Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1921 Thomas G. Moses, “I went after the Chicago Day pageant job and landed it at $8,334.00 for which I made the models and saw the work started before I left for San Francisco.” To put this project in perspective, $8,334 in 1921 is the monetary equivalent of $121,233.16 today. This was a significant project for a studio that was struggling at a time when America was still reeling from an economic recession.
“The Chicago Day Pageant” was part of variety bill, performed as part of a motion picture that premiere 1922. It accompanied the Robert Hughes’ film “Remembrance” at the Balaban & Katz Chicago Theatre. Starring Cullen Landis and Patsy Miller as the young lovers, “Remembrance” was advertised in the Motion Picture Directory of the “Chicago Tribune.” Advertisements announced, “It’s a picture you’ll remember forever, and forever is a long time. Come one! Come all! My, how you’ll love REMEMBRANCE and with it one of the mightiest specialty bills ever shown in a Balaban & Katz Theatre” (“Chicago Tribune,” 9 October 1922, page 22). The Balaban & Katz specialty bill included “Chicago Day Pageant” with 30 people and “massive sets,” as well as “The Magical Garden,” described as full of illusion, spectacle and beauty. The third act on the specialty bill was a Mermaid Comedy entitled “Look Out Below.”
Other than a handful of advertisements in Chicago newspapers, nothing remains of the production. Even the work of Hughes in the 1920s is difficult to track down. I tracked down only two mentions of Hughes’ work at this time. The first was a play by Hughes’ that became a 1921 film; “Two Women” by Hughes was transformed into ‘Ghosts of Yesterday,” starring Norma Talmadge and Eugene O’Brien (“Bakersfield Morning Echo,” 20 October 1921, page 5). Hughes was also credited with the Goldwyn Studios’ film “Come On Over” in 1922 (“Oakland Tribune,” 26 March 1922, page 30).
To be continued…
