White Robes, Silver Screens: Movies and the Making of the Ku Klux Klan

326 Pages·2016·10.23 MB·English

by  Tom Rice

B E S
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H I T E
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WHITE ROBES SILVER SCREENS
MOVIES AND THE MAKING OF THE KU KLUX KLAN
TOM RICE
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of Manufactured in the
United States of America
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing Library of Congress
Herman B Wells Library 350 Cataloging-in-Publication Data
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA Rice, Tom.
White robes, silver screens :
iupress.indiana.edu movies and the making of the
Ku Klux Klan / Tom Rice.
© 2015 by Tom Rice pages cm
Includes bibliographical
All rights reserved references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01843-4 (pbk. : alk.
No part of this book may be reproduced paper) – ISBN 978-0-253-01836-6 (cloth
or utilized in any form or by any means, : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-0-253-01848-9
electronic or mechanical, including (ebook) 1. Ku Klux Klan (1915- ) –
photo copying and recording, or by In motion pictures. 2. Ku Klux Klan
any information storage and retrieval (1915– ) – History. 3. Motion picture
system, without permission in writing industry – Political aspects – United
from the publisher. The Association States – History – 20th century.
of American University Presses’ 4. Motion pictures in propaganda –
Resolution on Per missions constitutes United States – History – 20th century.
the only exception to this prohibition. 5. Birth of a nation (Motion picture) –
Influence. I. Title.
The paper used in this publication PN1995.9.K75R53 2015
meets the minimum requirements of 791.43'655 – dc23
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Contents
· Acknowledgments vii
· Preface xi
1 Re-Birth: The Birth of a Nation and
the Growth of the Klan 1
2 The Battle: Censorship, Reform, and the Klan’s
Campaign against the Film Industry 54
3 Klan Cinema: The Klan as Producer
and Exhibitor 106
4 On Mainstream Screens: The Film
Industry’s Response to the Klan 167
Epilogue 225
· Notes 231
· Bibliography 267
· Index 281
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Acknowledgments
I am well aware that most people who read acknowl-
edgments do so in the hope of finding their own names. I must therefore
begin with an apology to those missing from these pages. What follows
is certainly not an exhaustive list of those deserving thanks, and I am
extremely grateful to everyone who has offered me support, suggestions,
and distractions during the writing of this book.
The project began many years ago while I was studying at the Uni-
versity of Southampton, and would not have progressed beyond an initial
idea without the inspiring teaching of Mike Hammond and John Old-
field. Since then I have been extremely fortunate to work more closely
with Lee Grieveson, who has had an enormous influence on my work.
Over the last decade, Lee has been a constant source of support, read-
ing every page, challenging every idea, and answering every question.
Occasionally he has done so without complaint. Writing any book – and
perhaps more so one that takes as its subject the Ku Klux Klan – can be
a lonely experience, but Lee has provided sage advice and friendship
throughout, for which I am enormously grateful.
The manuscript has benefitted from the many other readers who
have offered suggestions, in particular Mike Allen, Melvyn Stokes, and
Brian Jacobson. I am especially grateful to Greg Waller, who read two
versions of the manuscript and whose constructive feedback greatly
shaped the final work. I was very fortunate to conduct my doctoral
study at King’s College London and University College London, and
I have completed this work in the company of supportive and generous
colleagues at the University of St. Andrews. It seems churlish not to
vii
viii Acknowledgments
thank them all, but for more direct assistance, I am grateful to Robert
Burgoyne, Dina Iordanova, Katherine Hawley, Leshu Torchin, David
Martin-Jones, Mike Arrowsmith, Karen Drysdale, Bregt Lameris, and
especially Josh Yumibe. Among the many others who have provided
valuable information or material along the way are Jason Lantzer, Kevin
Brownlow, and Thomas R. Pegram.
There are inevitable challenges in researching American history
while based in the UK, and I am particularly indebted to the many ar-
chivists who have given so much of their time and expertise in respond-
ing to my many requests. Of the institutions that I visited, I would like
to thank archivists and librarians at the University of North Carolina;
the New York Public Library; the Billy Rose Theatre Collection; the
Library of Congress; the Indiana State Library; the Indiana Historical
Society; Ohio State University; the Ohio Historical Society; the British
Library; and the British Film Institute. Many others have responded to
my requests from the UK, and I am extremely pleased to acknowledge
and thank, in no particular order, Boise State University (ID) (Alan
Virta); the New Haven Public Library (CT) (Allison Botelho); the Ham-
ilton East Public Library (IN) (Nancy Massey); the New Jersey State
Library (Robert Heym); the New Jersey Historical Society; the Histori-
cal Society of Delaware; the Monmouth County Historical Association
(NJ); the Margaret Herrick Library at the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences (Barbara Hall); the Shreve Memorial Library (LA);
Kent State University (OH); the Oklahoma Historical Society; the Tulsa
Historical Society and Museum (OK) (Ian Swart); the George Eastman
House (Nancy Kauffman); the Warner Bros. Archives of the University
of Southern California (Jennifer Prindeville); the Charlie Chaplin Ar-
chive, Cineteca di Bologna (Cecilia Cenciarelli); the Georgia State Uni-
versity Library (Sarah King Steiner); and the American Legion Library
(Joseph J. Hovish). I have also benefitted from the emergence of online
archival resources over the past decade, and would like to acknowledge,
in particular, the Media History Digital Library and Newspaper Archive.
I would also like to thank everyone at Indiana University Press for
their expertise and direction in developing the manuscript and bringing
it to print. I am especially grateful to Raina Polivka, Jenna Whittaker,
David Miller, and Eric Schramm, and to Kay Banning for her work on
Acknowledgments ix
the index. I have also been very fortunate to receive financial support
throughout my research, in particular from the Arts and Humanities
Research Council. This work would not have been possible without their
assistance.
Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family for providing
distractions, support, and perspective, and for sitting next to me even
when I insisted on reading Klan histories on public transport. I owe an
enormous debt to my parents, to my brother and sister, and to Richard
and Mary Bipps. I would also like to thank Caryl and John and my two
inspirational grandmothers.
Above all, this book is for Suzie, Lottie, and Ernest.