Although this popular four-act Joseph Arthur melodrama managed only 16 performances and dismissive reviews in its initial run, opening 30 August 1887 at the Fourteenth Street Theatre, it returned in March 1888 for a successful 104-performance run and was a touring and stock staple. The simple plot, in which jealous John Bird attempts to incinerate two lovers, Jack Manley and Elinore Fordham, was enhanced by spectacular stage effects, the most famous of which included fire engines racing from a firehouse and a burning building. Motion picture versions of The Still Alarm appeared in 1918 and 1926.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.