By Right of Birth
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Harry Gant
Clarence Brooks
Anita Thompson
Webb King
Beatrice George
Lester Bates
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Juanita Cooper, a student at a university in California, is the foster-daughter of Frank Cooper, a wealthy retired rancher, and his wife Geraldine, who adopted her, believing that she was of American Indian ancestry. She becomes friends with brilliant African-American law student Philip Jones, who is also a popular athlete. When Geraldine loses heavily at bridge, she backs a nefarious scheme of Mexican-American stockbroker Manuel Romero to acquire valuable Oklahoma oil leases belonging to Freedmen. Many of these Freedmen, former black slaves who had Indian owners, and the descendants of these slaves, are unaware that the land allotted by the government to newly-freed slaves contains oil. Romero learns of land belonging to Helen Childers, the missing granddaughter of an aged Indian woman, Minnie Childers. Minnie's son John married a Freedman, and she has not heard from the family since they left Oklahoma for California long ago. In California, while Romero's chauffeur, "Pinky" Webb, a correspondence school detective, does some snooping with Geraldine, Romero sends a forged lease for the property in Helen's name to the government in Oklahoma. Although Pinky does so much walking that at one point his shoes begin to smoke, Geraldine learns that Juanita is actually Helen Childers: After her father was killed in an accident, Frank rescued the baby Helen from a wagon; the baby's mother was never found. Juanita, upon learning of her heritage, leaves home. "Mother" Agnes, an African-American matron who devotes her life to helping homeless black girls, befriends Juanita. Philip, now an up-and-coming attorney, meets Juanita again while he is fishing and helps her to retrieve her horse, which threw her. He now actively pursues a friendship with her, as race is no longer a concern that could separate them. After learning that the forgery scheme has not worked, Romero finds Juanita and gets her to sign a lease for the land for a small amount of money. Minnie, meanwhile, arrives in California to look for her son and hires Philip as a legal adviser for a substantial yearly salary. When Philip learns of Romero's scheme, they fight, and Romero is killed in an automobile chase. Philip then discovers that "Mother" Agnes is actually Juanita's real mother. The family has a happy reunion in Philip's office, where Juanita introduces "Mother" Agnes to Frank, and Juanita, "by right of birth," acquires her fortune.
Director
Harry Gant
Cast
Clarence Brooks
Anita Thompson
Webb King
Beatrice George
Lester Bates
Lew Meehan
Minnie Provost
Baby Ruth Kimbrough
Grace Ellenwood
Big Tree
Lucille Moulton
Nancy Brown
Thelma Worth
Gladys La Vett
Marjory Wakefield
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Interior scenes were shot at Berwilla Studios. According to information in the George P. Johnson Collection at the UCLA Special Collections Library, track scenes were shot at Occidental College and at Los Angeles High School, and other location work was done in Griffith Park. According to The Sentinel, Minnie Prevost was an Osage Indian. The Sentinel also noted that African-American scenarist Dora Mitchell who had written for the Morosco studio. The newspaper commended her for making the scenario "strikingly free of so many absurdities so often seen in colored productions."
The Daily Herald praised the company for making the film "free from racial propaganda such as has been characteristic in several similar productions attempted by other concerns." The Examiner stated, "Every detail of the plot supports the theme partly expressed in the title-the right of the transplanted race to a little pride of its own." Information in the Johnson Collection lists L. C. Shumway as being paid for two weeks of work on the film. Shumway, a white actor, was not mentioned in reviews or listed in a final cast sheet. It is possible that he was originally scheduled to play the role of "Manuel Romero."
