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Twenty-five-year-old Robert Canine, a
third-generation dentist from Louisville, KY, was
visiting in Chicago on December 30,
1903. He took an unidentified lady
friend to an afternoon matinee
performance of Mr. Bluebeard at
the city's newest luxury playhouse, the
Iroquois Theater on Randolph Street.
The couple sat at
the back of the ground floor on the
north side of the auditorium. It
wasn't as close to the stage as Robert
would have liked but turned out to be
some of the best seats in the house.
When a stage fire spread to the
auditorium, Robert and his date were
within a few feet of three fire escape
exits that led out onto Couch Place alley.
They remained in their seats
until an explosive sound came from the
stage and the auditorium lights went
out, then evacuated.
After escorting his friend to
a nearby store Robert joined sidewalk
observers.
Least of the worst
With nearly six hundred fatalities, the
Iroquois Theater fire retains the title
for America's worst theater disaster.
The risk to Canine's life was minimal,
as reflected by the fact that of those who died,
fewer than 1% were
seated on the first floor. He could not know
that at the time, however, and was
understandably frightened.
In telling the story
for the Louisville Courier
Journal newspaper
three days after the fire, he exhibited
having been influenced by
error-prone day-after newspaper reports,▼1 drawing the wrong conclusion that
the explosive sound he heard accompanied the fireball
that hurled into the balconies. He
had left the Iroquois by the time that
happened and was at that moment probably
depositing his companion in a nearby
store. As multiple witnesses on
the stage testified later, what Robert heard was the
thundering crash of the blazing
multi-ton loft hitting the stage floor.
Flames had severed the
thick rope cables used to suspend the
loft above the stage, on which hung hundreds of
large painted scenery backdrops. When the loft cables
snapped and the loft dropped, the sound was heard and
vibration felt by people on the street
outside the theater, so he wasn't wrong
in recognizing something major had
happened. The sudden darkness in
the auditorium was the result of damage
to the electrical
panel on the interior wall of the stage
(see pic),
at which
every light in the auditorium was
controlled.
The primary audio
distinction between the loft crash and
the fireball is that seconds after the
fireball, occupants of the balconies
heaved a sigh and stopped screaming.
Their watches, stopped by
extraordinarily high heat, marked their
deaths at 3:50 p.m.
Family and Louisville's oldest house
Robert Fulton Canine (1878–1945) was the only child of Charles E.
Canine (1854–1916) and
Mary Kent (1854–1932), and the only grandson
of James Fulton Canine (1830–1894), a Hoosier who became
the first dentist in the family and purchased the
family's home at 432 S. Fifth in Louisville.▼2
Robert's parents divorced and
by 1903 each had remarried.▼3
He graduated from he University of Louisville School
of Dentistry (1899), Louisville Medical College
(1902) and Jefferson School of Law (1913).
1926 and 1951 newspaper articles featured Robert's proud
recollections of his father's inventions and
adventurous approach to dentistry. Theirs was
the first house and dental office in Louisville to
have electric lighting, steam and running water. For
his family those modern conveniences meant more
comfortable lifestyles with illumination for
nighttime activities and freedom from chopping wood
and pumping water; for his patients it meant faster,
more sanitary dental work that was less painful.
Fond family memories surrounded the arrival of the
fire department when called by neighbors alarmed by
the sight of light pouring out the windows from
sixty-four light bulbs, and the conversion of
patients from apprehension to delight when they
first experienced extractions with the aid of
"laughing gas," and drilling and filing with the
speed of chugging steam-powered dental tools rather
than a
foot treadle.▼4
In the years after the fire
In 1925 Robert married
an Arizona woman twenty years younger, Gertrude Gerwein.
They had two children, Robert Jr. (1926–2020) and
Virginia "Ginny" Canine (1928–2016).
Robert accumulated associations the way he accumulated academic
degrees, including membership and offices in
the Louisville College of Dentistry Alumni, Jefferson
County Dental Society, Odontological Society, Kentucky
state Dental Association, Methodist Church and
Democratic party.
The Depression years may have been hard for the Canines.
In 1933 they were behind in their property taxes and in
1936 rented out the basement.
When Robert Sr died a month after the end of World War II,
Robert Jr had not yet been released from military duty as a
private at Camp Atterbury, IN. Upon return
to Louisville he became a sewing machine operator and
broke from family tradition by turning away from the
dental profession.
After Robert's death the house at 432 S.
Fifth St. was sold to Emma Biesel Dick / Dicke who converted it into
The Old House restaurant, featuring French cuisine.
Gertrude and Robert Jr. remained in Louisville for a few
years then relocated to California.
Discrepancies and addendum
1. Newspapers in 1903 eagerly published every morsel they heard
or read about the fire during the first couple days,
including half-truths and rumors. Public interest in
the fire was heavy and newspapers fanned it into a frenzy.
It's hard to avoid applying fire and flame metaphors to the
response because the comparison is apt.
2. James Canine was not the first dentist to occupy 432
Fifth, however. First was Dr. Butler, then John .A.
McClelland, James Canine's employer and eventual partner.
McClelland invented a precursor to celluloid. He used
cellulose nitrate and gum copal as a base for dentures in
the 1860s and in 1868 patented it's use in dental plates.
He called it "Consolidated Collodion" and "Rose Pearl." It
met with obstacles in the trade because it shrank and warped
after setting. History, credits
Alexander
Parkes of England with inventing celluloid.
3. Mary Kent Canine married twice after
her 1876 marriage to Charles Canine, to Henry Wallace and
Richard Venable, and Charles Canine married once, to Martha
Hicks.
4. Charles and his brother, Hal B. Canine, manufactured
dental tools and for a time employed over twenty workers.
Made-up
scenes and people?
Herbert Cawthorn played
Irish Patsha in Mr Bluebeard
John R. Freeman Theater
fire investigator
Other discussions you might find interesting >
Story 3001
A note about sourcing. When this
project began, I failed to anticipate the day might come when a
more scholarly approach would be called for. When my
mistake was recognized I faced a decision: go back and spend years creating source lists for every page, or go
forward and try to cover more of the people and circumstances
involved in the disaster. Were I twenty years younger, I'd
have gone back, but in recognition that this project will end when I do, I chose to go forward.
These pages will provide enough information, it is hoped, to
provide subsequent researchers with additional information.
I would like to
hear from you if you have additional info about an Iroquois victim, or find an error,
and you're invited to visit the
comments page to share stories and observations about the Iroquois Theater fire.
