Still from a Lubin Manufacturing Company film production, ca.
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Still from a Lubin Manufacturing Company film production, ca. 1912.
National Museum of American Jewish History, 2006.2.343, Donated by Jean M. Fulton in honor of Dr. Deborah M. Pressman and Cecilia Lubashur Neuman.
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by [email protected]
The Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia was an important player in early American film. Starting in 1896, Lubin both produced its own films and provided technical services for other studios.
Film in those days was the extremely flammable nitrate stock, and Lubin had lots of film on its premises at any given time. So they took elaborate precautions, building a film vault that led the industry in safety measures.
They weren't enough. A fire on June 13, 1914 turned into a series of catastrophic explosions. Millions of feet of film were lost and the company, already struggling, slid into bankruptcy.
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@jalefkowit Just a few years ago, I watched some movie set in the early 1900s that had a kid running film across town and when he hopped on the tram with the film everyone on the tram gasped and pulled away, and someone chewed him out for carrying such dangerous stuff out in public.
That was the first time I'd ever heard of how flammable/explosive early film stock was! I'd had no idea...
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to chiasm last edited by [email protected]
@chiasm Oh yeah. The early history of the movie business is full of catastrophic film fires. Nitrate film is made from nitrocellulose, which was originally invented as a replacement for gunpowder. Even just the heat from a projector's bulb could set it off.
The wild part is that this problem was recognized very early, but it took an absurdly long time to replace nitrate. Kodak started working on "safety film" based on less flammable acetate in 1909, but didn't convert all their production over to acetate stock until 1952.
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Jason Lefkowitzreplied to Jason Lefkowitz last edited by
You just don't see straw boaters in professional settings anymore the way you used to