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Show II FAMOUS THEATER GUTTED B! EIRE I Historic Playhouse Is - Badly Damaged, jj Flames Wreck the -Well- I Known Casino in :: New York. H "Forty v Chorus Girls, Who Were Rc- li hearsing, Thrown Into Punic, Hi j hut All Escape. H NEW YORK", Feb. 11. Tlio Casino tho- H ater, ono of the mo3t historic of tho New Hffl York . playhouses and the scene of tho MM production of many famous light operas, HH was damaged by flro today -with a loss of HI 530,00). The blazo began In a drcsslng- H room on the third floor over tho stage, HI whllo a rehearsal of chorus ulrls of tho H "Lady Teaslc" company was In progress WM Though thoy were thrown into a pnnlc the members cf the company escaped un-H un-H Injured with the exception of ono chorus HB girl, who fell whllo going down the stairs of the stag? entranco and was painfully but not dangerously hurt. No Spectators Present. Thcro wcro.no spectators in the theater when the Are broke out. Two hours later the building would have been occupied by an audience composed principally of women and children. As it was, the chorus H girls had some difficulty In escaping tho hurried advance of tho flames Tho exit H of an .audience under similar clrcum- H stances would have been hamporcd by tho fact that tho main entrance Is by a wlnd- ing staircase. H In Heart of Theater District. B Tho Casino is located at tho corner of Thirty-ninth street and Broadway, In the very heart of tho theater and hotel dls- trict, and no sooner was tho flro under ay, with the burst of blazo and smoke from tho third story windows, than a trc-mendous trc-mendous throng gathered In Broadway for blocks in both directions, stalling all traffic and hampering the efforts of the llrcmcn. H Was Famous Theater. fl In the Casino some of tho most noted of light opera productions have been pre- Dl sentcd and achieved their Jlrst and great- est successes. "Erminlo" had its begln- nlng and Initial success there with an all- star cast. Including Francis "Wilson. Mark Smith. Paulino Hall and Mario Jansen. and ran for two years. It lias been close- ly Idcntitled with tho successes of many of the stars whose names are now famil- lar to the patrons of light opera, includ- Ing Lillian Russoll, Edna May, Do "Wolf Hopper and Jefferson Do Angclls. The liouse was blillt by Rudolph Aronson At present it Is under tho management of Sam S and Lee Shubert. H Forty Chorus Girls Present. H Tho "Lady Tcaslo" company, which was rohensltig when the fire broke out, is headed by Lillian Russell, but she was Bl not in tho theator at tho time. About forty chorus girls were rehearsing In cce-Hfl cce-Hfl . ' lumo and were crowding up a narrow stairway to a dressing-room on the third floor, above the stngc, when a burst of 1 (lames and sraoko from tho dressing-room H drove them back. In their frantic hasto one girl was thrown down and had to bo carried out of the theater. She was not badly hurt. Girls in a Panic. 1 . So swift was the advance of the flames among tho flimsy material In the eccnery that the chorus girls wero in a panic when H they rushed for the stngc exits. Ignoring 1 the efforts of the stage manager to calm H them, they ran shrieking down the stairs, I arrayed In tho gay costumes of tho play, I and were given shelter In the nearbv stores. Tho haste of their escape Invited H Hpcculatlon as to- the probable fate of an audience, had there been ono In tho thca-ter, thca-ter, as the main floor is one storj abovo the street level. A stage carpenter, who lingered too long In an effort to save some of the scenery, was overcome by tho B smoke, but revived on reaching the street. H Deluged With Water. 1 Four alarms of lire brought an abund- anco of apparatus. Tho Interior of tho Jj building was fairly deluged with water, IJH with the result that .a good portion of tho main floor escaped absoluto destruction, though badly damaged. The etago and ) ' balconies were burned out and a portion of the roof destroyed. Some of the sccn-Wm sccn-Wm cry of "Lady Teaslc" was saved. |