A History in the Making
It was the early 1900s and Northeast Florida was experiencing its “Gilded Age” as a winter playground for the nation’s wealthiest. Fueled in part by stories of Ponce de Leon’s search for the fabled Fountain of Youth and railroad magnate Henry Flagler’s affinity for luxury, America’s privileged flocked to holiday hotspots like St. Augustine’s opulent Hotel Ponce de Leon and the elegant Millionaire’s Club on nearby Jekyll Island in Southeast Georgia. The likes of John D. Rockefeller, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and businessman, inventor and writer (and storied Titanic victim) John Jacob Astor of New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel fame indulged their most sumptuous sides in Northeast Florida’s lush and luxe locales.
Celebrity loves company. So it wasn’t long before the stars of America’s then-fledgling moving pictures business followed suit. The frigid temperatures of New York and Chicago, where the nation’s film business originated, damaged film stock and dismayed starlets. As fate would have it, the New York-to-Florida track that later would become part of Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway provided an easy load and a straight shot from the Big Apple to the Sunshine State. And so was born Northeast Florida’s status as the “Winter Film Capital of the World.”
By 1916, Jacksonville telephone directories listed more than 30 motion picture companies. Among them was the Eagle Studios, a five-building complex built in 1916 in the heart of Jacksonville’s Arlington district. By 1920, the property changed hands and became Norman Laboratories, specializing in motion pictures and “talking picture equipment.” The complex became the home and creative center of Richard Norman, who between 1920 and 1928 made six feature films and scores of shorts. He also made history as one of a handful of filmmakers brave enough to break the racial barrier in the motion picture industry.
“My father was disheartened about the state of race relations at the time, both in real life and in the movies,” says Capt. Richard Norman, Jr., who lives in Tallahassee. “And he saw an untapped market. He set out to help give the black community a stronger place on film, behind the cameras and in the theatres.”
Norman was among the first, along with filmmaker Oscar Micheaux and the Lincoln Motion Picture Co., to make “race films.” These movies defied the mainstream by starring black actors in positive roles and giving black crew members well-paying jobs. Thus began a movement to establish an independent black cinema at a time when blacks were stereotyped and demeaned in mainstream movies. In Norman films black characters were heroes and heroines, leaders and lovers.
In 2002 after a passionate campaign, led by community activist Ann Burt and City Councilman Lake Ray, the city of Jacksonville bought half of the studio property, which held four of Norman’s five buildings for $260,000. In the summer of 2008, workers completed a $685,000 structural repair and restoration of the exteriors of these buildings, including the main production building where Norman developed and screened his films, a generator shed, the wardrobe cottage where actors changed costumes, and the prop storage garage. Long term plans for the complex include a silent film museum, a venue for independent filmmakers to screen their projects, industry-related workshops, and a summer camp designed to teach children about film career choices.
“My father would be proud, and my family is deeply honored to see his legacy and that of Mr. Micheaux and others not only preserved but furthered,” Capt. Norman said. “A whole new generation of young filmmakers stands to benefit from the efforts of the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum.”
Join us in preserving this unique snapshot of motion picture history. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Norman Studios Silent Film Museum.
Top Photo: Still from Black Gold, courtesy Florida State Library & Archives.
Center Photo: Richard Norman, copyright the Norman family.
Bottom Image: Black Gold poster, copyright Separate Cinema.
