Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
Early in 1918, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We got a big contract for the Arena through Marshall Fields, but had to drop it as we were $500.00 too high. The party who took the contract, stole my idea and when he completed the job, he found he stood good to lose at least $1,400.00, as the Arena was not good for the amount as the work was done for a lease.” That’s Karma working for you!
There is no way to know the exact event that Moses was referring to. However, I think it was the ice carnival and fancy dress ball held at the Chicago Arena on March 16th. Officers from Camp Grant, Camp Dodge, Camp Custer and Great Lakes were invited to attend the event. The organization, the Satellites of Mars, was in charge of the carnival. Members from the Satellites were managing the carnival for the Fort Sheridan Association.
On March 17, 1918, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Society Shines with Satellites at Arena Affair. Brilliant Scenes Mark Function to Aid War” (page 3). This may have been the event. The article continued, “Never has a society function had a more effective setting than had the fancy dress ice carnival and ball held last night at the Arena. The brilliant coloring of the skater’s costumes, on which the spotlights played, glinted over the great area of the skating hall, and from balconies and doorways hung fantastic lanterns and draperies of red, white and blue. A band of jackies marked the rhythm of the skating. The affair, patronized by almost all the people of fashion now in the city was given by the Satellites of Mars, under the auspices of the Fort Sheridan association, an organization which looks after the interests of soldiers and sailors. There were many soldiers present and several jackies. The proceeds, it is estimated, will amount to about $10,000.”
The Satellites of Mars was a relatively new high-society group, formed for charity. For the ice carnival event, Wallace C. Winter (219 South La Salle Street) was a member and managing the carnival for the Fort Sheridan Association (Chicago Tribune, 7 March 1918, page 15). It appears to have been short-lived, however, and primarily active during the war years.
Interestingly, in 1877 Prof. Hall of the National Observatory identified two extremely minute moons circling Mars (New York Daily Herald, 23 Aug. 1877, page 3). The satellites of Mars appear in the papers again in 1918; this time the term arises in conjunction with those in the military. On March 27, 1918, the “San Francisco Examiner” reported, “There should be, we think, a marked distinction between the uniforms worn by men in the trenches and those worn by non-combatant officers. As the former are inconspicuous, the latter should be vivid and slashing. A feature might be a couple of red moons, emblematic of the satellites of Mars” (page 2). This opinion appears in US newspaper across the country at the time.
To be continued…
