YESTERDAY’S NEWSREEL ACTORS STRIKE OF 1919 FIRST U.S. AIRMAIL HALIFAX EXPLOSION 60694

This black-and-white film is an episode of “Yesterday’s Newsreel”, an early 1950s TV show made from the General Newsreel collection. It featured 8 segments of historic highlights: the first U. S. airmail, the actors’ strike of 1919 on Broadway, various famous personalities of the 1920s, the collision between the SS Mont-Blanc ship and the Norwegian SS Imo known as the Halifax Explosion, popular dances, history’s first wire photos, the Balinese batik clothing trending in the 1920s, and sports. The film is presented by ZTV, and all the reels are narrated by Tom Hale, Roger Owens, and Sally Anderson. “Yesterday’s Newsreel” title banner (00:08). “Airmail History Begins” title banner (00:37). A 1918 Curtiss Model R U. S. airmail plane (00:45). U. S. mail is loaded into the plane (00:54). Former President Woodrow Wilson (01:00). Pilot Lieutenant George Boyle (01:06). The plane takes off (01:09). Postmaster Thomas Patten hands pilot Lt. Torrey Webb mail in Belmont Park in New York (01:17). Patten gives a send-off speech (01:28). The first stamps for U. S. mail by air (01:33). The plane takes off (01:37). The plane lands in Bustleton, Philadelphia (01:45). Mechanics check the plane and refuel it (01:51). Pilot James Edgerton flies the plane (01:57). The plane lands in Washington and the mail is unloaded (02:08). Edgerton receives flowers (02:20). A plane flying over San Francisco (02:26). A Junkers F13 plane (02:31). The public approaches the landed plane and applauds the pilot (02:34). Pilots Bert Acosta and Eddie Rickenbacker is celebrated for the first successful flight by night (02:48). A plane takes off from Boston to New York in 1926 (03:06). Former Governor of Massachusetts Alvan T. Fuller (03:10). Pilot Leroy Thompson (03:15). A Junkers F13 plane takes off (03:20). Dallas post office in 1926 (03:26). An airmail plane takes off from Dallas, Texas (03:37). A Sikorsky S-38 aircraft lands in Panama in 1929 (03:48). Pilots colonel Charles Lindbergh who delivered the first airmail to Canal Zone in Panama (03:58). An American Overseas Airlines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser in LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York (04:13). The plane takes off (04:34). “Actors Won’t Play” title banner (04:49). People from the 1919 leaving theaters closed due to actors striking (04:56). Views of the actors striking (05:10). Actor Francis Wilson (05:18). Actor Bruce McCray (05:25). Playwright and actor Frank Parker Gilmore (05:35). “Personalities” title banner (05:41). Bernarr Macfadden is covered in plaster (05:47). Pearl White, star of the 1914 serial The Perils of Pauline (06:18). Banker J. P. Morgan (06:33). The launching of his Corsair II yacht later renamed the USS Gloucester by the U. S. government (06:37). “Halifax Leveled” title banner (07:12). The collided SS Mont-Blanc ship and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo at Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia, Canada (07:29). Views of the destruction causes by the so-called Halifax Explosion (07:35). Canadian troops perform rescues (07:52). Rescue missions continue at the Nova Scotia Railway yard (08:08). ”Doll Sets Dance Craze” title banner (08:39). People dancing the “Raggedy Ann” (08:45). People dancing the “Tango Leo” dance (09:09). “First Photos by Wire” title banner (09:22). Men gathered around a telestereograph machine used to transmit the first wirephoto (09:29). The photo is placed in a light scanning area to be transmitted (09:44). Exposed film is prepared for developing in a dark room (09:57). The picture is developed (10:04). “Fashions of The Day” title banner (10:19). Women dancing a Balinese dance in traditional Batik clothing (10:26). “Sports” title banner (11:04). Scenes from the 1928 Bonyun Derby and it’s athletes (11:11). A runner’s race in Madison Square Garden, New York (11:32). Winner of the race Andrew Payne (11:41). A 100-yard dash (11:48). A high jump competition (12:04). The 120-yard high hurdles race won by Ben Hedges (12:14). On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the waters of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Mont-Blanc, laden with high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastating the Richmond district of Halifax. At least 1,782 people were killed, largely in Halifax and Dartmouth, by the blast, debris, fires, or collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest human-made explosion at the time. It released the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ). This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit