Today’s blog post looks at the initial response to the news that The Birth of A Nation, D. W. Griffith‘s photoplay about the Civil War and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan after the war, would be shown in Harrisburg. Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In the months and years that followed, the hype for the film was printed in the newspapers without regard to indicating whether the information was a press release from the theatre owners, was an impartial review from a film critic, or was a commentary from the newspaper’s editor.
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A brief article appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph on September 7, 1915:
Colored folk of this city, represented by W. J. Carter, attorney, at a hearing before Mayor John K. Royal at 8 o’clock this evening, will protest against the showing of the moving picture feature film, The Birth of a Nation in this city. The film is scheduled for one of the Wilmer and Vincent theatres. C. Floyd Hopkins, local representative of the Wilmer and Vincent interests, will be invited to attend the hearing.
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The newspaper did not report on any resolution to the protest. But, the film was shown in Harrisburg, and according to an article that appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph, February 11, 1916, it was quite successful:
Record-Breaking Demand for Seats at Griffith Show
Probably there has never been such an enormous demand for seats to one show in the history of Harrisburg’s theatres as is the case with regard to the famous D. W. Griffith spectacle, The Birth of a Nation. For days there has been a long line of waiting men, women and children lined up in the Orpheum lobby, patiently waiting their turn to purchase tickets. Already the first balcony has been sold out for the entire week, but the management made the announcement this morning that there are plenty of seats downstairs for each performance , and the “peanut” has not been sold by any means.
The rumor that has spread, as do all rumors, that the entire house has been sold out for next week, has been denied by the managers, and the fearful apprehension on the part of those who wish to see the spectacle that they might miss it has been allayed. That does not mean that such a condition will continue indefinitely. Preparedness is the motto that applies in the matter of theater tickets as well as military matters.
A ruling that conditions have necessitated has been put in force with respect to the tickets ordered but not paid for. Such tickets will not be held for the applicants later than the night before the performance for which they are marked; and each morning these tickets will be put on sale. That means that seats ordered for Monday, if not paid for by to-morrow, will be put on sale Monday morning.
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On February 19, 1916. a paid advertisement appeared in the Harrisburg Daily Independent:
The Birth of a Nation
Tomorrow is the last day of the presentation of The Birth of a Nation in Harrisburg, at least for some time. The arrangement has been very successful, financially and artistically, and the production has been enjoyed by all. Few realize its grandeur and magnitude. The gathering of the “Clans,” the battle scenes, the love scenes, the burning of Atlanta, the assassination of President Lincoln, and the many other stirring scenes are featured in the play.
The production “enjoyed by all?” Again, no word on the result of the protest made back in August 1915.
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Nearly a year later the film returned as was reported in the Harrisburg Daily Independent of January 5, 1917:
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
“Birth of a Nation” Coming Again With Lower Admission Prices
Messrs. Wilmer and Vincent, manager of the Orpheum Theatre, have just concluded an arrangement taking over for themselves the local engagement of The Birth of a Nation at that playhouse for three days starting Monday afternoon, January 15, it is a cash deal involving $5,000 and gives them the right to fix the scale of prices which are to be much lower than on the former visits of this spectacle.
For The Birth of a Nation, Mr. Grifffith too as the skeleton the story of Thomas Dixon’s The Clansman, but he had in mind a far vaster conception than Dixon’s. It was his aim to reproduce an epoch in American history so vividly that the spectators would actually be carried out of the present and live for three hours in a past that is fast becoming remote and hazy. He did not make the mistake of desiring to depict this period of the past in a naked and horrid realism. He was determined from the start to throw about it a glamor of romance that would soften the picture without distorting it.
The epoch chosen by Mr. Griffith is the most thrilling in American history. It was the epoch that witnessed the shattering of the old idea of state sovereignty. Griffith blended history and romance with rare genius. The story is so strikingly and thrillingly told that the audiences applaud the big moments with all the vigor that they use when real actors appear upon the stage. He has animated his screen phantoms by means of realistic effects and with a musical score made up of patriotic and grand opera themes in such a manner that the spoken word is not missed.
Among the gigantic scenes of The Birth of a Nation are those of the Battle of Petersburg, fought by 18,000 men on a field five miles across; the march of Sherman to the sea, culminating with the burning of Atlanta; the assassination of President Lincoln in the crowded Ford’s Theatre; the wild rides of the Ku Klux Klan and the session of the South Carolina Legislature under the negro-carpetbagger regime.
“Negro-carpetbagger regime” was a reference to one of the main objections to the film. Another objection was that white actors in black-face portrayed African Americans, using stereotypes from minstrel shows.
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When The Birth of a Nation returned to Harrisburg in 1918, it was offered at bargain prices. It was initially priced as low as 25 cents a seat at the beginning of the run in January but later reduced to 10 cents and 15 cents a seat by August. From the Harrisburg Telegraph, January 29, 1918:
The Birth of a Nation, which is said to have played in larger audiences of theatregoers than any other state production during the history of the spoken or silent drama, is to be presented at the Colonial Theatre next Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at bargain prices. While the play has been given in Harrisburg on three on three different occasions in the past, the price has never been lower than the $2 scale. Next week the prices will be 25 cents for the balcony, and 35 cents for the orchestra floor, with no seats reserved except the boxes and loges which will sell for 50 cents. The show will run continuously from 10 a. m. to 11 p. m., and the policy regarding seats will be first come, first served, except in the case of the few seats that will sell in advance. These will be held all afternoon or all evening for the purchasers.
The advance sale of box and loge seats will begin tomorrow forenoon. No telephone orders will be taken, although a special telephone has been installed to give information to persons who desire to make inquiries about the presentation of the big Griffith’s play.
The Birth of a Nation as a moving picture theater attraction at prices such as the the Colonial has fixed upon, marks a new epoch for the movie theater. It began a run at these prices in Philadelphia last week, and the first night between 5,000 and 6,000 persons witnessed it. With six performances a day during its three days’ run in Harrisburg, the Colonial can accommodate in the neighborhood of 25,000 persons.
D. W. Griffith‘s wonderful production, The Birth of a Nation, has turned the theater records of America topsy-turvy. It is a story of American history showing the rise and fall of slavery in this country and the terrible suffering that was endured before a solution of this problem was reached.
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Newspaper articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.