Triangle Fire (PBS) (2011)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triangle Fire is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2011.

 

It is an episode in the long-running program American Experience (season 23, episode 8).

 

Here is some basic information about it:

 

** Produced and directed by Jamila Wignot

** Written by Mark Zwonitzer

** Narrated by Michael Murphy

** Run time: 53 minutes

 

PART ONE

The timing is significant: Triangle Fire premiered in February 2011, to mark the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which occurred on 25 March 1911; the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City and one of the deadliest in US history: 146 people lost their lives.

 

Several historians and writers are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):

 

** Jo Ann E. Argersinger

** Thomas Bender

** David von Drehle

** Steve Fraser

** Richard A. Greenwald

** Alfred Allan Lewis

** Robyn Muncy

** Annelise Orleck

 

The film is divided into four chapters:

 

Chapter # 1

The background

The garment industry in New York City

 

Chapter # 2

The strike

November 1909-February 1910

 

Chapter # 3

The fire

Saturday 25 March 1911

 

Chapter # 4

The aftermath

The trial and the legacy

 

PART TWO

Chapter # 1 is about the garment industry in New York City at the beginning of the 20th century. Most workers were women and most of them were very young. 

 

They worked long hours for a low salary. Safety in the workplace was not something that company owners were very concerned about and unions were not allowed in most companies.

 

Chapter # 2 covers the strike that began in November 1909. The strikers demanded shorter hours, better pay, safety in the workplace and the right to join a union. The strikers were harassed by the police and by hooligans hired by the owners to intimidate them. In spite of these problems the strike went on and the owners began to suffer as well.

 

When the strike ended in February 1910, some owners gave in to all demands. At the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck accepted the first two demands (shorter hours and better pay), but not the last two demands (safety in the workplace and the right to join a union).

 

Chapter # 3 is about the fire which broke out on Saturday 25 March 1911. It began in the afternoon, shortly before the end of the shift. Someone dropped a burning match or cigarette on the 8th floor where half of the workers were. Most of them managed to get out alive, before the fire spread.

 

The owners, who were on the 10th floor (the top floor of the building), were warned by telephone and managed to escape by going to the roof and jumping to the next building. But in the panic, nobody warned the 200 workers, who were on the 9th floor. When the fire reached their floor, it was already strong and violent. There was a lot of flammable material in the factory.

 

Because of the fire, the workers could not use the staircase. Some of them tried to use the exterior fire escape, but it was old and not very strong. When many people tried to escape this way, it simply collapsed and fell to the ground, killing those who were standing on it.

 

A door on the 9th floor led to another staircase, but it was locked, because the owners were afraid that the workers would use this exit to take an unauthorized break or perhaps to smuggle out stolen products. 

 

There was no way out!

 

The fire brigade arrived quickly, and the firemen raised their ladders, but the ladders were not long enough. They could only reach up to the 6th floor, while the fire was on the 9th floor.

 

Some of the workers jumped out of a window. They died when they landed. The rest were burned alive. The total number of victims were 146. Almost all were women, almost half were teenagers.

 

Chapter # 4 is about the court case against the owners: Isaac Harris and Max Blanck.

 

The prosecutor claimed they were responsible for the death of the workers, because they had kept the door to the other staircase locked. The defence claimed the owners did not know the door was locked at the time. In the end they were acquitted of murder.

 

However, in a civil suit that followed later they were found guilty and sentenced to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

 

This chapter also covers the legacy of the fire. Rules and regulations were introduced. Safety in the workplace became an issue that owners could no longer ignore. 

 

There was legislative reform and conditions improved considerably. But, as Jo Ann E. Argersinger says:

 

“Women had to burn first for this to happen.”

 

CONCLUSION

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is an important chapter in the history of New York City and in the history of workers’ rights. The story deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

Since it is about a horrible episode, I cannot say you will enjoy the film, but I do think that you can appreciate it.

 

If you are interested in the question of human rights, if you care about health and safety in the workplace, then this film is definitely something for you.

 

It is highly recommended.

 

PS # 1. For more details, see the following books whose authors are interviewed in the film:

 

** The Triangle Fire by Jo Ann E. Argersinger (2009) (2016)

 

** Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David Von Drehle (2003) (2004)

 

** The Triangle Fire, the Protocols of Peace and Industrial Democracy in Progressive Era New York by Richard A. Greenwald (2005)

 

** Common Sense and a Little Fire: Women and Working-Class Politics in the United States, 1900-1965 by Annelise Orleck (1995)

 

PS # 2. The following book was the first full-scale study of the case in modern times:

 

The Triangle Fire by Leon Stein

 

It was published in 1962 and reprinted in 2010, to mark the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the fire.

 

PS # 3. Remembering the Triangle Factory Fire is a website established and maintained by Cornell University where you can find additional information: photos and eyewitness accounts.

 

PS # 4. The website of American Experience has a special page devoted to this case where you can find more information, such as biographies of the people who were involved in the case.

 

PS # 5. Film and Video

 

Triangle: Remembering the Fire

(HBO) (2011) (40 minutes)

 

The Fire of a Movement

(PBS) (2019) (27 minutes)

 

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Female workers in the garment industry

New York, 1911

 

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Victims of the disaster

New York, March 1911

 

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

1911 - 2011

The Zinn Education Project

 

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Triangle: Remembering the Fire (2011)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triangle: Remembering the Fire is a documentary film which premiered on US television (HBO) in 2011.

 

The topic is the tragic disaster which happened at the New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on 25 March 1911.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Director: Daphne Pinkerson

** Producers: Daphne Pinkerson and Marc Levin

** Writers: Daphne Pinkerson, Michael Hirsch, and Richard Lowe

** Narrator: Tovah Feldshuh

** Run time: 40 minutes

 

The Triangle Factory fire of 25 March 1911 claimed 146 fatalities: 129 women and 17 men. 

 

It is one of the worst industrial accidents in the history of New York, indeed in the history of the US.

 

The story has been told before in several books. This film has a special angle on the case, because most of the people who are interviewed have a personal connection to the fire: one of their ancestors was killed in the accident or survived the accident.

 

Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):

 

** Suzanne Pred Bass – one of her ancestors died in the fire – another survived the fire

** Leigh Benin – a labour historian – one of his ancestors was killed in the fire

** Dennis Clancy – his great-great-grandfather was an elevator operator at the Triangle factory in 1911

** Susan Harris – her grandfather was one of the two owners of the factory

** Michael Hirsch – a historian

** Raymond Knot – a fireman – his grandfather was one of the firemen who tried to stop the fire in 1911

** Erica Lansner – one of her ancestors worked at the factory

** Vincent Maltese – one of his ancestors worked at the factory

** Bruce Raynor – president of Workers United

** Stacey Silversteen – her great-grandfather survived the fire

** Alfred E. Smith IV – his great-grandfather was governor of New York in 1911

** Catherine Weber – one of her ancestors worked at the factory

** Elizabeth Wilson – one of her ancestors worked at the factory

 

The narrator Tovah Feldshuh is an actress who is a member of the cast of the television movie The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal. In this movie, which premiered in 1979, she plays the role of Florence.

 

In 1911, most of the 146 victims were identified. But six victims could not be identified. In 2011, one hundred years later, historian Michael Hirsch, who appears in this film, was finally able to identify the remaining six victims.

 

What do reviewers say about this film? 

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 79 percent, which corresponds to four stars on Amazon.

 

On Amazon there are at the moment 52 ratings, 16 with reviews, of this product. The average rating is 4.6 stars which corresponds to a rating of 92 percent.

 

The story of the Triangle Factory Fire of 25 March 1911 is an important event which deserves to be told, and in this film, it is done very well. 

 

In just 40 minutes, it manages to cover the background, the disaster, and the legacy of the disaster.

 

I want go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS # 1. Triangle Fire is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2011. 

 

It is an episode in the long-running program American Experience (season 23 episode 8).

 

PS # 2. The Fire of a Movement is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2019. 

 

It is an episode in a short series called The Future of America’s Past, presented by Ed Ayers.

 

PS # 3. Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David von Drehle (2003) is one of the most comprehensive and detailed books published about the case.

 

PS # 4. For information about the identification of the six unknown victims, see the following articles:

 

** Joseph Berger, "Unnamed Triangle Waist Company victims finally identified," New York Times, 20 February 2011

 

** Lore Croghan, “Memorial headstone unveiled at grave for six ‘unknown’ Triangle Shirtwaist fire victims,” Daily News, 6 April 2011

 

PS # 5. Remembering the 1911 Triangle Factory Fire is a website dedicated to the case (established and maintained by Cornell University).

 

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Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

by David von Drehle

(Hardcover 2003) 

(Paperback 2004)

 

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The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (1999)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 1999.

 

The topic is the history of the black press in America during the 19th and the 20th centuries, with special focus on the most important publications as well as the most important editors, reporters and photographers.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Producer and director: Stanley Nelson

** Writers: Jill Nelson, Stanley Nelson, Lou Potter, and Marcia Smith

** Narrator: Joe Morton

** Available on YouTube

** Language: English

** Subtitles: not available!

** Run time: 85 minutes

 

The history of the black press in America is told by people who have studied the topic and by people who worked in the business. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):

 

** George Barbour – journalist

** Timuel Black (1918-2021) – historian

** Frank Bolden (1912-2003) – journalist

 

** Wallace Burney – African American

** Earl Calloway (1926-2014) – journalist

** Chester Commodore (1914-2004) – cartoonist

 

** Evelyn Cunningham (1916-2010) – journalist

** Phyllis Garland (1935-2006) – journalist

** Dora Harris Glasco – African American

 

** Walter Gordon – former newsboy

** James Grossman – historian

** Charles “Teenie” Harris (1908-1998) – photographer

 

** Vera Jackson (1911-1999) – photographer

** Vernon Jarrett (1918-2004) – journalist

** Robert R. Lavelle (1915-2010) – on the staff of The Pittsburgh Courier

 

** Edna Chappell McKenzie (1923-2005) – journalist and historian

** Christopher Reed (born 1942) – historian

** Jane Rhodes – historian, University of Illinois Chicago

 

** Edward “Abie” Robinson - journalist

** John Sengstacke (1912-1997) - publisher

** Patrick S. Washburn – historian, professor emeritus, school of journalism, Ohio University

 

Archive footage is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the participants. Archive footage is used when the narrator is speaking.

 

The film is divided into five chapters. Here are the headlines and a few words about each chapter:

 

Chapter 1

No longer shall others speak for us

This chapter explains how the history of the black press begins in 1827

 

Chapter 2

Standing up for the race

This chapter is mainly about one publication:

The Chicago Defender

 

Chapter 3

A separate world

This chapter covers the time between World War One and World War Two

 

Chapter 4

Treason?

This chapter is about the black press during World War Two and the Double V Campaign:

Victory Abroad and Victory at Home

 

Chapter 5

Putting itself out of business

This chapter covers the decline of the black press since the 1950s

 

Conclusion

What do reviewers say about this film?

 

On IMDb it has a rating of 63 percent, which corresponds to a rating of 3.2 stars on Amazon.

 

On Amazon there is at the moment only one rating and not a single review (which is odd). The single rating offers five stars (100 percent).

 

On Rotten Tomatoes it has a rating of 60 percent, which corresponds to a rating of three stars on Amazon. This rating is from the general audience. There is not a single rating from a professional critic (which is odd).

 

What do I think? This is, in my opinion, an important work about an important topic.

 

If you ask me, the ratings on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes are too low. Far too low. I understand the positive rating on Amazon and I agree with it.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS. Stanley Nelson, the director of this film, was born in 1951. He is the director of several documentary films about civil rights in the US, including the following:

 

** The Murder of Emmett Till (2003)

** Freedom Riders (2010)

** Freedom Summer (2014)

** The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. Books

 

A Question of Sedition: The Federal Government’s Investigation of the Black Press During World War II by Patrick S. Washburn (1986)

 

The Black Press and the Struggle for Civil Rights by Carl Senna (1993) (1994)

 

The African American Press by Charles A. Simmons (1997) (2006)

 

Mary Ann Shad Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century by Jane Rhodes (1998)

 

Black Newspapers and America’s War for Democracy, 1914-1920 by William G. Jordan (2003)

 

The African American Newspaper: Voice of Freedom by Patrick S. Washburn (2006)

 

Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for a New America edited by Kathy Roberts Forde and Sid Bodingfield (2021)

 

# 2. Film and Video

 

Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice

(1989)

 

Ida B. Wells: A Chicago Stories Special

(2021)

 

Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches

(2022)

 

# 3. Items available on the Internet

 

(a) The PBS website has a special page devoted to the history of the black press.

 

Here you can find information about the most important black newspapers:

** The Chicago Defender

** The California Eagle

** The Afro-American

** The Pittsburgh Courier

 

Here you can find biographies about the most important persons who worked for the black press in the past

** Charlotta Bass

** Robert Lee Vaughn

** John Henry Murphy

** Robert S. Abbott

** Frederick Douglass

** Ida B. Wells

** Gertrude Mossell

** Oliver Harrington

 

Here you can find biographies of modern journalists

** Paula Walker Madison

** Susan Taylor

** Ed Bradley

** Jill Nelson

** Margo Jefferson

** Ellis Cose

** Joel Dreyfuss

** Brent Staples

** Alexis Scott Reeves

 

(b) The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting

School of Journalism and Media

University of North Carolina

 

(c) Double Victory

The African American Military Experience

National Museum of African American History

(An exhibition with many separate items)

 

(d) Caroline Rolland-Diamond, “A Double Victory? Revisiting the Black Struggle for Equality during World War Two,” Revue Française d’études Américaines, volume 137, issue 3 (2013) (pages 94-107)

 

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The Black Press:

Soldiers without Swords

(1999)

 

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 The Black Press:

Soldiers without Swords

(1999)

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Stanley Nelson

American documentary filmmaker

(born 1951)

 

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