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

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