Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 7 (1914): Thanhouser on the Spot

Mutual Weekly No. 62, a newsreel screened on March 4th, featured a sequence titled A Seminary Consumed by Flames, which showed scenes from a real disaster in New Rochelle filmed by Thanhouserites on February 18, 1914 when a large building of the Oaksmere School burned to the ground. Additional footage of the conflagration was subsequently used in From the Flames, a drama released on April 28th. Years later in its issue of February 19, 1964 the New Rochelle Standard-Star carried a nostalgia feature on the event, from the typewriter of Tom Hoctor, who was to later become the city's official historian:

A fire in a fashionable boarding school for girls and the presence in New Rochelle of a pioneer film company, combined one day 50 years ago to provide the makings for a thrilling motion picture. It was Wednesday, February 18, 1914. A foot or so of snow clogged New Rochelle's streets, making the going rough for automobiles of the period. Horsedrawn sleighs were another matter, and there were still quite a few of them in use. The Oaksmere School, conducted by Miss Winifred Merrill, occupied a large mansion far out on Davenport Neck adjacent to the present Beach and Tennis Club. In addition to the main building and a smaller one there was a large barn which had been remodeled for classrooms and a gymnasium.

Shortly after 11 a.m. on the 18th flames were discovered in the boiler room of the gym. While instructors rushed the few girls in the building to the outdoors, an alarm was telephoned to New Rochelle's volunteer fire department. As the fire whistle boomed the number 1-4-7, indicating a fire on Davenport Neck Lower, William Eugene Noel, a stunt man for Thanhouser Film Corp.; Carroll Fleming, a director; Henry Cronjager, a cameraman; and Edmund "Toots" Brady were on their way down Franklin Avenue to Hudson Park. There Noel, familiarly known as "Pep," was scheduled to break the ice and take a swim as a "double" for the leading man in a photoplay to be entitled One Hour of Youth. Noel was also a member of old Relief Engine Co. No. 2, which was quartered in the former fire headquarters building on Church Street. The same company in today's professional fire force is at that location also but is simply designated as Engine No. 2.

Upon hearing the alarm and realizing the fire was close by, Director Fleming decided the icy swim scene could wait. He directed the driver to follow the Relief motor pumping engine which had turned into Davenport Avenue. When the fire engine was opposite what was at the time the Thorne property, but which today is Davenport Park, it became stuck in the snow. The time required to dig it clear is a matter of debate. Noel, who was present, says the engine was cleared in a few minutes. The Evening Standard of February 19 says the firemen were delayed about half an hour. At any rate, by the time the engine had reached the scene the gym was a mass of flames. The volunteers had difficulty negotiating the narrow road leading to the fire but managed to stretch one line of hose 800 feet to battle the blaze.

In the meantime, Fleming directed Noel, now attired in fireman's regalia, to enter the burning building and stagger out clutching papers purported to be a "will." Outside waiting to pounce upon him was "Toots" Brady, now playing the role of the villain. A struggle between the two ensued as the camera ground away. The fight was repeated twice. During the final reenactment of the sequence Noel was doused with water from the hose to prevent his clothing from catching fire in the heat from the rapidly disintegrating building.

During the fire fight the cameraman took a photo of the firemen. It hangs on the wall in the Exempt Firemen's clubrooms in the Department of Health building on Church Street. It shows Chief James Ross, fully uniformed, pointing dramatically towards the flames as a group of volunteers tend a hoseline amidst billowing smoke. Relief Engine was the only piece of fire equipment to reach the blaze. Enterprise Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, which occupied the firehouse on Huguenot Street, went to New Rochelle Hospital by mistake and then ran into a snowbank on Burling Lane.

That night the Reliefs had to return to the scene to douse a rekindle in the ruins. While chugging up Franklin Avenue, on the return to quarters, the engine was turned suddenly to avoid an oncoming trolley car. The strain sheared a sprocket pin and the machine was disabled. Chief Ross sent a small patrol car to get the hose from the engine. The pumper was towed by a trolley car, no less, to the vicinity of Church Street. Meanwhile the patrol car broke down returning to the firehouse. Altogether it was a poor day for the firemen and their equipment.

What happened to all the movie footage taken of Noel and his companions? Writers at Thanhouser, located at Evans and Main streets, whipped up a scenario about a wealthy widower, a faithful niece, a dissipated son and a disputed will. Noel's part was that of a fireman who rescued the will from the flames. The film was shown in theatres here and in England and enjoyed a long run - all 1,721 feet of it.

Noel still lives in New Rochelle and he's still known as "Pep." Edmund Brady is also around and so are several of the former volunteers who fought the Oaksmere fire. The school eventually moved to Mamaroneck but the stately mansion of brick and stone which was the main building still stands. It is now The Oaks, a rest home for members of the Alumnae Association of Mt. Sinai Hospital, its student nurses and the nurses of New Rochelle Hospital. Old Oaksmere, where actress Katherine Cornell once studied and on the spacious lawns of which the "silver-tongued orator" William Jennings Bryan delivered a commencement address, still retains a link with its dramatic past. Only last year scenes for the TV show, Naked City, were filmed there. However, there were no fire scenes.