First Monster Ball of the Motion Picture Industry

[Bruce Long]

On September 28, 1914, the "First Monster Ball of the Motion Picture Industry" was held at the San Francisco Coliseum. I've scanned the program for that event and placed it at https://archive.org/details/monster-ball-1914

The ball was sponsored by the Screen Club of San Francisco, whose president was Sid Grauman. Details of the event were reported in Moving Picture World, December 19, 1914. S.F. Mayor Rolf was present, and the stars present included Charles Chaplin, Roscoe Arbuckle, and Mabel Normand, In the program, Chaplin was described as "the man with the perpetual jag".

The program is mostly ads for stars, movie companies, and local San Francisco businesses. Ads for D. W. Griffith mention his forthcoming specials: "The Clansman" and "The Mother and the Law".

[Daniel Eagan]

Fascinating, thank you very much.

My favorite was the ad for the Idle Hour Theater. An evocative name.

[stairstars]

There was another ball, on the East Coast, just days after this one, that is reported in the same issue of MOVING PICTURE WORLD. In fact, it got a four page review including a full page image. It was the Motion Picture Exhibitors 2dn Annual Ball with Mary Pickford as Queen. Attendance was reported at 8,000 with an afternoon parade. It appears that it went into the wee hours of the following morning and had a huge dance contest and the Guv as a special guest.


I have a ribbon from the event: