# Robert Levy (producer)

Robert Levy (1888–1959) was an English-born theatre manager and film producer whose support for African-American actors helped pave the way for the recognition of race films.

## Early life

Levy was born to Jewish parents in London in 1888. In the late 19th century, the family immigrated to the United States where Levy was educated in the New York City public school system. In his early twenties, he found a job managing the American division of the Éclair Film Company, a leading French producer of film.

## Management career

In 1916, the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, featuring the Lafayette Players, a company of Black actorss, vaudevillians and entertainers, was growing and in need of strong management. Robert Levy, who had entered the field of Black entertainment with the Quality Amusement Company, was hired for this role. Charged with selecting plays, mounting shows and managing the travelling troupes as well as bookings at other theatres, Levy focused his efforts on turning the theatre into a site of quality productions. He produced all-Black cast versions of notable plays such as Madame X and Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a breakthrough for Black actors to perform in roles they were never offered before. His insistence on high production value and respectful treatment of Blacks earned him initial acclaim from the public and press, but he nevertheless faced too many battles for his success to last long. Lester Walton, a popular Black film critic and theatrical manager himself, criticised Levy for holding a position that he felt rightfully belonged to a Black man. After producing more than 100 plays with all-Black casts, and under pressure from Black newspaper sources, Levy left the theatre in 1919, determined to devote his efforts to Black film, thereafter called race films.

## Film career

As with his theatre productions, Levy wanted his films to be of the highest calibre, highlighting Blacks as serious actors with notable talent. In January 1921, he established Reol Films. 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.
| Production List | Playwright | Opening Night | Original Year | White Theater at the time of Lafayette of Production |
| In The Bishop's Carriage | Channing Pollack | 17 July 1916 | 1907 | Grand Opera House, NY |
| The Third Degree | Charles Klein | 24 July 1916 | 1909 | Hudson Theatre. NY |
| The Ghost Breaker | Paul Dickey Chas W. Goddard | 31 July 1916 | 1913 | Lyceum Theatre |
| A Pair of Sixes | Edward Peple | 8 October 1916 | 1914 | Longacre Theatre |
| Big Jim Garrity | Owen Davis | 17 August 1916 | 1914 | New York Theatre |
| Sign of Four | | 17 August 1916 | 1903 | West End Theatre |
| Stop Thief | Carlyle Moore | 28 August 1916 | 1913 | Gaiety Theatre |
| At Bay | George Scarborough | 9 April 1916 | 1914 | 39th Street Theatre |
| Within the Law | Bayard Veiller | 9 November 1916 | 1913 1928 | Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre Cosmopolitan Theatre. |
| Madame X | Alexander Bisson | 18 September 1916 | 1920 1927 | New Amsterdam Theatre Earl Carroll Theatre |
| The Family Cupboard | Owen Davis | 2 October 1916 | 1915 | Playhouse Theatre |
| The Conspiracy | Robert Baker John Emerson | 9 October 1916 | 1914 | New Amsterdam Theatre |
| The Lure | George Scarborough | 16 October 1916 | 1913 | Garrick Theatre |
| The Man of the Hour | George Broadhurst | 23 October 1916 | 1906 | Savoy Theatre |
| Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway | George Cohan | 23 October 1916 | 1906 | New Amsterdam Theatre New York Theatre George M. Cohan's Theatre |
| The City | Clyde Fitch | 13 November 1916 | 1910 | Lyric Theatre Hackett Theatre Academy of Music Grand Opera Lyceum Theatre |
| The Lion and the Mouse | Charles Klein | 20 November 1916 | 1905 | Hudson Theatre Princess Theatre |
| Raffles | Eugene Prebre, E.W. Hornung | 27 November 1916 | 1904 1910 | Savoy Theatre Gaiety Theatre |
| Three Twins | Charles Dickens | 12 April 1916 | 1908 | Herald Square Theatre Majestic Theatre |
| Get Rich | Rich Wallingford George Cohan | 12 November 1916 | 1910 | Gaiety Theatre George M. Cohan's Theatre |
| Trilby | Paul Potter adapted by DuMaurier | 26 March 1917 | 1895 1905 1915 1921 | Garden Theatre New Amsterdam Theatre Shubert Theatre National Theatre |
| The Yankee Prince | George Cohan | 4 February 1917 | 1908 | Knickerbocker Theatre |
| The Law of the Land | George Broadhurst | 23 April 1917 | 1914 | 48th Street Theatre |
| The Time, the Place, the Girl | Joseph E. Howard | 30 April 1917 | 1907 1942 | Wallack's Theatre Grand Opera Theatre Mansfield Theatre |
| Sinners | Owen Davis | 5 July 1917 | 1915 | Playhouse Theatre |
| The House of a Thousand Candles | George Middelton | 21 May 1917 | 1908 | Dalys Theatre |
| The Great Divide | William Vaughn Moody | 28 May 1917 | 1907 1908 1917 | Princess Theatre Daly's Theatre Academy of Music Theatre Grand Opera Theatre Lyceum Theatre |
| The Natural Law | Charles Sumner | 6 April 1917 | 1915 | Theatre Republic |
| Damaged Goods | Eugene Brieux | 18 June 1917 | 1913 | Fulton Theatre |
| The Yellow Ticket | Michael Morton | 17 July 1917 | 1914 | Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre |
| The Chocolate Soldier (American Version) | Stanislaus Stange | 23 July 1917 | | . |
| The Traffic | Rachael Marshall Oliver Bailey | 30 July 1917 | 1914 | New York Theatre |
| The Little Millionaire | George Cohan | 8 June 1917 | 1912 | George M. Cohan's Theatre |
| The Gamblers | Charles Klein | 13 August 1917 | 1910 | Maxine Elliot's Theatre |
| Charley's Aunt | Brandon Thomas | 20 August 1917 | 1906 | Manhattan Theatre |
| The Vampire | Lee Morrison Edgar Allan Woolf George Sylvester Viereck | 27 August 1917 | | |
| The Man from Mexico | H.A. Du Souchet | 9 March 1917 | 1907 | Hoyt's Theatre Garrick's Theatre |
| The Silent Witness | Jack Deleon Jack Celestine | 9 October 1917 | 1916 | Fulton Theatre |
| Are You A Mason? | | 17 September 1917 | 1901 | Garrick Theatre Wallack's Theatre |
| The Inner Man | | 3 November 1918 | 1917 | Lyric Theatre Cort Theatre |
| The Knife | Eugene Walters | 18 March 1918 | 1917 | Bijou Theatre |
| Faust | Adaptation from Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | 4 January 1918 | 1930 | Casino Theatre Centre Theatre |
| The Master Mind | David Carter | 4 August 1918 | 1913 | Harris Theatre |
| The Man Who Owns Broadway | George Cohan | 15 April 1918 | 1910 | New York Theatre |
| Sappho and Phaon | Percy MacKaye | 22 April 1918 | 1907 | Lyric Theatre |
| His Honor the Mayor | Charles Campbell | 29 April 1918 | 1906 | New York Theatre |
| Where do you Live? | Wallacks Alma George Hobart | 13 May 1918 | 1911 | Weber's Music Hall |
| Broken Threads | Ernest Wilkes | 20 May 1918 | 1917 | Fulton Theatre |
| Very Good Eddie | Guy Bolton | 27 May 1918 | 1915 | Princess Theatre Casino Theatre 39th Street Theatre |
| The Blindness of Virtue | Cosmo Hamilton | 24 June 1918 | 1912 | 39th Street Theatre |
| A Butterfly on the Wheel? | Edward G. Hammerde F. Neilson K.C. Neilson | 7 January 1918 | 1912 | 39th Street Theatre |
| The Woman in the Case | Clyde Fitch | 15 July 1918 | 1905 | Herald Square Theatre |
| His Last Dollar | David Higgins Baldwin Cooke | 22 July 1918 | 1904 | American Theatre |
| The White Sister | Walter Hackett F. Marion Crawford | 29 July 1918 | 1909 | Daly's Theatre |
| The Boss | Edward Shelton | 8 May 1918 | 1911 | Astor Theatre |
| Cheating Cheater | Max Marcin | 9 February 1918 | 1917 | Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre |
| Arizona | Augustus Thoman | 9 September 1918 | 1901 1912 | Herald Square Theatre Lyric Theatre |
| The Rosary | Edward Rose | 16 September 1918 | 1910 | Garden Theatre |
| The Ninety and Nine | Ramsey Morris | 20 January 1919 | 1903 | Academy of Music |
| Man's Enemy | Eric Hudson Charles H. Langdon | 2 October 1919 | 1900 | Star Theatre 1913 Lyric Theatre |
| The Two Orphans | Eugene Cormon Adolphe D'Ennery | 17 February 1919 | 1904 1874 1926 | New Amsterdam Theatre Union Square Theatre Cosmopolitan Theatre |
| Convict 999 | Walter Howard | 3 March 1919 | 1907 | Thelia Theatre |
| The Story of the Rosary | Owen Davis | 3 October 1919 | 1914 | Manhattan Opera House |
| The Guilty Man | Ruth Helen Davis Charles Klein | 17 March 1919 | 1916 | Astor Theatre |
| The Bridge | Rupert Hughes | 4 July 1919 | 1909 | Majestic Theatre |
| The Fortune Hunter | Winchell Smith | 14 April 1919 | 1909 | Gaiety Theatre |
| A Midnight Marriage | James Halleck Reid | 21 April 1919 | 1904 | Grand Opera House |
| The Burglar and the Lady | Langdon McCormick | 5 May 1919 | 1906 | American Theatre |
| The Havoc | H.S. Sheldon | 26 May 1919 | 1911 | Bijou Theatre |
| The Girl in the Taxi | Hugh Stainislus | 6 February 1919 | 1910 | Astor Theatre |
| Mrs. Temple's Telegram | Frank Wyatt | 16 June 1919 | 1906 | Hoyt Theatre |
| The Blue Envelope | Frank Hatch Robert Homans | 23 June 1919 | 1916 | Cort Theatre |