T he Coronavirus is not the first pandemic to affect the film industry. In the Fall of 1918, Moving Picture World reported on the Spanish Flu: “Everyone you meet has a different cure for the flu … and in spite of this, everyone you meet has either just gotten over an attack of the flu or is just getting down with it.” At first, Hollywood thought the pandemic was just an East Coast problem. The nascent silent film industry was distributing films to approximately 20,000 movie theaters nationwide to an enthralled public. But the virus quickly moved westward.

Numerous film stars contracted the virus including Lillian Gish and Olive Thomas, as did screenwriter Frances Marion and a young Walt Disney. Harold Lockwood, popular matinee idol of Marion, Metro, Mack Sennett and Triangle studios, died of the influenza on October 19th at age 31. That same month, Los Angeles closed all theaters, motion picture houses, and places of amusement until further notice, and filming crowd scenes was banned. But not all theater companies complied with the closures. “All the players would rather work than not,” said director Allan Dwan of his cast for the new film Cheating Cheaters. “I had the pick of a big flock.” With theaters closed for two to six months, many in the industry were desperate for work.

To ward off the virus, some theater security guards sprayed visitors with disinfectant. Facial masks were slowly adopted, and several folk remedies made the rounds as cures: eating yeast or onions, boiling red peppers for the fumes, placing sliced red onions around the house, bloodletting, laxatives, whiskey for pain, quinine, enemas, and chicken soup.

By Spring 1919, the pandemic was slowing. Theaters reopened and fans rushed in for their reality escapes and fantasy infusions. The movie industry moved on and never looked back.

Today, we know to shelter in place, avoid crowds, wear a mask, favor well-ventilated spaces, social distance, and wash hands frequently. Thankfully we have the advantage of the internet for our movie viewing distractions until our current pandemic is vanquished.