The Sisters -- April 18, 2025

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Today is the 119th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. In 1938, Anatole Litvak directed Bette Davis and Errol Flyn in The Sisters, a melodrama about the trials and tribulations of three sisters in Montana. Bette Davis's character Louise meets Errol Flynn's Frank, a sportswriter and aspiring novelist. Despite her parents' disapproval, they marry and run off to San Francisco. Frank becomes an alcoholic and they aren't happy. Then the 1906 Earthquake and Fire strikes. Much of the earthquake and fire footage came from a Warner Brothers silent film, In Old San Francisco.

Frisco Jenny -- April 18, 2024

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Today is the 118th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Wild Bill Wellman directed Ruth Chatterton in Frisco Jenny, a strong pre-code movie. The Earthquake and Fire kills Jenny's father and fiancee, and she gives birth soon after. She becomes involved in prostitution and has to give up her son. Her son grows up to be a lawyer and then district attorney. He doesn't know he is prosecuting his mother for murder and before she is hanged, she begs her old friend never to tell him.

News Reel Shows Frisco Fire -- April 18, 2023

Motion Picture News, 14-October-1922

Today is the 116th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco.

Motion Picture News, 14-October-1922

Universal's International Mirror #2, "part of a series recording historical events in the United States," showed images taken before and after the Earthquake and Fire.

Johnnies On the Spot, Slightly Bent But Never Broke -- April 18, 2022

New York Clipper, 28-August-1906

Today is the 116th anniversary of San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

The Miles Brothers, pioneering San Francisco producers and distributors, offered films of San Francisco before the earthquake, including their famous film known as "A Trip Down Market Street." 

The "Panoramic View of Newspaper Square at Kearny and Market Streets" mentions "Lotta Fountain" and the "Sutter Street Turntable."  This was actually the Geary Street, Park and Ocean turntable.  The intersection was called Newspaper Square because the offices of the Chronicle, the Examiner and the Call were on three of the corners. 

Be sure to click on the images for a larger version. 

San Francisco Call-Chronicle-Examiner, 19-April-1906

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Universal's International Mirror #2 -- April 18, 2021

Universal Weekly, 16-December-1922

Today is the 115th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco.

Universal's International Mirror #2, "part of a series recording historical events in the United States," showed images taken before and after the Earthquake and Fire.

Universal Weekly, 16-December-1922

Gracie Allen, 125 -- July 26, 2020

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Gracie Allen, partner in life, in vaudeville, in movies, on radio and on television of George Burns, was born 125 years ago today in San Francisco. Some sources say she was born in other years, but all the records were destroyed by the Earthquake and Fire in 1906.  She lived in the Richmond District, where I grew up, and attended grammar school and high school at Star of the Sea.

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San Francisco Earthquake -- April 18, 2020

New York Clipper, 20-May-1906

Today is the 114th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco.

A mere month after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco, Lubin offered several films showing the city before and after the disaster.

The Following Films are Ready for Delivery:

PANORAMA OF SAN FRANCISCO IN FIRE AND SMOKE

REFUGEES ON MARKET STREET

ARRIVAL OF REFUGEES AT OAKLAND

THE FIRST TROLLEY CAR AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

WATERFRONT REFUGEES LEAVING SAN FRANCI8CO

THE DOOMED CITY
Showing Falling Houses and Burning Homes.

REFUGEE8 AT THE GOLDEN GATE PARK
Soldiers Feeding the Starving People.

PANORAMAS OF NOB HILL, CHINATOWN, ST. FRANCIS HOTEL
Showing the Terrible Havoc Wrought by Earthquake and Fire.

PANORAMAS OF MARKET STREET, THE CITY HALL, TAKEN FROM THE ROOF OF THE U. S. MINT

THE MISSION
This Section has been Entirely Destroyed.

REFUGEES IN JEFFERSON SQUARE
An Appalling Sight.

SHOT FOR LOOTING
Showing the Dead Bodies of Human Hyenas.

AND 36 OTHERS. ALSO 100 SLIDES NOW READY.

FILMS 11 CENTS PER FOOT.

Proud Flesh -- April 18, 2019

Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Presentation Book, 1924 (Australia)

Today is the 113th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco.

In 1925, King Vidor directed his future wife, Eleanor Boardman, in Proud Flesh, the story of a woman who was born and orphaned during the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Fernanda was raised by relatives in Spain, but decided to visit San Francisco to get away from Don Jaime, played by the original Harrison Ford. She meets Pat O'Malley, played by Pat O'Malley <I>(no kidding - JT)</I>, a plumbing contractor. Don Jaime comes to San Francisco and Fernanda is torn between the two men.

Motion Picture Magazine, May, 1925

Harrison Ford and Eleanor Boardman, two of the stars of Proud Flesh.

Exhibitors Trade Review, 07-March-1925

Pat O'Malley, who played the third corner of the triangle, with his kids.

Flame of the Barbary Coast -- April 18, 2018

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Today is the 112th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

John Wayne played Duke, a cowboy who came to San Francisco, visited the Barbary Coast, and fell in love with Flaxen, played by Ann Dvorak and got fleeced by gambler Tito Morelli, played by Joseph Schildkraut.  Seeking revenge, Duke went home and learned how to gamble and how to spot cheaters from his friend Wolf, played by William Frawley.  Duke returned to the Barbary Coast and won a pile of money, which he used to open a new joint on the Coast.  Duke tried to get Flaxen and Tito fought him until the earthquake and fire destroyed both of their gambling houses.   The special effects were not very impressive, which is unusual for a Republic movie.

Hell Morgan's Girl -- April 18, 2017

Moving Picture World, 03-February-1917

Hell Morgan's Girl was a 1917 film produced by Bluebird Photoplays, a subsidiary of Universal.  The film is set in San Francisco's Barbary Coast, where a young man from a rich family is hired by to play piano in a saloon.  The owner, Hell Morgan, has a daughter, Lola, played by Dorothy Phillips.  The young man and Hell Morgan's Girl fall in love, but Lon Chaney's character, Sleter Noble, wants the girl.  The 1906 fire and earthquake cleans things up at the end.  The film is probably lost.

Moving Picture World, 10-February-1917

"Lavishly produced; thrilling scenes of the great San Francisco earthquake; life in the resorts in the famous Barbary Coast District of the city by the Golden Date."  The movie was released on a State's Rights basis, selling the rights to each region of the country to local distributors.

Moving Picture World, 17-February-1917

"This is
'Hell Morgan's
Girl'
You Doubt Her
You Accuse Her
You Pity Her
You Condemn Her
You Hate Her
You Love Her
She's Wonderful" 

Moving Picture World, 24-February-1917

"After selling valuable state rights territory on this unusual production all negotions were withdrawn owing to the insistent demands of BLUEBIRD exchange managers, who will release it as a BLUEBIRD special release."  Universal withdrew the movie from State's Right distribution and released through the Bluebird distribution channels as a special.

Moving Picture World, 03-March-1917

"'Hell Morgan's Girl' ... Now a Bluebird."

Moving Picture World, 24-March-1917

A late reference to the movie.  I like the Bluebird in the cage.

The movie appears to be lost. 

When the Earth Trembled -- April 18, 2016

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

"When the Earth Trembled" was a 1913 Lubin three-reeler which included the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco among its events.  Reviewers remarked on how long it was and how effective were the "mechanical effects." 

Motion Picture News, 29-November-1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

The Motion Picture Story Magazine, September, 1913

Johnnies On the Spot, Slightly Bent But Never Broke -- April 18, 2014

Today is the 108th anniversary of San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

The Miles Brothers, pioneering San Francisco producers and distributors, offered films of San Francisco before the earthquake, including their famous film known as "A Trip Down Market Street." 

The "Panoramic View of Newspaper Square at Kearny and Market Streets" mentions "Lotta Fountain" and the "Sutter Street Turntable."  This was actually the Geary Street, Park and Ocean turntable.  The intersection was called Newspaper Square because the offices of the Chronicle, the Examiner and the Call were on three of the corners. 

Be sure to click on the images for a larger version. 

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