Ray Pride

The angel's name is Natalie Eisendrath; she's turn-of-the-century picture perfection. At the center of Nat Brandt's research-laden sketch of a public disaster of another era, "Chicago Death Trap: The Iroquois Theater Fire of 1903," we see photographs of the aftermath of a fire in a theater that had been open only five weeks which killed 602 matinee-goers, mostly women and children. We also get portraits of the dead. Natalie was "a bright child and an especial favorite in church entertainments." Dressed in layers of frills, long curls neat in a bow, she's happy, innocent, lost. Among the abominations: the manager always personally locked the gates to the balcony to keep the less-well-off from migrating to the pricey seats on the main floor. The effects of the "cyclonic blast" were not only fire-code reform but also political reform. Brandt's book is a litany of horrible facts, purposeless death. A little trivial entertainment, followed by flaming, suffocating death. We'll get books about the recent club tragedies, but this small chunk of quotidian terror illuminates too well the terror of dying in a man-manufactured "absolutely fireproof" environment.

Nat Brandt will discuss "Chicago Death Trap: The Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903" at 5:30pm on March 6 at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State, (312)747-4300.

(2003-03-05)

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