Part 466: Patrick J. Toomey’s Allegorical Float Designs for the Wichita Carnival and Fall Festival, 1900
The “Wichita Beacon” described the allegorical nature of each float in the Wichita Carnival manufactured by P. J. Toomey (5 Oct. 1900, page 5). Here is conclusion of the article introduced yesterday:
“The ‘Artist’s Dream’ float is the original painting by A. E. Begas. Reclining low upon a couch is a sleeping figure upon who groups of cupids shower roses and encircle rounds of graceful glee. The absorbing vision of ‘The Artist’s Dream’ is the incarnate spirit of motion poised upon a pedestal of light and executing a serpentine dance.
The ‘Vitality of Mother Earth’ float was painted by M. A. Wagen. The beautifully designed group symbolizes Mother Earth making her yearly triumphal round in a jeweled chariot drawn by two prancing steeds at whose touch nature yields the bounties of life.
The ‘Policco Verso’ float is by that well known painter J. L. Gerome. The Roman emperor and his attendant courtiers watch from the imperial balcony of the Roman Colosseum a contest of arms and strength between a group of gladiators and the arena below. One of the gladiators has vanquished two of his opponents who raise their hands to the mighty arbiters of their fate, begging mercy upon their lives. It pleases the cruelty and pomp of the court best to see the vanquished suffer the extreme penalty for the lack of prowess, and the verdict is ‘Policco Verso’ – or ‘thumbs down’ meaning no mercy for the fallen and the victor is thus compelled to extinguish the life of his adversaries and thus help “to make a Roman holiday.”
The float ‘Rock of Ages,” is by J. A. Oertel. This picture has become a familiar and favorite one in many of the humble as well as the sumptuous houses of the Christian land. It impersonates the hope for a glorified mortality. It is the Christian race clinging to the cross through every tempest of fate and struggling souls stretch out to reach it through the whirlpools of temptation.
‘Fairies Chariot,’ the float by Mme. Madeline Lemaire, is a fanciful conception which shows the occult power and subtle influence in the fairy folks at they speed by in their golden chariot drawn by beautiful large tigers which the magical spell has changed from ferocious beasts of the desert into the docile animals charmed to do the fairies bidding.
The float ‘Lucretia Borgia’ gives a fine scene from the life of that personage and was painted by that well known artist, H Raulbach. Lucretia Borgia, who was of noble Italian birth, and had many near relatives in high ecclesiastical offices is entertaining a prince cardinal andhis suite by displaying her accomplishments in dancing.
The float, ‘Gulliver in Broadbingnag,’ by R. Redgrave. The famous Dean Swift in his account of ‘Gulliver’s Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World,’ gives vent to his fondness for satire by bringing the people of his day and his country to compare themselves in wisdom and strength to the primitive and sometimes untaught races of whom he is supposed to have discovered and visited. In Mr. Gulliver’s accidental storm-tossed journey’s to Broadbingnag in the South Seas, he finds himself among a race of giants averaging about sixty feet tall in whose country everything in nature and art is the same gigantic proportions as themselves. Gullliver, though a typical Englishman of the eighteenth century is a mere pigmy in their sight, and is placed upon a table thirty feet high to be viewed as a curiosity. The giants come from far and wide to see him but some find him so diminished that it is necessary for them to use spectacles to see him in any degree of perfection. They decide that he is just like a human being, though infinitely smaller than is usual.
In ‘The Garden of Love,’ is another float by C. Schienigle. It represents a garden terrace, where Dan Cupid has secreted himself and is about to aim his relentless darts at several of the young people gathered in this ideal retreat to enjoy the pleasures of music and conversation. Cupid’s aim will be true and decisive and there will be some joyous awakenings.
‘Evening,’ by C. Gleyre, is a graceful barque gliding in a smooth stream where music and song accord with the ripple of clear waters, the gentle evening breeze bags the sail and the oarsman languidly plies his car. The pleasure seekers in the boat are quietly absorbing the quiet and beauty that abound upon the breast of nature.
The ‘Apothesis of Louis XIV.’ is another resplendent float showing a chariot drawn by winged horses and heralded through time and space by royal trumpeters. The insignia of divinity is about to be placed upon his brow by the hand of Fate. Luxury and profusion follow in his wake.
‘Shakespeare’s Reciting Before Queen Elizabeth,” is a float by H. H. Slimarski, which depicts a scene of regal splendor. Elizabeth sitting upon her throne chair attended by ladies and gentlemen of the court is listening spellbound to the Bard of Avon recite passages from his plays which he then realized were to become immortal and would be read by future generations and be admired as long as the English language endured.
The ‘Bull Chariot’ is a handsome design by M. A. Waagens. This from a marble group and represents a scene from the ancient heathen rites of the Romans, when processions in honor of the gods and goddesses were frequent and always imposing.”
To be continued…
