I wish that I could say the strange story of the Cocoanut Grove Fire in this picture was fiction, but
it surely was not. It was around 11pm on a night in November, 1942 when a chance fire ignited the paper palm trees in the Melody Lounge of the Cocoanut Grove club in Boston. About 1,000 people were squeezed inside the club, many of whom were sailors or soldiers. The windows and doors were barred, the front entrance a revolving door and when suddenly the lights went out and smoke and flames filled the air, there was pandemonium. 492 people died.