Black Cinema Connection

Richard Danal Maurice was born in Matanzas, Cuba on June 14, 1893. In 1903, Maurice immigrated to the United States. He lived in Detroit, where he eventually owned and operated a tailor’s shop.

In July 1920, he founded The Maurice Film Company which released two feature films, made several years apart. Our Christianity a/k/a Nobody’s Children, the company’s first feature, premiered at E.B. Dudley’s Vaudette Theatre in Detroit on September 27, 1920. Very little is known about the release of Eleven P.M., Maurice’s second feature, which survives in a choppy, silent print. Like Oscar Micheaux, Maurice wrote, produced and directed the two films that bore his company’s name. He even starred in both productions, but did not meet with the success of the better known Micheaux.

It is believed that Maurice’s involvement in the motion picture industry lasted at least until the early 1930s because he’s listed as a motion picture producer in the 1930 U.S. Census.

In 1940, Maurice became involved in dining-car service as a waiter for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in New York City. Following his move three years later to the New York Central Railroad in the same capacity, he helped found the Dining Car and Railroad Food Workers union, local 370.

In 1946, Maurice began to have major disagreements with the union. His dissatisfaction culminated in an op-ed piece published in the Amsterdam News in which he accused the union leadership of being ineffective in representing the rights of rank-and-file workers.

It is believed that he was married to Vivian Maurice, who also appeared with him in the film Nobody’s Children.

There is no information available regarding Richard Maurice’s date and cause of death.

Filmography
Eleven P.M. (1928)
Nobody’s Children (1920)

Source(s): Wikipedia; American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929.  Photo Source:  The Digital Library of Georgia/The University of Georgia Libraries.