The Toddy Pictures Company collection spans the years 1930-1949 (bulk 1937-1947) and encompasses 0.6 linear foot. The collection consists of production files and subject files. The production files consist primarily of dialogue continuities and advertising material for some 40 films. Among those for which scripts or continuities are available are COME ON COWBOY (1949), EDDIE GREEN’S LAUGH JAMBOREE (194?), THE FIGHT NEVER ENDS (1948), PROFESSOR CREEPS (1942), and SHE’S TOO MEAN FOR ME (1948). Of special interest are continuities for ten Westerns released by Syndicate Pictures, including BEYOND THE LAW (1930), GOD’S COUNTRY AND THE MAN (1931), PHANTOM OF THE DESERT (1930), and UNDER TEXAS SKIES (1930). The subject files contain signed contracts with A. W. Hackel, Million Dollar Productions, and Supreme Pictures. Also included is a 1941 audit of Dixie National Pictures that lists production costs for MR. WASHINGTON GOES TO TOWN and LADY LUCK.

Toddy Pictures Company was created by founder Ted Toddy when he consolidated his various companies in 1941 under the company banner. Toddy Pictures produced and distributed black films for black audiences, including FIGHTING AMERICANS (1943), HOUSE-RENT PARTY (1946), and PRAIRIE COMES TO HARLEM (1946). Toddy Pictures also bought the rights to earlier black films and rereleased them under alternate titles. These include THE DUKE IS TOPS (1938), AM I GUILTY? (1940), REFORM SCHOOL (1939), and WHILE THOUSANDS CHEER (1940). The company had a national distribution setup, with exchanges in Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, and continued to operate into the 1970s.

Ted Toddy was a Russian-born producer and film distributor. He worked at Universal for three years before joining Columbia Pictures’ Southern Division. He remained at Columbia for 12 years, then left in 1940 to form Dixie National Pictures, based in Atlanta, where he produced UP JUMPED THE DEVIL. He then started Consolidated Film Exchange to distribute films from Dixie National and Million Dollar Productions, which he had purchased in 1940. The following year he consolidated his various companies under the name Toddy Pictures Company.