Authors: Stewart O'Nan
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I would like to thank Lynne Tuohy of the
Hartford Courant,
whose feature work on Little Miss 1565 and whose 1991 cover story "Eternal Flame" in
Northeast
magazine remain the best accounts of the fire. Without her legwork and her fine eye and ear, this book would be that much poorer.
The brunt of the paper research was done with the assistance of Mark Jones and the staff of the History and Genealogy Unit of the Connecticut State Library in Hartford. Alice Pentz and the Avon Public Library kept me supplied with books on Hartford, circuses, and all aspects of fire. Other folks who provided invaluable assistance were Fred Dahlinger, Erin Foley and Bernice Zimmer at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Joan Barborak at the Hertzberg Circus Museum in San Antonio, Janice Mathews at the Hartford Collection of the Hartford Public Library, Marsha Lotstein at the Jewish Historical Society in West Hartford, Rhonda Green at the Cleveland Research Center of the Cleveland Public Library and Deborah Pfeiffenberger at the New Britain Youth Museum.
Art Kiely procured and printed many of the photographs in the book, as did John Long at the
Courant.
Paul R. Shafer shared his photos and his memories, and so did Judith Lowe and Gloria Vieth. Nancy Finlay at the Connecticut Historical Society arranged a special printing of never-before-seen shots. Maurice and Thelma Allaire contributed their negatives of the Portland stand, and Robert F. Sabia sent along his videos of William Day's films of the New Haven and Providence dates, among others, and also checked the manuscript for factual errors. Likewise, Leda and Gordon Partridge gave me total access to Christina K. Brand's spectacular pictures of the circus setting up the lot on July 5, 1944. Spencer Torell, who took many of the most famous shots of the fire, helped identify which pictures belonged to which photographer and donated a full set of his own prints.
Donald G. Horowitz came up with rare views of the Cleveland menagerie fire and also parsed the manuscript. The Prints and Photographs Department of the Library of Congress provided hard-to-find photos, and Larry Hughes at the National Archive and the staff of Grinberg Worldwide Images unearthed rare newsreel footage. Donald Bowden at Associated Press did his usual fine job, coming up with prints that never made the papers. Ralph Emerson Jr. gave me permission to reprint his father's great shot of Emmett Kelly.
Shanee Stepakoff shared her research and taught me far more about the North End of Hartford at that time than I ever could have found out on my own. Allegra Hogan shared the special collections table and her own fascinating project.
Both Henry S. Cohn and David Bollier, whose
The Great Hartford Circus Fire
(Yale University Press, 1991) plumbs the intricacies of the arbitration agreement between the circus and the survivors, generously contributed their expertise. Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, author of the popular novel about the fire,
Masters of Illusion
(Warner Books, 1994), pointed me to several informative sources. Semina De Laurentis of Seven Angels Theatre brought Anne Pie's
Front Street
to my attention, and the playwright herself trusted me not only with her drama but her memories. Rich Hanley of Connecticut Public Television kept me abreast of his progress on his documentary of the fire and shared his ideas. Craig Constantine at Towers Productions recalled putting together his features on the fire for A&E and the History Channel, as did Ken Rowe—also Art Donahue at WCVB.
Fred D. Pfening Jr. of the Circus Historical Society supplied me with Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey route books from the era, and Dave Price and
Bandwagon,
the society's monthly journal, helped me get a better feel for circus tradition. Jim Foster at
The White Tops
came up with solid leads, and Maxine House got the word out to subscribers; Terry and Dick Abbot kept me current with back issues. Treasurer Gordon Taylor and many members of the Circus Fans Association of America lent a hand as well. Don Marcks at
The Circus Report
and Cherie Valentine at
Back Yard
helped beat the bushes. Gordon Carver with the Circus Model Builders lent needed expertise. Bob Peckham of Windjammers Unlimited and Richard Whitmarsh, leader of the South Shore Circus Band, helped with questions on Merle Evans, as did Richard Snyder and his encyclopedic
knowledge of and devotion to circus music. Mike Martin supplied me with many fine videos of the show from that era.
Tom Goodrow, formerly of the Hartford Police Department, Detective Bill Lewis with the Connecticut State Police, Mike Simmons at the Ohio State Fire Marshal's office and Jim Looby, former HPD and now with the state's attorney's office, acquainted me with the official side of the mysteries surrounding the fire. Florence B. Sinow, communications officer with the Connecticut State Police, broke loose crucial investigative documents, and Susan Savage at the State Corrections Department tracked down some very dusty files. Charles Teale of the Hartford Fire Department, who conceived of and organized the fiftieth anniversary commemoration, graciously shared his recollections of that day. Kenneth Crooms, unofficial historian of the Wish School, thrilled me with his stories. Cynthia Coulter-Reichler of the State Commission on Fire Prevention and Control filled the gaps.
Special thanks also go to Dr. Robert Sheridan of the Shriners Burn Hospital and Mass General for his patience and generosity, archivist Steve Lytle for his assistance at Hartford Hospital, Pete Mobilia at St. Francis Hospital (and for his fine 1984 WPOP radio documentary, "Someone Yelled Fire"), Drs. H. Wayne Carver and Ed McDonough at the Connecticut State Medical Examiner's Office, Dr. Lowell Levine of the New York State Police, Dr. Jack Kenney in Chicago, Dr. Gus Karazulas with the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, forensic pathologist Dr. Doug Ubelaker of the Smithsonian Institute, Dr. Peter Knowles at the Avon Dental Group, Eugene Kowalczyk at Talarski Maple Hill Chapel and Alex Marcellino in Vital Records at Hartford City Hall.
Thanks also to Jocelyn McClurg at the
Hartford Courant,
Bill Ryan of the
Courant,
Jim Fowler of the
Sarasota Herald Tribune,
John Crockett of the
Hartford Times,
Dave Stevenson at the
Columbus Dispatch,
Harry Atkins at
Emergency Medicine
and Erin Newman at
Emergency Medical Services,
and to the research bureaus of the
Sarasota Herald Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer
and
Yankee Magazine
(and Jody Saville and managing editor Tim Clark there).
Likewise, Peggy of Firefighters Bookstore and Bill McBride of The Jumping Frog deserve credit, as do Susan Audette of Mansfield Middle School, Amy and Bill Gerrish, Johanna and John Murphy, Giovanni
Iuliani, Gordon Clark Ramsey of the University of Hartford, Dennis Barrow at the Aetna Archives and the staff of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Research Library. Thanks too to Art Selleck and Larry Ford of the Manchester Fire Museum, and Jack Kuras and Suzanne Macy.
Thanks also to Elizabeth McCracken for her wise counsel—good advice at just the right time—and to Cindy and Luis Urrea for their keen readings and big hearts. Brian Hall generously trained his fine eye on the manuscript, as did longtime readers Paul Cody and Amy Williams, and of course Trudy, who not only read it but who had to listen to circus fire trivia the entire time I was working on the project.
And an especially big thank you to David and Mabel Carter and Barbara Thompson at Mailboxes, Etc. for keeping #1944 open.
The number of people who shared their memories of the fire and the days surrounding it was astonishing. I would especially like to thank Donald Anderson, Don Cook, William Epps, Donald Gale, the late Jennie Heiser, Jerry LeVasseur, Judith Lowe, Barbara Smith Mangan, William Menser, James J. Rice, Elliott Smith and Joan (Smith) Lindell, John B. Stewart Jr. and Gloria and Orville Vieth for their endless patience and openness.
In a way, this book is a memory book. The following are all those who made it possible; without them, this history would not exist: Gary Agasi, Vivian Alfano, Richard Anderson, Virginia Anderson, Sue Andrews, Betty Arthur, Dr. Richard Bagnall, Ken Ballette, Rivy Beizer, Corinne and Kathy Bellingham, Phyllis Benoit, Evelyn Bernstein, Sandra Blazensky, Edith Lefkin Bloch, Frances Blumenthal, John Bock, Richard Boulanger, Joann Bowman, Walter M. Brown, Iva Burnham, Timothy M. Burns, Sally Butler, Irene (Bessette) Calkins, Nancy Cannon, Dolores Cardillo, Don Carmody, J. Bruce Carrier, Tony Casiano, Moe Cattanio, Dr. L. Adam Chotkowski, Nancy Chunan, William Cieri, John and Madge Cofiell, Stanley Cohen, Doug Cole, Ned Coll, James P. Connolly, Frances Cook, Pat (Maguire) Cook, Anna Cote, James Counihan, Chris (Ellis) Courtney, Mary Culligan, Lewis Davidson, Robert Day, George De Franzo, Leonard De Maio, Jerry DeMeusy, Bradford Dennler, Amelia and Art Desrosiers, Teresa DiCorleto, Joe Donato, Katherine Donohue, Doris Dooley, Robert
Drayton, Dr. Frank Dully, Jr., Juanita Dutton, Marion (Lefkin) Eisenberg, Whitney Ellis, Rachel Elman, Clifford Emery, Peggy Fabian, Bill Faude, Arthur L. Fern, Eleanor Flynn, Fernand Forgeur, Loretta Francis, William E. Francis, Louise Garewski, Molly Garofolo, Edward J. Garrison, Jerry Gilbert, Nan Glass, Harriet Globman, Joan Goodrow, Bill Goralski, Violet Goshdigian, Marion Gossling, Mary Gribauskas, Eunice Groark, Meredith Guiness, Sloan Harger, Lorna Hastings, Fred Heatley, Lloyd Heavenor, John Hlavati, Zosh Hoffenberg, Joan Conlin Homa, Alice Horst, Joe Horvath, Miriam Howland, Bennett Hyne, Bud Jacobs, Whitey Jenkins, Bruce E. Johnson, Edna Johnson, Susan Smith Johnson, Diane Jonardi, Jerry Kaplan, Ann Kearns, Tim Kelliher, Joan Kelly, Wally Kelly, Patrice Killian-Brauer, Albert Kimball, Bernice Kleinman, Leo Kleinman, Jo Korten, Alvin Kotler, Kathleen Krein, Laura Kubick, Karl Kuzis, Arthur Lassow, Roseanne Lawrence, Asahel Lee, Len (at the MacGray Company), Harry Lichtenbaum, Barbara Lukens, Ed Lukstas, Albert W. Lynch, John Madden, John Mahoney, Richard Mahoney, Kathleen Martindale, Joseph Martinelli, Thomas Maskery, Rick McDonald, Bea McHugh, Bob and Elise McKay, Mike Meehan, Linda Meyers, Donna Michelini, Lewis J. Miller, Mary Jane Miller, Gail and Sandy Mirabile, Beatrice Mitlak, B. Albert Montella, Carolyn Moon, Susan Snelgrove Moore, Algert Mordas, Susan Morelli, Jean Myers, Angela (Yacavone) Newell, Dana Newell, Nancy Norton, Margaret Porter O'Brien, Robert H. O'Brien, Harvey Ofshay, Naomi Factor Papa, William Papetti, Irene Z. Pardo, Patricia Parente, Carol Parrish, Maureen Walsh Payton, Joe Pazzanno, George Pearse, John Pearse, Katheryn Pearse, Jane Peck, John Pedro, Marita Plikunas, Donna Ploss, Barbara M. Porter, Jack Powers, Patricia (Colman) Pratt, Alice Pringle, Elizabeth Reed, Eileen Regan, William Reid, Richard Renert, Lorain Reyor, Robert Ribera, Barbara Bacon Richard, Joan M. Rivers, Russ Roden, Eleanor Rodrigue, Eugene Roy, Joseph Ruggiero, Mildred Safin, Cathy Salvatore, Michael Salvatore, Dick Sanford, Janet Moore Sapolis, Micki Savin, Gerry Scheide, Iris Schlank, Ellen Schuman, Cele Seeley, Sandra Sharr, Lois Sheehan, Herbert Shook, Michael J. Silvester, Milli Silvestri, Robert A. Smith, Helen Kennedy Sonneman, Bob Steele, Rabbi Israel Stein and Roz (Berkowitz) Stein, Lee Steinberg, Dorothy Bocek Strzemieczny, Velma B. Sullivan, Marilyn Young Tarasuk, Armen Tavy, Dorothy (Boardman) Teffs, Roosevelt Terry, Marna (Young)
Thoma, Joan Thompson, Don Tinty, Ronnie Tolson, Lois Wasserman, Dorothy Waterbury, Margery Weed, Patricia Weiman, George Weimann, Jack Weinberg, Helen and Jack Welch, Connie Westfort, Douglas Whinnem, Betty Wickham, Dr. Chet Wiese, Bob Wilson, Carrie Wilson, Barbara (Tallman) White, Ruth Neistat Whitman, Rev. James Yee and Joseph Zukowski. Thank you all.