Ballyhoo on the Midway Plaisance

“All new words are created because a new sound is needed to voice an idea, usually also new.” —Charles Wolverton The word ballyhoo, according to the renowned and authoritative Oxford English Dictionary (OED), means a “a showman’s touting speech, or a performance advertising a show.” It can be used as a mass noun to mean “bombastic nonsense; extravagant or brash publicity; noisy fuss.” Though this “carnival” usage has uncertain origins, the OED and other etymology sources cite the first [...]

By |2023-12-20T14:25:32-06:00May 18th, 2021|Categories: HISTORY|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Feral Feline Fights for Food on the Fairgrounds

Several media outlets, including the Guardian and People, are reporting on Chicago’s use of feral cats to beat back our nationally recognized rat population. It’s old news. We’ve been relying on our feline friends since at least the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. “Not many people are aware that the World’s Fair has a cat,” wrote the Chicago Tribune in September 1893. “This ignorance on the part of visitors is largely due to the fact that the cat does not appear [...]

By |2021-05-16T12:56:25-05:00May 17th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

116. Picturesque World’s Fair – The Sedan Chair Carriers

THE SEDAN CHAIR CARRIERS.—There was a partial return to the ways of our forefathers at the Fair, though the fad was not introduced as the result of any spasmodic whim of society, but by fez-wearing men from the Orient. The concession for the Sedan chairs belonged to the Turkish Village people and near this, at one side of the Plaisance, the Sedan bearers, sturdy Turks as one could wish to see, stood soliciting custom and getting a great deal [...]

April 14, 2021: “The (Whole) Story of the 1893 Midway” (online)

Join the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) for a virtual walk down the Midway Plaisance of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, where visitors saw ice and snow in the summer, heard the clang of Egyptian swords, smelled bratwurst in a German Village, tasted Orange Cider, and felt the ground fall away as they ascended the Ferris Wheel. The CAC will be hosting an online lecture "The (Whole) Story of the 1893 Midway" at noon (Central time) on April 14, 2021. This event [...]

By |2021-04-25T20:24:51-05:00April 3rd, 2021|Categories: EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments

110. Picturesque World’s Fair – Javanese Sweethearts

JAVANESE SWEETHEARTS.—The flavor of soft sentiment and romance almost civilized which pertained to the village of the gentle Javanese crystallized in one instance very prettily. Never, probably, did two Javanese before make so long a bridal tour as a couple who were at the Fair, for it extended from Chicago to their home in Java. Had they but fallen in love and wedded a little earlier they might have made the journey twice as long, including the round trip. [...]

By |2021-01-11T08:14:44-06:00January 11th, 2021|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

109. Picturesque World’s Fair – Athletic Pastimes in A Street In Cairo

ATHLETIC PASTIMES IN A STREET IN CAIRO.— They were unquestionably a merry lot who made up the resident population of a Street in Cairo, so full of animal spirits as to often engage in their pastimes, even when there were no visitors in attendance. Naturally, among such people, with such lives as theirs had been, physical prowess was held in high esteem, and the hero of a combat with lance or scimiter was in their eyes a greater man [...]

By |2020-12-06T08:39:19-06:00December 6th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 8: Sights and Sounds of the Midway

Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 7 Will ever human foot tread such a "way" again? 'Twas as if one had "Aladdin's Lamp" or the wonderful carpet that transported one to any clime with the celerity of thought. One bears the booming of the Dahomian skin drums, and sees the terrible naked Amazons in their hideous dance; sees the Laplander wrapped in his furs and leading his reindeers; sees the Esquimeaux, [...]

By |2022-03-05T11:13:22-06:00November 13th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |1 Comment

“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 3: Cairo Street

Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 2 A long stretch of high stone wall above which clearly outlined against the blue of the summer sky, is seen a confused medly [sic] of queer tiled roofs, glimpses of latticed and casement windows, and above all a tall minaret, the turban like top holding up star and crescent. We pay the magic twenty-five cents and step into a curving narrow street, lined with [...]

By |2022-10-03T09:07:52-05:00November 4th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

“Halcyon Days in the Dream City’’ Part 2: The Plaisance

Halcyon Days in the Dream City by Mrs. D. C. Taylor Continued from Part 1 A May morning, cool but not cold, with a brisk wind, blowing, cloud shadows and sun bursts chasing one another across the deep blue sky. To-day we make our way straight from the 60th street entrance to the Midway Plaisance. When we have passed through that tunnel like passage under the intramural railway, we have left America behind us. We are in foreign countries [...]

By |2022-12-10T10:09:54-06:00November 2nd, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: |1 Comment

107. Picturesque World’s Fair – Five Samoan Warriors in Character Song

FIVE SAMOAN WARRIORS IN A CHARACTER SONG.—There was a theatre in the village where the Samoans were, and they gave daily performances of no mean quality. Among these were the Tapate, a dance peculiar to the Wallis islanders in which both men and women appeared, the men carrying paddles which they struck together as the dance proceeded to the time beaten on a stick by one of the number sitting on the ground and controlling the movements of the [...]

By |2020-10-24T11:00:46-05:00September 20th, 2020|Categories: REPRINTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments
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