This entry in the American Film Institute’s Catalog gives production information and a brief summary of the Colored Players’ film, Children of Fate.  It also cites a newspaper article that places the film’s budget at $25,000 (Chicago Defender 27 November 1926, p. 7) as well as Pittsburgh Courier 6 August 1927.  By Elissa Stern

This entry in the American Film Institute’s Catalog gives production information and a brief summary of the Colored Players’ film, Ten Nights in a Barroom.  It also notes the screening of the film in Los Angeles, citing two press sources: California Eagle 25 June 1926, p. 7; California Eagle 26 October 1928.  By Elissa Stern

American Film Institute. (1997). A Prince of His Race. Within our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. (Gevinson, A.,Ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press, 794

This entry in the American Film Institute’s Catalog gives production information and a brief summary of the Colored Players’ film, A Prince of His Race from a Chicago Defender article. A note under the entry puts the budget of this film at $14,000, “a costly figure for black films at that time” (794). Two press citations are also listed: (New York Age, 4 Dec 1926, p. 6; Chicago Defender, 27 Nov 1926, p. 7. By Elissa Stern

American Film Institute.  (1997).  The Scar of Shame.  Within our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 .  (Gevinson, A., Ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press, 885-886.

This entry in the American Film Institute’s Catalog gives production information and a brief summary of the Colored Players’ film, The Scar of Shame.  The entry further quotes lines from the film:  “If early in life some knowing, loving hand lights the lamp of knowledge and with tender care keeps it burning, then our course will run true 'til the end of our useful time on this earth, but if that lamp should fail through lack of loving hands to tend its hungry flame-then will come sorrow and SHAME!” (p. 886).  This quote is attributed to "a modern source" in a note (p. 886).  By Elissa Stern

 Carey.  Baltimore Afro-American,10.  Jan 22, 1927. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.] 

Announces the Colored Players Film Corporation’s Ten Nights in a Barroom on the program of the Carey Theater in Pittsburgh and includes a plot summary.  By Elissa Stern

"Ten Nights in a Bar Room" Gets Showing. Philadelphia Tribune, 3.  Nov 20, 1926.  [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

This article reviews a preview screening of Ten Nights in a Barroom given by the Colored Players Film Corporation at Philadelphia’s Gladstone Theater “before a representative audience.”  The author also mentions a post-screening visit to the CPFC studios where “race artists, electricians, and cameramen” were busily working on a film.  In addition, he notes Starkman’s dissatisfaction with the “indifference and lack of cooperation of certain local theater owners in doing their part to encourage worthwhile Negro pictures”.  By Elissa Stern

Stellar Colored Picture At…Royal Theater Next W…. Philadelphia Tribune, 3. July 17, 1926. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

The article includes a summary of A Prince of His Race by the Colored Players Film Corporation and an announcement for its exhibition at the local Royal Theater. Moreover, the article states that “an excellent supporting cast of local talent” was used in the film. By Elissa Stern

Gilpin Enters Movie’s Realm. Philadelphia Tribune, 3. June 19, 1926. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

This article discusses the involvement of Charles Gilpin, the famed stage actor, in the Colored Players Film Corporation’s Ten Nights in a Barroom and announces a preview screening. Includes brief quotes from Gilpin. By Elissa Stern

At the Elmore. Pittsburgh Courier, 10A. Aug 13, 1927. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

An announcement for the presentation of the Colored Players Film Corporation’s Children of Fate at Pittsburgh’s Elmore Theater touts the film as “a super movie play with an all-star colored cast” and includes a plot summary. By Elissa Stern

Royal. Baltimore Afro-American, 13. April 13, 1929. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

This elaborate full page advertisement for the Colored Players Film Corporation’s The Scar of Shame in Baltimore includes a plot summary and a screen shot reproduction and bills the film as the “First All-Colored Talking Picture!”. By Elissa Stern

Elmore Theater. Pittsburgh Courier, 10A. Aug 6, 1927. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

Advertises a film by the Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia entitled Children of Fate, with the interesting misprint “Children of Hate” as mentioned in Musser (2001). Cites the film as the “most talked-of movie of the year” and “The Greatest Colored Picture Ever.” By Elissa Stern

Scores of Race Theaters Install Talkies. Pittsburgh Courier, p. 9A. March 30, 1929. [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.]

This article provides a reference relating to the film historical context in which the Colored Players Film Corporation was working in the second half of the 1920s, when the silent film industry was on its last legs as sound film took over. By Elissa Stern

Goldwyn, R. (1974, November 17). The Scar of Shame: Why the Fuss over this Old, Made-in-Philadelphia, Silent Black Film.  Sunday Bulletin, Philadelphia Bulletin, p. 16.  [Cited in Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001.278-85.]

By Elissa Stern  

Bowser, P. Lost, Then Found: The Wedding Scene from The Scar of Shame (1929). Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001. 188-9.

This brief article includes a description of a “rediscovered” scene from the Colored Players Film Corporation’s 1929 silent film The Scar of Shame. Bowser also provides bits of information about the history of the actual prints of the film. The American Film Institute acquired 35mm prints of the film around 1970 and this became the commercially available video version. The wedding scene, however, discovered a few years later by Bowser in a 16mm version, is missing from the AFI version.  By Elissa Stern

Cripps, Thomas. Black film as genre / Thomas Cripps. [0253375029] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1978.

This book contains a brief discussion of the Colored Players Film Corporation in its Preface, highlighting the white ownership of the supposedly colored production company. The book also contains analyses of 6 race films (The Scar of Shame, The St. Louis Blues, The Blood of Jesus, The Negro Soldier, Nothing But a Man, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss[sic] Song) in the context of being “black genre films”, a filmography of black genre film (title, date, director), and an appendix with credit information for these 6 films. The chapter devoted to the analysis of the social and historical context of the production of the Colored Players’ 1927 film The Scar of Shame focuses on the use of white cinematographers and directors in the tale of a black middle-class melodrama. He also discusses an attempt to increase black attendance at film screenings.  By Elissa Stern

Musser, C. Appendix C: A Colored Players Film Corporation Filmography. Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001. 278-85.

This filmography of the four films produced by the Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia is by far the most detailed source of information regarding Philadelphia film production in the second half of the 1920s. Musser’s filmography includes cast listings, production credits, the length of the features (all are 8 reels), plot descriptions transcribed from newspaper advertisements, production and screening dates and locations, as well as copious lists of relevant contemporary newspaper citations. By Elissa Stern

Musser, C. Colored Players Film Corporation: An Alternative to Micheaux. Oscar Micheaux and his circle : African-American filmmaking and race cinema of the silent era / Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser editors and curators. [0253339944] Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2001. 178-87.

This article relays detailed information about the organization of the Colored Players Film Corporation, the inter-racial and inter-ethnic context in which its films were produced, and also provides interesting discussion about the rivalry between Colored Players and the company of Oscar Micheaux, including the “st[ealing of] each other’s actors” (Musser, 2001, p. 182). By Elissa Stern