Why watch it
12 minutes, and what to watch for
Documentary footage of the aftermath of the Bayless Dam failure in Austin, Pennsylvania, with an introduction by Ned Thanhouser
Background of the scenario
This film incorporates scenes taken by a Thanhouser film crew rushed to Austin, Pennsylvania, following news of a flood. On Saturday, September 30, 1911, the Bayless Dam broke, and a huge wall of water, followed by a fire, devastated the town and killed over 100 of its citizens.
Lyman Howe, a Pennsylvania producer and exhibitor, claimed to be the first on the scene with a camera crew, on Sunday, October 1, 1911. Presumably, the Thanhouser crew arrived shortly afterward. In any event, the Thanhouser crew was sufficiently fast so that a print of the film, 750 feet in length, condensed from 2,000 feet photographed at the scene, was shown at Thanhouser’s New Rochelle headquarters on Monday, October 2, 1911.
The film, titled Austin Flood, was advertised in the October 14, 1911 issue of Moving Picture World, which was in the hands of its readers about a week earlier (according to the date stamp on the cover, the Library of Congress received its copy on October 9, 1911). It was announced that the film was available for immediate shipment through Independent exchanges.
The October 21, 1911 issue of The Moving Picture World, page 220, printed an advertisement of the Feature Amusement Enterprises Company (Lyman Howe), 441 Market Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, offering a film titled The Austin, Pa. Flood and Fire, noting: “We were first on the ground, Sunday, October 1. Secured the finest moving pictures. One reel 800 feet. $200 or two reels, 1600 feet, $375. Selling outright to anyone. Guaranteed original moving pictures. Have cash with order. Fine lithos. Wire order. Special notice: We have a beautiful set of 21 hand-colored slides of the flood, price $10. Fine 100 sheets lithographs. Better wire order quick. Be first.”
ARTICLE by Gordon Trent, The Morning Telegraph, October 8, 1911:
“The Thanhouser Company, awake to the situation, were ‘on the job’ at Austin almost as soon as the news of the terrible flood had reached the outside world. The staff returned Monday morning with 2,000 feet of film, taken at Austin, and the evening of the same day the film was exhibited at the Thanhouser studio. This is a good example of the enterprise and working facilities of the Thanhouser Company. The pictures are wonderfully complete and vividly show the suffering, horror and devastation wrought by the flood.”
What the papers said
2 articlesArticles2 · 14 October 1911 – 21 October 1911
14 October 1911The Moving Picture World1 min
This article is reprinted in the narrative section of the present work.
21 October 1911The Moving Picture World1 min
“Lyman H. Howe maintains at his office a crew of ‘emergency’ photographers—cameramen, who are always ready to rush in a moment’s notice to photograph scenes of great human interest like a fire engine or wrecked train whenever or wherever they may occur. The advantage of such an ever-alert organization was well demonstrated when the first news of the terrible flood at Austin, Pennsylvania flashed to the world. As soon as the magnitude of the calamity became apparent, Mr. Howe’s photographers were racing to Austin. They arrived there even before many of the newspaper reporters and long before any other photographers. The flood had subsided just before their arrival. They planted their cameras in the very center of the narrow little valley. From that point they photographed panoramic views showing the magnitude of the awful destruction caused by the irresistible wall of water 50 feet high, and the houses stranded by it in every conceivable position on the hillsides...”
Cast and crew
No cast or crew is credited in the surviving sources for this film. Bowers records the title and the release; the names did not come with them.
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More about this film
- Filmed in
- Austin, Pennsylvania
- Posters and media
From Volume II: Filmography of Q. David Bowers’ Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, reproduced with permission and unchanged. Read the history of 1911 →
Cite as: Bowers, Q. David. Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, “Austin Flood”. thanhouser.org/films/austin-flood/
Where copies are held
- Held by
- Library of Congress
- Completeness
- Unknown
- Restored by
- 2011
- Scored by
- Ben Model
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