Oscar Micheaux and His Circle by Musser Charles; Gaines Jane Marie; Bowser Pearl & Jane Gaines & Charles Musser

Author:Musser, Charles; Gaines, Jane Marie; Bowser, Pearl & Jane Gaines & Charles Musser
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2016-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

Box office statement for The Flying Ace at the Maceo Theater in Tampa, Florida. Norman split the receipts with the theater, taking home about $100 per night.

THE ACTING ENSEMBLE: THE MICHEAUX, LINCOLN, AND NORMAN COMPANIES

Operating without a studio system, independent filmmakers were never able to develop their own “stable,” as Hollywood moguls later referred to their actors under contract. Yet Micheaux developed a kind of acting ensemble, in part by mining the talent from the black theater, especially the Lafayette Players. Norman was able to tap into Micheaux’s and Johnson’s resources because he had made a place for himself in the circle, as the above correspondence with both men demonstrates. He also developed contacts with black reviewers and theater owner-managers, such as D. Ireland Thomas and J. A. Jackson, who knew what was selling at the box office. Although he advertised for actors in the black press and received a number of responses, for the most part he employed professionals who had experience on the boards or before the camera, as long as they agreed to the salaries he set.

Lawrence Chenault apparently came to Norman’s attention through Anita Bush; however, Chenault had already played opposite Evelyn Preer in Micheaux’s The Brute (1920). In 1921, he also starred with Edna Morton in Reol’s The Burden of Race. From 1920 to 1932, he appeared in twenty-two black films, more than any other “race movie” actor of the period.32 Norman cast him in both The Bull-Dogger and The Crimson Skull, but when Shingzie Howard suggested Chenault later for the role of the villain in The Flying Ace, Norman declined to use him again because he wouldn’t “keep sober on the job,” thereby costing Norman time and money.33

J. Lawrence Criner, a featured actor with the Lafayette Players, appeared in Micheaux’s The Millionaire (1927). He signed an agreement with Norman on June 24, 1926, for “his services, his wife’s, Samuel Jordan and Lyons Daniels for the making of a motion picture for a period of two weeks for a total salary for the four people of $550.00.” The agreement letter provides for an additional $175 for three extra days if necessary, but it does not indicate the film in which he was to appear. We know that Criner and Kathryn Boyd appeared in The Flying Ace and in Black Gold, both shot in 1926. It may be that Norman made the second film with Boyd/Criner without negotiating another contract. This modus operandi seems to follow the Anita Bush/Lawrence Chenault pattern of two for one with The Bull-Dogger and The Crimson Skull.

Shingzie Howard, who had made The Dungeon and The Virgin of Seminole (both in 1922) and then A Son of Satan and The House Behind the Cedars (both in 1924) with Micheaux, corresponded with Norman about the role of Ruth Sawtelle in The Flying Ace. She recommended Harry Henderson for one of the leads, but he was under contract with the Colored Players Film Corporation, the Philadelphia-based company headed by David Starkman, whom Micheaux had savaged to Norman.

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