"Lest We Forget": Chicago's Awful Theater HorrorEverett, Marshall
History
"Lest We Forget": Chicago's Awful Theater Horror
Everett, Marshall
Iroquois Theater, Chicago -- Fire, 1903; Theaters -- Fires and fire prevention
"I first saw just a little bit of flame, which was on the right hand side
of the first entrance on the west, the first drop of the curtain. It was
just above the lamp that was reflecting on the moonlight girls. It was a
calcium light. I went back and got in my place with the pale moonlight
girls and the boys came out and sang their lines. Then we eight girls went
on the stage--as we always did--went down to the front of the stage--and
going down stage I saw the flame getting larger. Mr. Plunkett, the
assistant stage manager, was in the entrance, ringing for the asbestos
curtain to come down. He rang the bell until we reached the front of the
stage, where we went on singing. We sang one verse of 'The Pale Moonlight'
song, and then Mr. Foy came out and spoke to the audience. What he said I
don't know, and then Miss Williams fainted. She was one of the 'pale
moonlight' girls, and stood alongside of me. She was taken out, and then
Miss Lawrence and myself were the last girls to leave the stage. I went
downstairs to notify the girls down in the basement in the dressing
rooms. I called to them that there was a fire, and advised them to run for
their lives. Nobody was coming up then. Then I went out of the regular
stage door entrance."
Ethel Wynne, New York City:
"When I was about to make my exit I noticed a very small flame to the
right of the stage at the first entrance. It was really above the short
fellow--a little gentleman, rather--who stands on the bridge. This flame
was above his head. When he noticed it he put both hands up to get the
burning material--just grabbed up to get the material that was burning.
But the flame was away beyond his reach.
"The calcium light is below that, and it appeared to me as though it was
the side of the curtain where the curtains are drawn up, or something. The
flames spread very rapidly. I remember seeing Mr. Plunkett very plainly in
the first entrance and hearing bells ringing for the curtain to fall. I
said to Miss Dupont and Miss Williams, 'The curtain will fall in the
meantime, the bells have rung.' We went to the back to make our entrance
and the bell still continued to ring. I remember very plainly that I heard
some one yell, 'Drop the curtain.'
"I noticed clearly that the curtain was caught, and it must have been on
our left. It came down on the right hand side. The flames were going up
very rapidly. I very foolishly lost my reason and walked back to the back
steps, where I had made my entrance. From there I unfortunately had to
watch the awful sights that we know of. I don't know to this hour how I
got out of the burning theater."
Gertrude Lawrence, 5 West 125th street, New York:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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