The Peanut Man
Cast & Crew
Tony Paton
Clarence Muse
Ernest Anderson
Maidie Norman
Shelby Bacon
Wade Crosby
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the offices of Consolidated Producers Corporation, producer Tony Paton is determined to make a film about the great African American chemist, George Washington Carver. His backer, Murphy, is skeptical about the marketability of such a project, but Paton convinces him that it is time to depict the truth about races, creeds, and religions and trust that ticket buyers will make their own decisions about the merits of such an unusual film. The story begins in Alabama, at the great Negro university, the Tuskegee Institute: Carver, who teaches as well as does research at the institute, chats on his front porch with two children. One of the children, a boy named Augustus, tells Carver that he wants to be just like him when he grows up, and then asks if the scientist, who has demonstrated the many uses of the peanut, can even make the homely crop sing. A bemused Carver then asks the children to sing a Sunday school song, as the music gives him inspiration to continue his labors. Later, in his laboratory, Carver assists his young apprentice, Robert, in perfecting a "chemurgy" process which will make the earth's soil more productive. One day, Mr. Jeffries, an entrepreneur, arrives with a business proposition for Carver. Jeffries suggests that they manufacture soap, butter, flour and axle grease, all to be made using Carver's formulas. Carver rejects the proposition, however, as he wants no profits from his work, and sends the disappointed Jeffries away. Lucretia, Augustus's mother and Robert's fiancée, next knocks on the lab door to tell the men that her son is very sick. Carver is at first annoyed at having his work again interrupted, but when he sees the note that the boy's physician, Dr. Miller, has written, he discovers to his shock that the boy has poliomyelitis. Carver tells Lucretia to go to her sister's house and pray, imploring her to maintain a "mustard seed of faith." With his own mustard seed of faith, Carver determines to find a cure for the damaging effects of the polio virus. Carver goes to visit Augustus and, looking at a picture of the boy's father, tells Robert that the man was one of Tuskegee's best students, but died as a medic in the war. Carver then says he hopes that Augustus, who will surely pursue his father's career, will not be a wheelchair-bound scientist. Carver tries an experimental treatment on Augustus, which includes massage, to promote circulation and re-establish the connection of the brain to the atrophied muscles. Time passes, and Augustus makes great progress. Years later, Robert and Lucretia, now married, and Augustus, go to visit Carver. Lucretia says that they will take Carver home with them to dine upon his favorite dish. Carver replies that he has a hunch that he should not go. Sensing that his death is near, Carver tells the men to learn more about the polio virus, and then tells Lucretia to make herself useful by sewing dresses for a few more little girls. He finishes his speech by telling Augustus never to forget the benefits of education as well as the peanut and all its uses. Carver says he must complete his final experiment in eternity, and his figure is seen passing through a closed door upon which a flower is painted.
Director
Tony Paton
Cast
Clarence Muse
Ernest Anderson
Maidie Norman
Shelby Bacon
Wade Crosby
Ray Teal
Bernard Gorcey
Pom Pom, The Dog
Gloria Jetter
Virginia Grant
Maudice Giles
Marguerite Mcguin
Jessie Patterson
Hall Johnson Choir
Tony Paton
Crew
Sabine Baring-gould
Joseph Barnby
James M. Black
Frank Bracht
Henry Thacker Burleigh
Thomas A. Dorsey
Charles H. Gabriel
Glen Glenn
Jester Hairston
Harry Hallenberger
Charley Huber
Howard Joslin
Juan Lipari
Ina Duley Ogdon
Frank Parmenter
Tony Paton
Tony Paton
Katharine E. Purvis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although a print of this film was not viewed, the above credits and plot summary were taken from a cutting continuity deposited with the NYSA. The following foreward appears in the opening credits: "Because each of you, individually, is a part of the melting pot that is America, yours is the serious and supreme task-even obligation-of the hour: to understand, to appreciate and to work harmoniously with one another, and to be tolerant. The environments into which you were born and reared had much to do with the shaping of your lives, but many of you have progressed far beyond those environments, despite sometimes seemingly impassable barriers of color, race and creed. This is the story of one such man who, born in slavery and ignorance..." The foreward also introduces George Washington Carver's story and contributions. The opening credits, as written in the continuity, are presented in an unusual introductory sequence in which director Tony Paton, playing himself, tries to convince his backer Murphy, played by Bernard Gorcey, to finance the film. Paton tells "Murphy" that Hollywood is afraid to produce films which represent "the truth about races and religions." Paton then reads the cast and credit names in a conversational manner and introduces the story proper by flipping the switch of a projector. Song titles listed above are included in the continuity. Other songs were also performed in the film, but their titles and composers have not been determined.
According to a July 1947 feature article on the film in Ebony magazine, the film cost $50,000 to produce and was made by Paton after an experience he had while on an airplane. According to the article, Paton was on a flight from New Orleans to Los Angeles, saw actor Clarence Muse sitting in the front of the plane and decided to sit with him. At that point a stewardess told Paton that only "Negroes" could sit in the front seats until the plane passed Dallas. After the plane flew past Dallas, the two men sat together and "concluded arrangement to film a story of Carver."
George Washington Carver (1864-1943), a former slave, was a graduate of Iowa State College of Agriculture. He became a faculty member at Iowa, where he specialized in bacteriology, after which he moved to the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now the Tuskegee Institute). He experimented with peanuts and discovered hundred of uses for the crop. He additionally developed uses for sweet potatoes and soybeans and helped to increase the efficiency of farming techniques. He was honored both during and after his lifetime for his efforts to advance the stature of African Americans and helping the economy of the Southern farmer.
