This is the Memory Palace. I'm Nate De Mayo.

Hazel Kirk was a sensation.

The play was the hottest ticket on Broadway from its very first performance at Madison Square Theater in September of 1878.

Though on opening night, the theater itself was part of the draw.

It was the best in the city, maybe the world, at least in terms of state-of-the-art amenities.

It had a stage built on two levels, with two personiums, with two sets of curtains, and under each level a hydraulic lift.

So while the actors were performing on one stage, the lift was moving the next set into place,

swapping a saloon out for a drawing room, say. And the actors would go up and down stairs from stage to

semi seamlessly moving from scene to scene. No audience had seen anything like that.

And that audience was kept cool or warm by an innovative if a little primitive H-back system,

which was a delicious novelty in those days,

and would prove valuable as the seasons changed.

And that was particularly helpful in the case of Hazel Kirk, a melodramatic epic that for

years held the title of the most successful show in Broadway history.

Made Effie Ellsler, a person we do not know now, but back in the

19th century she was a superstar thanks to playing the titular role in Hazel Kirk.

This theatrical sensation that had lines going for Manhattan Block after

Manhattan Block that sustained a frenzy for tickets for 486 shows straight, a record-breaking

Broadway run at the time,

Hazel Kirk was the biggest thing going in the biggest city in America.

So why was it playing in Canton, Mississippi at the very same time?

Mark Claw was the manager of the Madison Square Theater.

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