Victims and escapees Cocoanut Grove fire

victims of fire being tended in street

boston newspapers filled lists of dead , stories of narrow escapes , deaths. well-known movie-cowboy actor buck jones @ club night, , wife later explained had escaped gone burning building find agent, monogram pictures producer scott r. dunlap. however, after blaze, jones discovered slumped under table severely burned, doubted accounts of escape. although rushed hospital, jones died of injuries 2 days later. dunlap, hosting party @ nightclub in honor of jones, injured survived.

those in employ of establishment fared better in escaping customers, owing familiarity service areas, fire s effects less severe in public areas, , provided access additional window , door exits. double door opposite public entryway main dining room unlocked wait staff , functional outside exit public areas. although several members of band, including musical director bernie fazioli, lost lives, of them escaped backstage , through service door rammed open. bandleader mickey alpert escaped out of basement window , credited leading several people safety. bassist jack lesberg went on play music louis armstrong, sarah vaughan, leonard bernstein, , many others until shortly before death in 2005. passage in unpublished section of autobiography of fellow bassist charles mingus, beneath underdog, stated lesberg made door during escape. statement has been interpreted literally, additional color of lesberg using bass create new opening in wall, , in context of vernacular use of term made, can mean attained or achieved. no witness statements refer use of lesberg s bass battering ram or presence anywhere along escape route. legend lives on in hip-hop performance inspired mingus unpublished writing.

three bartenders, cashier jeanette lanzoni, entertainer goody goodelle, other help, , patrons in melody lounge escaped kitchen. bartender daniel weiss survived dousing cloth napkin pitcher of water , breathing through made escape melody lounge. in kitchen had escape routes through window above service bar , stairway window , service door rammed open. 5 people survived taking refuge in walk-in refrigerator , few more in ice box. rescuers reached kitchen after ten minutes.

coast guardsman clifford johnson went in no fewer 4 times in search of date who, unbeknownst him, had safely escaped. johnson suffered extensive third-degree burns on 55% of body survived disaster, becoming severely burned person ever survive injuries @ time. after 21 months in hospital , several hundred operations, married nurse , returned home state of missouri. fourteen years later burned death in fiery automobile crash.