- Collection:
- The Blues, Black Vaudeville, and the Silver Screen, 1912-1930s: Selections from the Records of Macon's Douglass Theatre
- Title:
- Letter: Macon, Georgia to the Colored Players Film Corporation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1927 Oct. 28
- Creator:
- Douglass Theatre (Macon, Ga.)
- Date of Original:
- 1927-10-08
- Subject:
- Colored Players Film Corporation
African Americans in the motion picture industry
African Americans in motion pictures
Race in motion pictures
Race films--United States
Rent charges
Feature films--United States
Motion picture theaters--Georgia--Macon
Commercial agents--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Theater management--Georgia--Macon
Theater managers--Georgia--Macon
Negotiation--Georgia--Macon
Vaudeville--Georgia--Macon
Millionaire (Motion picture : 1927)
Children of fate (Motion picture : 1928)
Douglass Theatre (Macon, Ga.)
Dudley, Sherman H., ca. 1870-1940
Micheaux, Oscar, 1884-1951 - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Bibb County, Macon, 32.84069, -83.6324
- Medium:
- letters (correspondence)
- Type:
- Text
- Format:
- image/jpeg
text/html - Description:
- File copy of a letter from the Douglass Theatre, probably written by Ben Stein, owner and manager of the Douglass Theatre from 1927 to 1929, to the white-owned, Philadelphia-based, Colored Players Film Corporation, dated October 28, 1927, responding to Sherman H. Dudley's letter of the same date asking why the Douglass Theatre has not yet shown Children of Fate (see dbr037 of the Douglass Theatre Web site). The writer explains that he would be willing to show the film for a fair rental price, but that, as he is playing vaudeville, he will not show the film for a percentage proposition. He asks Colored Players Film Corporation to quote him a reasonable price, which he will consider. He concludes by complaining that The Millionaire, for which he paid seventy-five dollars to Oscar Micheaux, seminal African American film director, producer, and president of the Micheaux Film Corporation, did little more business than his regular receipts. The Millionaire, released in 1927, starred Grace Smith, J. Lawrence Criner, Lionel Monagas, Cleo Desmond, Samuel T. Jacks, E. G. Tatum, and Chicago Defender editor Robert S. Abbott. Children of Fate, released in 1926, was one of only three films produced by David Starkman's Colored Players Film Corporation. The film starred Lawrence Chenault, Harry Henderson, Arline Mickey, Howard Agusta, Alonzo Jackson, Shingzie Howard, and William A. Clayton, Jr.
Digital image and encoded transcription of an original manuscript, scanned, transcribed and encoded by the Digital Library of Georgia in 2005, as part of Georgia HomePLACE. This project is supported with federal LSTA funds administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. - Local Identifier:
- dbr036
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/dtrm/id:dbr036
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do:dlg_dtrm_dbr036
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_dtrm_dbr036/presentation/manifest.json
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Cite as: [title of item], Theater Records Series, Charles Henry Douglass, Jr. Business Records, 1906-1967, Middle Georgia Archives, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.
- Extent:
- [1] p.
Manuscript held by the Middle Georgia Archives, Washington Memorial Library, Charles Henry Douglass, Jr. business records, 1906-1967, box 19, folder 173, document 55. - Holding Institution:
- Washington Memorial Library, Middle Georgia Regional Library
- Rights:
-
Page: [1]
October 28th 1927.
Colored Players Film Corp. [Corporation]
1337 Vine St [Street]
Philadelphia Pa. [Pennsylvania]
Gentlemen:.
Your letter in reference to we not having played your picture CHILDREN OF FATE.
I will be glad to play this picture in my theater providing I can get same at a fair rental I am now playing Vaudeville and would not consider a percentage proposition. So if you want to quote me a reasonable price I will consider same. I Paid Micheaux $75.00 for his Millionaire, and did not do hardly that much more than my regular receipts.
Thanking you I am
yours very truly
[Signed] Douglass Theater