Anita Thompson in By Right of Birth, 1921.
When Anita Thompson looked back on her time as a young
woman, she claimed she was “an asteroid then, in orbit about the brilliant
stars.” Becoming a celebrity takes a combination of luck and hard work.
Thompson certainly had the luck to draw attention but seemed indifferent to
fame and content to look on from far away.
Thompson enjoyed a privileged childhood as a member of
a prominent mixed-race family clan. She was born in Chicago in 1901 but her immediate
family moved to California when she was a teenager. Segregation prevented
wealthy blacks from staying in the best hotels so Thompson’s mother hosted family
but also unrelated luminaries visiting Los Angeles. In this way, Thompson became friends
with A’Lelia Walker, daughter of Madame C.J. Walker. During this period, she probably had an affair
with W.E.B. duBois, who featured her on the cover of the magazine he edited.
The
Crisis May 1917
Thompson worked her way into a prestigious dancing
school that often provided cast extras for Hollywood films. She appeared in the
1921 movie Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse, in which Rudolph Valentino danced the tango to fame. Thompson
had a more prominent role as a royal attendant in The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and became friends with Anna Mae Wong
who also appeared in the film.
Thompson also starred in one of the most successful black
production company movies of the 1920s, By
Right of Birth. She played Juanita Cooper in this film made by the Lincoln
Motion Picture Company. In the film, Thompson’s character is adopted and her
search for her birth parents reveals the fact that she is heir to a fortune and
mixed race though she had assumed her whole life that she was white. Thompson
received praise in the black press for her performance but also in mainstream
publications. The Billboard review
singled her out and summed up the movie as “a very pretty story, nicely told
and well handled with a pleasant surprise at the finish.”
By
Right of Birth, 1921.
Thompson, however, left Hollywood and the chance of a
movie career. She fell in love with New York when she visited in 1923. She
wrote years later that dancing at the Waldorf-Astoria was where she belonged,
“feeling glamorous in an accordion-pleated pale yellow chiffon dress.”
Thompson abandoned film acting for other reasons also.
Her genteel mother “thought Hollywood was immoral and the next thing to
appearing in the circus.” Thompson herself also judged many of the stars as
“coarse” and claimed she had only performed in movies for fun.
By Right of Birth, 1921.
She may have truly felt that way but she probably also
knew she could not succeed in 1920s Hollywood. There was only room for one
black Mary Pickford, and Edna Morton already had a lock on that position. The
executives at the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, and probably Thompson, knew
the firm was in trouble due to distribution complications and a lack of funding.
They only made five films and By Right of
Birth would be the last. Other black production companies existed but
African Americans had few opportunities in film and even fewer chances to play
characters who were not racist stereotypes.
Advertisement for two-day showing of By Right of Birth in the Dallas Express. September 17, 1921
So Thompson settled on the east coast to attend
college but she remained in the spotlight. She danced in the chorus line of the
popular Broadway show Runnin’ Wild
but passed on the chance to go on tour with the company. She told a journalist
that she wanted to pursue more serious art but remembered years later that she
doubted anyone could make a living as an artist. She performed in stage plays and
caused a scandal by traveling to Atlantic City with an engaged man. Thompson ultimately
completed a teaching degree and took a job. Not ready to settle into a
conventional life, however, she moved to Paris in 1928.
Pittsburgh
Courier. October 25, 1924
Thompson remained comfortable in proximity to fame but
never seemed to really choose celebrity. In Paris she had some success writing and
also modeling for designers such as Coco Chanel. Surrealist artist Man Ray
would occasionally take her to lunch and Thompson remembered feeling then that the
“star-gazer would be elevated to the upper stratosphere.” She inspired poets
and novelists, as well as artists, and was sure to send her mother all the
books in which she was mentioned.
She returned to the US as World War II reached France
and moved further away from celebrity. She married twice, became a psychologist
and teacher. When she recorded her memories of her early decades, she was
living on the island of St. Croix. Thompson died there in 1980 but left a
fascinating account of her asteroid life.
Thanks for reading! Have a question, comment, or suggestion, let me know. Check out other posts on the right. To subscribe, email angela.firkus@gmail.com
Sources and Further Reading
Atwood,
Rose. “Tired of Jazz, Pretty Star Deserts Chorus.” Pittsburgh Courier. July 19, 1924. [http://fultonhistory.com]
Bowser,
Pearl, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser, eds. Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race
Cinema of the Silent Era. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
“By Right of Birth” Clips. Directed by Harry
Gant. Lincoln Motion Picture Company, 1921. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCVrFj7fclg
“Dame Rumor Involves Pretty Actress and ‘Divorce
Principals’ in Midnight Rout.” Pittsburgh
Courier. Sept. 27, 1924. [http://fultonhistory.com]
Review of “By Right of Birth.”
The Billboard. Oct. 29, 1921. https://lantern.mediahist.org/catalog/sim_billboard_1921-10-29_33_44_0098
Staff, MSRC. “Reynolds, Anita Thompson Dickinson” (2015). Manuscript Division Finding Aids. 166. https://dh.howard.edu/finaid_manu/166
[Thompson] Reynolds, Anita. American Cocktail: A ‘Colored Girl’ in the World. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2014.
