Ebony Film Corporation
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motion picture |
| Founded | 1915 in Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Defunct | 1919 |
| Headquarters | Chicago , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Luther J. Pollard (producer), C. N. David (director), Sam Robinson (actor) |
| Products | Films (two-reel Westerns, newsreels, documentaries, short comedic films) |
Ebony Film Corporation was an American motion picture enterprise established in Chicago in 1915 under the original name Historical Feature Film Company. Its productions were distributed solely through General Film Company. The company's representations of African Americans generated considerable controversy because of their offensive nature. Ebony's branding included a logo depicting a monkey in blackface. The company discontinued its activities by 1919.
The studio specialized in two-reel Westerns, newsreels, documentaries, and short comedic films featuring African American casts, frequently portraying demeaning racial caricatures. The 1918 slapstick comedy A Reckless Rover, directed by C. N. David, is preserved in the Library of Congress archives. This film showcases Keystone Cops-style humor centered on an unwilling employee at a Chinese laundry. Actor Sam Robinson appeared in multiple Ebony comedies, while Luther J. Pollard served as a producer.
An advertisement from Ebony promoted its slate of films and highlighted a production based on Eldred Kurtz Means' "Good Luck in Old Clothes" from the Tickfall Tales series, which was both produced and released.
Filmography
- The Shooting Star (1915)
- Two Knights of Vaudeville (1915), surviving
- Spying the Spy (1915), surviving detective comedy spoofing The Birth of a Nation
- Shine Johnson and the Rabbit's Foot (1917)
- Wrong All Around (1917)
- Dat Blackhand Waitah Man (1917)
- A Reckless Rover (1918), surviving
- Mercy, the Mummy Mumbled (1918), surviving
- The Bully (1918)
- A Black Sherlock Holmes (1918)
- Black and Tan Mix Up (1918)
- Some Baby (1918)
- A Busted Romance (1918)
- Firing the Fakir (1918)
- When You Hit, Hit Hard (1918)
- Are Working Girls Safe? (1918)
- A Milk Fed Hero (1918)
- Busted Romance (1918)
- Good Luck in Old Clothes (1918), adaptation of E. K. Means story from mAll Story Weekly
- Spooks (1917)
- The Porters
- The Janitor
See also
External links
- Ebony Film Company films on IMDb
- Ebony Film Corporation at daaracarchive
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- Film production companies based in Illinois
- African-American cinema
- American companies established in 1915
- 1915 establishments in Illinois
- Defunct companies based in Chicago
- African-American history in Chicago
- 1919 disestablishments in Illinois
- American companies disestablished in 1919
- General Film Company
- African-American cultural history
- Defunct American film studios