A Tragic Theater Fire
About a thousand playgoers were crammed into the Brooklyn Theatre on the night of December 5th, 1876, to enjoy The Two Orphans, one of the nineteenth century’s more successful melodramas. All was normal until the intermission between the fourth and fifth acts, around 11 PM. With the curtain down, the orchestra played, and the actors and stage personnel prepared for the next act. As the theatergoers waited for the play to recommence, they heard shouts and what sounded like a brawl on the stage behind the lowered curtain. It was the start of a tragic disaster.
Some scenery offstage had been set alight by a lamp, and theater carpenters who first spotted the flames tried to beat out and smother it. That did not work, and the fire spread. As the curtains rose for the final act, backstage employees tried to bring the fire under control. At this point, the most commonsensical course of action would have been to tell the audience to exit the theater, since it was on fire and all. However, some folk overthought things. They figured that telling the theatergoers about the fire could cause a panicked rush to the exits, and lead to disaster. So they decided to downplay the danger – and brought about an even greater disaster.
