PBS高端访谈:一卷胶卷引发的回忆（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to our “NewsHour” Shares, something interesting that caught our eye. In 1906, a massive earthquake and out-of-control fire devastated San Francisco. In 2017, an century-old film turned up at a California flea market. After seeing the discovery on Facebook, photo historian Jason Wright bought the film on a hunch that it might be long-lost footage of a crippled San Francisco shot two weeks after the quake. We recently spoke to Wright from his home in Highburton, England, about the secrets revealed in the now-restored film.

JASON WRIGHT, Photo Historian: In April, 1906, a major earthquake struck San Francisco. The quake was very large in itself, but most of the damage was actually caused by fire which ripped through the city.

Whole swathes of San Francisco were completely leveled and destroyed. We have known about this film for over 100 years, but it's more of a rediscovery. It's been lost all this time. What it actually, is about one day two weeks after the earthquake actually hit. It's basically a trip down Market Street done by the Miles Brothers, and there's a famous tape that most people have already seen which went down Market Street just a couple days before the earthquake hit. The previous footage of the trip down Market Street only survives because one of the Miles Brothers actually sent that footage over to their New York studio literally one day before the earthquake hit. This is a missing film of their trip back down Market Street once the earthquake had already happened. So it allows us to really compare and contrast basically before and after and see the devastation that actually had gone on. All the hustle and bustle that you saw on the previous trip down Market Street, that's all kind of gone, and people are quiet, kind of down, and kind of shuffling around. You know, all the pomp and the rich people going past in their expensive cars, that's completely gone now. As you move down Market Street, you see most of the buildings are gone at this point. And you see a lot of ancient steam engines. They used to put chains around the buildings and hold the buildings down using the steam engine. As you get down towards the bottom of Market Street, though, you get to the Ferry Building, and this is the most important part of the film for me. You see the human cost of the actual tragedy. You see a lot of people basically in line, from rich to poor, everybody, and they're waiting for ferries and boats to take them out of the disaster area. And then, towards the end of the movie, it flicks through a few more scenes. You see dynamiting taken place, you know, city hall being blown up, for example, which is a bit disconcerting, and then the demolition of Prager's Department Store. I wanted to bring this to the people of San Francisco. I wanted to make sure we conserved it for future generations, because I think it's very important. With this film, you see the human element of what happened. Disaster strikes, and everybody's lives are changed. And it just makes us realize, I think, how quickly things can go to pieces. But it also shows us how people can, you know, dust themselves off and basically get back to life and rebuild again. You just can't keep down San Francisco. San Franciscans, they just keep on going.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Remarkable. That video from 1906.

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：现在进行我们的新闻一小时分享环节，有些趣事吸引了我们的注意。1906年，旧金山遭遇大地震，火势蔓延失去控制，到处断壁残垣。2017年，一个世纪前的老胶片在加州跳蚤市场上出现。在脸谱网上发现后，照片历史学家杰森·赖特将这卷胶片买下，他凭直觉认为这卷胶片可能记录了震后两周蓬头垢面的旧金山市貌，这些长久以来堙没的印记。最近，我们在赖特的家乡英格兰海伯顿，就这部如今已经恢复的影像中展现的秘密，与他进行了交谈。

杰森·赖特，照片历史学家： 1906年4月，大地震袭击了旧金山。地震本身很强，但实际上大部分破坏是由火灾造成的，大火蔓延了整个城市。旧金山各个街道遭到大面积毁坏，甚至被夷为平地。100多年前，我们就已经知道有这部影像作品，但这次更多的是一次重新发现的过程。这么久以来，它始终未能回归人们的视野。事实上，这部影像记录了大地震发生两周后的一天。基本上是迈尔斯兄弟的市场街之旅，还有一部著名影像，大多数人已经看过，记录的是大地震前的数天内旧金山市貌。这前一次市场街之旅的记录得以幸存，完全是因为在大地震袭击的前一天，迈尔斯兄弟将此影像发送给了他们在纽约的工作室。这部堙没的影像记录了大地震发生后市场街即刻呈现的面貌。透过这部影像，我们能够对震前震后的市貌进行比较和对照，真正看到毁灭就在进行。之前的市场街曾经人流熙攘，而这一切都已在某种程度上逝去，人们很安静，有点消沉，四处走动。你知道，曾经乘坐昂贵汽车出行的富人，现在都已铅华尽褪。你沿着市场街走，你会发现此时此刻，大多数楼宇已荡然无存。你看到很多老式蒸汽火车。之前人们把建筑物用链条环绕起来，用蒸汽火车固定建筑物。但当你走到市场街尽头，渡轮大厦出现在你眼前，这对我来说，是这部影像中至关重要的地方。你看到这场灾难后的人员伤亡。你看到很多人排着队，不论贫富，人人如此，他们在等待卡车和船只，将他们带离灾区。然后，在影片末尾，闪过了一些镜头。你看到炸药在爆炸，你知道，比如城市开始实施爆破，这令人有些不安，随后普拉格百货商店被毁。我想要将此呈现给旧金山人。我想要确保我们为后代保留了这部影像，因为我想它至关重要。透过这部影像，你看到灾后的人文元素。灾难发生了，灾难改变了每个人的生活。我想，它让我们意识到，事物的瓦解可以多么迅速。但它同时也告诉我们，人们如何掸下自己身上的灰尘，恢复基本生活，并进行重建。旧金山不会倒下。旧金山一往无前。

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：相当震撼。来自1906年的影像作品。