Glen Cinema Disaster Burials

[shrewgirl30]

Does anyone have any information on the burials @ hawkhead cemetery or Woodside Crematorium/Cemetery in Paisley?

Mainly the burials of the Children killed in the Glen cinema Disaster.

Thanks

[AnnieMack]

Hello

There is a lot of information here:

http://www.glencinema.org.uk/

Hope this helps,

Annie

[Kathy]

My Aunt was one of the survivors.

On 31.12.1929, (name withheld) was one of 1000 children at the Glen Cinema in Paisley for a special childrens hogmanay matinee.

A film reel was put into its metal box, the box started omitting thick black smoke, the children thinking there was a fire, panicked and fled for the exit door, the exit doors open inward, and with the crush of children the doors were unable to be opened, 70 children died, either trampled or suffocated by the smoke.

The tragedy was there was no actual fire in the cinema.

Kathy

[witchy2k1]

A truly heart wrenching story, of which I knew nothing until I found this post.

...but how can 1 can of film fill an entire theatre with deadly fumes - especially after it had already been removed from the building, and how would the film reel have started to react in the first place?

[paddyscar]

Hi Witchy2k1!

...but how can 1 can of film fill an entire theatre with deadly fumes - especially after it had already been removed from the building, and how would the film reel have started to react in the first place?

Movie films of that date were made with silver nitrate and celluloid. Celluloid is highly flammable. Both the celluloid and the silver nitrate would release toxic gas in to air when burning. This toxic gas would have been breathed in by tiny lungs functioning in a panic, where breathing would have been very deep and rapid.

Fires were not uncommon due to the composition of the film, which is passed in very close proximity to the light source. If I remember correctly, movie theatre film was 70 mm - home movies were 8mm.

I don't know what wattage bulbs were used in movie theatre projectors. I know that it would have been significantly higher, and therefore hotter, than the 500 - 1000 watts used in 16 mm projectors.

In our film library in the '70s - '80s, we used 16 mm films and projectors and many films would have burns on them upon return. If people stopped the film in the middle, the remaining heat from the lamp could burn a hole through the film, even if the lamp had been turned off.

Based on visual memory only, a movie theatre reel of film was probably about 2 1/2 inches by 20 - 24inches in diameter.

Previous discussion on the Glen Cinema disaster can be found at: http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... a+disaster
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... a+disaster

Additional info on film and its problems -

http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscree ... _film.html

This Film is Dangerous: A Celebration of Nitrate Film ed. Roger Smither, Associate editor Catherine A Surowiec. FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film), London: United Kingdom, 2002

Hope this helps,
Frances

[pehpi]

My Dad was nearly two when his brother and two sisters were sent off to the matinee while my Granny did the Hogmany cleaning. Thanks to the clear headed thinking of his two sisters my dad and his brother were ushered outside safely. My dad's legacy is he has a phobia re sitting in picture houses and I know that one of my Aunties had a shock reaction and collapsed missing a day's school due to the event. All of my cousins, my sister and I grew up in the shadow of that dark day.
Yours
Pehpi Koch nee McNicol

[Currie]

Hello Pehpi,

The Glen Cinema site is now here http://www.glencinema.co.uk/index.php

Here’s how the tragedy was reported the next day in the Glasgow Herald. You may have to browse through to see them and zoom in. Pictures are on page 5 and the main article on page 11. It’s interesting to compare how newspapers presented headline news then and now. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=G ... =frontpage

All the best,
Alan

[pehpi]

Thank you Allan. I found the items heart breaking.
Pehpi