Iroquois Theatre Fire

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programThe day was Monday, November 27, 1903, when a brand new “absolutely fireproof” theatre opened in Chicago at 24-28 Randolph (between State and Dearborn streets). On Wednesday, December 30th, the hit musical, “Mr. Bluebeard” starring Eddie Foy was enjoying its sixth week of a successful run as the Iroquois Theatre’s first production. Pictured below is the cover of the Programme. Slated to begin on January 11th, was a stupendous adaptation of “Ben Hur” complete with a chariot race calling for sixteen horses on stage.

That Wednesday’s matinee performance of “Mr. Bluebeard” played to a standing-room only crowd of nearly 1,900 people, comprised mostly of women and children. Only two thirds of this audience would be able to talk about it afterwards.

At 3:15 pm, in the middle of the second act, a moonlight scene with the chorus performing a dreamy dance, a spark from a stage light ignited the flimsey scenery. A stage hand, equipped only with two tubes of the patent powder, Kilfyre, was unable to extinguish the flames. The fire spread instantly beyond his control and a call for help was placed to the fire department. Eddie Foy, still on stage and in costume as Sister Anne, pleaded for the audience to remain calm and exhorted the orchestra to “play – play – play anything, but for God’s sake don’t stop – play on!” The musicians played while burning scenery fell about them and flames began to roar overhead.

A stage hand tried to lower the asbestos fireproof curtain, but it caught on a bracket and remained stuck three to four feet above the stage floor. At the rear of the stage, someone opened a door. The strong December wind swept in, carrying the flames from the stage in a deadly wave out over the orchestra pit and beyond into the body of the theatre itself.

The audience, already panicky, gave way completely to terror, and rushed to search for the exits from all parts of the house.

The exits were not marked by lights and were not visible through the smoke and confusion. Many exit doors were locked and the iron fencing installed across the stairways meant to prevent patrons from going into sections other than those accessible to ticketholders were padlocked. Some doors out of the theatre opened inwards rather than outwards making it impossible for the crowds of people rushing toward them to get through.

Against these locked doors and before these iron barriers, women and children crowded, helpless. Those in front were crushed down and trampled upon. Those in the rear climbed upon them. Scores were smothered to death, untouched by the flames, while those in the rear were burned.
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When the firemen arrived they found bodies piled in a seemingly solid mass of flesh, ten feet deep, and so densely packed that they could scarcely be pulled apart. In one narrow passageway, where the crowds from two balconies fought to get into the open air, two hundred dead were found.

All injuries and deaths occured within the first fifteen minutes of the fire, which was extinguished by the fire department within thirty minutes. The photo was taken on the day of the fire at about 4:00 pm. Six hundred and three people died in this incident. Of the 150 performers and backstage personnel, only a tightrope artist died, trapped above the stage on her rope.

Yet some good came out of this tragedy. Lax enforcement of fire regulations became a thing of the past. All Chicago theatres were closed until they passed inspection. The effect spread beyond Chicago to every city in the country, where new ordinances were enacted and old ones enforced, so that theatres have never again been the menace they were before.

The theatre managers and several public officials were found guilty in connection with the fire, although none were punished. The “absolutely fireproof” building survived with minimal damage and was reopened about a year later as the Colonial Theater. The building was torn down in 1924 to make way for the Oriental Theatre. The theatre has been renamed the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

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