It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the night of the highly anticipated football game between Boston College and Holy Cross. Boston’s premier nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove, was filled to capacity – and beyond. Suddenly around 10:15 PM, fire appeared from in the Melody Lounge in the basement and rapidly spread through the building. On November 28, 1942, the Cocoanut Grove was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in history. The enormity of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced WWII in newspaper headlines. Even now there are many people in the Boston area who recall that tragic day or remember stories they heard from their parents or grandparents.
On Thursday, November 20, 2014, at 7:00 PM in the Milton Public Library’s Keyes Room, Stephanie Schorow will talk about this tragic event, which led to major advances in fire safety regulations and improved medical procedures for “smoke and fire” victims.
As vice president of the board of the Boston Fire Historical Society, Stephanie has appeared in documentaries about fire for the “Modern Marvels” series on the History Channel. She is the author of a book about the Cocoanut Grove fire as well as five other books about Boston, including Boston On Fire: A History of Fires and Firefighting in Boston, East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands, and The Crime of the Century, about the infamous Brink’s robbery. A seasoned reporter, she works as a freelance writer for a host of publications and institutions, including the Boston Globe and the Harvard Gazette.
Reminder: Sunday, December 7, 2014 from 1 to 3 PM – The Milton Historical Society’s annual Holiday Open House at the Suffolk Resolves House.
Check our website miltonhistoricalsociety.org for more information.
On the November night of the infamous Cocoanut Grove fire my late father, Emanuel Yovino, was a Resident physician at the old Boston City Hospital. My father was part of the pioneering team of doctors who performed the first skin grafts on those burn patients from the fire. Penicillin had just been introduced which was being used to treat soldiers who received burns during World War II and the then War Department was able to supply that life saving medicine to the doctors at Boston City Hospital.
One story about one patient stands out. My father treated one of the sailors who was badly burned in the fire. His name was Clifford “Cliffy” Johnson. The skin grafts were successful and effective and as things may happen he fell in love with one of the nurses who took care of him and they were eventually married.
Cut to 1955 or 1956. This sailor, “Cliffy” had moved to his home state of Missouri and had started a new life. Sadly, it came to a tragic end when the Jeep he was driving flipped over and he died in the subsequent fire. My father was near to tears when he read the news article. After the Boston City Hospital residency my dad resumed his medical practice with an office on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston and later on Broadway in South Boston.
Till his dying day I don’t think my father ever forgot about the tragic death of “Cliffy.” Nontheless, my dad was one of the unheralded pioneers in skin grafts due to the Cocoanut Grove fire of 1942.
Paul, thanks for that personal bit of history on your Dad and the cocoanut grove fire.