Part 552: Thomas G. Moses and Chicago’s White City, 1906
In 1906, Thomas G. Moses recorded that he worked on some scenic shows for “White City.” White City was also known as “White City Amusement Park.” Inspired in part by the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, It was named after the white lights that lined many of its buildings. The amusement park’s “Electric Tower” was a steel structure outlined in electric lights that could be seen fifteen miles away.
The park opened on May 26, 1905 and lasted until 1933. The amusement park was on a fourteen-acre former cornfield, located at 63rd Street and South Parkway (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive), in the Greater Grand Crossing and Woodlawn community areas. Admission was ten cents, and the park was open rain or shine.
Advertisements in Chicago newspapers listed a variety of popular attractions at the park. Even the Goodyear Blimp was first assembled at the park. Moses wrote that he worked on a variety of attractions that included “One big show. A Trip to Mars.” Other park attractions included “Fire and Flames (the Chicago Fire),” “The Johnstown Flood,” “the Canals of Venice [water ride],” “Temple of Palmistry,” “Catacombs,” “The Third Degree,”[?] “Famous Cow and Lunch,”[??] “Infant Incubators,” “Midget City,” “Jewell’s Manikins,” Big Otto’s trained wild animal show, a Gypsy camp, “Hale’s Tours of the World,” “Automatic Vaudeville,” a vaudeville theatre, a roller coaster, small Ferris wheel, flying airships, Lindy Loop, Seaplane, Jim Key, a Japanese Booth, a Japanese ball game, a roller rink, penny arcade, a scenic railway, an electric theater, a model laundry, a the “Fun Factory,” electric cooking exhibit, photograph gallery, the House of a Thousand and One Troubles (fun house), “Figure 8,” “Shoot the Chutes,” “The Kilties” (a Canadian band that played Scottish music), a miniature railway, and “Kellar’s Blue Room.” After the park opened, one ride malfunctioned; a visitor was killed and two others injured. Then the park’s roller coaster encountered problems, injuring another twelve patrons.
During the park’s second summer of operation, the White City Construction Company also secured a plot of land measuring 665×500 feet that adjoined the south end of the amusement park. In this area, an open air amphitheater was erected with a seating capacity of 12,000 (Inter Ocean, 15 June 1906, page 6).
By July 1, 1906, the “Inter Ocean” reported, “The principal new attraction at the park this week will be a big revival of the “Last Days of Pompeii” on a block of ground adjoining the White City. Five hundred gorgeously costumed embryo Roman and Egyptian citizens, gladiators, guards, charioteers, musicians, priests, priestesses, choir boys, Pompeian dignitaries, dancing girls, flower girls, etc. will tonight be put through the paces of a final dress rehearsal for Pain’s big spectacle. The initial performance of a ten week’s engagement will be given in the vast new White City amphitheater tomorrow night, and General Manager H. B. Thearle is positive in his assurances of a smooth and finished opening.
The scenic representation of doomed Pompeii represents the fated city that perished in the first century of the Christian era. The scenery used in this production covers and area of five acres of ground, but so deceptive is the perspective that it is said it appears to spread over many times that space.
The scene opens with a fete day in the ancient city, and for upward an hour the audience is entertained with a production of the sports and feats of the hippodrome, chariot races, ballets, aerial and acrobatic performers, pageants, etc. The tragic dramatic episodes of the spectacle are shown in pantomime. The fetes are interrupted by he terrific eruption of Vesuvius and the destruction of the city by the earthquake, bringing into action all the skill and ingenious of Pain’s artists. Following these scenes, there is presented an exhibition of fireworks. For the accommodation of patrons, a downtown ticket office will be opened at Lyon & Healy’s tomorrow morning and maintained throughout the season” (page 26).
The Daily Herald described, “These fascinating and thrilling midsummer night shows of the famous Pain have for 27 years been the one big night attraction at fashionable Manhattan Beach New York, also for the same length of time at Alexandria Palace, London. The production given at White City, surpasses anything ever seen in the open air amusement line in this country. As known to most readers, Pain’s “Last Days of Pompeii” is a thrilling realistic reenactment of the greatest catastrophe in the world’s history; the awful destruction of an ancient city and its people by earthquakes and volcano eruption…So thrillingly realistic is the effect, that the onlooker will find it hard to realize he has been gazing only upon a startling scene of mimic destruction instead of a terrible reality” (Chicago, 29 June 1906, page 1).
The spectacle was advertised as a “most stupendous, thrilling and beautiful open-air spectacle in the world – a $100,000 production.” The theme surrounding the destruction of this ancient city razed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was especially poignant; the great Volcano erupted again during April of 1906. This disaster occurred the same month as the San Francisco earthquake and fire. For many, it may have seemed like the end of the world.
To be continued…
