| Reference Type |
The Advocate
newspaper
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| Title |
Picture Theatre Fire |
| Author(s) | Author Unknown |
| Section |
News |
| Town |
Melbourne |
| State |
VIC |
| Country |
Australia |
| Publication Date |
07-01-1924 |
| Citation Date |
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| Page Number |
5 |
| Comments |
"Picture Theatre Fire" is a report concerning a small fire that took place at the Lyric Theatre in January 1924. Interesting irony in the title of the film being "The Town Scandal". In a similar irony, The Lowood Theatre in Queensland was destroyed by fire in 1927 while showing "The Flaming Frontier" (as reported in The Brisbane Courier Tuesday 6 December 1927 page 21). My research so far into a typical night's experience at a theatre like the Star Lyric in its heyday, shows that fires in old venues were quite frequent. CATHS' list of venues in Victoria list 16 theatres that were known to have been destroyed by fire. Film in the silent era was nitrate stock and highly flammable and health and safety regulations such as buildings have today were unknown. There were also reports of venues being struck by fire.
According to IMBD, "The Town Scandal" was a silent film by Universal Pictures released in 1923. This fits in with research showing that most films that were shown in Australian theatres during this era were either American or British in origin. âThe 1920s brought massive expansion to the American film industry, squeezing tighter still the release opportunities for Australian films in their home territory.â (Shirley Graham, Brian Adams 1983, Australian cinema: the first eighty years, Angus & Robertson, Sydney. p77.). The increase of American film production and distribution also boosted theatre construction in Melbourne and cities throughout Australia. This of course led to newer and bigger theatres being built in competition to the Lyric, such as the Austral and The Solway, both also constructed in Johnston Street Fitzroy. |
| Synopsis |
Full transcript: "50 FEET FILM DESTROYED. MELBOURNE, Sunday- A fire occurred at the Lyric Theatre, Fitzroy,last night, where "The Town Scandal" Was being shown. The electric arc came into contact with the film, destroying 50 feet of it. The audience became alarmed, but the fire was extinguished by chemical apparatus."
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tags: Fire Universal Pictures
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Notes ( click to view )
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| URL |
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/67117557
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