"THE LOCKED DOOR."

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2550, 26 August 1915, Page 9

"THE LOCKED DOOR."

j—; A GREAT HUMANITARIAN PICTURE HOW FIRES SHOULD BE PREVENTED j "I wish every person in New Yorlc could see this picture and learn the lesson of fire prevention it teaches.— Robert Ad-ameou." With those lines. shouting from the screen concluded the private exhibition yesterday afternoon of one of the most striking pictures shown in Wellington for some time past. The scene was the King's Theatre, and the audience consisted of insurance men, bnildors, Government officials, 'architects, aud responsible/ business men. They were there especially to see a picture entitled "The Locked Door," a picture which Whilst it grips tenaciously from a dramatic aspect is forcible enough to instruct a world-in what should bo one. of the; first essays in humanitadanism—the prevention of fire in crowded business blocks and , factories. The appeal goes up while the flames drive a "bad" factory's staff of girls into a panic and many of them to thoir death, and salvation is offered) ; in tlio installation of the silent "GrinueH" sprinkler system, with which every "good" factory should bo provided. The story deals with tine factories of the Atlas Blouse Syndicate and the Century Suit Company, which, occupy flats above one another in a New. York block. The "Atlas"- is a ,f bad" factory run by a Scrooge-like person named Jacob Emanson, who cares little about modern improvement® and ! less about the lives, of the girls he sweats. But . Jacob has a very nice daughter ill sweet Mabel, with whom Harold Forsyth, son of the proprietor of thfe "CenFactory, overhead, is in love. Mabel induces her* lover to meet her father, but to gain admittance to the factory they have to knock at the door, which is duly opened with a key that is carried by a cigarette-smoking, foreman. Inside the cuttings from the stuffs used lit-: ■tor the floor, the machines are backed together in two long lines, and thero' aro no evidences of any fire-prevention apparatus! Young Forsyth is rather'shocked at this, for on the floor above his father's' factory is a model of what it should he. Harold tells his . father about Emanson's factory and in'particular about the locked door. Forsyth, senior, complains to Emanson,. who Tesents the interference with his business. Then , one vicious work-girl whom Forsyth has dismissed for carelessness, seeking revenge, tells Emanson about. a defect in . Forsyth's premises—a door that .opens - inwards instead of outwards. The Fire Prevention Bureau sends.an officer to investigate, and he whilst ordering the alteration of the; action of the door sees that Forsyth has everything in splendid order. Forsyth's foreman whispers. to the officer that he would learn something l>y looking round the "Atlas" factory. Takings the tip, the officer, after first encountering the locked door, and the cigar-ette-smoking foreman, finds everything wrong, and threatens to close the factory up if alterations are not made at once. Emanson is furious with Forsyth, wtom ho fancies has informed on in his fury resolves to set fire to Forsyth's premises. Ho is watched, however, by his daughter, and when she realises with horror what her father has done tries to beat out tho flames instead of escaping. As fclic temperature rises the "Griunell" sprinkler operates, -'and douse 3 the fire, just as ' the' firemen and police arrive, who arrest her as the incendiary. She pleads her innoccnce, but will not inform on her father. Emanson, driven crazy by his daughter's arrest; then contemplates firing the whole building, but is saved the trouble by a lighted cigarette end. The factory becomes "filled with snioke, the key of the locked door oannot be found, and there ensues a horrifying sceno in the room and outside on the escapes. Emanson and his daughter aro rescued by young Forsyth, who enters with'the brigade, and,'in extremis, the old man ndmits his guilt, and so clears tlto way for Mabel's release and ultimate happiness. The fire scene, which demonstrates the action of the "Grinuell Sprinkler,", was wonderfully convincing, and, of course, is in marked contrast to the hopeless scene that follows the fire where r nncheolced by tho aratomatic sprinkler. . Mr. A. D. Riley, of' Avthair D. Riley and Co., Ltd., who represents tho "Grinnell" sprinkler, prefacedy the picture by showing a . series ,of slides that capitally illustrate tho effectiveness of the "Grinnell" . patent. lie showed in section a building with a complete installation, with the "Grinnell" pipes fed by both the -city mains and an overhead tank, illustrated .te , mechanism of the sprinkler head, and how it can be made an interior adornment to theatres,' banking . chambers, etc.,.sliowed the "drencher system" for tho'drenching of exterior-walls in the case of a fire near by, and humorously related the experience of a' business'man who on hearing the firebell always made a point of rushing down town to see if .Jus'premises were safe. Then ho got the "Grinnell," and when he heard tlie bells just rolled oyer'and slept on, ' Snowing that the system would l 'do its work. One slide shoived tlie Ash Building in' New York, in which 150 lives were lost in 20 minutes, the building, structurally being undamaged, a'fact that did not prevent much destruction of property and heavy loss of life. .' : . "Tho Locked Door," as illustrating Hie necessity for firo -preventive ' measures, conveys a message that must appeal to every employer of labour—in any building where human, beings spend a (rood tbird of their lives. - -.