[Part 1 of this article (“Chicago Society’s 1894 Charity Bazaar”) describes the organization of a novel society fundraiser called “Echoes of the White City” in Chicago during the fall of 1894. Part 2 (“A Midway in Miniature”) explores the attractions in the half of the Midway bazaar housed in the Second Regiment Armory building.]

A Model Midway in the Battery D Armory

A birds-eye-view of the attractions of “Echoes of the White City” inside of the Battery D Armory (right side) and the Second Regiment Armory (left side) in downtown Chicago in November of 1894. [Image from the Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 13, 1894.]

Leaving the Second Regiment Armory building by a connecting passageway and entering Battery D Armory, visitors to “Echoes of the White City—The Midway” faced a replica in miniature of one of the greatest attractions of the 1893 World’s Fair …

The Ferris Wheel

Standing in the center of the first square was “a correct representation of the mammoth Ferris Wheel which, while a miniature in size, will go round as wheels should do and convey passengers over the top of the Midway as its original did,” wrote the Chicago Herald. [“Midway is Revived”] The Inter Ocean described the thirty-foot-tall wheel, which had only passenger four cars, as “somewhat modest compared to its prototype on the old Midway.”[“Opening of the Midway”]

Like the great wheel of the 1893 Midway, which rose 264 feet high and carried more than 2000 passengers in its 36 cars, this miniature wheel was beautifully illuminated by incandescent lights.

An advertisement for “Echoes of the White City—The Midway” noted the Ferris Wheel among its many attractions. [Image from the Chicago Evening Post, Nov. 8, 1894.]

Managed by J. W. Shaw, the petite Ferris Wheel offered its first ride to four gallant soldier boys. Thereafter, visitors packed into its four cars each night. This miniature replica offered Chicagoans a chance to ride the favorite attraction while its big brother was on route to being reassembled on the north side of the city in 1895.

Walking to the west side of the armory, patrons could enter …

The East India Tea House

This recreation of the East Indian Bazaar of the 1893 Midway offered patrons tea “prepared by Hindoos and served by young ladies in costume.”[“On the Midway Again”]

Assisting the women serving tea were East Indians wearing red jackets. This seems to be one of the few international concessions in “Echoes of the White City” that involved authentic foreign personnel, rather than society men and women in costume. The concessionaire reported in 1895 that “a great feature of our advertising campaign has been the introduction of native attendants as ‘demonstrators’ or tea makers. We made a fine display of this character, at the big fair ‘Echoes of the White City.’” [“Advertising India Tea”]

Next to the East India Tea House in the central court stood …

The Peace Bell

While newspaper reports were silent about the “Peace Bell” featured at the 1894 bazaar, it seems likely that this was some sort of reproduction of the Columbian Liberty Bell from the 1893 World’s Fair. The “new Liberty Bell” had been cast especially for the Columbian Exposition, stood next to the Administration Building, and was rung on various ceremonial occasions. Soon after the close of the Fair in November 1893, the Columbian Liberty Bell embarked on a national tour, so it is unlikely that the authentic one was on display for “Echoes of the White City.”

Walking around the west side of the armory, visitors would encounter …

The Lapland Village

“One of the most interesting displays is the Lapland Village,” wrote the Inter Ocean, which is complete in every detail.” [“Lapland in Chicago”]

In the 1893 Lapland Village, twenty-four Sámi established a display of their native village from Finland’s northernmost region with a show of reindeer pulling sleds—all in the heat of Chicago’s summer!

The Lapland Village recreated for “Echoes” was more of a store display than a foreign village. Here, guests could view rare furred animals of the world—all on loan from the C. F. Periolat Fur Company, one of the oldest fur dealers in the country and based out of the Masonic Temple building in Chicago.

Included in the animal display were reindeer drawing a native sled, huge polar bears in different posed positions, tigers, leopards, eagles, owls, wolves, and even a baby elephant. A curious member of the Lapland menagerie was a life-size representation of the “Tammany Tiger” (a well-known creature depicted in political cartoons that was created by artist Thomas Nast to lampoon Tammany Hall, the powerful Democratic machine in New York City).

Mrs. Robert Lindblom (wife of the concessionaire of the Swedish Restaurant on the 1893 fairgrounds), served as president of the new Lapland Village, which also counted among its personnel beautiful girls and one Laplander policeman.

Despite the heat of the armory, a Mr. L. H. McBean “committed to his role as an Eskimo [sic]” and wore furs while performing his role. [“Camel Here at Last”] The Inter Ocean observed that this Arctic village possessed “the merit of at least looking cool.”[“Camel Feeling Bad”]

In addition to loaning the display animals, Mr. Periolat provided the native fur costumes worn by the workers of Lapland Village and devoted much of his own time to the display. When encountering society ladies interested in purchasing fur pieces, he was only too happy to remind them of his charitable work for the bazaar.

A fur-clad worker in the Lapland Village looks like he came “From Greenland’s [sic] Icy Mountains.” [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 18, 1894.]

While Old Vienna and the Street in Cairo (see Part 2), along with Blarney Castle (see below), reportedly had their own fortune tellers, another booth stationed near the Lapland Village may have provided the same or duplicate services. “Rosie, the Gypsy Queen” assured those walking by her stand that she could tell them about both past and future, their love affairs, and how their divorce would come out. Miss Hess—another clairvoyant described as a witch wearing a rare costume—read palms in a most surprising way, while Miss Sadie Paul and Miss Anna W. Sherman told fortunes with cards or palms.

In her fortune teller booth, “Miss Paul reveals his limited future.” [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 20, 1894.]

Heading to the northwest corner of the armory, guests at “Echoes” could enter …

The Javanese Village

Visitors to the 1893 World’s Fair were especially enamored with the Java Village on the Midway. One contemporary review described the “curious little people who have won all hearts by their natural and graceful manners”. [“The World’s Columbian Exposition–A View from the Ferris Wheel”]

The organizing committee for the revived exhibit was assisted by Edward E. Cornell, who reportedly had something to do with the original Java Village. The concession offered valuable products furnished by local dealers, music, song, and refreshments such as cocoa and Javanese drinks. They also offered stage performances that “kept up to the Java standard.” [“Last Nights to Go”]

A Japanese artist named Lanmsaki prepared sketches of the play, as well as scenes of Chicago and quick portraits of visitors. Opposite the Javanese Village, to the right of the main door of Battery D, stood …

The Japanese Bazaar

The Japanese Bazaar on the 1893 Midway, sponsored by the Imperial Japanese Commission, offered the exhibit and sale of Japanese goods by native attendants.

Playing the parts for the 1894 bazaar were a dozen bewitching young Chicago women “dressed in gorgeous native costume” and men who gave “a representation of native worship.”[“Last Nights to Go”]. Their manager was Mrs. S. E. Gross, the wife of Samuel Eberly Gross, one of the most famous Chicago real estate entrepreneurs.

A Japanese woman named Zakagi demonstrated the art of tea, and small articles of Japanese wares were offered for sale.

“An Attractive Feature” among the international villages. [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 12, 1894.]

Continuing back east, visitors would reach …

The Irish Village and Blarney Castle

The 1893 Midway featured not one, but two Irish Villages. Mrs. Hart’s Irish Village featured a replica of Donegal Castle, while Lady Aberdeen’s Irish Village (sponsored by the Irish Industries Association) offered a replica Blarney Castle … and notoriously inauthentic Blarney Stone.

The latter was resurrected for “Echoes of the White City,” and Mrs. Peter White, who organized the original Midway attraction, presided over it. The Irish Village concession showcased Hibernian songs, jigs, an old fiddler, harpist, a fortune teller, lace makers, and dairy maids. To raise funds, the village sold Irish buttermilk, butter, and other goods, most of which reportedly came from an Irish store a few blocks away on Wabash Avenue.

Also on display was a “wishing chair.” Interestingly, a replica the Wishing Chair of the Giant’s Causeway was featured in Mrs. Hart’s Irish Village on the 1893 Midway.

Perhaps the greatest attraction were Mrs. White’s assistants: the thirty girls from Lake View, Evanston, and other suburbs, dressed as Irish maids. The Irish Village was “so full of pretty girls that the walls bulge out,” reported the Herald. [“Midway Here Again”] In addition to serving as sales girls, the young women danced and sang on the little platform that served as a stage inside the castle.

Of course, a Blarney Stone was also on display. During the second week, the girls of Blarney Castle stirred up a thriving business by placing a piece of their not-so-authentic Blarney Stone between their lips and selling kisses for one dollar.

In the southeast corner of the armory stood …

The Electric Scenic Theater

The Electric Scenic Theater on the 1893 Midway offered patrons views of Alpine scenery electrically illuminated that showed changing effects from dawn to night. This was some fifteen years before movie theaters sprang up in American cities.

The Electric Scenic Theater set up for the bazaar was an exact likeness of the one that operated at the Fair. The theater showed “A Day in the Alps,” during which lighting and sound effects created a scene in Switzerland, unfolding from a quiet sunrise, through a thunderous storm, and a return to calm. This may have been the same as the Electric Scenic Theater show running at the same time in the Masonic Temple Observatory. Both concessions were managed by prominent electrician F. F. Gross.

Depictions of “The Swiss Alps” could be found outside and inside of the Electric Scenic Theater. [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 13, 1894.]

In addition to “A Day in the Alps,” the theater displayed other electrical effects to enchant audiences. In one room was “The Illusion of the Flower Girl,” in which a marble statue of a lifeless flower girl (Galatea) gradually came to life right before the spectators’ eyes by the actions of recently developed electric lighting apparatus. Once transformed into a living, breathing thing of beauty, the little girl walked off the platform. “The illusion is perfect,” wrote the Inter Ocean. [“Fun at the Midway”]

Another lighting illusion called “Neptune’s wife” or “Neptune’s Bride” involved a young woman’s head rising above a body water that appeared to be far too small to contain her body. Two other well-patronized illusions were called the “Pharaoh’s Daughter” and “The Maid of the Mist,” the latter of which perhaps was a recreation of the famous boat at Niagara Falls.

In the court in front of the Electric Scenic Theater was an attraction not present on the original Midway …

The Haunted·Room

“Once seen, never forgotten” was how the Inter Ocean described the Haunted Room attraction, managed by Thomas Wright. [“Again the Midway”] The Tribune assured its readers that “something startling is promised in the haunted room, and its secrets have been closely guarded.” [“More of the Midway”]

Patrons were offered no advice as to what was inside the haunted room but were given a “guarantee of horror” with every ticket. Hoping to maintain the mystery during the two-week run, organizers warned that “no one who enters the room can ever be induced to tell what he will see therein.” [“On the Midway Plaisance”]

Newspaper reports eventually revealed that some of the “unfathomable mysteries” included a grotto sacred to the lady called Aphrodite, a concealed bogeyman, and “real ghosts.”

In an “enchanted chamber,” visitors experienced a revolving room. The dizzying thrill ride consisted of an immense swing seating fifteen people affixed to a stationary platform, while a room with furniture nailed to the floor revolved around them. At least one visitor found the sensation so disorienting that he stepped off the swing. Landing on the ceiling, he was tossed about the padded walls for several revolutions, only narrowly avoiding tragedy.

An advertisement for “Echoes of the White City” promises “The Magic Table, Electric Chairs and many new wonders” [Image from the Chicago Times, Nov. 13, 1894.]

Advertisements for “Echoes of the White City” also promised “The Magic Table, Electric Chairs and many new wonders.” Near the Haunted Room in the southeast end of Battery D, a “diminutive prestidigitator and card trickster” named Mellini amazed throngs from a little booth. Bewildered audiences greeted his amazing magic show with loud cheers. He was the wizard of “Ahs!” [“Ireland on the Midway”]

Across from the Haunted Room was one of the most daring displays, inside of …

The Congress of Beauty

The International Dress and Costume Company sponsored a “World’s Congress of Beauty” on the Midway Plaisance in 1893, in which young women wearing costumes of some forty nations could be respectfully viewed.

Unlike that of the World’s Fair, the new Congress of Beauty was composed of beauties only from Chicago. The press promised “young women tastefully and attractively costumed in the typical gowns of the nations.” [“Midway is Revived”]

“One of the Beauties” promised to be on display in the Congress of Beauty. [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 12, 1894.]

A group of five women of the Ashland Club, a west-side social club, organized the show. Their twenty beauties portrayed Turkish, Japanese, Italian, Welsh, Scotch, Swedish, American, Irish, Creole, French, and Swiss maidens. The models “occupied the chairs and submitted to the stares of the patrons without winking.”[“Midway Here Again”] “The young ladies are dazzling,” wrote the Inter Ocean.

One of the international contestants “In the Beauty Show.” [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 12, 1894.]

Two lecturers offered commentary on the native dresses as two fakirs brought the crowds in. “Walk right in and see the great collection of beauties,” shouted barker J. J. Johnson to coax patrons into the revived Congress of Beauty, “and when you come out if you don’t like the show you will get your money back—I don’t think.”

The dazzling young ladies/laddies of the “Ashland Club Beauties.” [Image from Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 25, 1894.]

One beauty named R. R. Baker provided a curious draw. Many a man visiting the beauty show got “well along in a flirtation” before realizing their mistake. The gender-bending performer was belied by being “generously endowed in the matter of feet” and having hands that “might have stopped many a hot grounder in his baseball days.” The Inter Ocean reported that “he might easily pass for a remarkably handsome woman as long as he kept quiet, but as soon as he speaks in a strong, low, registered voice it is all over, and the spellbound admirer is disillusioned.” [“Fair Ada in Silver”]

Once the secret of the “brawny beauties” was out in the open, ticket sales to the concession only increased. “Although everybody knows that the show is a joke, and that the beauties are all boys dressed up in their sister’s clothes,” revealed the Inter Ocean, “the place seems to possess a peculiar fascination with the crowd, particularly the ladies, who throng the place at all times.” [“Donkey for a Prize”]

A more legitimate type of candy could be found in “Echoes of the White City” at …

The International Candy Bazaar

Not a revival of an attraction from the 1893 World’s Fair, the International Candy Bazaar administered to the sweet tooth of all who approached their booth. Presiding over the concession was a group of beautiful young women in the costumes representing eight countries, two each wearing American, German, Spanish, French, Russian, Swedish, Turkish, and Swiss native garb.

One reporter likened the candy booth in architectural design to the quaint Hygeia water stands familiar from the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds.

A woman selling Russian marmalade offered samples from an immense half-ton pyramid of the preserves using a silver spoon tied to her waste. Her abrupt exit one night nearly pulled a customer’s teeth out. On the penultimate night of the show, some precocious boys decorated chunks of the sweet stuff with lit Japanese incense sticks. The mass of marmalade caught fire, and half of the sweet stuff went up in smoke before the nearby “Dahomeyans” rushed in to rescue the other half.

Another attraction not part of the original Midway but included in “Echoes of the Midway” was The Casino, run by the ladies of the Epiphany Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church, who offered refreshments of all kind.

Missing from the Miniature Midway

Several other attractions of the original Midway were mentioned in advance reports, but did not appear to be revived for the 1894 bazaar. Both an Algerian Theater and a Persian Palace attraction promised performances by members of the Chicago Athletic Club, who ultimately took up in the Turkish Theater. Sitting Bull’s log cabin and a South Sea Island Village also were mentioned in preliminary announcements.

A Bedouin Encampment was proposed to be run by the Chicago Hussars with real Arabian horses. The logistics of housing a corral of horses inside of the socialite event would seem daunting.

To facilitate movement through the two armory buildings, organizers of “Echoes of the White City” considered reviving two iconic transportation systems from the 1893 World’s Fair. Neither appears to have been in operation by show time in November. The first proposed mode involved the rolling chairs with “Fair” pushers. Advertisements also mentioned “Electric Chairs.” Likely not a reference to the capital punishment device, the name may have been for either an attraction or a mode of transportation. Either way, this novelty was not mentioned by reporters, so may have been abandoned.

Advance reports also mentioned the installation of some form of a miniature Intramural Railway. The San Francisco Chronicle noted that “there will be an intramural railway which will run around both the great halls and which will make its stations at each village or booth. There will be real tracks, and hand cars operated by muscular, not electrical, power.” [“The Latest Idea”]

At least one report promised that Edison’s new moving-picture invention, the kinetoscope, would be on display at the bazaar. No descriptions of the novelty made it into other reports on the November bazaar, so likely it was not there. Chicagoans already had their first peek at the device earlier in May.

Whether or not Edison’s kinetoscope was on exhibit at “Echoes of the White City,” the invention already had been on display on Chicago in May of 1894. [Image from the Chicago Daily Tribune, May 24, 1894.]

A trip to the winter Midway will be amply repaid

Other performers and entertainers recreated memories of the Midway in novel ways.

The Grand Art Exhibit

In the rear of Battery D, beneath a backdrop depicting the Administration Building, stood a stage featuring an exhibition of beautiful art, a miniature representation of the Palace of Fine Arts from the Columbian Exposition.

Advertisements promoted the “The Grand Art Exhibit … reproductions of the finest statuary and paintings of the Fair.” [Image from the Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 8, 1894.]

“The Grand Art Exhibit” showcased the finest statuary and paintings of the Fair. The works were reproductions, however, created especially for the event by Miss Annie Climena Lawrence (1866-1947) and 300 art pupils. Advertisements described Miss Lawrence as being “late of the Boston Museum of Art.”

Miss Lawrence had assistance from the “untiring effort of Elmer W. Hart as Pickwick and Carl Wermtz as Jester.” [“Last Nights to Go”] Patronesses of “The Grand Art Exhibit” were two notable women of the Columbian Exposition, Mrs. Ellen Henrotin and Mrs. Candice G. Wheeler.

Evening lectures were provided by 1893 World’s Fair sculptors Lorado Taft (sculptor for the Horticultural Building), Carl Rohl-Smith (sculptor of the statue of Benjamin Franklin for the Electricity Building), and Miss Bessie Potter (one of “white rabbits” assistant sculptors on the fairgrounds).

“No department of the Midway was a truer echo of the White City than the Art Gallery,” reported the Tribune. [“Last Nights to Go”] “The part that Miss Lawrence is so successfully carrying out, with the assistance of her army of pupils” raved the Inter Ocean, “adds much to the attractiveness of the affair, and, as it is free, a visitor can be assured that by seeing this feature alone a trip to the winter Midway will be amply repaid.” [“Camel Feeling Bad”]

Either all or some of the artwork was presented as “living reproductions” or tableau vivant performances involving a static scene with costumed models. Crowds thronged to see these living pictures.

The Tribune reported that “the program varied each evening, and while all who took part were amateurs, each picture was elegant in its costuming, finished in pose, and complete in its accessories. Each picture was shown three times under different light.” Along with the 300 young society people, “real Indians, Chinese, and Japanese help make them” [“Last Nights to Go”]

The living sculptures included:

An advertisement promotes the living sculpture of The Statue of the Republic. [Image from the Chicago Herald, Nov. 19, 1894.]

  • The silver statue of Ada Rehan. On display in the Montana exhibit in the Electricity Building was a silver statue of Justice (also called Montana), modelled by actress Ada Rehan. The actual statue had been on display at Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. department store in Chicago the previous week, at the same time that Ada Rehan was performing in Augustin Daley’s productions of Twelfth Night and As You Like It at Hooley’s Theater in the city.

Miss Ada Rehan, the actress who was cast in silver for Montana’s silver statue at the 1893 World’s Fair. [Image from the Chicago Evening Post, Nov. 11, 1894.]

  • Columbus Planting the Spanish Flag on the American Soil (likely Mary Lawrence’s Columbus statue that stood at the east entrance to the Administration Building).
  • Carl Rohl-Smith’s statue of Young Benjamin Franklin with Kite, from the south entrance to the Electricity Building. These last two were considered the most handsome of the living sculptures.

Tableau vivant paintings included:

  • Soap Bubbles by Sir John Everett Millais, in which “a truly angelic little boy personated the well-known Millais picture. … The beautiful eyes would rove over the sea of faces and the little chin quiver. It was that touch of nature which made the people demand a second and third view.” [“Fun at the Midway”] The sentimental child portrait is currently in the collection of the Tate.
  • The Indian and the Lily by George DeForest Brush, which featured Antonio Apache “wearing traditional clothing supplied by the Field Columbian Museum. Described as “one of the best posers,” he had been hired by Prof. Putnam to collect Apache and Navajo for the anthropological exhibits at the Fair, but later was exposed as being an imposter Apache. [Beck, 62]
  • The Hat by Ignaz Marcel Gaugengigl (American 1855-1932)

The Hat by Ignaz Marcel Gaugengigl [Image from Illustrations from the Art Gallery of the World’s Columbian Exposition (Barrie, 1893).]

Other living reproductions included The Good Little Brother, Vrnity, Pickwick, Alone in the World, The Omnibus, Rent Day, and The Absent One.

The Columbian Guard

Reprising their role as the security force of the 1893 World’s Fair was the Columbian Guard, in uniform of braids, brass ornaments, and sword. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “a number of young men of the Hobart Chatfield-Taylor set will don the uniforms of the Columbian Guard and will perfect their organization and perform the duties of the simon-pure guard of last summer.” [“The Latest Idea”] In the end, there were only four of them, “compelled to be obnoxious, as of old,” reported the Inter Ocean. [“Midway Makes a Hit”]

With pickpockets and gate jumpers not in attendance, the guard was provided with a unique task in the form of the “Columbian Justice Court and Jail.” The court was run by wives of members of the Chicago bench. The Inter Ocean explained that “around the jail the fun of the whole thing will center. If possible, well-known lawyers and judges will sit in mock trial on offenders, and the fines will be something awful to contemplate. The Columbian Guard patrol wagons will be kept busy, and the Columbian Guard will be omnipotent.” [“The Midway Again”]

Just in from Hayville

The Chicago socialites performing in “Echoes of the White City” did not limit their cultural appropriation to foreign sources. Americans, too, were targets of lampooning. One pair of wandering entertainers described as Uncle Ruben and his wife “just in from Hayville,” performed as two “hayseeds” roaming the Midway and entertaining the kiddies. The guileless couple may have been a portrayal of “Josiah Allen and his wife,” who reportedly visited the bazaar on November 14. “Josiah Allen’s Wife” was the pen name of Marietta Holley, author of Samantha at the World’s Fair (Funk and Wagnalls, 1893).

An advertisement for “Echoes of the White City” promises “George Francis Train and Guests from Abroad.” [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 11, 1894, p. 16.]

Advertisements announced that the bazaar would also feature “George Francis Train and Guests from Abroad.” The “guests from abroad” included the ministers of Corea, the Maharaja of Kapurthala, Li Hung Chang [Li Hongzhang], and the secretary of the Navy from China.

None of these guest dignitaries were real. “Li Hung Chang” was impersonated by Mr. Charles F. Lightner.

A dreadfully racist impersonation of a Chinese person during a performance of “Li Hung Chang’s Oratory.” [Image from the Chicago Inter Ocean, Nov. 18, 1894.]

Wearing “garbs made familiar at the Fair by George Francis Train, ” was his impersonator, Mr. David Carse, the husband of Matilda B. Carse, who presided over “Echoes of the White City.” [“Camel Here at Last”]

A larger-than-life personage, George Francis Train was a wealthy shipping magnate, independent candidate for U. S. President in 1872, and the alleged inspiration for the character of Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days. Train would have been well known to Chicago society.* “Citizen Train” (as he called himself) had visited the World’s Fair in 1893, participating in a raucous “International Ball” held on the Midway Plaisance in August.

* Donald L. Miller opens his epic history of nineteenth-century Chicago, City of the Century, with the story of George Francis Train speaking in Chicago’s Farwell Hall on Oct. 7, 1871: “This is the last public address that will be delivered within these walls!” he thundered. “A terrible calamity is impending over the city of Chicago! More I cannot say; more I dare not utter.” At 9 p.m. the next night, a fire broke out in the barn of Mrs. Katherine O’ Leary and eventually engulfed the city. [Miller, 15]

During the second week of the bazaar, Carse swapped his George Train outfit for something even more flamboyant. He towered over the crowd wearing “a monstrous high hat, with a bell crown which at its apex measured thirty-six inches and then tapered down to eight. Almost as big as the crown of his leviathan-like headgear, there was a tacked onto the lapel of his coat a huge chrysanthemum.” [“Pie on the Midway”] The Inter Ocean described the presence of “a dude and a chrysanthemum” in the crowd and provided an accompanying illustration of two “dudes” wearing giant chrysanthemums. “Dude” in that era often referred to a male “dandy,” so this may have been a veiled reference to a gay couple. Between them, the Congress of Beauty drag show, and the male decorator performing his belly dance, the Gilded-Age fundraiser had its fair share of fabulous displays.

“Rare Specimens of the Dudiosourium” appears to be Gilded-Age code for gay men. [Image from the  Chicago Inter-Ocean, Nov. 16, 1894.]

[Part 4 of this series (“Heard No More”) will describe the “Special Days” of the fundraiser and the legacy of “Echoes of the White City—The Midway.”]


SOURCES

“Advertising India Tea” Art in Advertising Dec. 1895, p. 391.

“Again the Midway” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 12, 1894, p. 4.

Beck, David R. M. Unfair Labor?: American Indians and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. University of Nebraska Press, 2019.

“Camel Feeling Bad” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 18, 1894, p. 3.

“Camel Here at Last” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 16, 1894, p. 4.

“Campbells in the Midway” Chicago Herald Nov. 15, 1894, p. 7.

Chicago Evening Post Nov. 8, 1893, p. 6.

“College Boys’ Yells” advertisement Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 24, 1894, p. 7.

“Donkey for a Prize” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 25, 1894, p. 9.

“End of the Midway” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 28, 1894, p. 7.

“Events Planned for the Future” Chicago Daily Tribune Oct. 28, 1894, p. 36.

“Fair Ada in Silver” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 17, 1894, p. 6.

“Fun at the Midway” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 15, 1894, p. 5.

“Imitate the Midway” Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 11, 1894, p. 7.

“Incidents in Midway Reproduced” Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 21, 1894, p. 8.

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“Lapland in Chicago” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 24, 1894, p. 3.

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“The Latest Idea” San Francisco Chronicle Oct. 11, 1894, p. 1.

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“Midway Makes a Hit” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 14, 1894, p. 5.

“Military in Midway” Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 20, 1894, p. 4.

Miller, Donald L. City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America, Simon & Schuster, 1996.

“Money Plenty on the Midway” Chicago Inter Ocean Nov. 21, 1894, p. 2.

“More of the Midway” Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 14, 1894, p. 8.

“The New Midway” Chicago Inter Ocean Oct. 28, 1894, p. 16.

“On the Midway Again” Chicago Daily Tribune Nov. 13, 1894, p. 3.

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“The World’s Columbian Exposition–A View from the Ferris Wheel” Scientific American Sept. 9, 1893, pp. 169-70.