A Burning Desire to Affordable Accessorize
Despite celluloid being affordable, versatile, and easy to produce, it had the annoying side effect of burning people alive when it was exposed to elevated temperatures. Factories producing the material were constantly at risk for fire, like one that killed four and injured thirteen people working above a celluloid comb factory in New York in 1922.
According to the New York Times, (4 November 1922) “The blaze ran through the celluloid like gunpowder.” A “Trojan” set his eyeglasses on fire while lighting a cigar after the flame touched the glasses cord and ran up to the celluloid frames (New York Times, 1 May 1882). Wearing a celluloid hair ornament or celluloid beads on clothing wasn’t typically a danger. It wouldn’t usually spontaneously combust. But get it too close to a flame or heat source, and it lit up like a fashion fireworks display.
