Blizzard of 1922: Knickerbocker Theater Disaster

Hand cranked newsreel footage (silent) of the Knickerbocker Theater disaster during the worst snowstorm in Washington DC history, January 27-28, 1922. I used this footage in my documentary TWENTY FIVE CENTS BEFORE NOON which aired on WETA in 1990
http://www.vimeo.com/4240048

After the newsreel (shown twice), I include stills from the Library of Congress prints and photographs division.

For more information about the snowstorm, and the tragic collapse of the Knickerbocker Theater roof which killed 98 persons, here are some links
http://dckaleidoscope.wordpress.com/2...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerb...
http://www.shorpy.com/images/photos/k...

Thanks, Jeff Krulik

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  People & Blogs

[wtmbbanjo]

My great aunt, Martha Strayer, walked for blocks to cover this story for the Washington Daily News..she was a reporter there for nearly 50 years.

[James Ostmann]

My grandfather was a fireman back then, and was on the scene for rescue and recovery.

[dillene]

Amazing. I've walked by that Sun Trust bank a hundred times, not realizing what happened there.

[aaron foster]

Fantastic Video! This is at the corner of Columbia Rd & 18th Street where a suntrust bank and police substatin sits. (across from the McDonalds). Its the largest loss of life in one disaster in DC's boarders.



[Mary Smith]

Thank you, Jeff. This means so much to me. My grandmother, Ida V. Clarke, was the organist. She was on break, went out to call my grandfather, Edward T. Clarke (Primrose Minstrals) to come to pick her up. I have a newspaper article, done 16 years later discussing it. Almost all the musicians in the pit were killed. A great tragedy. Thoughts and prayers go out for the families and descendants. My dear father was at home 5 years old. Mary

[Jim Barnett]

Thanks for posting this. My great uncle, Vinson Dauber who was 9 at the time, was killed in the collapse.

[GinniG1]

My grandmother's sister and a friend died in this tragedy. My grandparents were both supposed to go and didn't because of the storm. It's amazing how one decision affected so many lives! If they had been killed that day my mother would never have been born, and thus my brothers, myself, my daughter and my grandsons would not have been born either! So very sad!

[badmonkeyart]

A great aunt of mine experienced this disaster as a child. She was at the theater with her father, who was killed. I have a videotape of her from a few years ago, when she was still alive, in which I asked her about it. She had a great interest in theater until her death and wrote plays even in her retirement home (her favorite playwright was Harold Pinter) but she always insisted on sitting in the balcony--never beneath it.