Full Transcript
We're going to see the final line. Precious legacy. I'll show you this that I just brought for Sarah. Wouldn't it? To make a note. All right, let me get his information on the escalator. Where's this thing located? We're stopping at the Royal Sinister Hotel. I'm Burbank. No, it's, that's Longview. I don't mean that. I was there, yeah. Where is it in New Orleans? Is it from French Quarter? We're going to, this is February the 5th, and we're talking to Herman Abrams, I'm Ginger Jacobs, and we're in the archives room, and the SMU has just held, as Herman said, the Black Film Festival. Okay, what happened?
Well, it so happened that Professor Bill Jones of SMU had found out that I was the branch manager for Toddy Pictures Company, a distributor of black films in Dallas, in 1943. As a result of that fact, he requested that I appear on a panel on Saturday morning, together with Ozzie Davis, Bill Greaves, Bob O'Brien, to discuss the background and history of black films in America. What about Ozzie Davis? You mentioned the other gentlemen that were on the panel with you. What were their backgrounds? Ozzie Davis is a very well-known actor and director of black films and also appears as a character actor on TV. In fact, he was the police of chief in the series of Stotsky and Posh on television.
Bill Greaves is at present producing black films in New York and has also appeared in some of the films that were shown the following day where he was an actor And he has been in the field for about 40 years Dr Barbara Bryant who received her Ph in Chicago is also the head of Phoenix Films a non film distributor of educational films, and she was also a guest on this panel. The panel discussed not only the present situation that reference a black film, but they discussed how it was that the black films were distributed to black theaters at that time and were shown primarily to black audiences.
There were instances of where certain theaters made it possible for black people to come to a special showing of their films at an appropriate time. The question came up as to how it happens that the black film distribution and production had disappeared. And the answer primarily seems to be that in view of the fact that some of the stars were able to participate in the type of motion pictures that were good for black people and white people, for example, movies like Cabin in the Sky, Stormy Weather, And as another example, you have somebody like Lena Horne. Lena Horne in bronze Venus was distributed by Toddy Pictures over 40 years ago.
And in those days, the actors and actresses served for very, very little money. And you can imagine how much it cost to get Lena Horne today to participate in the film. so the answer is that the people who were originally active in black films and that is where they made their beginnings later transferred over to other areas and motion pictures where they were able to make more money so were they just assimilated into the white I'm saying white as in quotes well you have other factors that were mentioned, for example, the subject of Cab Calloway was brought up. And I told about the fact that many years ago I went to see Cab Calloway on Broadway and there were lines two or three blocks long waiting to see him And from their viewpoint, as the people on the panel discussed Cad Calloway as a figure who was handled by white people, Whereas in our discussion, we were talking about people in moving pictures where the technicians, the producer, the director were all black.
People like Michaud Films and one or two others who produced and distributed black films and who eventually got out of the business because, as it happens, the people who participated as actors and actresses became older. Those that were good transferred into other fields, and that's why the distribution of films had ended at that time. As far as the finding of the black films is concerned, most of the black films came from one or two other distributors here in Dallas, not necessarily from Ted Tide. and what had happened was that when the buildings that were the film exchanges were torn down they were located across the street from the Lone Star Gas Company on Harvard Street that these films were sent to this warehouse in Tyler, Texas and one day a man called Professor Bill Jones and told him that he had some films there knowing that he was a film archivist for SMU and suggested that they come over and look at the films and that if he did not want the films he would simply throw them away.
Lo and behold, Bill Jones came out there and opened up the film canisters and was amazed to see that he had a valuable find there and they were able to save about 20 of the films and as it happens, some of the films had become completely lost because they were made of nitrate film and they had simply dissolved. So that the fact remains that Bill Davis arranged to pick up the films and then as it happens, he contacted the Zale Corporation and the Vice president in charge of the jewelry division a man by the name of William Harris who is black had arranged through the Zale Corporation to provide the sum of to restore these films and this film festival had been in the planning for quite a long time.
I might also state that the next day when all of the films available, most of the films available were shown, it turned out that they had standing room only. More people came than they had anticipated, and so the final fact is that Bill Jones plans to have another film festival so that other people who wanted to see various films would be able to see them. In addition, he has further plans to make numbers of prints of these films so that they can be shown in various parts of the country. And also, he is planning to convert these films into 16mm films so that they would be available to be shown in various black high schools and colleges and others who are interested in this project.
And eventually, they hope that these films will be available on videotapes so that people will be able to buy or rent the films and see them in their home. That tells the story of the black film festival. Do you have any idea on why Dallas was chosen, or why these films were made in the Dallas area? or Dallas? These films were not made in the Dallas area, they were distributed in the Dallas area. And the question was asked of me, how come that they were just one or two distributors who did that, and how come that the other big distributors didn't pick up any of this product?
Well, Well, the fact remains that there were only one or two distributors who felt that they had something unique and that they were able to distribute these black films only because they also had other films available. For example, we had a Catholic picture called Eternal Gift. We had another picture called Scorched Earth, which made a lot of money at that time and dealt with the war atrocities and we also had a number of westerns, two or three series of westerns that we had available so that at the same time that we were able to book these films in black theaters, we also were able to book the westerns as well as the black film so that the balance between the two made it possible for the exchange to make enough money to carry on its business.
The fact remains that in 1948, Ted Toddy had arranged a series of eight feature films to be produced. And this was at a time when most of the major studios were distributing 40 and 50 films a year, because in those days, most of the theaters showed three double features a week and therefore required 312 films a year so that they bought films wherever they could get them. From the other side, the black audiences were hungry for any kind of film that they could get to see because it gave them an identity to identify with these actors and actresses that more or less represented their culture, their way of life.
And Ted Toddy was interested enough and smart enough to realize that black people were not interested in dramas. They were interested in musical comedies, in comedies and in outdoor films So that he had stars at that time like Pygmy Markham and Manton Morland who became very well known among the black people at that time because of the fact that they brought out the lighthearted comedy, singing and dancing that people looked for at that time. I don't know. I'm a Tadi. I'm a Tadi. ...is about Tadi. You're saying Tadi was Jewish. He is Jewish. I mean, he is still around? I don't think he's alive. Now, is he a local?
Was he from Dallas? He was from New York. Just like the article that I left you said, I left New York to come to Dallas, Texas to be the manager for Tony Pitch's Company. His main operation was located in Atlanta, Georgia, under the name of Fitzy National Company, under which he produced his films. He distributed his films as Tony Pitch's Company. Okay, did he handle other films other than his own films? No. Like MGM, Columbia, and all of the other? He couldn't. Or they distributed their own films and those things? So each individual film studio... Well, he was one of the independent distributors, as we call him.
Okay. Look at this. And you can fold it. Okay. So then they went ahead and they interviewed you on national TV? CBS all over the country except in Dallas, but nothing came out of it yet. Of course, I asked my family to watch it, and they said I didn't appear. So I can't say anything about that.
