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For a quarter of a century we had to be satisfied with slap-sticks and the most vulgar form of suggestive stuff 'put over' by so-called colored comedians who lived simply because they were a novelty on the white stage and from whom the white man expected nothing but buffoonery; but with the onward march of progress a new day in theatricals had to be ushered in, and it took the ever-ready and far-seeing Jews to give us our first real chance at a 'flyer' in the drama. When Mr. Robert Levy and his associates decided to take over the Lafayette Theater in New York they made it their business to get in touch with a number of well-known colored people and attempted to sound them out on what the race here in New York wanted.
- Romeo L. Dougherty, The Competitor, January 1920
On 23 January 1921, Black entertainment critic J.A. Jackson announced that Robert Levy, former owner and operator of the Quality Amusement Corporation, a race theater concern that managed the Lafayette Players, was throwing his hat into the ring of race film production. Capitalized with $300,000, Levy's Reol Productions aimed to produce 'high-class pictures with colored actors', making possible 'continuous employment' for Black performers while advertising that no shares would be for sale to the general public.1 Jackson's column and a subsequent Chicago Defender advertisement highlightedLevy's extensive experiencewith motion pictures (as former general manager of the Éclair Company in Los Angeles) and serious Black drama with the Lafayette Players, as well as his interest in the thoughts and opinions of the African American community.2 This coverage positioned Levy as asympathetic professional looking to present serious views of Black characters and also differentiatedReol fromcompetitors such as racefilm pioneer and relentless self-promoter Oscar Micheaux.3
In contrast to Micheaux's status as an industry outsider and his problems with discontinuous financing, Reol boasted a well-heeled, well-connected, and professionalized industry image; Micheaux himself noted that Levy and other Jews were his greatest rivals in the first half of the 1920s.4 Based in New York City, with distribution offices in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and Cleveland, the Reol Productions Corporation produced and distributed twelve films to a circuit of over three hundred theaters from 1921 to 1926.5 Reol's offerings included...