Demolishing and Building Up The Star Theatre

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This early short film by the Biograph Company shows the demolition of the Star Theatre at the corner of Broadway and 13th Street in New York. Filming at normal speed, photographers shot 15 seconds of footage showing the intact building and then the site once it was cleared. As demolition began, the company set up a camera to capture time exposures every four minutes, eight hours a day. Frederick S. Armitage, who is credited with directing the film, edited the footage into a two-minute film that first shows the intact building crumble “as if struck by a tornado of supernatural strength,” courtesy of the time-lapse photography. The film then continues with the normal-speed footage of the bare site, making it appear that passersby are oblivious to the destruction. Biograph suggested to exhibitors of the film, “When this view is shown in the reverse, the effect is very extraordinary.” Named to the National Film Registry in 2002.