April 30, 1918 - The Great Northern Theatre

Mary's note from April 30 is somewhat confusing.  She starts by saying she worked hard all day, then treated herself to the movies.  The she says it was her day off and she went with sister Nora to the Great Northern, the sentence trailing off so that it doesn't actually say what movie she saw.

The Great Northern Theatre was playing Up the Road with Sallie, starring Constance Talmadge on April 30 in a double feature with Charlie Chaplin's A Dog's Life.  Constance Talmadge is sister to Norma Talmadge, also a movie star and who appeared in Ghosts of Yesterday, previously viewed by Mary.  A previous link to the Talmadge sisters covers their history in detail.

As with most of the theaters of the era, the Great Northern Theatre at 3639 N. Broad Street no longer exists.  Up the Road With Sallie is a romantic comedy based on a book by the same name by Frances R. Sterrett.  The movie is preserved in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

A Dog's Life was Chaplin's for which he was paid an astounding $1 million was his first movie for First National Pictures and was filmed at his own studio in Hollywood on the corner or La Brea and Sunset Boulevard.  It can viewed online at YouTube.

April 28, 1918 - Health

Headline and part of an article from the April 28 The Philadelphia Inquirer:

 

 

Dr. Wilmer Krusen is Director of the Department of Public Health and Charities and will become a prominent figure in the headlines when the influenza pandemic hits Philadelphia later in the year.

President Taft was noted for his corpulence, tipping the scales during his presidency at over 350 pounds.  But according to the New York Times, he later embarked on a low calorie, low fat diet, avoided snacks, kept a food diary, weighed himself daily, hired a personal trainer and rode a horse for exercise.  His weight was down to 280 pounds by the time of his death in 1930.

The ten most common causes of death in 1917 according to the CDC were diseases of the heart; pneumonia and influenza;  tuberculosis; nephritis; intracranial lesions of vascular origin; cancer and other malignant tumors; accidents excluding motor vehicles; diarrhea, enteritis and ulceration of the intestines; premature birth, and syphilis.

By 2010 leading causes of death were heart disease; malignant neoplasms; chronic low respiratory disease; cerebrovascular; unintentional injuries; Alzheimer's disease; diabetes; nephritis; influenza and pneumonia; and suicide.

Life expectancy at birth in 1900 was 47.3, up to 77.9 in 2007.