Accomplished actor, singer, athlete, and scholar Paul Robeson debuts in this adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play. Haughty and volatile, a Pullman porter's fiery disposition loses him his job and lands him in jail. While on the chain gang, he kills a white guard and escapes, retreating to Haiti where he overthrows the monarch and crowns himself Emperor Jones. According to historian Donald Bogle, Washington had to wear heavy makeup and darken her fair complexion as producers were concerned white audiences would think Robeson was playing a romantic lead opposite a white actress. Screenwriter DuBose Heyward also wrote Porgy, on which Porgy and Bess was based.