THE MECHRABPOM FILM GROUP
Loren Miller left certain personal effects behind when he died on July 14,
1967.  Among them was a photograph depicting twenty black male and female
persons, believed to be the MECHRABPOM FILM group.  The group was organized
in the United States in 1932 for the purpose of producing a film, to be shot
in the U.S.S.R.  The film would depict life in the Soviet Union, to be contrasted with life in Russia, and those areas that it controlled under the
harsh rule of the Czars.  The film was intended to portray the U.S.S.R. In
a positive T'ray, and to be used In an effort to pursuade the United States
to officially recognize the U.S.S.R. diplomatically and otherwise.  From
what this writer has learned from hearsay, gossip, conversations with my
own parents and other family members, Including Loren Miller, and from six
letters that Loren Miller wrote to his mother Nora Herbaugh Miller, a person
of Germanic/American extraction, that married John Miller, anrex*rSla1?evnFi?om
those 'letters to his mother Loren described the U.S.S.R. and pointed out to
her the similarity that he detected between those of the Negro and his problem
In America with the white power structure, and the problem of the mas*es in
Russia and their problem with the power and dominance of the Czar.  And within the problem between the Osar and his subjects, he discribed the pr<oblem
of the Jew in Russia, and the problem of the female in Russian Turkistan.
The group traveled by ship from America to Europe during the second week in
June, 1932.  On the group photograph that was mentioned,only Langston Hughes,
standing on the second row from the top, the sixth person from the left, and
Loren Miller, standing on the top row, far right end in the shade, are identified.  The group had a four month contract, and was regularly paid during it
to work on the film.  Work on the film was due to commence on July 1, 1932.
That date was moved ahead to a time "not later than August 15th." Work on
the film never started.  Negative rumors were circulated about the group and
the project.  One was that the group was stranded and in dire straits, which
was untrue.  It appears that the group was well paid although they did not
in fact start their project.  Instead, they traveled extensively In the U.S.S.F.
Asia Minor, Europe, and Scandanavia.  They had the best In living and traveling accomodations.  They ate well.  The contract expired on October 25, 1932.
Loren Miller arranged to remain remain In Moscow so that he could witness the
November 7th celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution and report It fornews-
papers.  He left Moscow and visited Berlin, and from there to Pari3, before
leaving by boat from Cherbourg, France, to America for an arrival date of
November 28, 1932.  He was scheduled to arrive back In Los Angeles, California
on December 15, 1932.  While on this four month excursion which Loren Miller
characterized as a hard earned "vacation." fte submitted articles to the California Eagle and other Negro newspapers.  He left his duties as editor of
the Eagle in the care of his cousin Leon H. Washington, Jr., while he was away.
He also wrote for a few Russian newspapers.  He noted that the Russians were
printing were printing a book of poetry by colored american poets, and among
others, that Langston Hughes would have many poems in the book. "I am going to
write the preface."  About Russian newspapers he observed that "they are very
much interested in Negroes over here, and whatever one wants to write is accepted.  I could write more and could get a job on the English newspaper if I
wanted to do so.  However the movie is about all I have time to do so I am not
bothering too much about other things" Miller observes further:  "Of course,
there is no such thing In Russia as color prejudice and one may do whatever one
has the ability to do.  The contrast to America is so great that I have never
been »free1 except in the few short weeks that I have spent in the Soviet Union
It 13 strange that a land which everybody 3ays is so irreligious should put
into practice so well the theory of the brotherhood of man while so-called
Christian Countries: practice it so little.."  He also mused, "I can hardly
realize that I have really been In Europe for the past four months. It has
been the first time in my life that I have really felt free and have been able
to escape the burden of color as it exists in the United States.  No Negro in
the United States knows what it means to be really free until he has left that
country.  Certainly, I do not think that I shall ever feel satisfied with it
again.  I could get a job and stay here If I wanted to do so but I feel that I
had best come home." Loren Miller returned home to help start the Los Angeles
Sentinal and to practice law. Halvor Thomas Miller, Jr., a nephew