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It was a gay holiday crowd that
filled the newly opened Iroquois
Theater that afternoon 55 years
ago; then tragedy struck.
by Howard Earl
Art by Elmer Smith
A year-end holiday spirit prevailed in Chicago
that December afternoon 55 years ago.
' The intense cold eight degrees below zero
was little deterrent to a city preparing to greet
the joyous New Year. And there was no fore
boding of the tragedy that would leave the Mid
west metropolis grief-stricken before nightfall.
Hundreds of women, taking advantage of the
Wednesday bargain matinee, flocked with their
children to the Iroquois Theater to see "Mr. Blue
beard," a musical extravaganza starring Eddie Foy.
The Iroquois, open only weeks, was the last
word in theater construction. The elegant interior
glittered with marble and gilded plate glass, deep
red plush and mahogany. There was a 60-foot
ceiling in the promenade foyer, and marble stair
cases curved in grandeur to balconies and gal
leries. It had been hailed as a model of efficiency,
convenience, safety, and, above all else, it was
"fireproof."
The theater seated some 1,600 and about 100
standing-room tickets were sold that afternoon,
putting attendance at more than 1,700 at least
80 percent women and children. There were
another 400 persons backstage.
Enthusiastic applause greeted the end of the
first act The second opened with a double octet
tight men and eight women in a number called
"In the Pale Moonlight." Two huge carbon lights
threw "moonlight" on the scene.
Then it happened!
No one seemed sure whether it was caused by
a blown fuse or the powerful carbon lights. A
stagehand noticed a scorch the size of a half-dollar
on a curtain at the side of the stage.
Suddenly the scorched piece burst into flame.
The flame grew as it crawled upward toward
nearly 300 flammable drops and backings sus
pended above the stage.
The stagehand tried to beat out the blaze with
a broom. It raced beyond his reach and the next
instant exploded into a massive ball of fire among
the sets. The blaze consumed the entire top of
the stage in seconds.
People moved uneasily in their seats. They
seemed awed by the blaze above the stage, now
no longer hidden from their view. An under
current of fear became apparent.
Eddie Foy was preparing to come on stag, with
a comic elephant. He heard the commotion run
ning through the audience and dashed from his
dressing room to the stage.
The octets were doing their utmost amid rising
confusion to carry on with their act Burning
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fragments began dropping all over the stage.
Then the music stopped. The audience froze.
"Fire!" someone cried and the audience began
to move. Foy shouted at them not to get excited,
that no one was in danger.
He called to the orchestra leader to play an
overture. There was some music. The people on
the main floor began to quiet down, but those in
the gallery near the flames began to panic.
Someone began lowering the fire curtain to
block the flames before they reached beyond the
stage. But it stuck a few feet above the stage.
It had struck a wire running from the stage to
the balcony used by the aerial ballet act.
Backstage most of the cast and others were
jammed against the stage door, trying to escape.
But the door was locked and had to open in
ward. The whole stage was a mass of flames how,
with the heat stifling, the smoke suffocating.
Somehow stagehands broke open the door with
a heavy object. They did the same to the big
double doors in the rear, through which scenery
was brought into the theater.
Instead of scenery, a blast of cold air came in
now, rushed toward the stage, swept flames along
with it, ignited the "fireproof" fire curtain, and
sent searing flames licking out into the auditorium.
Eddie Foy found the stage no longer bearable.
Burning' timbers were dropping to the floor all
about him. Almost blinded and choking, he fought
his way to the Dearborn Street stage door.
There was no fire-alarm box in the theater, no
fire buckets, water hoses, or effective extinguish
ers. Any ushers who might have helped had fled.
Only two of the 10 exits were usable. The others
were locked or barred. Some were still nailed shut
because the theater was so new.
Men, women, and children struggled to escape.
Some fell in the aisles and were trampled to death.
Others reached closed doors and were crushed to
death by waves of fear-crazed humans.
Women rushed from the balconies to outside
fire escapes, only to find iron platforms with no
ladders leading to the street below. The first
arrivals were forced by others, crowding behind
them, to jump to their deaths on the pavement.
When the firemen arrived and forced their way
into the theater, they climbed the marble stair
cases but couldn't open some of the doors into the
auditorium they, were barricaded with bodies.
Once the firemen did get inside, they put out the
blaze in 20 minutes.
Though 602 persons died, the Irocjuois Theater
fire did do some good throughout the nation. The
aters suspected of being unsafe were closed and
forced to make repairs. Some irreparable theaters
were closed permanently.
Building-code regulations put into effect in Chi
cago after the Iroquois Theater fire have become
standard in most cities. They read almost like an
inspector's notebook on the reasons for the Iro
quois disaster:
1. The audience must be limited to the number
of seats available.
2. The stage and theater must be equipped with
fire-fighting apparatus.
3. The stage must have an overhead automatic
sprinkler system with sprinkler heads that open
at 165 degrees.
4. No flammable draperies could be used, and
all scenery must be tested for fireproof qualities.
5. All theaters must hold fire drills before each
performance, with all exits open and ushers taking
their places and going through their routine.
6. During each performance there must be a
certified and licensed fire guard on the stage.
7. All theaters must have a tested fireproof cur
tain which must be lowered at least twice before
each performance.
8. All exit doors must open outward.
10 Family Weekly, December 2S. 195.1