Ebony Film Corporation Explained

Ebony Film Corporation was a film company established in Chicago in 1915 as Historical Feature Film Company.^[1] Its films were distributed "exclusively" by General Film Company. The company's films and its depictions of African Americans caused outrage and opposition from African Americans.^[1] The company used a logo of a monkey in blackface.^[2] The business folded in 1919.

The company produced two-reel Westerns, newsreels, and documentaries^[3] as well as several short comedy films with African American casts depicting degrading racial stereotypes. A Reckless Rover is a 1918 slapstick comedy film that survives in the Library of Congress' collection. The film credits C. N. David as its director and features a man who does not want to get out of bed pursued by bumbling Keystone Cops style antics. He is put to work in a Chinese laundry and various antics ensue.^[4] Sam Robinson starred in several of Ebony's slapstick comedy films. Luther J. Pollard was credited as a producer.^{[5] [6]}

One of the company's advertisements listed its film offerings and teased the coming of a film adaptation of Eldred Kurtz Means' story "Good Luck in Old Clothes" s from the Tickfall Tales series.^[7] The film was produced.^[8]

Filmography

• The Shooting Star (1915)
• Two Knights of Vaudeville (1915),^[9] extant
• Spying the Spy (1915), an extant detective comedy that parodies The Birth of a Nation^[10]
• Shine Johnson and the Rabbit's Foot (1917)
• Wrong All Around (1917)
• Dat Blackhand Waitah Man (1917)
• A Reckless Rover (1918), extant
• Mercy, the Mummy Mumbled (1918), extant
• The Bully (1918)
• A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918)
• Black and Tan Mix Up (1918)
• Some Baby (1918)
• A Busted Romance (1918)
• Firing the Fakir (1918)
• When You Hit, Hit Hard (1918)
• Are Working Girls Safe? (1918)
• The Porters
• The Janitor
• A Milk Fed Hero (1918)
• Busted Romance (1918)^[11]
• Good Luck in Old Clothes (1918)^[12] an adaptation of the E. K. Means atory that appeared in the 'mAll Story Weekly
• Spooks (1917)

See also

• Lincoln Motion Picture Company
• REOL Productions

External links

• Ebony Film Company films on IMDb
• Ebony Film Corporation at daaracarchive

Notes and References

1. Web site: Hemann . Mitch . 17 January 2017 . The Rise and Fall of Ebony Films . 2021-07-30 . Norman Studios.
2. Waterman . Richard W. . 9 October 2019 . The dark side of the farce: racism in early cinema, 1894–1915 . Politics, Groups, and Identities . 9 . 4 . Informa UK Limited . 784–806 . 10.1080/21565503.2019.1674670 . 214140441 . 2156-5503.
3. Web site: How Oscar Micheaux defied Hollywood to make the first all-black feature film. Richard. Trenholm. CNET.
4. Web site: A Reckless Rover. The Criterion Channel.
5. News: Luther J. Pollard . The New York Times . 13 October 1977 .
6. Luther J. Pollard: Ebony Film Corp by Kevin Scott Collier (2017)
7. Web site: Good Luck in Old Clothes (1918) . IMDb . 30 July 2021 . 30 July 2021. Film Card, Ebony Film Corporation (1918)
8. Good Luck in Old Clothes at IMDb.
9. News: 'Pioneers of African-American Cinema': Black Filmmaking Aborning (Published 2016). J.. Hoberman. The New York Times . August 10, 2016.
10. Web site: Ask Geoffrey: What's the Story with Ebony Films in Logan Square?. WTTW News.
11. Web site: Chicago Film Office — Movies Filmed in Chicago .
12. Web site: Slapstick Divas: The Women of Silent Comedy . Massa . Steve .