‘A Movie Paralysis’: Defining Cinema during the Polio Epidemic of 1916

Abstract

This article examines the effects of the 1916 poliomyelitis (polio) epidemic on the film industry and on popular conceptions of the definition and social function of moving pictures. When the major epidemic broke out in New York City, state and local health authorities across the Eastern United States closed motion picture theaters to children. These bans not only had significant financial ramifications on the motion picture business, but they also prompted debates among health authorities, social reformers, the film industry, and the public about the definition and social role of cinema. Relying on print sources from 1916, as well as one no-longer-extant film made about the epidemic, Fighting Infantile Paralysis (Universal, 1916), I argue that the film industry sought to avoid regulation during the epidemic by not only ensuring the safety of theaters, but also promoting the idea that cinema was a critical social utility during a time of crisis.