1937 Fox vault fire
Fox Film Corporation and Educational Pictures | |
Deaths | 1 |
---|---|
Non-fatal injuries | 2 |
A major fire occurred in a
One death and two injuries resulted from the fire, which also destroyed all of the archived film in the vaults, resulting in the
Background
Nitrate film
The early motion-picture industry primarily used
On May 4, 1897, one of the first major fires involving nitrate film began when a Lumière projector caught fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris, and the resulting blaze caused 126 deaths. In the United States, a series of fires occurred at industry facilities. The Lubin Manufacturing Company's vault in Philadelphia exploded on June 13, 1914, followed on December 9 by a fire that destroyed Thomas Edison's laboratory complex in West Orange, New Jersey.[A] The New York studio of the Famous Players Film Company burned in September 1915.[3] In July 1920, the shipping facility of its corporate successor Famous Players–Lasky was destroyed by a fire in Kansas City, Missouri despite construction intended to minimize fire risk.[4][5] The United Film Ad Service vault, also in Kansas City, burned on August 4, 1928, and a fire was reported at Pathé Exchange nine days later. In October 1929, the Consolidated Film Industries facility was badly damaged by a nitrate fire.[6][7] Spontaneous combustion was not proven to have occurred in any of these fires, and the possibility of self-ignition may not have been recognized as possible before a 1933 study determined that the minimum temperatures necessary to cause the phenomenon had been overestimated.[1]
Little Ferry
Earlier in the 20th century, nearby
Fire
Northern New Jersey experienced a heat wave in July 1937, with daytime temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C) and warm nights. The sustained heat contributed to nitrate decomposition in the film vaults, and the building's ventilation was inadequate to prevent a dangerous buildup of gases. At some time shortly after 2:00 a.m. on July 9, spontaneous ignition occurred in the vault at the building's northwest corner.[10] Truck driver Robert Davison observed flames coming from one of the structure's window vents, and within five minutes used a municipal fire alarm call box to report the fire.[10][11]
Davison then attempted to awaken the residents of the surrounding houses, many of whom were already alerted to the situation by the noise and intense heat.[10][11] As the contents of additional vaults ignited, bursts of flame erupted 100 feet (30 m) horizontally across the ground from the windows and at a similar distance into the air from the building's roof vents.[10][13] When the fire spread to the vaults in the south and east of the building, the vaults exploded, damaging the brickwork and destroying window frames.[10] Anna Greeves and her sons John and Charles[11] were caught in a "sheet of flame" while attempting to flee the area. All three were seriously burned, and 13-year-old Charles died from his injuries on July 19.[10] Other families were able to escape unharmed, but the fire spread to five neighboring residences and destroyed two vehicles.[11][14]
Little Ferry firefighters first arrived at 2:26 a.m., followed by companies from
Legacy
Although 20th Century-Fox officials at the time remarked that "only old films" were destroyed,[14] the fire is now understood as a significant loss of American film heritage. Motion picture historian Anthony Slide called the destruction of the Fox vault "the most tragic" American nitrate fire.[13] The highest-quality examples of every Fox film produced prior to 1932 were destroyed; all known copies of many films had been stored in the facility.[9] Films lost to the fire include those featuring stars such as Theda Bara, Shirley Mason, William Farnum and Gladys Brockwell.[15] Most of Tom Mix's 85 films for Fox were archived exclusively at Little Ferry.[16] Director J. Gordon Edwards had directed all of the highest-grossing epics for Fox, and all of the masters for his films were lost (although a few that were housed elsewhere survive as low-quality prints). The complete body of film work of some actors such as Valeska Suratt was destroyed.[17] According to Museum of Modern Art film curator Dave Kehr, "there are entire careers that don't exist because of [the fire]."[18] Because some copies were located elsewhere, some of Fox's silent films survive as lower quality prints or fragments, but more than 75% of Fox's feature films from before 1930 are completely lost.[15]
The Little Ferry vaults also held works by other film studios that had contracted with Fox for distribution.
The destruction of the Little Ferry facility spurred an interest in
See also
- America's first motion picture industry
- List of building or structure fires
- List of Fox Film films
- 1965 MGM vault fire, also destroyed many silent and early sound films
- 2008 Universal Studios fire, destroyed thousands of audio master tapes
- Cleveland Clinic fire of 1929, caused by the combustion of X-ray film
Notes
- ^ Now the site of the Thomas Edison National Historical Park
- ^ Approximately $3.18 million – 4.24 million in 2023 dollars
- ^ About $42,389 in 2023 dollars
References
- ^ .
- ^ Hudson, M. C.; MacLaren, Robert (August 31, 1979). Nitrate film testing for the National Archives: December 1978 fire investigation (Report). Naval Ordnance Station, Indian Head, Maryland. NOS-IHTR-567. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015.
- ^ "Players' Film fire lessons". The Weekly Underwriter. 93 (18): 562. October 30, 1915.
- ^ "Fire losses of the week". Fire and Water Engineering. 68 (5): 252. August 4, 1920.
- ^ Scanlan, Ernest A. (August 25, 1920). "Film fire in 12-Story Kansas City building". Fire and Water Engineering. 68 (8): 401, 403.
- ^ Slide 2000, pp. 11–13.
- ^ "Crafting a new exhibit: Edison's fire companies and the Great Fire of 1914". Thomas Edison National Historical Park. September 8, 2013. Archived from the original on April 25, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
- ISBN 0-86196-653-8
- ^ a b c d e f Pierce, David (1997). "The legion of the condemned – why American silent films perished". Film History. 9 (1): 5–22.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Fox Film storage fire". Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Agency. 31 (2): 136–142. 1937.
- ^ a b c d e f "$45,000 fire drives families from homes in Little Ferry". Bergen Evening Record. 48 (28): 1–2. July 9, 1937. Archived from the original on January 26, 2019.
- ^ a b "Trustee asks $500,000 for films lost in fire". The Film Daily. 79 (66): 2. April 4, 1941. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Slide 2000, p. 13.
- ^ a b c "Fox N. J. film storage plant swept by flames". The Film Daily. 72 (8): 2. July 10, 1937. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
- ^ a b Solomon 2011, p. 1.
- ^ Birchard 1993, p. 133.
- ^ Pratt 1982, p. 3.
- ^ Jones, Kristin M. (June 21, 2018). "'William Fox Presents: Restorations and Rediscoveries from the Fox Film Corporation' review". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
- ^ Neibaur 2010, p. 80.
- ^ "'Life' banned for "Birth of a Baby" pictures". Motion Picture Herald. 131 (3): 18. April 16, 1938. Archived from the original on April 27, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
- ^ Koszarski 2005, p. 339.
- doi:10.5594/J14681.
- doi:10.5594/J14682.
- ^ Maines 2013, p. 66.
- ^ Harvey & Mahard 2014, p. 186.
Bibliography
- Birchard, Richard S. (1993). King Cowboy: Tom Mix and the Movies. Riverwood Press. ISBN 978-1-880756-05-8.
- Harvey, Ross; Mahard, Martha R. (2014). The Preservation Management Handbook: A 21st-Century Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Rowman and Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7591-2315-1.
- Koszarski, Richard (2005). Fort Lee: The Film Town (1904–2004). Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-86196-652-3.
- Maines, Rachel (2013). Asbestos and Fire: Technological Tradeoffs and the Body at Risk. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-6472-2.
- Neibaur, James L. (2010). The Fall of Buster Keaton: His Films for MGM, Educational Pictures, and Columbia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7682-8.
- Pratt, George C., ed. (1982). Faces and Fabrics/Feathers and Furs. George Eastman House. ISBN 978-0-935398-05-2.
- Slide, Anthony (2000). Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United States. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0836-8.
- Solomon, Aubrey (2011). The Fox Film Corporation, 1915–1935: A History and Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6286-5.