The 1937 Fox vault fire was a major fire that broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film-storage facility in

Little Ferry, New Jersey Little Ferry is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,626,nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film-industry laboratories, studios, and vaults, although the precise causes were often unknown. In Little Ferry, gases produced by decaying film, combined with high temperatures and inadequate ventilation, resulted in

spontaneous combustion Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high tem ...

. One death and two injuries resulted from the fire, which also destroyed all the archived film in the vaults, resulting in the loss of most of the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

s produced by the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American Independent film production studio formed by William Fox (1879–1952) in 1915, by combining his earlier Greater New York Film Rental Company and Box Office Attractions Film C ...

before 1932. Also destroyed were negatives from Educational Pictures to

Belarusfilm Belarusfilm ( be, Беларусьфільм) is the main film studio of Belarus. History Belarusfilm, under the name ''Belgoskino'' was founded in 1924. In 1928, the ''Soviet Belarus'' studio (''Савецкая Беларусь'') was founded ...

(with which Fox was then affiliated) and films of several other studios. The fire brought attention to the potential for decaying nitrate film to spontaneously ignite, and changed the focus of

film preservation Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the wid ...

efforts to include a greater focus on fire safety.

Background

Nitrate film

The early motion-picture industry primarily used

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparen ...

made of

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

, commonly called nitrate film. This film is flammable, and produces its own oxygen supply as it burns. Nitrate fires burn rapidly and cannot be extinguished, as they are capable of burning even under water. Nitrocellulose is also subject to thermal decomposition and

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile. Biological hydrolysis ...

, breaking down over time in the presence of high temperatures and moisture. This decaying film stock releases

nitrogen oxide Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral * Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide *Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), o ...

s that themselves contribute to the decay and make the damaged film burn more easily. Under the right conditions, nitrate film can even

spontaneously combust Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high te ...

. In part because of substantial variability in the manufacturing of early film, considerable uncertainty exists about the circumstances necessary for self-ignition. Sustained temperatures of or higher, large quantities of nitrate film, increased humidity, poor ventilation, and aged or decaying film have all been considered risk factors. Most such fires in film archives have taken place in

heat wave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the ...

s during summers, in closed facilities with limited ventilation, compounding several of these variables. Especially in confined areas, such fires can result in explosions. Large and dangerous fires sometimes resulted. On May 4, 1897, one of the first major fires involving nitrate film began when a Lumière projector caught fire at the

Bazar de la Charité The ''Bazar de la Charité'' was an annual charity event orchestrated by the French Catholic aristocracy in Paris beginning in 1885, when it was first organised by Englishman Henry Blount, the son of banker Sir Edward Blount, a financier of ra ...

in Paris. The resulting blaze caused 126 deaths. In the United States, a series of fires occurred at industry facilities. The Lubin Manufacturing Company's vault in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

exploded on June 13, 1914, followed on December 9 by a fire that destroyed

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invent ...

's laboratory complex in

West Orange, New Jersey West Orange is a suburban township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 46,207 counted in the 2010 Census.

. The New York studio of the

Famous Players Film Company The Famous Players Film Company was a film company founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor in partnership with the Frohman brothers, powerful New York City theatre impresario. History Discussions to form the company were held at The Lambs, a famous ...

burned in September 1915; in July 1920, the shipping facility of its corporate successor,

Famous Players-Lasky Famous Players-Lasky Corporation was an American motion picture and distribution company formed on June 28, 1916, from the merger of Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company—originally formed by Zukor as Famous Players in Famous Plays—and t ...

, was destroyed by a fire in Kansas City, Missouri, despite construction intended to minimize that risk. The United Film Ad Service vault, also in Kansas City, burned on August 4, 1928, and a fire was reported at

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Hollywood's silent era. Known for its groundbreaking newsreel and wide array of shorts, it grew out of the American division of the ...

nine days later. In October 1929, the Consolidated Film Industries facility was badly damaged by a nitrate fire. Spontaneous combustion was not proven to have occurred in any of these fires, and may not have been recognized as possible before a 1933 study determined that the temperatures necessary for nitrate film to self-ignite had been overestimated.

Little Ferry

In the earlier 20th century, nearby Fort Lee on the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

was home to many

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

s of America's first motion picture industry. When Little Ferry, New Jersey, contractor William Fehrs was hired to construct a film-storage facility in 1934, he designed the structure to be fireproof. The building had brick outer walls and a reinforced concrete roof. Internally, it was divided into 48 individual vaults, each enclosed behind a steel door and separated by brick interior walls. The local fire department confirmed Fehrs's fireproofing. However, it had neither a

fire sprinkler system A fire sprinkler system is an active fire protection method, consisting of a water supply system, providing adequate pressure and flowrate to a water distribution piping system, onto which fire sprinklers are connected. Although historically on ...

nor

mechanical ventilation Mechanical ventilation, assisted ventilation or intermittent mandatory ventilation (IMV), is the medical term for using a machine called a ventilator to fully or partially provide artificial ventilation. Mechanical ventilation helps move ai ...

, and no

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...

was employed to watch the facility. Despite the potential fire danger of stored film, the building was located in a residential neighborhood.

Film processing Photographic processing or photographic development is the chemical means by which photographic film or paper is treated after photographic exposure to produce a negative or positive image. Photographic processing transforms the latent image i ...

company DeLuxe Laboratories owned the building and rented it to 20th Century-Fox to store the silent films acquired from

after its merger with Twentieth Century Pictures.

Fire

Northern New Jersey experienced a heat wave in July 1937, with daytime temperatures of and warm nights. The sustained heat contributed to nitrate decomposition in the film vaults, and the building's ventilation was inadequate to prevent a dangerous buildup of gases. At some time shortly after 2:00am on July 9, spontaneous ignition occurred in the vault at the building's northwest corner. Local truck driver Robert Davison observed flames coming from one of the structure's window vents, and within five minutes, used a municipal fire alarm call box to report the fire. Davison then attempted to awaken the residents of the surrounding houses, many of whom were already alerted to the situation by the noise and intense heat. As the contents of additional vaults ignited, bursts of flame shot out horizontally across the ground from the windows, and a similar distance into the air from the building's roof vents. When the fire spread to the vaults in the south and east of the building, they exploded, damaging the brickwork and blowing out window frames. Anna Greeves and her two sons, John and Charles, were caught in a "sheet of flame" while attempting to flee the area. All three were seriously burned; 13-year-old Charles eventually died from his injuries on July 19. Other families were able to escape unharmed, as the fire spread to five neighboring residences and destroyed two vehicles. Little Ferry firefighters first arrived at 2:26am, followed by companies from Hawthorne,

Ridgefield Park Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the village's population was 12,729,River Edge, and

South Hackensack South Hackensack is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 2,378, reflecting an increase of 129 (+5.7%) from the 2,249 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in ...

. It took 150 men employing 14 hose streams to put the fire out by 5:30am. All the film in the facility was destroyed; more than 40,000 reels of negatives and prints burned to ashes inside their

film can A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s. The building was also badly damaged. Exploding vaults had destroyed segments of both the exterior walls and interior partitions, and had deformed the structure's concrete roof. Total property damage was estimated at $150,000–200,000. Fifty-seven truckloads of burned film were hauled from the site to have their silver content extracted. Each can contained about five cents' worth of silver; the salvaged metal returned $2,000.

Legacy

361 Main Street following the Fox vault fire

Although 20th Century-Fox officials at the time remarked that "only old films" were destroyed, the fire is now understood as a significant loss of American film heritage. Motion picture historian Anthony Slide called the destruction of the Fox vault "the most tragic" American nitrate fire. The highest-quality examples of every Fox film produced prior to 1932 were destroyed; all known copies of many movies had been stored in the facility. Films lost to the fire include pictures starring

Theda Bara Theda Bara ( ; born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols. Her femme fat ...

, Shirley Mason, William Farnum, and many others.

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He ...

made 85 pictures with Fox, most of which were archived exclusively at Little Ferry. The grandfather of director

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

, J. Gordon Edwards, had directed all the highest-grossing epics for Fox and all the masters for his films were lost (although a few survive as low-quality prints, which were housed elsewhere). For some actors, such as Valeska Suratt, none of their films survived; "there are entire careers that don't exist because of he fire" according to

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

film curator Dave Kehr. Because some copies were located elsewhere, some of Fox's silent films survive as lower-quality printsor fragmentsbut more than 75% of Fox's feature films from before 1930 are completely lost. The Little Ferry vaults also held works by other film studios that had contracted with Fox for distribution. Educational Pictures lost more than 2000 silent negatives and prints; the company's sound films survived. Also present was the original negative of

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

's '' Way Down East'' (which Fox had purchased with the intent of remaking), the negative for the controversial Christie Productions

sponsored film Sponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, is a film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited ...

'' The Birth of a Baby'' and films produced by

Sol Lesser Sol Lesser (February 17, 1890 – September 19, 1980) was an American film producer. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1961. Biography In 1913, while living in San F ...

under his imprints Atherton Productions, Peck's Bad Boy Corporation, and

Principal Pictures Sol Lesser (February 17, 1890 – September 19, 1980) was an American film producer. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1961. Biography In 1913, while living in San ...

. Archival material intended for the Museum of Modern Art's Film Library was lost, as well. Diagram of the 1937 Fox vault fire

The destruction of the Little Ferry facility spurred an interest in

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and ef ...

as an aspect of film preservation. Unlike previous large nitrate-film fires, investigators determined that the spontaneous combustion of decomposing film stock was responsible. They suggested that the older nitrocellulose film in the archive was of lower quality than their current film, thus more unstable. The Society of Motion Picture Engineers' Committee on Preservation of Film, three months after the vault fire, cited "recent and rather extensive film fires" as evidence that existing preservation efforts had failed to adequately address the risk of fire. More heavily reinforced film vaults were suggested, to prevent fires in a single vault from destroying entire archival facilities. Film storage cabinets with ventilation and cooling systems were also proposed, as was further research into improving the quality of cellulose acetate film to encourage its use as a safer replacement for nitrate film. By the 1950s, the use of nitrate film in the United States had been essentially eliminated.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox vault fire 1937 disasters in the United States 1937 in American cinema 1937 fires in the United States 20th Century Studios Building fires in the United States Fires in New Jersey 1937 in New Jersey July 1937 events Warehouse fires Little Ferry, New Jersey Articles containing video clips