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Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux
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short profile |
"One of the greatest tasks of my life has been to teach that the colored man can be anything."
— Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Devereaux Micheaux was born 2 January 1884 in Illinois, the son of freed slaves, and grew up in Great Bend, Kansas. He worked as a Pullman porter and homestead farmer, and wrote autobiographical novels; when Hollywood wouldn't buy his stories, he took up filmmaking in 1919 (at age 35). He was more skilled at marketing movies than at making them, yet the 44 feature films that he produced over a 30-year span continue to shed valuable light on the harsh realities of African American life.
Micheaux's career began to fizzle, along with race films, in the late 1930s, and he returned to writing fiction, publishing the books himself from Harlem. Of his seven published novels, three were bestsellers. In 1948, he put up his own money to produce "The Betrayal", but the market for race films was gone, and the film bankrupted him.
Oscar Micheaux married Alice B. Russell in 1926, who acted in or co-wrote or co-produced many of his films. He died in obscurity on 25 March 1951 at age 67.
Two-thirds of Micheaux's films are lost, and those surviving are mostly truncated by censorship.
Oscar Micheaux received
a posthumous Golden Jubilee Special Award in 1986
from the Directors Guild of America
and has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
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Links
Oscar Micheaux entry at Wikipedia
Oscar Micheaux credits at Internet Movie Database
Oscar Micheaux Committee fansite
Oscar Micheaux Film & Book Festival {store} in Gregory, South Dakota
DS's Oscar Micheaux fansite in Great Bend, KS
The African American Cinema Society & Archive [est. 1976]
Movies By Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux credits at Internet Movie Database
browse Oscar Micheaux on DVD
 | 'Race Movies' DVD Box Set [2004]
includes "The Girl From Chicago" [1930] written & directed by Oscar Micheaux; "Lying Lips" [1939] written & directed by Oscar Micheaux; "Son of Ingagi" [1940] written by & co-starring Spencer Williams; and "The Girl In Room 20" [1946] directed by & starring Spencer Williams, co-starring Geraldine Brock Echo Bridge Home Ent. b&w DVD [12/2004] for $4.98 |
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"Early Black Entertainment In Film" DVD Box Set [2008]
St. Clair Vision b&w DVD set [1/2008] 3 disks for $9.98 includes "Swing!" [1938 musical] by Oscar Micheaux; "The Duke Is Tops" [1938 musical] starring Ralph Cooper & Lena Horne; "Two Gun Man From Harlem" [1938] starring Herb Jeffries; "God's Step Children" [1938] by Oscar Micheaux; "Moon Over Harlem" [1939]; "The Bronze Buckaroo" [1939] with Herb Jeffries & Spencer Williams; "Harlem Rides The Range" [1939] with Herb Jeffries & Spencer Williams; "The Blood of Jesus" [1941] by Spencer Williams; "Beware" [1946 musical] starring Louis Jordan; "Look Out Sister" [1947 musical Western] by Louis Jordan; "Boy! What A Girl" [1947 musical]; "Hi-De-Ho" [1947 musical] starring Cab Calloway; plus poster gallery, photo gallery & vintage radio show |
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"The Homesteader" [1919] based on his 1917 novel of the same name
"Within Our Gates" [Micheaux Book & Film Co. Jan 1920 silent]
 | Another response to "The Birth of A Nation" [1915], notably in the reversal of a key Griffith scene by depicting a white man assaulting a black woman. A Negro girl from the South visits a cousin in the North, who tricks her into a scandal to get her fiancé. Returning home, the girl helps a preacher running an orphanage & school; when she learns that the state only pays $1.49 per year per child, she returns North to raise funds.
Produced, written & directed by Oscar Micheaux; starring Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements, James D. Ruffin, S.T. Jacks, Charles D. Lucas, Mrs. Evelyn, Bernice Ladd, Jack Chenault & William Smith; listed at National Film Registry (1992)
indep b&w DVD [9/2007] for $19.95 Library of Congress/Smithsonian b&w VHS [2/2007] out of prodn/scarce full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia |
"The Brute" [1920]
"The Dungeon" [1922] B00008N70U
"The Gunsaulus Mystery" [1922] based on the Southern lynching of Leo Frank
"The Virgin of The Seminole" [1922]
"Body and Soul" [1925 silent] starring Paul Robeson
"When Men Betray" [1928]
"Wages of Sin" [1929 film]
"Darktown Revue" [1930]
"A Daughter of The Congo" [1930]
"The Exile" [1931] pOMtheexile.jpg
"Veiled Aristocrats" [1932] adapted from novel
"The House Behind The Cedars" [] by Charles W. Chesnutt [1858-1932]
"The Girl From Chicago" [1933] {on DVD above}
"Murder In Harlem" [Micheaux Pictures Corp. 1935]
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Loosely based on the famous 1913 Leo Frank case in Atlanta, Georgia; sound remake of Micheaux's "The Gunsaulus Mystery" [1922 silent]; also released as "Lem Hawkins' Confession" [1935]. A black night watchman at a chemical factory finds the body of a murdered white woman; after he reports it, the police accuse him of the crime; his sister and her boyfriend prove his innocence.
Co-produced, written & directed by Oscar Micheaux; based on Micheaux's future novel "The Story of Dorothy Stanfield"; co-produced by & starring {wife} Alice B. Russell; starring Clarence Brooks, Dorothy Van Engle, Andrew Bishop, Alec Lovejoy, Laura Bowman, Bee Freeman, Alice B. Russell, Lorenzo McClane & 'Slick' Chester
full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia available on DVD collection above, and on Harlem Double Feature DVD, with Herb Jeffries's "Harlem Rides The Range" [1939] Alpha Home Ent. b&w DVD [11/2006] for $7.98 |
"Underworld" [1936]
"God's Step Children" [Micheaux Pictures Corp. 1938]
 | A light-skinned Negro girl is abandoned by her mother, then adopted and raised with a brother; the girl's bratty teenage antics get her sent to a convent. Years later, she returns and is pressured to marry an older man, a banker; her brother marries and has children. She gives her baby to her adopted mother, then runs away. In the longer version of the film, she drowns herself. Produced & directed by Oscar Micheaux; script by Oscar Micheaux, based on a short treatment "Naomi, Negress" by Alice B. Russell {Micheaux's wife}; starring Jacqueline Lewis, Alice B. Russell, Dorothy Van Engle, Charles Thompson, Ethyl Moses {dual role}, Carman Newsome, Gloria Press, Laura Bowman & Sam Patterson
full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia available on DVD collection above, and on Harlem Double Feature DVD, with Spencer Williams's "Girl In Room 20" [1942] Alpha Home Ent. b&w DVD [11/2006] for $7.98 |
"Swing!" [1938 musical] {on DVD above}
"Birthright" [1939]
"Lying Lips" [Micheaux Film Co. May 1939]
 | A nightclub singer is framed for the murder of her aunt; a black detective (in love with the singer) stays with the case and proves her innocent; she is pardoned and they marry. Co-produced, written & directed by Oscar Micheaux; starring Edna Mae Harris, Carman Newsome, Robert Earl Jones, Frances E. Williams, Cherokee Thornton, Slim Thompson, Gladys Williams & Henry Gines
full credits at IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia available on DVD collection above, and on Harlem Double Feature DVD, with Spencer Williams's "Blood of Jesus" [1941] Alpha Home Ent. b&w DVD [10/2006] for $7.98 |
"The Notorious Elinor Lee" [1940]
"The Betrayal" [1948] based on bestseller novel "The Winds From Nowhere"
Books By Oscar Micheaux
 | "Conquest: The Story of A Negro Pioneer" [1913 novel] A brave Negro homesteader dreams of taming 1,000 acres of land and establishing himself as an example of success for his people; he secures the land but is over-whelmed by struggles with drought, loneliness, and a troubled marriage. Univ Nebraska Press 8x5¼ pb [5/94] for $22.95 Kessinger Publng 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $24.28 S&S/Washington Square Press 8x6½ pb [5/2003] out of print/used Kessinger Publng hardcover [6/2008] for $35.68 |
 | "The Forged Note: A Romance of The Darker Races" [1915 novel]
BiblioBazaar 8¾x5¾ pb [11/2009] for $30.99 Kessinger Publng 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $31.12 Univ MI Library digitalized 8x5 pb [1915 edition] for $29.99 BiblioLife 10x78 hardcover [11/2009] for $35.99 Kessinger Publng 8½x6 hardcover [6/2008] for $40.84 |
 | "The Homesteader: A Novel" [1917]
Essentially a rewrite of "The Conquest"; a young Negro purchases land in South Dakota, and in the face of drought, pestilence & foreclosure, he turns to writing; his marriage to the daughter of a Chicago minister collapses in acrimony and high drama. Kessinger Publng 9x6 pb [10/2007] for $32.64 Univ Nebraska Press 8x5¼ pb [5/94] out of print/used Kessinger Publng 9x6 hardcover [6/2008] for $42.30 made into 1919 movie {see above} |
"The Wind From Nowhere: A Novel of Negro Life" [1941 bestseller]
Book Supply Co. hardcover [1944] out of print/scarce
made into 1948 movie "The Betrayal" {see above}
 | "The Case of Mrs. Wingate" [1944 novel]
Micheaux's biggest success in books: A retired Negro filmmaker living in Harlem meets and marries a black woman raised in Germany, then discovers that she and her brother have been spying for the Nazis. Negro detective Walter Lebaron tracks the brother to the West Indies and brings him back for trial. Book Supply Co. hardcover [1945] out of print/scarce |
 | "The Story of Dorothy Stanfield: Based On A Great Insurance Swindle - and A Woman!" [1946 novel] A second tale involving Negro detective Walter Lebaron; based on Micheaux's 1922 silent feature "The Gunsaulus Mystery" and the 1935 sound remake "Murder In Harlem". A black night watchman at a factory is accused of the murder of a white girl. Kessinger Publng 9x6 pb [3/2007] for $26.56 Kessinger Publng 9x6 hardcover [6/2008] for $37.96 Book Supply Co. hardcover [1946] out of print/used made into 1935 movie "Murder In Harlem" {see above} |
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"The Masquerade: An Historical Novel" [1947] Written by Micheaux as a response to the 1939 Billy Holiday hit record "Strange Fruit" and the 1944 bestseller novel by Lillian Smith. Book Supply Co. hardcover [6/47] out of print/scarce |
Works About Oscar Micheaux
"Oscar Micheaux, Film Pioneer" [1981]
Starring Danny Glover; VHS/DVD/Blu-ray not available;
bare credits at IMDb
"Black Novelist As White Racist: The Myth of Black Inferiority In The Novels Of Oscar Micheaux"
[Greenwood Press 1989] by Joseph A. Young 0313257493
Young, Joseph A.
"The Life and Times of Oscar Micheaux" [] by Earl James Young, Jr. OMicheauxLife&TimesEJY.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Work-Oscar-Micheaux-Filmmaker/dp/0963564579/ = same?
 | "Midnight Ramble: The Story of The Black Film Industry" [P.B.S./American Experience TV documentary aired Oct 1994] Co-produced & co-directed by Bestor Cram; co-directed by Pearl Bowser; narrated by James Avery Shanachie Video color VHS [2/95] out of prodn/used full credits at IMDb |
 | "Writing Himself Into History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films & His Audiences" [2000] by Pearl Bowser & Louise Spence Rutgers Univ Press 9¼x6¼ pb [8/2000] for $25.95 Rutgers Univ Press 9½x6½ hardcover [8/2000] out of print/used |
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"Straight Lick: The Cinema of Oscar Micheaux" [2000] by J. Ronald Green Indiana Univ Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [9/2000] for $29.95 |
 | "Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking & Race Cinema of The Silent Era" [2001] Edited & curated by Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines & Charles Musser Indiana Univ Press 11x9½ hardcover [9/2001] for $42.30 |
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"With A Crooked Stick: The Films of Oscar Micheaux" [2004] by J. Ronald Green Indiana Univ Press 9x6 pb [4/2004] for $27.95 Indiana Univ Press 9½x6¼ [4/2004] for $65.00 |
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"Oscar Micheaux, The Great and Only: The Life of America's First Black Filmmaker" [2007] by Patrick Mcgilligan Harper Perennial 9x6 pb [6/2008] for $11.53 Harper hardcover [6/2007] for $29.95 |
 | "Hollywood On The Hudson: Film & Television In New York From Griffith To Sarnoff" [2008] by Richard Koszarski Rutgers Univ Press 10x7 hardcover [7/2008] for $28.76 covers East Coast filmmakers, writers & actors: Thomas Edison, animators Max & Dave Fleischer, D.W. Griffith, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Oscar Micheaux, Paul Robeson, Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and others |
unproduced screenplay "Sepia Tone: The Oscar Micheaux Story"
written by John Byrd & Amy Ostrower
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