In Popular Culture
Some scenes from the 2003 movie Finding John Christmas are based on the OLA fire.
Many films, such as Planet 51 and Toy Story 3, have scenes that mimic the world-famous image of John Jajkowski's lifeless body being carried from the school by a fireman, although in these films the person or thing being carried is usually still alive.
The documentary film Our Obligation, made by the Los Angeles Fire Department, is a dramatization of a "similar" disastrous school fire, explaining all the safety measures that should have been in place and functional. The filmmakers stated that the school in the film is not supposed to be OLA, but most of the details are identical, down to the iconic image of the dead student being carried out by the fireman. Additionally, the school depicted in the film is not a Catholic school like OLA, but a "regular" public elementary school with typical schoolteachers and students. This film was produced in 1959 during fire tests being made at Robert Louis Stevenson Junior High School located at 725 S. Indiana St. in East Los Angeles. The building (built in 1926) was scheduled for demolition due to seismic concerns, so the LAFD used a three-story section for the tests. The school building was replaced with a one-story structure. Our Obligation is available for free viewing and downloading at the Internet Archive.
Read more about this topic: Our Lady Of The Angels School Fire
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