Tag: theatre fires

Toronto Cinemas1 Comment

The Metro Theatre’s red hot opening night

Eric Veillette

At Bloor and Manning, a giant poster advertising Emmanuelle adorns the facade of the Metro, Toronto’s only surviving legitimate adult movie theatre. But long before it began showing porn in the 1970s, it served as a neighbourhood theatre for over three decades. Despite the PG-rated nature of the cinema’s opening night (April 7, 1939) double-bill, Delinquent Parents and Looking for Trouble, things got a little heated during the second showing of the programme when a fire broke out in a storage room on the ground floor near the building’s entrance. Smoke billowed into the auditorium and a minor panic ensued … Continue reading The Metro Theatre’s red hot opening night

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Aftershocks of Montreal’s Laurier Palace Theatre fire

Eric Veillette

The Laurier Palace Theatre fire which claimed the lives of 78 Montreal children in January of 1927 made headlines all over North America. The above front page from the Arizona Daily Star was recently added to our collection. Like many newspapers who reported the tragic event, it also pointed out other infamous theatre disasters. Among them: the Gillis Theatre, Kansas City (1925); Knickerbocker Theatre Washington, D.C. (1922); Rialto Theatre, New Haven, CT (1921); Catherine St. movie house, New York City, (1920). As mentioned in an earlier post about the Laurier Palace, at the time, nobody under 15 was allowed into … Continue reading Aftershocks of Montreal’s Laurier Palace Theatre fire

Montreal Cinemas11 Comments

The Laurier Palace Theatre Fire

Eric Veillette

Today we look at the tragic Laurier Palace Theatre fire, which claimed the lives of 78 Montreal children in January of 1927. Many local parents considered the Laurier Palace Theatre a firetrap. Situated between a cafe and a bar, there were no lateral exits; the only way out of the theatre was through exits on either side of the ticket wicket and two rear exits on both sides of the stage, which led out onto a lane at the rear of the building. Few parents were aware their children had lined up to see a movie that cold and sunny … Continue reading The Laurier Palace Theatre Fire