History Through Our Eyes: Jan. 9, 1927, Laurier Palace Theatre fire

[silentfilm]

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/his ... eatre-fire

History Through Our Eyes: Jan. 9, 1927, Laurier Palace Theatre fire

The fire, which began in the floor of the balcony, took the lives of 78 people, almost all of them elementary-school aged or young teens.
Montreal Gazette
Updated: January 9, 2019

The aftermath of the Laurier Palace Theatre fire that killed 78 people (mostly children) on January 9, 1927. The balcony floor was destroyed in the fire. Montreal Gazette archives

On Jan. 9, 1927, fire broke out at the Laurier Palace Theatre on Ste-Catherine St. E., at Dézery St. That Sunday afternoon, hundreds of children had been in the cinema, watching an American silent movie produced the previous year, Get ‘Em Young. Many, if not most, were unaccompanied by adults, despite a law at the time prohibiting those under age 16 from attending films on their own.

The fire, which began in the floor of the balcony, took the lives of 78 people, almost all of them elementary-school aged or young teens. Our photo, taken in the aftermath of the fire, shows that the balcony floor was destroyed. Those on the ground floor escaped harm, but many who had been on the balcony died, either from smoke inhalation or in a crush to get to one of the exits, on the eastern side of the building, which became blocked:

“Wee boys and girls, in the van of the stampeding mob and pressed suddenly from the rear, stumbled and fell. Behind them, in serried ranks, were the others. In an instant, panic seized those in the rear. There was shoving and scrambling. Then boys and girls piled in a heap,” we reported.

Firemen and police responded quickly, we noted, in our extensive and heartbreaking coverage the next day. As the news spread, “soon hatless, anxious parents were on the run toward the theatre.” Two families lost three children each. Children of some of the first responders were among the dead.

As a result of the fire, Quebec passed legislation completely barring all children under 16 from attending cinemas — a provision that stayed in place until 1961 — and requiring that such buildings’ exit doors open outward.

[moviepas]

Is this film referred to in the sad article:

https://youtu.be/KTqD9SBWxsE

It seems to be a Stan Laurel & Max Davidson film of about 19mins.

Long before this there was a similar story in the middle of my state in Australia in a major town. They showed films in a barn and the film reel off into a basket to be rewound later. The hall had one door, albeit the size of a door into bedrooms in standard house then as now. A cigarette seems to have ben near or thrown into the basket and the ensuing fire saw people dash for the lone door and many died in the crush. In more recent years in the chalet disc tragedy in a French disco.

[s.w.a.c.]

More on that "no children under 16 allowed to watch movies" legislation:

The following year, on March 22, 1928, the Taschereau government would adopt a law requiring all theaters to have exit doors open outwards, and which would prohibit all children under 16 from going to the movies. Throughout 1928 to 1932, theater owners continued to appeal the law, and at one point succeeded in having it suspended if only for a short period. In February 1938, a public outcry was made across Quebec newspapers and airwaves, pleading to permit our children to be able to watch the newly released Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, as in the other provinces. Yet Quebec courts continued to uphold the movie law, citing that “family life would be breached if our children were allowed to view movies before the age of 16”. Oddly enough, many saw the law as inconsistent, as at the time Quebec children could marry at age 14. The law was finally repealed in 1961, and only officially replaced by today’s movie rating system, to coincide with the opening of EXPO in 1967.

[boblipton]

Well, if all those fourteen-year-olds spent their time at the movies, they couldn't be making more Quebecois children.

Bob