Asbestos fireproof curtains are also in use at the New National Theatre, Washington; the Criterion, Brooklyn; and in the theatre at Cleveland, Ohio. They have also lately been supplied to several English theatres, as well as that at Manchester just mentioned.
The terrible calamity at the Opéra Comique in Paris, coupled with that which so recently occurred at the burning of the theatre at Exeter, again set men's minds running in the direction of greater security from fire in theatres. As a consequence several varieties of curtains, all involving the use of asbestos, have been contrived. For instance, at the building of that pretty little theatre (Terry's) in the Strand it was resolved to replace the usual heavy, cumbrous, slow-lifting iron shield by a single light-grey asbestos curtain, which moves up and down as easily as an ordinary window-blind. And the authorities agree that this is as valuable a protection to the audience as the former ponderous iron portcullis which, winding slowly up and down, was calculated to depress the nerves of the audience in the same way that passers-by in the street are affected by the harsh grating of the iron shop shutters when being wound down for the night.
Again, in the proposals for a new "Safety Theatre," brought to the notice of the public by Mr. Henry Irving, stress is naturally laid on the necessity of sealing the stage, or shutting it off from the auditorium, so that in the event of fire its perils might be confined to itself, and to providing an outlet for the smoke, which is often more disastrous in its effects even than the flames. This he proposed to accomplish by means of an asbestos curtain which, on being dropped, would at once become rigid with the wall on either side. This curtain was proposed to be worked in iron grooves going straight up to the gridiron floor; and the suggestion was made that this should be used as constantly as the ordinary act-drop, there being at the same time nothing to prevent its being made as ornamental as the usual curtain. It could also be worked as easily, and be just as easily lifted for a recall. The audience, it was said, would thus have the satisfaction of knowing that every time the curtain was dropped they were effectually protected by a fireproof screen, which could be lowered with the same rapidity as the present curtain.