A Controversial Screening in Spokane
The film adaptation of a white supremacist narrative begins its engagement at the Auditorium Theater, marketed as a major record-breaking spectacle.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The great film spectacle ‘The Birth of a Nation’ begins a week’s engagement at the Auditorium Theater, Spokane, Sunday, July 2. It is given exactly as it is now being presented in New York City, where the picture is said to have broken every record of the stage history of that city as to attendance and receipts. All scenes, as well as the lesser details of the picture, are accompanied by a symphony orchestra of 30 pieces. When in Spokane this week, the opportunity should not be overlooked to see this great spectacle.
“All scenes, as well as the lesser details of the picture are accompanied by a symphony orchestra of 30 pieces.”
This film was instrumental in the resurgence of the KKK and remains a foundational piece of American white supremacist propaganda. Its promotion in 1916 Washington highlights how deeply ingrained such narratives were in the public consciousness of the era.
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