Sticks and stones

ate afternoon, Friday 27 January 1922. The sky unzipped and snow began to fall in Washington DC. It came down steadily all night and right through the next day. Trains were evacuated, cars abandoned in the street. By 8pm on Saturday, 70cm had fallen. Undaunted, 300 citizens braved the streets to see the silent film Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford at Crandall’s Knickerbocker theatre, a luxurious picture house. The audience howled as Wallingford sat on a tack. A second