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| The Black Stork | |
|---|---|
 Advertising for screenings at the Oliver Theater in Boston | |
| Directed by | Leopold Wharton Theodore Wharton |
| Written by | Harry J. Haiselden |
| Starring | Jane Fearnley Allan Murnane Harry J. Haiselden |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Sheriott Pictures Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 5 reels |
| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
The Black Stork, also known as Are You Fit To Marry?, is a 1917 American motion picture film both written by and starring Harry J. Haiselden, who was the chief surgeon at the German-American Hospital in Chicago.[1] The Black Stork is Haiselden's fictionalized account of his eugenic infanticide of John Bollinger, who was born with severe disabilities.[2] The film depicts Haiselden's fictionalized story of a woman who has a nightmare of a severely disabled child being a menace to society. Once awoken from the nightmare, she visits a doctor and realizes all was fine with her child. However, the purpose of the film was not to have a happy ending and move on. The purpose was to basically warn people, especially teenagers, of the dangers of sexual promiscuity and "race mixing", as these actions were believed to be the cause of disabilities in children.[3]
Haiselden's film garnered many mixed reviews[citation needed], and his actions were very controversial at the time. At this point in history, when the word "disability" was brought up, all anyone thought of was a "disease" that could be spread[citation needed]. Through this way of thinking, a majority of people agreed with Haiselden's actions and enforced the idea that doctors have the right to decide whether a disabled child should live.[4] However, there was also a number of people who protested Dr. Heiselden's actions, including the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the public backlash, The Black Stork was still shown commercially in movie theaters for two years. After 1918, the movie was renamed Are You Fit To Marry? and remained in theaters and traveling road shows for many more years, as late as 1942.[5]
- ^ "The Black Stork". tcm.com. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ Pernick, Martin S. (1996). The Black Stork. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. all. ISBN 0-19-507731-8.
- ^ Taylor, Stephen J. (2016-02-05). "The Black Stork: Eugenics Goes to the Movies". Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Newspaper Program. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ "Beyond Affliction: The Black Stork Document". legacy.npr.org. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Pernick, Martin S. (1996-04-18). The Black Stork: Eugenics and the Death of "Defective" Babies in American Medicine and Motion Pictures since 1915. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-975974-3.