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{{short description|American film director}}
{{for|the explorer|Richard Maurice (explorer)}}
{{for|the explorer|Richard Maurice (explorer)}}

{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
| name = Richard D. Maurice
| name = Richard D. Maurice
| honorific_suffix =
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image = Richard D Maurice.jpg
| image_size =
| image_size =
| alt =
| alt =
| caption =
| caption = Richard D. Maurice in a scene from the film ''Eleven P.M.''
| birth_name = Richard Danal Maurice
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|06|14}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1893|06|14}}
| birth_place = [[Matanzas|Matanzas, Cuba]]
| birth_place = [[Matanzas|Matanzas, Cuba]]
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| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| monuments =
| monuments =
| residence = [[Detroit]], [[New York City]]
| nationality =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| other_names =
| ethnicity = <!-- Ethnicity should be supported with a citation from a reliable source -->
| citizenship =
| citizenship =
| education =
| education =
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| notable_works = ''Eleven P.M.''
| notable_works = ''Eleven P.M.''
| style =
| style =
| influences =
| spouse = Vivian Irene "Birdie I." Madison<br>
| influenced =
| home_town = [[Detroit]]
| spouse = Birdie I. Madison<br>Vivian
| children = Richard D. Maurice, Jr. (b. 1916)<br>Wanda Irene Maurice (b. 1923)
| children = Richard D. Maurice, Jr. (b. 1916)<br>Wanda Irene Maurice (b. 1923)
| box_width =
}}
}}
'''Richard D. Maurice''' (born June 14, 1893 - February 5, 1955) was a pioneering filmmaker of [[Africa]]n descent during the [[silent film|silent era]]. Later he became involved in labor organizing and helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union.
'''Richard D. Maurice''' (June 14, 1893 – February 5, 1955) was a pioneering filmmaker during the [[silent film|silent era]]. Later, he became involved in labor organizing and helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers [[Trade union|union]]. He was of [[Africa]]n descent.


== Early years ==
== Early years ==
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{{cite web
{{cite web
|url=http://www.ancestry.com
|url=http://www.ancestry.com
|title= Fifteenth Census of the United States (1930) [database on-line] , Detroit (Ward 16), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 82-515, Page: 2A, Line: 5, household of Richard Maurice
|title= Fifteenth Census of the United States (1930) [database on-line], Detroit (Ward 16), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 82-515, Page: 2A, Line: 5, household of Richard Maurice
|publisher= The Generations Network
|publisher= The Generations Network
|location= [[United States]]
|location= [[United States]]
Line 66: Line 61:
|accessdate=2009-09-23
|accessdate=2009-09-23
}}
}}
</ref> He lived in [[Detroit]], where he owned and operated a tailor's shop.<ref name='1920-USCensus'>
</ref> He lived in [[Detroit]], where he owned a tailor's shop.<ref name='1920-USCensus'>
{{cite web
{{cite web
|url=http://www.ancestry.com
|url=http://www.ancestry.com
|title= Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920) [database on-line] , Detroit (3rd Ward), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 94, Page: 4A, Line: 2, household of Richard D. Maurice
|title= Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920) [database on-line], Detroit (3rd Ward), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 94, Page: 4A, Line: 2, household of Richard D. Maurice
|publisher= The Generations Network
|publisher= The Generations Network
|location= [[United States]]
|location= [[United States]]
Line 78: Line 73:


== Entertainment career ==
== Entertainment career ==
[[File:Ad for film Nobody's Children.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Advertisement for the film, ''Nobody's Children'']]
⚫
In July 1920, he founded the Maurice Film Company. Its offices were at 184 High Street in Detroit. The film production company released two feature films almost ten years apart. ''Nobody's Children'' (originally titled, "Our Christianity and Nobody's Child"), the company's first feature, premiered at E. B. Dudley's Vaudette Theatre in Detroit on Monday, September 27, 1920, and played widely within the eastern United States.<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'>{{cite book|author=Bowser, Pearl |editor1=Gaines, Jane |editor2=Musser, Charles|year=2001|title=Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era|location=Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN|chapter=Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company |chapter-url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/edited_volume/chapter/1767376|isbn=0-253-33994-4|pages=191–194|publisher=Indiana University Press}}</ref><ref name='BIBAW'>{{cite book|author=Sampson, Henry T.|year=1977|title=Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films|location=Metuchen, NJ|isbn=0-8108-1023-9|pages=76, 97|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.}}</ref> While extensive documentation exists regarding the release of ''Nobody's Children'', no prints are known to exist.


⚫
Very little is known about the release of ''Eleven P.M.'', Maurice's second and only known surviving feature. It is generally dated 1928, but Pearl Bowser and [[Charles Musser]] in their essay, "Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company," speculate that the experimental film may have been completed the following year or possibly even 1930 because it "possesses a cinematic style and internal evocations of other race films" of the period.<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'/> Historian [[Henry Sampson (inventor)|Henry T. Sampson]] described it as one of the most outstanding black films of the silent era. Bowser and Musser also praise the film by stating, "Maurice's innovative use of cinematography—location filming, unusual angles, and tracking shots as well as special, almost surrealist effects—distinguish the film from its surviving counterparts of race cinema."<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'/>
⚫
In July 1920, he founded the Maurice Film Company, with offices at 184 High Street in Detroit. It released two feature films, made almost ten years apart. ''Nobody's Children'', the company's first feature, premiered at E.B. Dudley's Vaudette Theatre in Detroit on Monday, September 27, 1920 and played widely within the eastern United States.<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'>{{cite book|author=Bowser, Pearl |editor=Jane Gaines |editor2=Charles Musser |year=2001|title=Oscar Micheaux and His Circle|location=Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN|work=Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company|isbn=0-253-33994-4|pages=191–194|publisher=Indiana University Press}}</ref><ref name='BIBAW'>{{cite book|author=Sampson, Henry T.|year=1977|title=Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films|location=Metuchen, NJ|isbn=0-8108-1023-9|pages=76, 97|publisher=The Scarecrow Press, Inc.}}</ref>


⚫
His involvement in the motion picture industry lasted at least until the early 1930s. He's listed as a motion picture producer in the 1930 U.S. Census.<ref name='1930-USCensus'/> By 1936, when his daughter Wanda was baptized, he was apparently living in [[New York City]].<ref name='NY-Episcopal-Records'>{{cite web
⚫
While extensive documentation exists regarding the release of ''Nobody's Children'' (however, no prints are known to exist), very little is known about the release of ''Eleven P.M.'', Maurice's second and only known surviving feature. It is generally dated 1928, but Pearl Bowser and [[Charles Musser]] in their essay, "Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company," speculate that the experimental film may have been completed the following year or possibly even 1930 because it "possesses a cinematic style and internal evocations of other race films" of the period.<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'/>
|url=http://www.ancestry.com

|title= New York, Episcopal Diocese of New York Church Records, 1767-1970 [database on-line]
It is regarded by historian [[Henry Sampson (inventor)|Henry T. Sampson]] as one of the most outstanding black films of the silent era.
|publisher= The Generations Network

|location= [[United States]]
Bowser and Musser also praise the film by stating, "Maurice's innovative use of cinematography&ndash;location filming, unusual angles, and tracking shots as well as special, almost surrealist effects&ndash;distinguish the film from its surviving counterparts of race cinema."<ref name='OscarMicheaux&HisCircle'/>
|accessdate=2019-01-10

}}
⚫
His involvement in the motion picture industry lasted at least until the early 1930s. He's listed as a motion picture producer in the 1930 U.S. Census.<ref name='1930-USCensus'/>
</ref>


== Involvement in organized labor ==
== Involvement in organized labor ==
In 1940, Maurice became involved in dining-car service as a waiter for the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] in [[New York City]]. Following his move three years later to the [[New York Central Railroad]] in the same capacity, he helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union, local 370.<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'>{{cite book |title=Hearings Before The Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/34092214/1951-Subversive-Influence-in-the-Dining-Car-and-Railroad-Food-Workers-Union |year=1951 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |pages=14, 47–54, 67–68 |chapter=Testimony of Richard D. Maurice, New York City, N.Y. |quote=I have a copy here of the Amsterdam News, which contained a release by Richard D. Maurice, of New York City, who was one of the founders of the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers, but who broke with the organization.}}</ref>
In 1940, Maurice became involved in dining-car service as a waiter for the [[Atlantic Coast Line Railroad]] in New York City. Following his move three years later to the [[New York Central Railroad]] in the same capacity, he helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union, local 370.<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'>{{cite book |title=Hearings Before The Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/34092214/1951-Subversive-Influence-in-the-Dining-Car-and-Railroad-Food-Workers-Union |year=1951 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |pages=14, 47–54, 67–68 |chapter=Testimony of Richard D. Maurice, New York City, N.Y. |quote=I have a copy here of the Amsterdam News, which contained a release by Richard D. Maurice, of New York City, who was one of the founders of the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers, but who broke with the organization.}}</ref>


In 1946, Maurice began to have major disagreements with the union. His dissatisfaction with the union culminated in an [[editorial|op-ed piece]] published in the ''[[Amsterdam News]]'' in which he accused the union leadership of being ineffective in representing the rights of rank-and-file workers.<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'/>
In 1946, Maurice began to have major disagreements with the union. His dissatisfaction with the union culminated in an [[editorial|op-ed piece]] published in the ''[[Amsterdam News]]'' in which he accused the union leadership of being ineffective in representing the rights of rank-and-file workers.<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'/>


In August 1951, after he left the union, Maurice testified before a subcommittee of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], headed by Senator [[James Eastland|James O. Eastland]] of Mississippi. The Subcommittee Investigating Subversive Influence in the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers Union also included Senator [[Pat McCarran]] of Nevada and Senator [[Arthur V. Watkins]] of Utah. The subcommittee was formed in the wake of the [[McCarran Internal Security Act|Internal Security Act]]. During his testimony, Maurice accused Solon C. Bell, the union's president, and several key union officials as being affiliated with the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]].<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'/>
In August 1951, after he left the union, Maurice testified before a subcommittee of the [[United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary|Senate Judiciary Committee]], headed by Senator [[James Eastland|James O. Eastland]] of Mississippi. The Subcommittee Investigating Subversive Influence in the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers Union also included Senator [[Pat McCarran]] of Nevada and Senator [[Arthur V. Watkins]] of Utah. The subcommittee was formed in the wake of the [[McCarran Internal Security Act|Internal Security Act]]. During his testimony, Maurice accused [[Solon C. Bell]], the union's president, and several key union officials of being affiliated with the [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]].<ref name='SIITDCARFWU-1951'/>


He died in New York City on February 5, 1955.<ref name='NY-Death-Index'/>
He died in New York City on February 5, 1955.<ref name='NY-Death-Index'/>


==Filmography==
==Filmography==
[[File:Eleven P.M. (1928).webm|thumb|''Eleven P.M.'' (1928)]]
* ''Nobody's Children'' (1920)
* ''Nobody's Children'' (1920) considered [[Lost film|lost]]
* ''Home Brew'' (1920) [short]
* ''Home Brew'' (1920) [short]
* ''Eleven P.M.'' (1928)
* ''Eleven P.M.'' (1928)

==Legacy==
A 2020 screening by a historical society with a panel discussion was scheduled but postponed due to the Covid epidemic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://detroithistorical.org/things-do/events-calendar/events-listing/postponed-eleven-pm-senate-theater|title=Postponed - Eleven P.M. At the Senate Theater &#124; Detroit Historical Society}}</ref>


==References==
==References==
Line 111: Line 113:


==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0561131}}
* {{IMDb name|0561131}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:African-American film directors]]
[[Category:African-American film directors]]
[[Category:American labor leaders]]
[[Category:American trade union leaders]]
[[Category:American people in rail transportation]]
[[Category:American people in rail transportation]]
[[Category:Cuban film directors]]
[[Category:Cuban film directors]]
Line 125: Line 127:
[[Category:People from Matanzas]]
[[Category:People from Matanzas]]
[[Category:Race films]]
[[Category:Race films]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American people]]

Latest revision as of 21:02, 30 July 2024

For the explorer, see Richard Maurice (explorer).
Richard D. Maurice
Richard D. Maurice in a scene from the film Eleven P.M.
Born(1893-06-14)June 14, 1893
Matanzas, Cuba
DiedFebruary 5, 1955(1955-02-05) (aged 61)[1]
New York City[1]
Occupation(s)Film director, union organizer
Notable workEleven P.M.
Spouse(s)Vivian Irene "Birdie I." Madison
ChildrenRichard D. Maurice, Jr. (b. 1916)
Wanda Irene Maurice (b. 1923)

Richard D. Maurice (June 14, 1893 – February 5, 1955) was a pioneering filmmaker during the silent era. Later, he became involved in labor organizing and helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union. He was of African descent.

Early years

[edit]

Richard Danal Maurice was born in Matanzas, Cuba on June 14, 1893.[2] In 1903, Maurice immigrated to the United States.[3] He lived in Detroit, where he owned a tailor's shop.[4]

Entertainment career

[edit]
Advertisement for the film, Nobody's Children

In July 1920, he founded the Maurice Film Company. Its offices were at 184 High Street in Detroit. The film production company released two feature films almost ten years apart. Nobody's Children (originally titled, "Our Christianity and Nobody's Child"), the company's first feature, premiered at E. B. Dudley's Vaudette Theatre in Detroit on Monday, September 27, 1920, and played widely within the eastern United States.[5][6] While extensive documentation exists regarding the release of Nobody's Children, no prints are known to exist.

Very little is known about the release of Eleven P.M., Maurice's second and only known surviving feature. It is generally dated 1928, but Pearl Bowser and Charles Musser in their essay, "Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company," speculate that the experimental film may have been completed the following year or possibly even 1930 because it "possesses a cinematic style and internal evocations of other race films" of the period.[5] Historian Henry T. Sampson described it as one of the most outstanding black films of the silent era. Bowser and Musser also praise the film by stating, "Maurice's innovative use of cinematography—location filming, unusual angles, and tracking shots as well as special, almost surrealist effects—distinguish the film from its surviving counterparts of race cinema."[5]

His involvement in the motion picture industry lasted at least until the early 1930s. He's listed as a motion picture producer in the 1930 U.S. Census.[3] By 1936, when his daughter Wanda was baptized, he was apparently living in New York City.[7]

Involvement in organized labor

[edit]

In 1940, Maurice became involved in dining-car service as a waiter for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in New York City. Following his move three years later to the New York Central Railroad in the same capacity, he helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union, local 370.[8]

In 1946, Maurice began to have major disagreements with the union. His dissatisfaction with the union culminated in an op-ed piece published in the Amsterdam News in which he accused the union leadership of being ineffective in representing the rights of rank-and-file workers.[8]

In August 1951, after he left the union, Maurice testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Senator James O. Eastland of Mississippi. The Subcommittee Investigating Subversive Influence in the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers Union also included Senator Pat McCarran of Nevada and Senator Arthur V. Watkins of Utah. The subcommittee was formed in the wake of the Internal Security Act. During his testimony, Maurice accused Solon C. Bell, the union's president, and several key union officials of being affiliated with the Communist Party.[8]

He died in New York City on February 5, 1955.[1]

Filmography

[edit]
Eleven P.M. (1928)
  • Nobody's Children (1920) considered lost
  • Home Brew (1920) [short]
  • Eleven P.M. (1928)

Legacy

[edit]

A 2020 screening by a historical society with a panel discussion was scheduled but postponed due to the Covid epidemic.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "New York, New York Death Index, 1949-1965 [database on-line]". United States: The Generations Network. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  2. ^ "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]". United States: The Generations Network. 1917. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  3. ^ a b "Fifteenth Census of the United States (1930) [database on-line], Detroit (Ward 16), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 82-515, Page: 2A, Line: 5, household of Richard Maurice". United States: The Generations Network. 1930-04-07. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  4. ^ "Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920) [database on-line], Detroit (3rd Ward), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 94, Page: 4A, Line: 2, household of Richard D. Maurice". United States: The Generations Network. 1920-01-05. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
  5. ^ a b c Bowser, Pearl (2001). "Richard D. Maurice and the Maurice Film Company". In Gaines, Jane; Musser, Charles (eds.). Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 191–194. ISBN 0-253-33994-4.
  6. ^ Sampson, Henry T. (1977). Blacks in Black and White: A Source Book on Black Films. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 76, 97. ISBN 0-8108-1023-9.
  7. ^ "New York, Episcopal Diocese of New York Church Records, 1767-1970 [database on-line]". United States: The Generations Network. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  8. ^ a b c "Testimony of Richard D. Maurice, New York City, N.Y.". Hearings Before The Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. 1951. pp. 14, 47–54, 67–68. I have a copy here of the Amsterdam News, which contained a release by Richard D. Maurice, of New York City, who was one of the founders of the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers, but who broke with the organization.
  9. ^ "Postponed - Eleven P.M. At the Senate Theater | Detroit Historical Society".

Further reading

[edit]
  • Bowser, Pearl; Jane Gaines; Charles Musser (2001). Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking of the Silent Era. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33994-4.
  • Alan Gevinson, ed. (1997). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 309–310. ISBN 0520209648.
[edit]
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