On this day: flu epidemic shut down the movies

Ads by Project Wonderful! Your ad here, right now: $0

Study in contrasts: Shazam! and Simon Dark, by Charlie Meyerson »

« Who's Who for Hallowe'en

Mon Oct 15, 2007 3:28PM4 comments ›

Mon Oct 15, 2007 — by Glenn Hauman

On this day: flu epidemic shut down the movies

If you think the pending Writers Guild of America strike could throw Hollywood into a tizzy, just imagine how much worse it's been in the past.

89 years ago today, the leading film studios announced they would stop releasing films due to the 1918 flu epidemic. It's good to know that if this happened today, we would take equally cautious measures. But to be extra safe, we'd close the supermarkets. And have a curfew. And invade a country. Because after all, they gave us the flu because they hate our freedom. Today, at least we can pretend to have Jack Bauer saving us from biological threats.

And think how happy certain Tinseltown types would be to have something to blame the weekend grosses on.

Jump to comments (4)

More News from ComicMix

The Point Radio: 'Twilight New Moon' Exclusives20 hours ago, 0 comments
Review: 'Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two'21 hours ago, 0 comments
Why continuity matters, dammit1 day ago, 4 comments
Capcom Announces 'Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition'1 day ago, 0 comments
'Angel: After The Fall' fan film1 day ago, 0 comments

ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays1 day ago, 1 comment
Review: 'Logan's Run' on Blu-ray3 days ago, 0 comments
ComicMix and IDW on the iPhone and iTouch3 days ago, 0 comments
'Global Frequency' back to TV?4 days ago, 3 comments
Review: 'Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection' on Blu-ray4 days ago, 1 comment

Read more news ›

Comments (4)

Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed.

Marilee J. Layman (4:43 PM on Mon Oct 15, 2007)

Ha! Got my flu shot today! (And more meds from the rheumatologist because my gout is worse. mutter mutter mutter)

Glenn, do you know if Amazon is using cookies to aim the ads at individuals? I'm getting mostly cooking things and a book I looked at there recently. (I'm not opposed to cookies, they're quite useful. I'm just curious.)

Adriane Nash (5:27 PM on Mon Oct 15, 2007)

I recently asked Brian the same thing after noticing the ads featuring items I had just been looking at, in short: for now, yes

Adriane Nash (5:26 PM on Mon Oct 15, 2007)

A few months later, the flu also halted the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1919; the only year the cup hasn't been awarded since 1893 (1919 was not good year for sports)

Linda Gold (6:21 PM on Mon Oct 15, 2007)

It also closed down the vaudeville and legitimate theatres as well.

Add a commentCancel & reply to article ›

Inappropriate or promotional comments may be removed. To create a clickable link, simply type the URL (including http://) and we will make a link for you. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags, but if you're into that kind of thing, you can use any of the following tags: b, i, strong, em, a (href only), p and br.

Click one of the three commenter types below. Member comments are added immediately once you confirm your email address. Anonymous comments are moderated by our editorial staff.