Poster:10 Nights in a Bar Room!

Based on one of the most popular novels of the late 19th century, the play Ten Nights in a Bar Room became one of the most popular theatrical productions of the era. Telling the melodramatic tale of Joe Morgan's social and moral descent at the hand of demon rum, the story turns on his miraculous conversion at the death of his innocent daughter, Mary, and his vow to abstain from all intoxicating liquors. Promising rousing entertainment and moral uplift, performances offered an ideal opportunity for temperance advocates to gain new converts. Full multimedia productions like this one in Victor, New York, with "talented young ladies and gentlemen," "startling tableaux," and a "full and effective orchestra," drew hundreds of people to each performance. After pressing all the right moral buttons of fine, upstanding Victorian Americans, performances ended with an appeal to sign temperance pledges and join in the fight against alcohol. The play's popularity also coincided with the rise of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Founded in 1874, the WCTU quickly became the single-largest organization of middle-class American women in history, clearly demonstrating the popularity of the temperance cause.