Seeking Amusement

Friday, December 1, 1871

Chicagoans, who at first stayed away from what theaters were open in the weeks after the fire, are now finding such amusements a welcome distraction.  They attend Progress at the Michigan Avenue Theatre, and a minstrel show at the West Side Opera House.  Divorce continues to fill seats at the Globe, though it will soon be succeeded by Bertha; or, The Fate of the Sewing-Machine Girl.  There will be a program of music at the Turner Hall on West Twelfth Street on Sunday.  The managers of the Star Lecture Course, which brings well-known speakers to Chicago—recent visitors include Edward Everett Hale, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, and Wendell Phillips—have had difficulty landing Henry Ward Beecher, even though they have offered the famous clergyman $2,000 for two nights.