Ever since sport met media some have accused the media of trying to shape the outcome of events to fit their programming needs. Whether it's a fighter carrying his opponent, or NFL referees making sure a game stays close, or the redefining of a 'rain out,' many are convinced the media has always had its hand in how things turn out.
In 1897 public presentations of the 90 minute long Corbett-Fitzsimmons film proved a box office sensation playing to large audiences across the nation. It should today be remembered as the birth of 'feature film presentations' but it isn't. Mainly because there was no follow-up.
The 1899 the Fitzsimmons-Jeffries go was foolishly fought indoors and when the electric lighting failed, so did the filming.
But the smell of money was in the air.
Enter the American Sportagraph Company, and the Terry McGovern-Pedlar Palmer fight.
Sportagraph along with The Westchester Athletic Club intended to promote the first championship fight deliberately staged for the cameras. The money would come primarily from a nationwide presentation of the fight in opera houses and saloons. Sportagraph offered advanced sales of the fight through the newspapers.
The newspapers on the other hand openly questioned the validity of the fight, sarcastically predicting the fight would only end when the filmmaker boys got their necessary footage; they warned a new kind of 'fix' was in.
If anyone doubted the newspapers, that the film was more important than the fight, they got their answer the scheduled day of the fight when the promoters politely asked the crowd, who had traveled 40 minute into upstate New York, to reassemble the next day when they could expect fewer clouds and more light. The crowd obliged.
The next day, all was set, a brand new system called Veriscope was supported by $5000 of new equipment and the best technicians. There would be no repeats of the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons failure.
With healthy advanced sales and a clear sky what could go wrong?
Terrible Terry walked across the ring and began to pound on the Brit; two minutes and thirty-two seconds later it was over.
The newspapers were wrong, the filmmakers forgot to put in the fix; the Sportagraph Company folded, the footage is assumed lost, and creditors were left hanging.
In 1897 public presentations of the 90 minute long Corbett-Fitzsimmons film proved a box office sensation playing to large audiences across the nation. It should today be remembered as the birth of 'feature film presentations' but it isn't. Mainly because there was no follow-up.
The 1899 the Fitzsimmons-Jeffries go was foolishly fought indoors and when the electric lighting failed, so did the filming.
But the smell of money was in the air.
Enter the American Sportagraph Company, and the Terry McGovern-Pedlar Palmer fight.
Sportagraph along with The Westchester Athletic Club intended to promote the first championship fight deliberately staged for the cameras. The money would come primarily from a nationwide presentation of the fight in opera houses and saloons. Sportagraph offered advanced sales of the fight through the newspapers.
The newspapers on the other hand openly questioned the validity of the fight, sarcastically predicting the fight would only end when the filmmaker boys got their necessary footage; they warned a new kind of 'fix' was in.
If anyone doubted the newspapers, that the film was more important than the fight, they got their answer the scheduled day of the fight when the promoters politely asked the crowd, who had traveled 40 minute into upstate New York, to reassemble the next day when they could expect fewer clouds and more light. The crowd obliged.
The next day, all was set, a brand new system called Veriscope was supported by $5000 of new equipment and the best technicians. There would be no repeats of the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons failure.
With healthy advanced sales and a clear sky what could go wrong?
Terrible Terry walked across the ring and began to pound on the Brit; two minutes and thirty-two seconds later it was over.
The newspapers were wrong, the filmmakers forgot to put in the fix; the Sportagraph Company folded, the footage is assumed lost, and creditors were left hanging.
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