOLSTON'S MANOR)

As writer, director, and producer.

Sc: Based on Micheaux's unpublished story “The Ghost of Tolston's Manor.”

 

Cast: Andrew Bishop (the Sea Captain), Lawrence Chenault, Shingzie Howard, Edna Morton, E. G. Tatum, Walter Robinson (the father), Dink Stewart, Ida Anderson, Monte Hawley, William B. F. Crowell, Olivia Sewell, Emmett Anthony, Evelyn Ellis,
Marie Dove, Blanche Thompson, Margaret Brown, Professor Hosay, Mildred Smallwood (dancer), Flournoy Miller, Aubrey Lyles, and the “Shuffle Along” chorus.

THE HOUSE BEHIND THE CEDARS

As writer, director, and producer.

Sc: Based on the novel by Charles W. Chesnutt.

 

Cast: Shingzie Howard (Rena Walden/Warwick), Andrew Bishop (George Tryon), Lawrence Chenault (John Walden/Warwick), Alma Sewell, William B. F. Crowell, Douglas Griffin, Oliver Hill.

MARCUS GARLAND**

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Salem Tutt Whitney, Amy Birdsong.

THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Evelyn Preer, Edward Thompson, Lawrence Chenault, Percy Verwayen/Verwayne.

BODY AND SOUL*

As writer, director, and producer.

 

Cast: Paul Robeson (Rev. Isaiah T. Jenkins/his brother Sylvester), Julia Theresa Russell (Isabelle, the Girl), Mercedes Gilbert (Martha Jane, her Mother), Lawrence Chenault (Yellow Curly Hinds), Marshall Rodgers (Speakeasy Proprietor), Lillian Johnson (Sister Ca'line), Madame Robinson (Sister Lucy), Chester A. Alexander (Deacon Simpkins), Walter Cornick (Brother Amos), Tom Fletcher.