Richard Maurice

Biography

Richard D. Maurice was a pioneering filmmaker of African descent. Born in Cuba, he migrated to the United States in 1903, eventually moving to Detroit, where worked as tailor. In July 1920, he founded the Maurice Film Company there. His debut feature, Nobody's Children (1920) premiered in Detroit on September 27th of that year and played throughout the eastern United States. Unfortunately, no prints of the film are known to exist. Maurice's second and only surviving feature, Eleven P.M. (1928) is generally dated as being released in 1928, but scholars Pearl Bowser and Charles Musser speculate that the film was actually released a year or two later because it "possesses a cinematic style and internal evocations of other race films" of the period. Also, the film's use of unusual camera angles and dream-like visual elements suggest that he was perhaps influenced by Surrealism. Later, Maurice became involved in the railroad industry and helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union, local 370 in New York City. He died in New York City on May 5, 1955. He was 61 years old.