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The ruins of the Thanhouser plant in New Rochelle, with onlookers in the street
The plant on the afternoon of 13 January 1913 (date from the archive record). Thanhouser family archive, courtesy of Pego Paar. Tint added on this page.

A story from the archive · New Rochelle

13 January 1913

On a Monday afternoon the Thanhouser studio on Grove Avenue burned to the ground in under an hour. This is what happened, in the words of the town paper that covered it.

A spark in the darkroom

It is believed that a spark, perhaps from an electric coil or from friction in one of the perforating machines, set fire to a reel of film. The film, which is on a celluloid base, burned so quickly that it was practically an explosion.1

Out in perfect order

More than 50 people including photoplayers and employees marched silently and in perfect order down the stairs bareheaded and coatless. As they left the main floor, a tongue of flame shot up from the rear and the scenery crumpled up like paper.1

A figure climbing out of a window onto a porch
Staged for When the Studio Burned (1913), filmed in the weeks after the fire.

The woman who saved the negatives

One of the bravest actions ever witnessed was that of Mrs. Hattie McCroskery, employed in the journey room. When the shout of “Fire” rang through the building, she dashed to the stockroom and began handing out the tin boxes containing the negative reels to men who passed them through a window. She worked until the men called to her to run and save herself. “I will when I have to. You keep on the job and take these films,” she called back.1

Under an hour

In less than an hour after the fire started, the Thanhouser was a level mass of flaming ashes and the Bolnik and Graham houses were a few glowing sticks with part of the walls standing.1

A man in an overcoat at a counter beside a telephone
Staged for When the Studio Burned (1913), filmed in the weeks after the fire.

No camera to film it

The Thanhouser Company, which has always been among the first at a local fire to make motion pictures, did not make a picture of its own fire. The three cameras were in the building and could not be saved.1

Half a day lost

All the releases for six weeks to come had been placed in the vaults of the National City Bank as they were finished and were safe from the fire. … It is probably the only case on record where a large concern lost only half a day after being burned out.1

Three weeks later, the studio put its fire on screen

A frame from When the Studio Burned

When the Studio Burned

Released on 4 February 1913. The Thanhouser Kid and the Kidlet play themselves, and Marguerite Snow saves the little one from the flames.2

The film’s page, with cast and story →

Inside a glass-roofed studio under construction
The glass studio built on the back of a building acquired early in 1913, after the fire (archive record). Thanhouser family archive.

After the fire

“Because I like New Rochelle and intend to stay”

Charles J. Hite, the company’s president, promised a fireproof building that same afternoon: “I intend to build a fireproof structure in New Rochelle,” said he, “because I like New Rochelle and intend to stay.”3

Read the full chapter in the encyclopedia →

Sources

  1. The Evening Standard, New Rochelle, 14 January 1913; quoted in Bowers, Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, chapter 6.
  2. Release date and cast from Bowers, Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, entry for When the Studio Burned; story from the trade-press synopsis quoted there.
  3. The Evening Standard, New Rochelle, Extra Special Edition, 13 January 1913; quoted in Bowers, Thanhouser Films: An Encyclopedia and History, chapter 6.