1893 Viking Ship featured on “Backstory with Larry Potash”

The October 5, 2025, episode of Backstory with Larry Potash on WGN-TV featured a segment on “The Viking Ship That Took the World by Storm.” The feature story profiles the replica Viking ship that sailed from Norway to Chicago to be displayed at the 1893 World’s Fair. This treasured relic from the Columbian Exposition is preserved today in Geneva, Illinois, under the care of the Friends of the Viking Ship. The episode can be viewed online at https://wgntv.com/backstory/the-viking-ship-that-took-the-world-by-storm/. [...]

By Scott|2025-10-06T17:03:54-05:00October 6th, 2025|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

A Columbian Exposition Enthusiast’s Guide to HBO’s “The Gilded Age”

Viewers of The Gilded Age on HBO Max meet several real historical figures mingling with a cast of colorful fictional characters. Although the series takes place in 1882–84, ten years before the Columbian Exposition will open in Chicago, The Gilded Age features several of the designers, participants, and visitors associated with the 1893 World’s Fair. [This post will be updated as new episodes are released.] Jane Addams Social activist Jane Addams is mentioned in Season 2, Episode 4, when [...]

Are the lights back on at “Devil in the White City”?

A screen version of The Devil in the White City has flickered back to life. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s project to adapt Erik Larson’s 2003 best-selling book about the Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, has been on-again, off-again for fifteen years. Hulu pulled the plug on a proposed miniseries in March of 2023, and all has been dark since then. (A history of the screen [...]

By Scott|2025-01-26T11:39:06-06:00January 26th, 2025|Categories: NEWS, REPRINTS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

Is “The Devil in the White City” TV miniseries still alive?

Deadline’s Zac Ntim recently interviewed Stacey Sher, often listed as show runner for Hulu’s The Devil in the White City TV miniseries that was shelved in March of 2023. Ntim asked Sher “is that still happening and are you still involved?” to which she replied “I’m still involved. I never give up.” When asked if fans can expect to see it sometime soon, she replied “I mean, I hope so. It’s not imminent, but it is not ever far [...]

By Scott|2024-08-21T08:54:18-05:00August 21st, 2024|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

Long-lost film footage of the 1893 World’s Fair?

Has some long-lost film footage of the 1893 World’s Fair been discovered? Not quite. But this video about a stunning piece of Chicago real estate opens with some fun AI-generated animations of the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. The video showcases a $3.6M penthouse mansion in the historic Montgomery Ward building (6 N. Michigan Ave.), constructed in 1898–99. [Note: The building across the street—constructed for use by the World’s Congress Auxiliary and which then became the new home of the Art [...]

By Scott|2024-08-17T13:58:17-05:00August 17th, 2024|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

Kaz Rowe Ranks the Weirdest Things at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

YouTuber Kaz Rowe has posted an engaging video “Ranking the Weirdest Things at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair” that explores twenty-five quirky, surprising, or just-plain-strange attractions of the Columbian Exposition and ranks them on a scale from “slumgullion” to “some pumpkins.” From the Ferris Wheel to the Mammoth Cheese to the Windmill exhibit, visitors to the Chicago fair were treated to a salmagundi of curiosities. During an interlude in the rankings, Rowe visits with Marissa Croft of the Chicago [...]

By Scott|2025-07-16T08:32:20-05:00January 23rd, 2024|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Marvel-ous Midway of “Loki” Season 2, Episode 3 “1893”

On a branched timeline in the Marvel® multiverse, a few time travelers, a Norse trickster god, and an artificial intelligence disguised as an orange clock (and thought to be a ghost) visit the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World’s Fair. Loki Season 2, Episode 3 “1893,” which premiered on Oct. 19, 2023, treated viewers to one of the most beautiful and faithful depictions of the World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds yet made for film or television. This wide-angle view [...]

By Scott|2023-10-21T12:55:47-05:00October 21st, 2023|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |3 Comments

Marvel’s “Loki” heads to the 1893 World’s Fair in Season 2

The Marvel Universe is heading to the 1893 World’s Fair this fall. The Season 1 finale of the original series Loki found the titular character in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. In the upcoming season, the action moves through multiple branched timelines as Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) encounter Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors). The Cosmic Circus reports that the story will bring the characters to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, [...]

By Scott|2023-08-05T14:19:48-05:00July 5th, 2023|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|0 Comments

White City dark again as “Devil” departs Hulu

In various stages of development for twenty years, the screen adaptation of Erik Larson’s 2003 best-selling book about the Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, has blown another fuse. In the wake of leading man Keanu Reeves and director Todd Field dropping out of the drama last October, Hulu has pulled the plug on the production on March 6. Hulu ordered the miniseries in February 2019, but [...]

By Scott|2023-03-10T08:46:54-06:00March 10th, 2023|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

Sept 10, 2022: 1893 Chicago’s Columbian Exposition doc film premiere (Chicago)

A new full-length documenary film 1893 Chicago's Columbian Exposition will have it theatrical premier on September 10th, 2022, at 5 pm. The event is in coordination with the Design Museum of Chicago and will be held at Chicago Filmmakers (1326 W. Hollywood Ave. in Chicago). A $10 donation is requested. Following the screening will be a demonstration on the patio of a World's Fair augmented reality project. For more information on the film, related book and music, and the [...]

By Scott|2022-10-10T08:06:40-05:00August 22nd, 2022|Categories: EVENTS (past), NEWS, VIDEO|0 Comments

Keanu Reeves Heads to the White City as Builder not Killer

After nearly two decades in development, a long-awaited screen drama about the 1893 World’s Fair may be coming at last. Hulu announced on August 4, 2022, that Keanu Reeves has officially joined the cast of the streaming service’s upcoming limited series The Devil in the White City. Back in January, rumors circulated that Reeves was in talks for an unidentified role. The show will be an adaptation of Erik Larson’s best-selling 2003 non-fiction book that interweaves the true stories [...]

By Scott|2022-12-10T09:55:56-06:00August 13th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

Devil Details: Someone “inspired and probably unexpected” to star in Hulu’s “The Devil in the White City”

Deadline’s recent interview with Jordan Helman, head of scripted content at Hulu, revealed a few tantalizing tidbits about the streaming service’s project, The Devil in the White City. He confirms that Sam Shaw is the showrunner, working “within a small army of producers.” Previous reports have this production team including Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Emma Koskoff, Jennifer Davisson, Rick Yorn, and Stacey Sher. Helman also confirms that sitting in the director’s chair will be Todd Field, whom he describes [...]

By Scott|2025-01-30T18:40:23-06:00May 8th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

In a Pickle on Jeopardy

Writers for Jeopardy have been digging into the history of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition for answers to questions in recent weeks. Amy Schneider's incredible winning streak came to end soon after missing a Final Jeopardy question about the Field Columbian Museum on the January 24, 2022, episode. During the episode airing on Friday, February 4, 2022 (Show #8570), the "Dance Party" category held the answer "At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, the 'Street in Cairo' exhibit helped introduce [...]

By Scott|2023-10-05T09:09:28-05:00March 5th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , |2 Comments

Final Jeopardy

We've been devoted Jeopardy fans in recent weeks, due to the incredible winning streak of Amy Schneider. The episode that aired on January 24, 2022, included an extra treat: a final Jeopardy about the 1893 World's Fair: The answer question, of course, is "What is the Field Museum?" (then called the Field Columbian Museum), named for benefactor Marshall Field. Although defending champion Amy Schneider bet big but did not come up with the correct question, contestant Joanne Mercer did [...]

By Scott|2023-10-05T09:10:06-05:00January 24th, 2022|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , |1 Comment

Ida B. Wells documentary airs on WTTW-Chicago

Civil rights activist Ida B. Wells spoke truth to power through her pamphlet The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in The World’s Columbian Exposition. 10,000 copies were distributed at the 1893 World’s Fair. “With the eyes of the world on Chicago,” explains a new documentary film about Wells, “she would use the international stage to expose the terror of lynching.” On Friday, May 21, 2021, Chicago public television station WTTW will air Ida B. Wells, a one-hour [...]

By Scott|2021-05-20T08:33:50-05:00May 20th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |0 Comments

“Chicago’s White City Devil” on Smithsonian’s MURDEROUS HISTORY

The latest documentary about the evil doings of H. H. Holmes joins a crowded collection of films and television shows about the “devil in the white city” who killed an unknown number of victims around the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition. It is among the best to date. “Chicago's White City Devil,” the second episode of the Smithsonian Channel’s new series Murderous History, features rather cheesy dramatic scenes along with informative commentary by a group of notable Chicago [...]

By Scott|2024-06-30T09:33:11-05:00May 9th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , |0 Comments

THE GREAT CHICAGO QUIZ SHOW serves up some 1893 World’s Fair trivia

The Great Chicago Quiz Show on WTTW in Chicago has host Geoffrey Baer asking contestants (including some famous Chicagoans) trivia questions about their city. No program about Chicago history would be complete without at least a few tidbits from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and Geoffrey asked contestants several , including: • The world’s first Ferris Wheel was a hit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park. In fact, it was so popular that immediately after the [...]

By Scott|2021-04-30T16:06:45-05:00April 30th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , |0 Comments

The Wizard in the White City

L. Frank Baum, so the legend goes, used his experience visiting the White City of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago as inspiration for the Emerald City in his best-selling children's book of 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. A new documentary film exploring the life and times of Baum has been released as part of the American Experience series on PBS. "American Oz, the True Wizard Behind the Curtain" (aired April 19, 2021) includes a segment featuring Baum's [...]

By Scott|2021-04-26T17:10:00-05:00April 28th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: |1 Comment

“American Gods” at the 1893 World’s Fair

“In the summer of 1893 on the shores of Lake Michigan, the United States took its place on the global stage, not through war but through technological innovation ….” The television series American Gods paid a short visit to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago during Season 3, Episode 5 (“Sister Rising”). The episode opens with an action shot of an elongated coin machine—an unusual but effective historical reference to one of so many “firsts” exhibited at the World’s [...]

By Scott|2021-04-02T11:12:43-05:00February 25th, 2021|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|0 Comments

The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress (video)

C-SPAN is streaming a recorded lecture on “The World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the Library of Congress.” In this talk, originally presented for the United States Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) on October 13, 2020, art historian Lynda Cooper reconstructs the relationship between the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago and the Library of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson Building (1889–1897) in Washington, D.C. Working from an art history perspective, Cooper describes the influence the exposition had on the artists [...]

By Scott|2022-03-10T18:43:33-06:00November 24th, 2020|Categories: NEWS, VIDEO|Tags: , , , |0 Comments
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