The Penn's Grove record., 1904-01-22
THEATRE FIRE AFTERMATH
Thir!y-three Theatres and Twenty
Churches Closed in Chicago .
The Loss to Business Amounts to Over
100000 a week-Over 5000 People
Ont of Employment.

Chicago, Ill.-With thirty-three the
itres and twenty churches closed by
he Building Department, Chicago is
put down as the dullest town on re-
cord. People remained at home and
Intensified the wall from business men,
stranded actors and transportation
companies.
Some reports had it that the loss OF
business by department stores
amounts to 100000 a week in some
cases. Country patrons won't come to
Chicago while there are nc amuse-
ments. Matinee days always are big
shopping days, and the loss to these
Is keenly felt. All branches of stage
employees are circulating petitions call
ng upon the City Council to hasten the
opening of the playhouses.
The act of closure has thrown 5000
persons out of employment. OF these
5000 are connected with the stage. 1t
is asserted that 500 chorus girls are
here out Of employment. In the vau-
1eville, musical comedy and legitimate
lines the number aggregates 1000.
Stage hands, ushers and mechanics
number 1900. Walters, bill posters,
cabmen and b~artenders laid of num-
| Der 2OOO.
An indication of the f~ar-reaching eff
feet of the closure is shown in the ac-
ton of the elevated roads and the H.
linois Central taking off half their
trains after s p. m. The restaurants
in the Auditorium Annex and Victor
Ia Pullman Building are closed after
8 p. m. Reetor's and a few others are
open, but without patrons. .
Chorus girls have taken up work as
nursemaids and domestics and many
are behind counters in department
| stores.
Pawnshops are thriving. The stage
people are the heaviest sufferers. No
one knows when the playhouses will
| open. Public opinion is unanimous in
demanding that the letter Of the law
| shall be complied with.
Many theatres will never open. In
otners improvements requiring months
will have to be made. Though the
new laws have not yet been passed,
the temper of the City Council shows
the ordinances will be most stringent.
The remarkable change which has
come over the night life of the town
has been widely commented upon.
Even the hold-up man has quit bust.
ness.
Philadelphia and st. Louis present
night scenes of stirring activity in
comparison with the present situa.
ton. The pressure upon the Council
to pass an order opening the theatres
under police and fire department con.
troll is enormous. When they are al.
lowed to open the upper balconies will
remain closed.
One-third of the State street trade,
according to one estimate, has been cut
off by the closing Of places of amuse.
ment, and local traction companies
note a marked falling off in amount of
traffic, due to the same cause.
A man interested in the Union Trac.
ton Company said that the receipts
had fallen off $1,000 a night since the
closing order went into effect. Mem.
bers of the Union Loop Company est.
mated that the elevated roads had
suffered an average daily loss in pas
sengers of between 5000 and 1000
while the late suburban trains on the
Illinois Central have been leaving the
city with less than half the passengers
they usually carry when the theatres
are open.