Robert Levy

Robert Levy (1888–1959) was an English-born theatre manager and film producer in the United States. Levy was the general manager of the Lafayette Players, overseeing the production of more than one hundred stage plays featuring black actors in Harlem. He founded REOL Productions, and was one of the earliest producers of race films, overseeing the production of twelve silent films featuring all-black casts. He adapted work from black writers. Over the next few years he produced nine feature-length films and two documentaries. They featured Black actors such as Clarence Muse, Lawrence Chenault, Andrew S. Bishop, Sherman Dudley, Edna Morton, Inez Clough and Evelyn Preer and their involvement in these films often propelled them into larger careers.

Levy purchased the rights to The Sport of the Gods and The Uncalled, works by acclaimed Black writer Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the early 1920s, race films were gaining prominence as a form of popular entertainment. The independent productions struggled to compete with the larger funding and distribution available to the big studios. By 1924 Levy faced the problem of finding distribution outlets for his films and closed his company.

In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service chose the promotional poster for The Sport of the Gods, Reol's first released film, to be featured on a postage stamp honouring Black film.

Managing Lafayette Players in LA

Levy attempted to revive the Lafayette Players on the West Coast after the demise of Reol Films. He brought the troupe from Harlem to Los Angeles, where they became a major attraction, performing weekly from June 1928 until the end of 1929 new shows first in the 1250 seats palace - the Lincoln Theatre and later in Orange Grove Theatre. After staging close to forty shows on the West Coast with Lafayette Players, which included Evelyn Preer, Abbie Mitchell, Sidney Kirkpatrick, Laura Bowman, and Andrew Bishop, Levy had to quit. 1929, the Great Depression hit, forcing theatres in LA and across the country to close.

Later life He returned to New York City in the early 1930s and accepted a job as a magazine editor working for famous publisher Martin Goodman. Levy, as editor, became a leading creator of detective magazines. His work in this area helped to establish the material for many film noir projects in the thirties and forties. He died in 1959, unrecognised by posterity for his pioneering role in Black theatre and film.

Theatrical productions with African American casts at Lafayette Theatre The following is a list of all of the (all Black) theatre productions that Levy was responsible for at the Lafayette Theatre between 1916 and 1919.

1928Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre

Cosmopolitan Theatre. Madame X Alexander Bisson18 September 19161920

1927New Amsterdam Theatre

New York Theatre

Hackett Theatre

Academy of Music

Grand Opera

Princess TheatreRafflesEugene Prebre,

E.W. Hornung27 November 19161904

1910Savoy Theatre

Majestic TheatreGet RichRich Wallingford

George M. Cohan's TheatreTrilbyPaul Potter adapted by DuMaurier26 March 19171895

1905

1915

1921Garden Theatre

New Amsterdam Theatre

Shubert Theatre

1942Wallack's Theatre

Grand Opera Theatre

1908

1917Princess Theatre

Daly's Theatre

Academy of Music Theatre

Grand Opera Theatre

(American Version)Stanislaus Stange23 July 1917.The TrafficRachael Marshall

Edgar Allan Woolf

Garrick's TheatreThe Silent WitnessJack Deleon

Casino Theatre

39th Street TheatreThe Blindness of VirtueCosmo Hamilton24 June 1918191239th Street TheatreA Butterfly on the Wheel?Edward G. Hammerde

F. Neilson

1912Herald Square Theatre

Adolphe D'Ennery17 February 19191904

1874

1926New Amsterdam Theatre

Union Square Theatre

Robert Homans 23 June 19191916Cort Theatre

Filmography REOP made ten films between 1920 and 1924 including:

Eyes of Youth (1920) The Burden of Race (1921) The Spirit of the Gods (1921)