William D Foster

The Foster Photoplay Company was the first black film company (which was located at 3312 Wabash Avenue), was formed in 1909 and put out two shorts The Pullman Porter (1910), and The Railroad Porter (1912), which are often credited as the first films directed by a black director with an entirely black cast.

Synopsis of 'The Railroad Porter': Its a short comedy about a railroad porter who leaves to go on his run one day. In his absence, his wife invites a waiter from a colored cafe on State Street home for dinner. The porter returns unexpectedly to find another man sitting at his table and eating his food! Mad and insulted, the porter gets his pistol and chases the man out of his house. The waiter goes and gets his gun, comes back, and chases the porter. Fortunately, both are terrible shots and no one gets hurt. [Actors: Lottie Grady (wife), Jerry Mills (porter), and Edgar Litterson (waiter)].

The film's style has often been compared to that of the Keystone Kops comedies of the same period.

William D. Foster (circa 1860 - 1940), was the first African American to found a film production company. Writing under the name Juli Jones, Foster began his career as a sports writer for the Chicago Defender, then a local African-American newspaper, that had recently been established in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott, which quickly became the nations “most influential Black weekly newspaper.” Foster periodically wrote for other newspapers including the Indianapolis Freeman, where he published an article on “the public discourse on the representation of blacks in white-produced films.” Foster was also a press agent for vaudeville stars such as Bert Williams and George Walker and their revues, as well as worked as a booking agent and business manger for Chicago’s Pekin Theater, a well known vaudeville house. He is known to have incorporated various techniques from other films into his productions, as well as successful comedy elements from the black vaudeville stage. He was a multitalented man who intertwined many careers in the course of his life.

Moving pictures had barely crept out of the nickelodeon to dance upon the silver screen when Foster grasped the profit potential in this new and exciting medium. At the time, the portrayal of Blacks was nothing less than reprehensible. Even the titles of early films like A Nigger in the Woodpile and the degrading classic The Watermelon Contest demonstrated loathing and disrespect for Blacks, and did not try to hide their racist intent.

In 1910, Foster started Foster Photoplay Company in Chicago and set about taking control of the black image into his own hands. He had often booked vaudeville acts for the Robert Mott's Peking Theater Stock Company, and he turned to that pool of talent for his actors. Two years later, The Railroad Porter, was in the can and Foster would produce three more motion pictures in the year that followed.

In 1914, to help promote his previous success, Foster toured the South with a retrospective of the four Foster Photoplay short films. The Railroad Porter, The Fall Guy (1913) another comedy, The Butler (1913) a melodrama. As part of the program, Lottie Grady, the company's leading lady, would sing and entertain between reel changes.

Despite seeing a positive response to his films, and receiving praise for their positive, realistic depictions of black characters, he failed to experience the same level of success as his primarily white competitors. While white-owned production companies received coverage and advertising placement in trade paper publications, the only coverage Foster received was as the result of calling up the Moving Picture World offices himself. He described his productions in detail to the staff writer, saying, “I don’t want you to take my word for it that these comedies are a big hit. I just want you to come and see one of them and laugh your head off.”

A lack of attention from the mainstream trade publications, and an inability to help advance the company further pushed Foster to close the Foster Photoplay Company in 1917. Although he continued to write for a number of publications, he also returned to the world of film, acting as an assistant director in Hollywood in the 1920s. He died in Los Angeles, California in 1940.

The history of race films began with Foster and provided an opportunity for African-Americans to depict their own image in the way they wanted. The Foster Photoplay Company paved the way for Lincoln Motion Picture Company (1915) and Ebony Film Corp. By the 1920s, more than thirty film production companies had been set up to produce films about blacks and black life.

Sources: 50 Most Influential Black Films: A Celebration of African-American Talent, Determination, and Creativity by S. Torriano Berry with Venise T Berry; chicagonitrate.com; Arts & Critiques Blogspot, by Kristen aka Miss Arts Critic