Part 499: Thomas G. Moses and the Jewish Bazaar at the Chicago Coliseum in 1905
In 1905 Thomas G. Moses recorded that he worked on a project for the Chicago Coliseum. He wrote, “a big Jewish bazaar at the Coliseum took us a month to complete.” He was referring to the charity bazaar for the benefit of the Orthodox Jewish Home for the Aged.
The event raised proceeds from seventy-five booths, each with a unique theme, such as the Japanese Tea Room. The Inter Ocean reported that the event promised to be “the largest one of the kind ever attempted in the United States” (Inter Ocean, 12 Feb. 1905, page 7). Mayor Harrison of Chicago gave the opening address on February 25, 1905. 3,000 people were in attendance for the opening, but over 10,000 men and women were anticipated to contribute funds until the end of the event on May 5. The bazaar closed, however, for the Jewish Sabbath. The goal of the event was to clear the $20,000 mortgage on the Orthodox Jewish Home for the Aged. Over $25,000 worth of goods were donated for the event, including such prizes as an automobile, a piano, and $2,000 in “bottled goods.” There was hope that enough money would be made to put the home on a “solid financial basis for a decade to come” (Chicago Tribune, 26 Feb, 1905, page 12). Smart idea.
After opening day speeches by Mayor Harrison, Dr. E. G. Hirsch and Rabbi Yudelson, “electric lights flashed, and in the center of the Coliseum, at the entrance to the dancing pavilion…The word ‘Charity’ was blazed forth in fiery letters” (Chicago Tribune, 26, February 1905, page 12). Then 3,000 attendees then flooded the Monte Carlo dancing pavilion.
The “Chicago Inter Ocean” reported, “One of the important features of the affair will be the Pike, comprising of nine theaters. Many of the attractions at the St. Louis World’s Fair have been secured.” The Inter Ocean commented about this area: “Barkers on the ‘pike,’ which is located in the north end of the building, added to the noise and confusion. Outside of the Monte Carlo and the dancing pavilion, the ‘pike’ was the one particular feature which attracted the visitors last evening. Twelve exhibits are included in the department, consisting of moving pictures, Alpine theater, continuous vaudeville, laughing gallery, and Ferris wheel” (Inter Ocean, 26 Feb 1905, page 8).
Mrs. A. M. Rothschild was in charge of one of the booths featuring a Turkish smoking room and café. She was assisted by twenty-five young women of “prominent in Jewish society.” They were attired in Eastern garb, serving champagne, cordials, Turkish coffee, cigars, cigarettes, and Oriental knickknacks. Other booths included a Russian tearoom, Japanese garden, Old Vienna restaurant and café, a Gypsy camp, a doll booth, an orange grove, a candy booth, and liquor booth. The book and stationary booth featured an autograph volume of the messages and speeches of the President, presented by Mrs. Roosevelt, and placed on exhibit for almost a week (The Inter Ocean, 28, Feb. 1905, page 12). Another valuable volume on display was the 400-year-old Nurnberg Bible.
There was even a competition with thirty contestants to be Queen of the Jewish Bazaar. Other events included a confetti battle. The confetti battle used “eighteen bushels of colored bits of paper as ammunition (The Club-fellow: The Society Journal of New York and Chicago, Volume 6, 1905).
The “Chicago Tribune” noted that an emergency hospital was also on site, reporting, “In case the visitor should faint on being charged an extra admission to the ‘Pike’ or try to commit suicide after an unfortunate venture at the roulette table, to the left of the main entrance is an emergency hospital with a physician and two nurses” (26 February, page 12).
Of the attendees, there were thirty residents from the Jewish home who were brought to the Jewish Bazaar. The “Chicago Tribune” reported, “In the convoy of the superintendent and several matrons the distinguished visitors were taken to the refreshment room for luncheon soon after the exhausting trip downtown in the carriages. L Simon, aged 96 years, after being assisted to a seat and tied round with a huge napkin, nodded approvingly when a bottle of beer was brought to him, and shook his head in emphatic refusal when a plate of cookies and some sandwiches were offered him. All the fifteen old men followed his example…The party was then taken the rounds of Monte Carlo, the Pike, the Japanese village, the sideshows, the Ferris wheel, and all the multitudinous objects of interest in the wonderland that has been created in the Coliseum” (26 February, page 12).
To be continued…
