The Universal Fires Thirteen Years Later
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Thirteen years ago, a fire broke out on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot. There were a few injuries and no deaths (fortunately for the latter). The bigger problem in this case was the amount of damage that occurred: what seemed to be part of the attractions on the lot. That’s sad, but as long as no one was fatally hurt, right? That would have been the end of the story, but over a decade later, the true extent of the fire was finally unearthed. Countless master tapes for musical artists of all walks of life (from 50 Cent to Slayer), and TV and film copies (digital included). What we now know is that numerous musical, filmic, and televised works of all sorts cannot be remastered or prepared in other various ways. They cannot be better preserved in any capacity. For a lot of these works, their best versions are far from the kinds needed for extensive derivations.
This is bad enough, but another issue is how Universal kept a lot of these dark revelations a secret. Artists and filmmakers were told their works were misplaced, for instance. In reality, there was virtually no solution for what happened, and it should have been a situation that was faced head on right away. Maybe Universal felt that the world knowing the actual damages caused would be the start of their downfall, in a competitive market that was beginning to undergo one of its biggest and most challenging shifts (the streaming age). Maybe this would have been seen as a cause for surrender. MGM has been trying to stay afloat for decades, and Amazon just bought them out, finally putting them out of their misery. Universal could have been in a similar boat, unless appearances could be maintained. However, that doesn’t do the rest of the industry any favours.
People ask me all of the time how films can just be “lost”. How is it possible that a film just can’t exist anymore? This is far from the first major fire in film history, and you can imagine what that meant in the history of cinema. It’s why a majority of silent films aren’t traceable, and why we don’t know of many at all. With the evolution of preservation practices (films were treated as ephemeral at first, but evolved during the silent age towards being taken seriously enough to be protected), the safety of films has grown over time. However, let’s look back at how films could just vanish back in the day. This was before the habit of creating many preservation duplicates, protecting masters, digitization, and the information that the internet grants us. Now, think about how most of us had no idea about what really happened in those Universal fires for eleven years. If you eliminated cultural impact, the information of anything at our fingertips, and the copies everyone has (let’s reflect on a time before entertainment could be purchased and enjoyed at home, never mind just the streamable versions), your favourite albums, films or shows literally wouldn’t exist anymore. Just like that.
Luckily, that’s not the case, but there are still enough problems that are derived from the aftermath of this disaster. I’ve already gone over the impossibility to remaster some musical and visual works. What about the trust there? The priority of the illusion of power and protection over the alerting of a tragedy within the entertainment industry. Sure, we eventually found out, but taking over a decade for news of this magnitude to be given isn’t my idea of courtesy or care. Another thing to consider is how most of us had no idea that this even happened (in the digital information age, no less). I don’t suspect that a lot of similar cases have happened, but who knows. Accidents happen all of the time, but how we respond to them is entirely on us. I think Universal made a good decision for themselves, but their hiding of the truth from us feels quite concerning. Not much can be done with the aftermath of such an event when it comes to the lost masters and copies, but at least the honest respect of the entertainment enjoying public should be considered. Is the loss of art not worth informing the world about?
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.