Ye Olde Colored Theater Presents "God's Step Children - Part 1"

Before Rhoda Penmark in "The Bad Seed" there was Naomi. Well here it is fans, Part 1 of this wonderful 1938 movie directed by Oscar Micheaux that has a combination of elements from the movies "Imitation of Life" (1934) and "These Three" (1936). The story focuses on the young light skinned girl named Naomi who is dropped off by her black mother to black widow Mrs. Saunders who soon grows up to be a troublemaker towards everyone around her as a child, and later as an adult. This movie stars Jacqueline Lewis, Ethel Moses, Alice B. Russell, Gloria Press, and Carman Newsome. There are eight parts in all so I hope you all enjoy this 70 minute classic that is the only known version of the movie at the moment. Certain scenes have been edited out shortly after it's release due to public reaction of them by black audiences that found them offensive. A few of these cut scenes however can still be seen in the film's opening preview trailer (Note: the woman holding baby Naomi in the opening trailer is Trixie Smith, not the woman that plays Naomi's real mother. That's Dorothy Van Engle who was unfortunately uncredited along with Cherokee Thornton who plays Clyde Wade later on in the movie). Also, it took me seven hours to split the parts up in the right spots but it's all worked out perfectly. Remember, this was a low budget movie so it wasn't filmed as sharp as you may want it to look. The picture may be hard to see at times because of the lighting but that only happens a few times.