Projection engineering (Sept 1929-Nov 1930)

Page 26 Projection Engineering, May, 1930 the open five feet wide stairs, which had a platform with a right-angled bend at the studio floor level, then across the studio floor a distance of approximately 15 feet before reaching the door in the partitioning. It was on the platform at the foot of the stairs leading from the balcony toward this exit that the bodies of those who lost their lives were found. Fire Protection The fire protection within the building consisted mainly of four two-inch standpipes, one near each corner of the building, supplied with water from city main connection only. Each standpipe had one outlet on the first floor and on the mezzanine, with 25 feet of two-inch hose attached. A number of hand extinguishers were distributed throughout the building. Story of the Fire On the morning of the fire there were 35 girls in the building, 12 members of an orchestra, three male actors and approximately 70 employees, including 34 electricians who were on the set and eight men in the property department. The girls in the dancing chorus of the "Black and White Revue," which was being filmed at the time, were in flimsy costume. At approximately 9 :38 a. m. fire started in a velvet drop curtain. (See diagram.) There are several causes to which the fire can be attributed, among them being a cigarette surreptitiously thrown into a fold in the black velvet curtain, an unknown electrical defect, or a fragment of carbon from an arc lamp. Another probable cause could have been an electric curling iron which might have been used and the current left on. The fire was first noticed in this curtain about "waist high" from the stage. This velvet drop curtain had been rented two days before the fire and placed in position the day previous. An unsuccessful attempt was made to tear the curtain from its supports and to extinguish the fire by the use of a stream from the building standpipe system. The fire quickly spread to the other draperies and the inflam mable scenery within the studio, and was soon beyond control. A delay of perhaps three to five minutes in summoning the fire department was caused in this attempt to extinguish the blaze. One of the employees, however, ran from the building and sounded the alarm at a box immediately in front of the building. Upon the arrival of the fire department the interior of the building was a mass of flames and their attention was largely occupied with the rescue of those persons still within. A second alarm was immediately sounded, followed • by a third and then a fourth, which brought a large array of fire-fighting equipment to the scene. Loss of Life Ten lives were lost in the fire, four of them girls belonging to the dancing chorus. Of the six men who lost their lives, three were electricians, one a property man, one a bookkeeper, and one a make-up man. About 20 other persons were injured in the fire, most of whose injuries were slight. Many of the girls were in flimsy attire and still in their dressing rooms on the balcony on the north side of the building. Others apparently attempted to reach the dressing rooms in order to save their clothing and other personal belongings. The spread of the fire was so rapid that the available exit on the mezzanine floor was ignored by these transient employees in their rush for the only exit with which they were familiar, this exit being the main one at the front of the building through which they had entered a short time before. Others, in different portions of the balcony, unable to reach the stairs, were rescued through window openings. The men killed presumably perished in attempts to rescue the girls. All of the bodies were found near the foot of the stairs leading to the balcony dressing rooms. The report of the medical examiner indicates that the deaths were caused by suffocation from the inhalation of carbon monoxide, such gas being formed by the incomplete combustion of any carbonaceous material. There is no evidence of any fire drill discipline which might have resulted in the use of other available exits. An official of the PathS Sound Studios, Inc., states that since the fire he has interrogated most of the people who were in the building at the time of the fire, and it is his belief that nine of the persons who lost their lives were either at one time out of the building or were in a zone of safety and could have gotten out had they not returned. Motion Picture Film At the time of the fire there were 369 reels of nitrocellulose motion picture film in the building; of these 209 were in a vault in the basement. It is definitely established that 11 reels of motion picture film were burned in the fire, although in no way was this film a contributory cause to the spreading of the fire, and the indications are that the entire interior of the building was in flames before the 11 reels of film took fire. There were eight reels of film in the balcony projection booth which burned, and three reels of film in the camera darkroom. The films in the cutting rooms and in the vault did not ignite and were uninjured except by water. Property Loss The building itself is not severely damaged. Practically all windows and the doors at the exits were broken. Partitions and ceiling and wall finish were destroyed or damaged, and some of the gypsum block fireproofing was knocked from the columns, but apparently none of the structural steel was affected. There is no evidence to indicate that this was an exceptionally hot fire, but rather that the temperatures reached were comparable with that or! burning wood. The duration of the fire was about two hours ; it was under control in one hour according to fire department records. The loss of contents and equipment of the building is practically total. The foregoing report is from the data furnished by the New York Board of Fire Underwriters, and published by the National Fire Protection Association. TWO-WAY TELEVISION (Concluded from page 24) tion, after taking their positions in the booths, do not see or hear each other until adjustments are made, whereupon the operators expose the images and connect the talking circuits simultaneously. The experimental service is arranged on an appointment basis. The two parties to the conversation, having arranged with attendants at the two stations for their time, proceed to the respective booths, where they are ushered into chairs in position before the photoelectric cells and instructed as to the operation of the system. Immediately the attendant closes the booth door; the operators make the necessary adjustments ; and the simultaneous sight and sound communication is carried on until, upon the parties leaving their chairs, the connections are interrupted. The present demonstration by Bell Telephone Laboratories, of simulta neous two-way television and speech, shows some of the results obtained from our continued work in the field of television. At the time of the initial demonstration of television by the American Telephone & Telegraph Company in April, 1927, it was stated that we would continue our work on television. Partial results of this work were shown in the demonstration of out-of-door television in 1928 and of color television in June, 1929.