HARLEM. Paul Robeson, who in the 1920s joined
the PROVINCETOWNPLAYERS, a theater group that
was closely affiliated with O’Neill, appeared in the
title role in the London production of the play.
Robeson, whom critics praised for his dynamic and
powerful performance, traveled with the show
back to New York for its 1924 repeat run at the
Provincetown Playhouse. In 1933, Robeson starred
in the film version of The Emperor Jones.
Bibliography
Black, Stephen A. Eugene O’Neill: Beyond Mourning and
Tragedy.New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
1999.
Duberman, Martin. Paul Robeson.New York: Knopf,
1989.
Dubost, Thierry. Struggle, Defeat or Rebirth: Eugene O’Neill’s
Vision of Humanity.Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &
Company, Inc., 1997.
Robeson, Paul, Jr. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An
Artist’s Journey.New York: J. Wiley, 2001.
Emperor Jones, The(1932)opera
Based on EUGENEO’NEILL’s 1921 play THEEM-
PERORJONES,the opera by Russian-born musician
and composer Louis Gruenberg with a libretto by
the American playwright Kathleen de Jaffa. The
opera was performed for the first time in NEW
YORKCITYat the Metropolitan Opera House in
January 1933. During the 1933 and 1934 seasons,
the work that received much acclaim was per-
formed 11 times. Unlike the play and film that
starred PAULROBESON, the New York productions
featured Lawrence Tibbett, a white baritone, in the
title role.
The opera made its European premier in Am-
sterdam, Holland, in 1934. This production fea-
tured Jules Bledsoe, an acclaimed Texas-born
African-American baritone, pianist, and com-
poser whose performance credits included a
prominent role in the 1930 New York run of
Showboat.He was immensely popular in the title
role of Emperor Jones.
Bibliography
Baker, Theodore, and Nicolas Slonimsky. Baker’s Bio-
graphical Dictionary of Musicians.New York: Schirmer
Books, 1978.
Cuney-Hare, Maud. Negro Musicians and Their Music.
1936, reprint, New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1996.
Gruenberg, Louis. The Emperor Jones: Opera in Two Acts,
a Prologue, an Interlude and Six Scenes.New York: F.
Rullman, 1932.
Lynette Geary. “Bledsoe, Julius Lorenzo Cobb.” The
Handbook of Texas Online.Available online. URL:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/
view/BB/fbl22.html. Accessed May 20, 2005.Emperor Jones, The(1933)film
The 1933 film adaptation of EUGENEO’NEILL’s
THEEMPERORJONESwas directed by Dudley Mur-
phy and produced by John Krimsky and Gifford
Cochran. The film starred PAULROBESONin the
title role, and its supporting cast included Rex In-
gram, Fredi Washington, and Frank Wilson. The
deletion of potentially controversial scenes, such as
the one in which Robeson’s character struck a
white man, were balanced by the incorporation of
several songs performed by Robeson.Bibliography
Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and
Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American
Films.New York: Continuum, 1989.
Duberman, Martin. Paul Robeson. New York: Knopf,
1989.
Leab, Daniel. From Sambo to Superspade: The Black Expe-
rience in Motion Pictures.Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1975.
Robeson, Paul Jr. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An
Artist’s Journey.New York: J. Wiley, 2001.EnvironmentMercedes Gilbert(1931)
One of three plays written by MERCEDESGILBERT,
a Florida-born novelist, composer, and actress.
Gilbert, who became famous for her BROADWAY
stage performances, also starred in silent films, in-
cluding Body and Soulopposite PAULROBESON.
Environmentwas published first in 1931 in Gilbert’s
collection of her own works, SELECTEDGEMS OF
POETRY,COMEDY, ANDDRAMA.
The three-act drama, written in rather self-
conscious prose, documents the trials of a southern
family whose migration to the urban North ruins
their family bond and jeopardizes their collective fu-142 Emperor Jones, The