Moving Picture News (Jan-Dec 1911)

20 THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS QUESTION AND PROTEST Why are people so prejudiced against the moving picture theater? One would think, to hear the criticism on all sides, that it was the most unsafe place in New York. The press is as bad as the public, for let there be only the slightest accident in a moving . picture theater and we see it in their largest type the next morning. Only the other week, on a Saturday night, a fire occurred in Brooklyn. Everyone knew a moving picture theater was burned and the writer could find out nothing but what had happened in that theater, how the film caught fire and the people were crushed getting out, etc., but no one could tell that it was not the theater at fault at all — but that a dry goods store next door had been the cause of all the trouble. No, the theater is the place that catches fire, nothing else possibly could, and these biased persons shout their opinions, doing more damage to the five-cent theater than the fire has done. Again, riding in a car one night we were stopped by the fire lines across a certain street on the East Side. Two arc lights appeared a few blocks away, denoting a moving picture theater. Almost everyone in that car had made up their minds that that was where the fire was and many were the remarks made about those "dreadful places" — '"fire traps," etc. Presently the firemen allowed the car to proceed and, lo and behold! the fire was in a cellar a block and a half from the theater and on the opposite side of the street. Statistics state that a man is safer riding in a railroad train than eating his dinner — and I guess he's just as safe in a New York moving picture theater as in a street car — he has to have a seat in a theater for his nickel, but he don't have to in a car. In the last few months we have had two terrible explosions causing death and loss of property through the lax of the city laws. The fire in a town not many minutes' ride from this city was in a factory that made one wonder if there were any regulations governing factories at all. Now, there is the horror of last week, which has shocked the world. Would the city allow a theater with only 145 chairs (the number reported killed) to be run nine floors from the street, or with the scanty exit that factory was equipped with? Not on your life. So I say a person is a thousand times safer in a moving picture theater than in a factory. Yet one would not think so to read the papers and hear remarks of some folks. Why, there have been more lives lost in New York City in five months through the neglect of the city laws than in all the moving picture theaters in the United States in five years. Perhaps we are more careful— perhaps we obey the law because we know the awful consequences of panic and fire where a number of persons are gathered together. Anyway, our death roll is a whole lot smaller than the factory one. Fire Chief Croker had a bit to say on the point months ago, see below: Chief Croker Gave Warning of Workshop Perils "But while we're talking about those districts I'd like to say that a district which ought to be given attention is thait along Fifth Avenue where those fine workshops are. Fifth Avenue workshops are nothing but high-class sweatshops, and they're all the more dangerous because they are in fireproof buildings. The law doesn't require fireproof buildings to have fire escapes, and the people who have to work in these shops are in constant danger. These shops ought to have as much, if not more, protection as is thrown around the people who go to the theaters. We have five assistant foremen who inspect every theater in New York before and after every performance and there are 133 firemen on duty during performances. "But people don't have to go to the theaters unless they want to. while the people in these workshops do have to go to them." — Fire Chief Croker, before the Legislative Investigating Committee, December 28. 1910. This being a professional or trade publication, the public does not read it as much as one would wish and as the press generally are very much against the poor man's theater, they (the public) don't get to know where the blame often belongs. M. P. OPERATOR. NORDISK FILM TIDNING The first trade paper in Scandinavia. Best advertising medium in North Europe. Subscription 6 shillings. Sample copy free upon request. Editor, A. SEABURY, Post Box 163, Stockholm, Sweden. HE HANHODSER WO-A-WEEK RELEASED TUESDAY, MAY 9 The Railroad Builder AN ENTIRE SECTION OF RAILROAD DEVASTATED BY FIRE One Entire Mile of Trackage and Thousands of Railroad Ties Fed to the Flames TO MAKE A MOVING PICTURE NOT A "SMOKE POT" FIRE BUT THE REAL THING Farmers hate young railroad builder and set afire road he constructs — Blaze discovered and call is sent for fire engines and apparatus from nearest town — Entire town fire department starts out — Fight fire while SMOKE AND FLAi\IE SHOOT A MILE HIGH No. 209. Code Word, Build RELEASED FRIDAY, MAY 12 An Army Story The Regimental Ball tells of the test a code of army ethics were put to and how splendidly they came through it. It is an unusual story of the comradeship of two young officers and of the bitter rivalry that succeeded it "all on accotint of a girl." An entire United States fort, with its barracks, battlements and garrison, give the picture "local color" of the truest sort and make it educational in its accuracy. No. 210. Code word, Reg. JUST OUT! THE NEW THANHOUSER PHOTOFRAME consisting of five original photos (11x14 inches) of the leading Thanhouser players, framed in solid oak, mission finished, complete with glass, GOES TO YOU FOR $2.50 with order. This is the prize outfit that tickled-to-death exhibitors the countryover are calling THE GREATEST LOBBY DISPLAY BARGAIN EVER KNOWN. Address Manager's Dept. THE THANHOUSER LOBBY PHOTOS consisting of five splendid individual photographs (11x14) of Thanhouser principals, sent postage prepaid for $1.00 with order. Address Manager's Dept. THE THANHOUSER NEWS, "The Exhibitor's Guide," containing the Thanhouser Lobby-Decorator, sent FREE OF CHARGE to all who can show connection with the Moving Picture business. Address Manager's Dept. THANHOUSER CO. NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK