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HBO Documentary Chronicles Impact of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 100 Years Later

By DNAinfo Staff on March 15, 2011 5:44pm

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — One hundred years ago a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory killed 146 young immigrant women and teenage girls in Greenwich Village and led to sweeping changes in workplace reforms.

"Triangle: Remembering the Fire," produced by filmmakers Daphne Pinkerson and Marc Levin, will commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the deadly fire and the significance it had on the workplace when the documentary premieres on HBO on March 21.

"It took a fire for everyone to realize what was going on," Pinkerson said of the working conditions newly-arrived immigrants faced in the garment factories of downtown Manhattan.

The deadly fire broke out on March 25, 1911 at the Asch Building on a clear Saturday when nearby Washington Square Park was filled with weekenders.

Sparked by what historians believe was a discarded cigarette, the fire quickly lit up the fabric and paper patterns that littered the factory floor.

The crowds that had been enjoying the park saw young women jumping to their deaths from the ninth floor of the factory after realizing the ladder brought by the fire department only reached the seventh floor.

Other women fell from a fire escape as it tore off from the building and survivors later testified the only exit door not engulfed by flames had been locked by management to prevent workers from stealing pieces of fabric.

Workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had become familiar to the public in 1909 when they and other seamstresses participated in the March of 20,000 for better working conditions. While many factories capitulated to union demands, the Triangle factory did not make any concessions.

"The factory owners were hiring thugs to beat them [protesters] up, it was a violent time," Pinkerson said.

Pressured by the city's outrage over the fire, New York Governor Al Smith commissioned a study on workplace conditions and instituted safety regulations.

"I think New Yorkers remembered their pleas, and there was this collective feeling of guilt that New Yorkers had really failed these young women," Pinkerson added.

Investigations revealed there had never been any fire drills at the building, and the fire escapes were too narrow and inaccessible.

The documentary was inspired by Celia Gitlin, a 17-year-old Russian immigrant who perished in the fire, and was the great aunt of Sheila Nevins, president of HBO Documentary Films and the film's executive producer.

Exploring the fire through the voices of the descendants of former factory workers, the film mostly concerns itself with the impact the death of 146 young women and girls had on establishing safety and labor reforms.

Federal, state and municipal safety rules were instituted to ensure better safety and working conditions, the garment industry formed stronger unions, and the American Society of Safety Engineers was born as a direct result of the tragedy.

The filmmakers behind the HBO documentary hope the lessons learned about workplace regulation and worker safety are not lost to history.

"The cry of 100 years ago was 'who will protect the working girl?'" Levin said. "And today it's, 'who will protect working people?'"

Triangle: Remembering the Fire
Triangle: Remembering the Fire
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Courtesy HBO

Even after all this time, the pain of the catastrophic fire reverberates for the descendants of victims and survivors, who spoke on camera about the lives that were lost.

One of the most powerful testimonials in the film comes from Susan Harris, the granddaughter of factory owner Max Blanck, whose own daughters were with him at the building on the day of the fire, and was acquitted on manslaughter charges.

"From a personal point of view, I'm happy my grandfather didn't have to go to jail," Harris said in the film. "From the victims' and families' point of view, if my daughter had died in the fire and he hadn't been my grandfather, I probably would have shot him."

This year, for the first time, all 146 victims' names will be read, after Michael Hirsh, a genealogist and producer on the film, was able to identify the last six workers.

"You can't let these young women die in vain," Levin said.