The musings of Sean Paul Murphy: Editor, Producer, Screenwriter, Author. Or, Hollywood -- and beyond -- as seen from an odd little corner of northeast Baltimore, Maryland.
On the most fundamental level it serves as a brief sketch to give your reader basic information about your character, usually at least their age, race and gender -- although I can certainly see circumstances when you would want to exclude one or more of those characteristics. Character descriptions are essential. They humanize your story by painting a picture of your characters in the mind of your reader. They are also one of the first things your producer will ask for when your film goes to casting. In a very real sense, those character descriptions may prove to be your last opportunity to influence the casting process, particularly of the supporting roles. (The leads are often dictated by marketing and financial considerations outside of your control.)
More importantly, however, your character description should be a tool of seduction. Your brief description of the character should fire the imagination of an actor. They should read the description and say, "I have to play that role!" Of course, the seductive role of the character description is not always necessary. Particularly if the film is already cast before you write it. (That happens.) Then all you have to do is give the character a name and an age that flatters the actor's ego.
Here's another thing. Make all your characters characters -- all of them -- including the minor ones. If you have a waitress who has more than one or two lines, please give her name. What's the harm? The actress will definitely appreciate it. Everyone prefers to play a role with a name rather than just a job title. Also, make them distinct. Use the description to give your waitress some personality. If you leave the description blank, the role will simply be filled by someone the producer or director would want to sleep with. Instead, write something like "The waitress, ALICE, 52, ornery and no nonsense, eyes them warily as she approaches the table." Suddenly, your scene is spiced up even if you leave the dialogue the same.
Rather than bore you with character descriptions from my own scripts, I thought it would be fun to show some from a variety of classic scripts. Some of the descriptions are very detailed and illuminating. Some are simple and no nonsense. There's no right or wrong way to write them, as long as they get the job done. Enjoy:
The CAMERA follows the bottle to MARGO CHANNING. She sits at Max's left, at deWitt's right. An attractive, strong face. She is childish, adult, reasonable, unreasonable - usually one when she should be the other, but always positive. She pours a stiff drink.
George Saunders as Addison deWitt
ADDISON deWITT, not young, not unattractive, a fastidious dresser, sharp of eye and merciless of tongue. An omnipresent cigarette holder projects from his mouth like the sword of D'Artagnan.
He is a bespectacled man in his thirties, hale but somewhat bookish. He stands, tuxedoed, in the wings of a theater, looking out at the stage, listening intently to the end of a performance.
A MAN, handsomely dressed in a well-tailored suit of the 1920's, works in the garden. A gardener's apron protects his suit from the earth as he turns the loam along one of the walkways. He works slowly, precisely, obviously engrossed in his surroundings. This man is called CHANCE.
It is late, the supermarket all but deserted. We are tracking in on a fortyish man in Bermuda shorts and sunglasses at the dairy case. He is the Dude. His rumpled look and relaxed manner suggest a man in whom casualness runs deep.
Blonde, somewhat fragile, intelligent in expression. She is putting on make-up with intense concentration and appreciation, applying lipstick and eye make-up. As the camera slowly pulls back from the closeup we see that we have been looking into a mirror. She is standing before the full-length mirror in her bedroom doing her make-up. She overdoes it in the style of the time: rosebud mouth and so forth. As the film progresses her make-up will be refined until, at the end, there is none. The camera pulls back and continues to move very slowly throughout the first part of this scene. As the camera continues to move away, we see, by degrees, that BONNIE is naked.
He is BUTCH CASSIDY and hard to pin down. Thirty-five and bright, he has brown hair, but most people, if asked to describe him, would remember him blond. He speaks well and quickly, and has been all his life a leader of men; but if you asked him, he would be damned if he could tell you why.
In the steam-filled bathroom, we make out SCHUYLER VAN ORTON, now 38. He's handsome, fit and apparently in complete control of his world. He steps out of the shower, wraps a towel around himself and grabs the BATHROOM PHONE.
December 24th. Wendell "BUD" WHITE, 30, stares at the enormous Christmas tree on the deco platform over Bullocks' entrance. An LAPD cop, Bud's rep as the toughest man on the force has been well earned.
CAMERA MOVES IN to isolate HOWARD BEALE, who is everything an anchorman should be -- 58 years old, silver-haired, magisterial, dignified to the point of divinity.
BUTTERCUP is standing, holding the reins of her horse, while in the background, WESTLEY, in the stable doorway, looks at her. Buttercup is in her late teens; doesn't care much about clothes and she hates brushing her long hair, so she isn't as attractive as she might be, but she's still probably the most beautiful woman in the world.
A hammock is stretched from the cab of the truck to an oak tree. A man wearing a faded denim western shirt, open with the sleeves rolled up, levis and silver-toed cowboy boots is lying in the hammock. A cowboy hat covers his face. CLOSER ANGLE as shadows fall across the figure. The man slowly tips back his hat and we see he's in his thirties, boyishly handsome, with a cocky smile. Bandit LaRue.
DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALONZO, in a flannel shirt, reading the paper in a booth. The gun leather tough LAPD vet is a hands-on, blue collar cop who can kick your ass with a look.
PIKE BISHOP, wearing lieutenant's bars, rides slightly ahead of the others. He rides stiffly, always slightly in pain. Pike is a not unhandsome, leather-faced man in his early forties. A thoughtful, self-educated top gun with a penchant for violence who is afraid of nothing -- except the changes in himself and those around him.
I hope you enjoyed reading those character descriptions as much as I did! I suggest that you read the whole scripts. Reading great scripts inspires great writing.
Little Grandmom and yours truly at the grave of her grandparents
Last Friday, my grandmother Rita Cecilia Rosenberger Protani Pollock peacefully passed away at Lorien Mays Chapel in Timonium, Maryland, surrounded by family members. Relatives had been arriving from as far away as Virginia, Texas, Nevada and Florida to say goodbye. In the end, she had good days and some not so good days, but she was always surrounded by family. In the end, she said her only fear was waking up and finding herself alone. She doesn't have to worry about that anymore. Now she rests in the bosom of her family that was waiting for her on the other side.
Normally, I would tell her story now. However, there is no need for me to do so. I will let her tell it herself. I interviewed her just prior to her 90th birthday and put together this little film.
Here are some pictures of my grandmother through the years:
Her first communion picture.
High School Graduation?
Wedding of Rita Rosenberger and Kenneth Protani
L-to-R
Mary Protani MacCubbin, Helen Ernst, George Rosenberger, Rita, Kenny, Billy Taresco, William MacCubbin
Rita, 1944
Rare Photograph of the entire Rosenberger Clan
Norbert, Helen, Lou, Kenny, Mary, Rita, Anthony, George
Clara, Rita, Tony
Rita with 2nd husband Robert Pollock
Rita with grandsons Doug and Sean
Rita and Bob
Rita with her sister Helen in Hawaii
Rita with children Tony and Clara
Five Generations
Jeanne, Clara, Rita, Gianna, Natalia
As an added bonus, here's the home movies of Rita and Bob's wedding.
Rest in peace, Little Grandmom. You were a kind and gentle woman who lived a life of happy service to your family. You were a true inspiration. I wouldn't be who I am without you!
Be sure to check out my novel Chapel Street. It tells the story of a young man straddling the line between sanity and madness while battling a demonic entity that has driven his family members to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting my family experienced.
You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
You know I must be desperate for blog material when I recycle old papers I wrote decades ago in college, but it seems appropriate in new capacity as an instructor at Towson. Here is a paper I wrote in an early film class. (Either Aesthetics of Film, Spring 1982, or History of Film, Fall 1982). I was supposed to review one film, but chose instead to look at trends in (then) modern horror films. BTW, although I corrected some spelling and grammatical mistakes, I resisted the urge to rewrite the piece and make myself sound more articulate, thoughtful or prophetic:
RECENT HORROR FILMS
This is not a critique of one film. This paper is a critique of three separate films that have been released in recent years which I feel are prime examples of the three basic types of horror films. The first film I plan to discuss is An American Werewolf in London, which I feel is one of the few recent films that fits into the mode of the classic horror films prevalent in the thirties and forties. The second film I plan to discuss isDawn of the Dead, an example of what I call the paranoid films that were popular in the fifties and sixties. Lastly I will discussHalloween II which is a prime example of today's slasher films.
An American Werewolf in London is a horror/comedy film released last summer. It is about a young American man who survives an attack by a werewolf while he and a buddy hike through Northern England. Bitten, the American later becomes a werewolf himself. The most interesting aspect of the film involves the way the scenes of horror and comedy are blended.
Most of the humor comes from the relationship between the hero and his dead buddy Jack. His friend, who was killed in the original werewolf attack, is condemned to walk the earth until the bloodline of the werewolf ends. The only way to accomplish that would be if his friend, who survived the attack, is killed. Jack visits his old friend periodically throughout the film and tries to convince him to kill himself before anyone else is hurt. The interesting twist is that Jack does not return as a deadly serious ghost. He still has the same personality and sense of humor he possessed when he was alive.
The film features some of the most realistic and gruesome violence to flicker across the big screen this year. The special effects and make-up in this film are tremendously effective. The young man's transfiguration into a werewolf is probably the best I have ever seen. Another high point of the special effects was Jack's appearance through the film, starting with his rather fresh wounds and his gradual decomposition. The scenes of violence (as well as the rest of the movie) were filmed and paced very well by director John Landis. The film generated a great deal of suspense.
My major problem with the film concerned the blending of the comedy and the horror. Both elements in and of themselves were portrayed well, but I felt the violence was too graphic and jarring against the relatively light atmosphere of the comedy. I found myself being pulled in two different directions which limited the overall effectiveness of the film. That was a pity because I felt this film had the potential to be one of the great monster movies.
An American Werewolf in London bears a greater resemblance to the classic horror films such as Dracula, The Wolf Man, King Kong and Frankenstein than it does the typical slasher films of today. Like George Waggner's The Wolf Man (1941), the film generates a great deal of sympathy for the man committing the murders because the evil did not originate with him. In none of the above mentioned films did the monster choose to be evil. In the case of Dracula and the Wolf Man, the evil entered them as a result of an attack by supernatural beings. (That said, Dracula, as portrayed by Bela Lugosi relished doing evil and was not sympathetic.) The Frankenstein monster did not choose to be evil, the evil entered him when a criminal brain was placed in his skull. As for King Kong, the giant ape had no conception of good or evil. He simply responded to situations as the law of the jungle dictated. He was not inherently evil.
The primary characteristic of the classic monster movies of the thirties and forties is that evil enters an average person from an outside source. That is also the case in An American Werewolf in London. Aside from the uneasy mix of horror and comedy, I generally enjoyed this film and I only regret that more films of this style are not made. They are a breath of fresh air in a horror market devoted almost exclusively to slasher films now.
The next film I plan to discuss is Dawn of the Dead, the sequel to the cult classic Night of the Living Dead. The film is about four people struggling to survive in a huge shopping mall besieged by hordes of the walking dead and living marauders. The plot is simple. Four people flee Philadelphia, which is on the verge of civil collapse after a horrible onslaught of flesh-eating zombies. Using a traffic helicopter, they land of the roof of a large shopping mall. They seal up the building and undergo many struggles while trying to survive in this mecca of materialism until two of the four are killed and the others must flee again.
The most memorable aspect of the film is the extreme violence. This is undoubtedly one of the most graphically-violent films ever made. I have seen films which portrayed violence more realistically than Dawn of the Dead, but I have never seen a film that portrayed as many different atrocities on such a large scale. No where have I ever seen so much human flesh slashed, hacked, shot, ripped and chewed off and devoured in a two hour period. When it comes to violence, nobody does it like director George Romero.
It is interesting how the audience becomes acclimated to the violence by the end. (I should know since I have seen the film numerous times and I have paid a great deal of attention to the audience reaction). Audience reaction is extremely intense in an opening sequence where National Guardsmen attempt to force some people to leave a housing project. In those scenes people are killed and mutilated in many explicit manners. By contrast, the audience reaction is more muted in the later sequence when a motorcycle gang raids the shopping mall. The violence is probably more gruesome, but the audience reaction to it is no where near as great. It is as if the violence is so overwhelming throughout the entire movie that by the end you become adjusted to it.
On the whole I really liked this film. Granted, the acting was bad but I still think that it was a good movie. I thought that the settings for the film were particularly good and that the flow of the action was good.
I have always liked these paranoid/isolation films. Others films of this subgenre include Night of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers,The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man and even Rosemary's Baby. Each of them pits a person or a small group of people against an enemy which seems to have taken control of normal society. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a great example of this as the hero discovers that the town is being taken over by aliens and he realizes that he has no one to trust except himself. Much the same thing happens in Rosemary's Baby as Rosemary realizes that something evil is going on and that she has no one to turn too.
These films have a few things in common. They begin with a person or a small group battling an enemy that has taken away or neutralized any real hope of outside help. The cavalry never rides over the hill in the last reel to save the heroes. Another important aspect in these films is the use of ordinary people and settings as a threat. In Dawn of the Dead a shopping mall turns into a place of death and destruction. Also, Romero's monsters aren't aliens with three eyes, they are housewives, working men, students and other seemingly normal people. In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a ordinary California small town populated with ordinary people become the threat to the hero's individuality and free will.
Another characteristic of these films is that they usually end on either a fully or partially pessimistic note. In Night of the Living Dead all of the protagonists die. In Rosemary's Baby, the devil's child is brought into the world. The Omega Man dies at the end. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was supposed to have a far less optimistic conclusion, but the studio added a hopeful note at the last minute. Dawn of the Dead also ends pessimistically, with the two survivors fleeing with no place to go.
The last film that I plan to discuss is Halloween II, a prime example of the violent slash and hack high body count horror films which are the current fad in the genre. Halloween II is a simple film about a mad psycho killer, who slays a slew of people on Halloween night. (Have you noticed that every day will soon have a horror film named after it, with Friday the 13th, Halloween I & II, Valentine's Day and Prom Night, how long will it be before there is a movie called Christmas Day. New Year's Eve, and Easter Morning?)
As these films go Halloween II is pretty good though it wasn'y as good as the original Halloween. The director of the film definitely made an effort to duplicate the style John Carpenter used in the original, but the film is not up to the same caliber. The point of view technique was used well in the first film, but overused in the sequel. I also do not feel the director was able to generate any empathy for any of the characters in this film (with the possible exception of Jamie Lee Curtis or Donald Pleasence, who both appeared in the original). The characters were not real people, but only pawns to be murdered one by one. Granted, the first film wasn't Hamlet but there was an adequate introduction to the characters before they were sliced. This film just introduces a bunch of stereotypes to quickly die in order to build up an impressive body count by the end.
Another problem with this film was the way it stretched it's credibility beyond belief. The bulk of this movie is set in a hospital where our heroine is pursued by the mad killer. However, the hospital is lit more like Frankenstein's castle than a modern facility. It is dark and full of shadows, instead of being well-lit and orderly like a real hospital. Also, Jamie Lee Curtis appears to be the only patient in the whole place. We are taken all over the hospital but no other patients are seen. Also there is a scene where the police go into a school looking for the killer and find the word "samhain" written in blood on the wall. The killer's doctor explains that it is an old Druid word for a sacrificial ritual. The funny thing is that the killer had been sitting immobile in isolation for sixteen years since he was five-years-old. How is he supposed to know Druid mythology? This is just one of the many ways this film stretches its credibility.
What does this all add up to? It all adds up to a pretty bad movie as conventional films go, but this film is not a conventional film. It is a horror film. It is no masterpiece but compared to films like I Spit on Your Grave, The Silent Scream and The Boogeyman, you can see a certain level of professionalism in Halloween II. This is not a film that I would recommend to patrons at the Charles Theater, but if you like this type of film it is worth seeing.
I am a fan of this type of movie. I see a lot of horror movies because it is nearly impossible for me to be disappointed, regardless how good or bad it is. I really like it when a horror film grabs hold of my emotions and carries them along for ninety minutes. Halloween was one of those films. I feel that John Carpenter is probably the most talented director working in this sordid little genre and he did a great job with that film. Then there are incredibly bad films likeThe Boogeyman. I really enjoy them too. They are often so bad that they are funny. I can really get into a film like that, if the audience doesn't mind some heckling. In some ways I enjoy the really bad horror films more than the good ones.
Recently, however, I began to wonder about these films and their appeal to the general public. My concerns were inspired by a nasty little flick calledI Spit on Your Grave. The film is about a girl who is raped repeatedly by four men and then seeks revenge. The film was appalling. After a ten minute introduction to the characters, the next fifty minutes of the film consisted of the woman being raped and beaten with the most explicit footage I have ever seen in an R-rated film. Then the woman takes revenge on them and murders them in various ways. In one case, she lured one man into a bubble bath with her and then sliced off one of his most private parts. She then locked him in the bathroom, went downstairs and listened to soft music as we hear the man upstairs trying to break out while he bleeds to death. Not a very nice film. As I left the theater I wondered what value a film like this had? The film was effective but what does that justify? I began to wonder what type of person takes pleasure in a film like that. I am sure that many people did. As a result, the producers will probably keep making them.
I think that it is important to see what films were popular in different periods in order to learn some things about society at that time. By looking at an overview of the horror films of the thirties I can see the way evil was expressed in American films. Evil was something that was isolated and inflicted on what were normally just and well-meaning men. Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man, wasn't someone who chose evil. Even Dracula, who relished the evil he committed, was once a normal man. Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll were not evil men either. They were idealists who went too far trying to reach a noble goal for mankind. In the thirties and forties evil seemed a thing that only occasionally entered the lives of normal men. There was also an optimism. All that was needed was a wooden stake or silver bullet to make the world safe again.
In the sixties with the paranoid/isolation films we see a different view of evil. The normal world is evil and trying to destroy men and take away their individuality. The heroes and heroines of these films depend only on themselves or a very small group for protection. There is no God in the heavens who will spare them if they let their defenses slip. If their defenses do fall they will die, and in the end of these films they generally do. These films do not possess a positive worldview at all.
Today the evil lives in man. The murderers are not possessed by devils or the victims of vampires or werewolves. They are simply heartless sociopaths murdering for their own pleasure, motivated by lust, power or a need for revenge.
So what does that say about us today? Do we still have faith in the goodness of our society and fellow man, or do we instead see the potential for evil in all of us?
Maybe the films we watch are an important clue. . .
On this episode of the Yippee-Ki-Yay Mother Podcast, an inter-generational look at the movies, Transgressive Al brings us the 2008 French horror film Martyrs by writer/director Pascal Laugier. I must confess, despite my love of the horror genre, this was not a film I would have sought out on my own. I am not a fan of the "torture porn" sub-genre. However, this film does provide a purpose for the horror. It reaches for a strange existential transcendence, but does it succeed? Listen and find out.
This week our regular co-host Hassan was unable to make the podcast, and we needed two returning guests, Mark Casale and Wayne Lipshitz, to fill his shoes. BTW, this is one of our last remaining podcasts before The Mighty Wojo became a full time member.
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can currently buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
Vincent Klima, standing, with my 2nd
great-grandfather Jan Kostohryz, seated.
Vincent Klima was my first cousin three times removed. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 7, 1891, the son of Vaclav Klima and Maria Kostohryz. Maria was the sister of my 2nd great-grandfather Jan Kostohryz. I always imagine Maria being bolder than her brother. While still a single woman, she emigrated to Baltimore from their home in Bernartice, Bohemia, years ahead of him. She met her husband Vaclav here. They married and had five children. Three girls and two boys. Vincent was the oldest son.
Maria Kostohryz Klima, left, with my great-
grandmother Maria Anna Kostohryz Rosenberger
Sadly, Vincent's father died when the boy was only eight-years-old, which left the family in a precarious situation financially. Being the oldest son, Vincent was expected to take financial responsibility for his mother and siblings. The moral responsibility also had civic repercussions. When the United States entered World War I, Vincent was exempt from the draft.* His younger brother James John Klima, however, was sent to France.
James, sadly, would die in France of lobar pneumonia on December 8, 1918**, after the fighting had stopped. Ironically, his older brother Vincent, who was exempted from service to provide for his family, was already dead. He died on October 17, 1918 from the global pandemic we commonly call the Spanish Influenza. The deadly flu swept through the crowded East Baltimore neighborhood where my family lived. My great-grandaunt, Josephine Kolman Rosenberger, died the previous day. The devastation wrought by the disease is clearly revealed on their death certificates. Over three hundred additional certificates were issued between the two of them, each one representing a family that was irreversibly changed.
Young Vincent Klima
To get an idea of the scale of the disaster, I copied stories from some of the local Baltimore newspapers on the days around their deaths. The facts are harrowing, but, in stark contrast to today's reporting style, the press wasn't being sensational or hysterical. They were accurately reporting the facts without trying to panic people. If anything, the classified ads, one of which from C&P Telephone I included below, gave a grimmer perspective.
Below is an excerpt of a story from the October 16th Baltimore American about the national implications of the epidemic that took Josephine's life:
INFLUENZA HOLDS WITH FIRM GRIP
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Death Toll Is High in Most Parts of the Nation
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SUBSIDING IN ARMY CAMPS
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Epidemic Unabated In District of Columbia
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Treasury and Interior Departments Issue Orders That No New
Employees of These Departments Be Brought to Washington
Until Further Notice -- Practically Every State in the Union
Suffering Under Sway of the Disease -- Pneumonia's Heavy Toll.
-------------------------------------
Washington, October, 15. -- Spanish Influenza now has reached epidemic proportions in practically every state in the country, and only in three has it been reported as stationary, with some improvement in the situation in Massachusetts. In spite of all efforts by federal, state and local authorities, the disease has spread rapidly and the death toll has been high in most parts of the nation.
In Army camps the epidemic is subsiding, a further decrease in the number of new cases being noted today at the office of the Surgeon General of the Army. The total of cases reported was 6,498, a decrease of 773 from yesterday. Pneumonia cases were 1,916 against 2,523 the day before, but the number of deaths increased, being 889 against 716 yesterday.
Reports made public tonight by the Public Health Service show that outside of Massachusetts the epidemic is severe throughout New England. Not a single state east of the Mississippi is clear of the disease, and in most of the coast states from Maine to Florida conditions are serious.
The number of cases reported also is increasing in Oregon, Washington and California, while the malady has appeared in all mountain states and is epidemic in most of them. Minnesota is the only West Central State reporting the disease stationary, while influenza is epidemic in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois. It also is epidemic in all the Southern States as well as in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
In war-crowded District of Columbia the epidemic continued unabated. As a further precautionary measure, the Treasury and Interior Departments today issued orders that no new employees of those departments be brought to Washington until further notice. Similar action is expected by other government departments, which still are in need of additional help.
Here is an excerpt of a story from the October 16th Morning Sun emphasizing local conditions:
"FLU" TOLL STILL HIGH; 1,139 CASES REPORTED -------------------------------------- Increase In Number Of New Cases Believed Due To Belated Reports Of Physicians. -------------------------------------- DEARTH OF NURSES SERIOUS -------------------------------------- Violators of Closing Orders To Be Prosecuted At Once -- 42 Deaths At Camp Meade And Pneumonia Cases Jump. --------------------------------------
The number of deaths from Influenza and complications and the number of new cases jumped yesterday in the reports from both the city and the counties.
In the city there were 176 deaths from influenza, or influenza complicated with pneumonia, reported to the Health Department yesterday for the preceding 24 hours, plus 66 deaths from bronchial or lobar pneumonia, making a total of 242. During the day 1,139 new cases were reported, as against 954 reported on Monday. From the counties came reports of 1,075 new cases, which showed another large increase.
Nevertheless, at neither the city nor State Health Department was there any sign of alarm. Dr. C. Hampton Jones, chief of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases, of the State Board, who is in charge of the counties, said that he thought it very probable that the increase in the number of cases reported was due to physicians having found time in which to report cases several days old. If physicians have more time in which to report cases, it would appear that the calls upon them, due to the disease, are lessening. That is the situation which Dr. Jones is inclined to believe exists.
Verbal Reports Encouraging.
"Judging from the verbal reports which are being received here," said he, "I should say that the number of new cases is probably decreasing. Reports of decreases in cases are not uniform; we hear from a locality now and then that the physicians still are overwhelmed with the combination of old and new cases. But, on the whole, the verbal reports are encouraging and lead me to think it likely the increase in number of reports cases is due to the doctors beginning to catch up with their reports."
Practically the same view was expressed at the City Health Department. It was stated there that a number of doctors who had been in touch with the department during the day thought conditions in their localities much improved. One physician was said to have reported that his calls for new cases were not more than 20 per cent of those he received a week ago. The brisk, bracing weather of the last day or two was believed by the city health officials to have been distinctly favorable to the general situation here in Baltimore.
Here is the opening of a story from the Baltimore American, October 17, 1918:
EASTERN SECTION OF CITY HARDER HIT BY FLU THAN ALL OTHERS -----------------------------------
Unsanitary Conditions Are Declared To Be Responsible ----------------------------------- DEATH RATE HIGHER ----------------------------------- But Number of New Cases Is Somewhat Less ----------------------------------- A COMPARISON OF CITIES ----------------------------------- Table Showing That Baltimore Has Suffered Less In Proportion Than Other Large Municipalities -- Additional Instructions Issued by the Health Commissioner -- Closings Order Will Not Be Modified -- Reports Indicate an Improvement in the Counties. ----------------------------------- MORE DEATHS; FEWER CASES
There was an increase in the number of deaths resulting from influenza and pneumonia, but fewer new cases. One hundred and ninety-three succumbed to this disease alone, while 53 others were victims of pneumonia alone. There were 894 new cases.
Reports received by the Health Department show that while conditions are improving in the Western and Northern sections, there is no improvement in East Baltimore, where sanitary conditions are not up to the standard.
Dr. Blake advises against attendance at funerals and recommends that services be held in the open at the grave. He has also called in the Marshal of Police for plain-clothes men to watch for violators of the anti-spitting law.
The city bacteriologist is using serum sent him by the government, and which prevents pneumonia, on doctors and nurses in hospitals.
Conditions have improved in the cantonments, Camp Holabird having lifted the quarantine at that place.
Here are excerpts from a story from the Oct 18th edition of the Baltimore American:
COUNTY UNDERTAKERS NOW PERMITTED TO DO BUSINESS IN THE CITY
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Health Commissioner Suspends State Law Provision
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SHORTAGE OF COFFINS
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Government Has Commandeered Many Caskets
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SITUATION IS UNCHANGED
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117 Deaths and 954 New Cases of Influenza Reported -- Proprietors
of Apartment-houses Ordered to Furnish Tenants With Heat Regardless
of Any Contracts They Have Made -- Four Physicians Sent by the
Public Health Service -- The Red Cross Appeals for Volunteer Nurses.
-------------------------------------
EPIDEMIC STILL RAGING
There was a slight increase in the number of flu cases in the city, but fewer deaths. 117 succumbed in the past 24 hours, and during the 48 hours ending yesterday afternoon there were 954 new cases. 728 new cases developed in the counties.
Health Commissioner Blake has let down the bars to county undertakes. For the time being the law prohibiting these from doing business in the city has been abrogated and permission given to operate in Baltimore city.
Apartment-house proprietors are directed to furnish heat to tenants regardless of any contracts they may have made. Failure to comply with this order, issued yesterday by the Health Comissioner, will subject the owners to heavy fine.
Four additional physicians assigned here by the government have been distributed by the State Board to various sections. A call has also been sent out for Red Cross nurses, who are wanted in Wicomico county.
The Baltimore Chapter of the Red Cross has sent out an appeal to women to volunteer as nurses. Twenty-five responded at once, but many more are needed to assist trained nurses.
Below is the text of an advertisement from The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company found on the first page of the Baltimore American on October 15th:
DON'T TELEPHONE
The increasing overload of calls and shortage of operators compels us to urge a still greater reduction of calls. While the epidemic lasts it is vitally important that telephones be used only for the most urgent reasons. Avoid making long distance as well as local calls. Don't ask for reports on delayed calls. Our remaining operators, despite their increased tasks, are loyally giving their best endeavors.
THE CHESAPEAKE AND POTOMAC TELEPHONE COMPANY
For the period of the emergency, we urge every former employee with central office experience to REPORT FOR DUTY, if only for a few hours daily.
Here is a heartfelt remembrance his mother Marie placed in the Baltimore Sun a year after his death:
Here is his grave:
Grave of Vincent Klima
*This exemption, reported by family members, was a probably given by the local draft board rather than a national policy.
**I suspect James Klima's lobar pneumonia was also a result of the Spanish Influenza.
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