{"id":59460,"date":"2021-02-07T01:38:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T07:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=59460"},"modified":"2021-02-07T01:38:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T07:38:55","slug":"this-deadly-tragedy-at-a-yiddish-performance-is-the-reason-its-illegal-to-yell-fire-in-a-crowded-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/this-deadly-tragedy-at-a-yiddish-performance-is-the-reason-its-illegal-to-yell-fire-in-a-crowded-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"This deadly tragedy at a Yiddish performance is the reason it\u2019s illegal to yell \u2018fire!\u2019 in a crowded theater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By HENRY ABRAMSON<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014&nbsp;Former President Trump\u2019s impeachment defense team intends to argue that his infamous Jan. 6 speech, in which he exhorted his followers to \u201cfight like hell\u201d and march \u201cto the Capitol,\u201d&nbsp;was permitted by his First Amendment rights to free speech. Political opponents are already calling reference to the well-known Supreme Court decision (Schenck v. United States, 1919) that limits free speech to exclude harmful expressions \u2014 such as, most famously, falsely yelling \u201cfire!\u201d in a crowded theater.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59461\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59461\" class=\"wp-image-59461 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-1024x620.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-768x465.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-1536x929.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-2048x1239.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/182;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59461\" class=\"wp-image-59461 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-1024x620.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-768x465.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-1536x929.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/02-04-21-yiddish-theater-2048x1239.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-59461\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yiddish theater members, from right, Jacob Adler, Zigmund Feinman, Zigmund Mogulesko, Rudolf Marx, Mr. Krastoshinsky and David Kessler in 1888. (Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The phrase is not theoretical: It was drawn from a tragedy that occurred on a cold night in January 1887 at the Hebrew Dramatic Club of London and took the lives of 17 people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Supreme Court justice and noted theater fan who frequently traveled to London for the season (sometimes even publishing his impressions in The New York Times), precisely recorded the events of that night in his memorable phrase. To be sure, other fatal stampedes had occurred closer to home, including at a church in 1902 and a Christmas party in 1913. But it was the Hebrew Dramatic Club incident that found expression in Holmes\u2019 decision and subsequently in popular American discourse.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The legal basis for the performance was somewhat sketchy: Theatrical performances in London required a permit, hence the official designation of the Yiddish theater as a \u201cclub.\u201d (Two years later, the owner would be fined 36 pounds, plus an additional 3 for court costs, for failing to procure one, and also for selling \u201cspirituous liquors\u201d on the premises.) According to contemporary reports, some 500 people paid a shilling and packed the theater, which apparently had a capacity of 300, to see Jacob Adler, the famous Odessa-born heartthrob, perform in \u201cDer Spanisher Tsigayner\u201d (\u201cThe Spanish Gypsy\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>The circumstances of the accident are not clear. In his memoirs, Adler asserts that the shout of \u201cfire!\u201d came from an audience member who confused a stage fire with a real threat.&nbsp; A major investigative report in Lloyd\u2019s Weekly Newspaper suggests that someone in the theater accidentally broke a gas line. Although the flow of combustible material was quickly stanched with a handkerchief, the distinct smell filled the crowded chamber, prompting a stagehand to quickly shut off the gas line, engulfing the chamber in darkness. It was at this point that someone falsely shouted \u201cfire,\u201d perhaps fearing an explosion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The resulting stampede for the exits would ultimately result in the 17 deaths \u2014 primarily women in their teens and 20s who had come to see Adler in person. The oldest victim was a 70-year old tailor named Isaac Levy along his wife, Gertrude; the youngest was 9-year-old Eva Marks of Spital Street. Lurid line drawings of the dead and the dying were featured in the weekend edition of&nbsp; The Illustrated Police News&nbsp;with titles like \u201cThe Fatal Spot\u201d and \u201cLaying out the Dead.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Students of Talmud may remember another distant tragedy of a similar nature. A group of Jews, hiding in a cave somewhere in the Judean Desert, were startled by the sudden fear that the Romans were upon them. In the chaos that ensued as they struggled to escape, \u201cthey killed one another in greater numbers than their enemies had killed among them\u201d (Shabbat 60a), later discovering that they were alone: There was no reason for anyone to cry \u201cRomans!\u201d in the crowded cavern.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The circumstances of Schenck v. United States were far from a crowded Yiddish theater \u2014 the case revolved around the distribution of flyers that encouraged young men to resist conscription. Yet Holmes saw the common element \u2014 the use of communication in such a manner that one might reasonably expect a \u201cclear and present danger\u201d and \u201ca subsequent evil\u201d to result. In such cases, Holmes wrote in the majority opinion, \u201cthe most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"This%20deadly%20tragedy%20at%20a%20Yiddish%20performance%20is%20the%20reason%20it%E2%80%99s%20illegal%20to%20yell%20%E2%80%98fire%21%E2%80%99%20in%20a%20crowded%20theater\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":59461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7122],"tags":[8790,8795,8788,1622],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59460"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59462,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460\/revisions\/59462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}