 In Montreal, 9 January 1927, at the Laurier Palace theatre, 78  people died during a showing of this film. A fire broke out in the  projection room, and was quickly under control, but the audience,  consisting mostly of children, panicked and stampeded towards the  exits; those in the gallery became trapped in the stairwell, and the  78 died of being crushed. 77 of the dead were 16 years old or  younger.