62. The Return of The Clansman

In the fall of 1915, D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation was booked to play at the Forrest Theatre - a "legitimate' house," not a movie theater - but would Philadelphia city authorities allow it to be shown?

In the fall of 1915, D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation was booked to play at the Forrest Theatre - a "legitimate' house," not a movie theater - but would Philadelphia city authorities allow it to be shown?

After all, its racist source material, Thomas Dixon's play The Clansman, had been officially banned in the city back in 1906. But was this film a "movie" or a "photoplay"? Could it be censored at all? How did this controversy result in plays and movies being regarded as two different types of entertainment?

There is a blog post on our website ("Birth of A Nation in the Birthplace of the Nation") to accompany this episode, which examines a 1915 newspaper ad for the film, and how the film was marketed to Philadelphians at the time.
Link is here: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/birth-of-a-nation-in-the-birthplace-of-the-nation/

For earlier episodes about Thomas Dixon and his play The Clansman - and how the Philadelphia African-American community organized against it in 1906 see our series "The Fights Against the Clansman" - Episodes 42, 43, and 45.

The blog posts for those episodes are:

42: "3000 Negroes Riot Trying To Stop Objectionable Play" https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/3000-negroes-riot/

43: "The Syndicate" https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/the-syndicate/

45: "The Learned Professions" https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/the-learned-professions/

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