April 11, 2006 > Earthquake commemorative films

by Nydia Estrada

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum presents a special commemorative exhibition of films made in San Francisco before and after the great earthquake of April 18, 1906.

A Trip Down Market Street, made by the Miles Brothers, was shot less than a week before the earthquake. The show includes other films by the Miles Brothers, a pioneer film company with offices in both San Francisco and New York. Footage taken after the earthquake shows the devastation caused by both the quake and the firestorm - a must be seen to be believed. A prime example of one photograph is worth a thousand words. Several of these films will be projected using the museum's 1915 Powers hand cranked projector.

The show also includes Old San Francisco, a 1927 feature film with Dolores Costello, Warner Oland, Charles Emmett Mack and Anna May Wong. Although fiction, this movie is set in San Francisco and uses the 1906 quake as part of the plot.

All films are presented with live piano accompaniment in the Niles Edison Theater, a late Nickelodeon theater that originally opened in 1913.

Friday, April 14
7 p.m.
Book Signing Event with David Burkhart, Author of "Earthquake Days: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire"

Friday and Saturday, April 14, 7 p.m. and 15, 7:30 p.m.- with Frederick Hodges at the piano:

Miles Bros., A Trip Down Market Street, made by the Miles Brothers, shot less than a week before the earthquake.

Old San Francisco (Warner Brothers, 1927) Dolores Costello, Warner Oland, Charles Emmett Mack

Niles Essanay Film Museum @ Niles Edison Theatre
37417 Niles Boulevard, Fremont
Cost: $10.00 (Donation)

For more information, contact Dorothy Bradley at (510) 494-1411 or www.nilesfilmmuseum.org.