Fish (1916)

In an unprecedented move for its day in 1915 Biograph Company executives hired actor Bert Williams to star produce direct and write his own films having full control the first time a BlackAmerican ever had such control given by a mainstream movie company The two films made for Biograph were A Natural Born Gambler 1916 and Fish 1916 Bert lives in a rusticlooking cottage with his parents and two much younger brothers The three sons have been ordered to chop wood but Bert would rather shirk his chores and go fishing When his father orders him to take kindling to the stove Bert sighs and wearily totes a couple of tiny sticks while his kid brothers carry large stumps As soon as he can manage to escape Bert does so and happily fishes at a nearby stream Almost immediately he catches a large fish and decides to head for a more affluent neighborhood to sell his catch to anyone willing to buy it