The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-09-02
De1zo,yeI al7a Ca1pe1zAez. slALI2 1871

invasion of the famous old Academy, dedicated to
the ancient arts, and redolent with the memories
of Pietro Briglon Ole Bull, and the names of
Max Strakosch and Maurice Grau.
From the Academy the pictures were taken to
the Park theater in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn
Eagle of July a. 1897, INDUCED in column of
editorial excitement beginning:
The who would Rave predicted, at time
in history that event of prior month
would be reproduced before the of multi
tude in pictures that moved like life, and that
electricity would move them and light them. would
have been avoided lunatc or hanged as
wizard.
Meanwhile the fight films appearing all
over the country, presented by buyers of terri
torial rights from Rector & Tilden
The firm Of Rector & Tilden with its fight pic
lures was the first to encounter one of the evils
which later beset the picture industry with
devastating piracy. According to Terry Ramsayes
"a Million and One Nights The History of the
Motion Picture (Simon & Schuster, New York;,
to which the writer is indebted for the film his
tory Of this article, Pennsylvania politicians
snatched at the agitation of the w. G. 7. U. as a
pretext for special legislative bill to prohibit the
showing of the fight films. Word presently was
passed around that the bill would be permitted to
die in committee if a certain exhibitor in Phil
adelphia were to get the picture.
The gross sales on the Corbett-F itzsimmons
fight amounted to $15O0O0, giving each of the
participants in the profits about 100000 each
The gate receipts at Carson City, record for
their time, were only $4,000, less than tenth
of the picture takings No other picture had ever
approached such figure.
Here was a prophetic event." Mr.. Ramsaye
says, "a prophecy of the motion-picture millions
which were yet to come. But 1t was uninterrupted
and UNDECIDED The camera was still merely
reporter 1t took what happened and passed it on
The conception of having things happen specif
tbo IN 0f fba
spectacIes of today beyond the scope of
picture makers imaginations then The only thing
which fight pictures suggested was more fight
pictures
zone marked effect Of the CorbettFitzsimmons
picture as the outstanding screen production Of
its day was to bring the odium Of pugilism upon
the screen all across Puritan America Until
that picture appeared the social status Of the
screen had been uncertain. 1t now became
definitely low-brow, an entertainment of the
great ulwashed commonaltys This likewise made
1t mark for uplifters, morasts, reformers and
legislators in degree which never would have
obtained If the screen had by specialization
reached higher social strata
The scene changes from Carson City, Ney. TO
Jersey City, N. j. 1t is July 2, 1921, "a years
later Jack Dempsey, worlds heavyweight cham
pion. and Georges Carpenter. French challenger,
are seeking each other in the arena at Boyle's
Thirty Acres.
fully watches every movement of the fighters at
the same time talking into tin can. And as the
men swat or clinch or stall, the observer puts
their action into words From Maine to Maryland
6ght fans hundreds of miles away hear these
words spoken at the ringside. A scientific wonder
brings blow by blow news to 100000 persons.
most of whom are hearing radio for the first time
This was the beginning Of organized broad
casting, as told by Maj J. Andrew White, orig
inal impresario Of the air, to the New York
Herald Tribune
sOrganized broadcasting was founded on the
initial success achieved in putting the Dempsey
Carpenter fight on the air. Or, more accurately
It was that event which precpitated 1t. Broad
casting would have come along, but Just when.
nobody can say. But the 100000 persons who
heard broadcasting and liked it forced the issue.
They Immediately wanted radio and radio re-
ceivers and the large electrical concerns cut
loose with their resources and brought new
Industry and a new art into being overnight,
AS you remember, the movies were drifting In
the doldrums Of growing public apathy when the
Corbett Fitzsimmons film brought new life to the
screen Radio the sport of few scattered anna
tours, also was beginning to flop, according to
Major White, editor Of radio magazine.