The Conjure Woman

[jsoi...@verizon.net]

H-E-L-P is requested for some info - ANY info - on the plot of Oscar
Micheaux's THE CONJURE WOMAN. Henry Nicolella, Bill Chase, Steve
Joyce, Harry Long & I are committed to doing an encyclopedia of
USA-made, feature-length thrillers/comedy thrillers 1913-1929 (for
McFarland), & THE CONJURE WOMAN has got us bewitched. We've pored over
the available Micheaux literature & have screened mircofilm until we're
near total blindness. Anyone have any solid storyline information?
We'll cheerfully acknowledge same in print. many thanks for any help
you can giveM

[Jane Margaret Laight]

If my guess is correct, THE CONJURE WOMAN would be the second in a
series of Micheaux's screen adaptations of the novels of
African-American novelist Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1859-1932), the
other being 1932's VEILED ARISTOCRATS based on Chesnutt's THE HOUSE
BEHIND THE CEDARS. I would suggest that you take a look at Chesnutt's
book to get an idea of what might be going on:

http://docsouth.unc.edu/chesnuttconjure/menu.html

you may want to check any available biographies of Chesnutt to see if
there exists any correspondence between Chesnutt (or his estate) and
Micheaux concerning the film adaptations of his stories--there could be
information about the plot.

Hope this helps.

Jane Margaret Laight
Greenbelt, Md.

[kino eye]

> If my guess is correct, THE CONJURE WOMAN would be the second in a
> series of Micheaux's screen adaptations of the novels of
> African-American novelist Charles Waddell Chesnutt (1859-1932), the
> other being 1932's VEILED ARISTOCRATS based on Chesnutt's THE HOUSE
> BEHIND THE CEDARS. I would suggest that you take a look at Chesnutt's
> book to get an idea of what might be going on:
>

As I've said on this list many times before, I think Micheaux's novels
are more intesting than his surviving films, and his interest to adapt
a book from an African American writer would be part of this overall
connection with the print media. Oscar's novels of his time in South
Dakota have an unusual blend of realism and romanticism, a sort of
Little House on the Prarie Meets Ivanhoe, written in the pulp style of
a Horatio Alger novel.

I can only think of a few directors who worked in the states (Huston,
and Hitchcock) who were really up on current literature of the
time...I'm sure there were more, but I don't remember their knowledge
recorded as part of who they were...and I really can't think of many
directors of the 20s and 30s who wrote novels and directed. Not that
I'm comparing Micheaux to Hitchcock, mind you, but then Alfred never
tried to write his own stories for the printed page.

[mikeg...@gmail.com]

> Not that
> I'm comparing Micheaux to Hitchcock, mind you, but then Alfred never
> tried to write his own stories for the printed page.

You mean he didn't really write the Three Investigators novels?

[jsoi...@verizon.net]

Thanks to you all. I've not only read Chesnutt's eponymous book and
his daughter's biography of him, but a handful of books devoted to
Micheaux. Supposedly, the plot of The Conjure Woman (the film) was
based on the first tale in Chesnutt's book: Goophered Grapevine, a tale
of a vineyard that's hexed by the conjure women to keep the local
blacks from making off with the grapes. In examining some of the
Micheaux/Chesnutt correspondence, I found a paragraph in which Micheaux
informs the author that this first chapter would be suitable for
filming if some additions to the plot (a haunted house, love interest,
a gang of 'intriguers") could be added. Putting this first chapter
together with these suggested additions is as close as we've come to
constructing some sort of viable plot synopsis; i.e. we don't know what
we're talking about.
The search continues, and I'm enormously grateful to everyone who
has taken the time to chime in.
John Soister