The Register , dated Saturday 26th March 1910, has a report of a fire at Best’s Canvas Pictures which had taken place on the previous Thursday the 24th March 1910. It appears that there was not extensive damage done, but the operator's hand was burnt.
Damage to the canvas awning would mean that the patrons would be watching the pictures in the open air for a few days, March is generally warm in South Australia. It then goes on to mention that new films were due from Melbourne that very morning, films that hadn’t been seen in South Australian before. Sadly it does not elaborate on which particular films were to arrive.
The Register dated Friday, 25th March, 1910, reported that when the film caught fire – nitrate film was very flammable – the fire spread to the canvas roof, which once the patrons had been evacuated was brought to the ground to be extinguished by the Adelaide Fire Service.
I do love the way that it is reported as ‘an exciting incident’. I think the word exciting in papers of the times covered many a sin. I read of another exciting incident in North Adelaide in the same newspaper, that was actually an abduction of a small girl.
References:
1910 ‘BEST’S PICTURE.’, The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929), 26 March, p. 3. , viewed 03 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57378380
1910 ‘FILM ON FIRE.’, The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 – 1929), 25 March, p. 7. , viewed 03 Jan 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57370549
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