Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1921, Thomas G. Moses wrote that early in January they closed a contract with Mrs. John Alden Carpenter for a fashion show.
Moses had previously worked with Mrs. John Alden Carpenter on a Boardwalk show at the Chicago Coliseum in 1919. His scrap book included newspaper clippings pertaining to the event. On showed Moses at work with Mrs. Carpenter nearby. Of the 1919 event, Moses wrote, “Early in February we put the fashion show on, and it was quite a success.” I have written about this project in the past. On Nov. 24, 1919, the “Chicago Tribune” announced, “New Ocean Ready to Roll at Boardwalk.” The article continued, “Mrs. John Alden Carpenter’s painted ocean is finished it the last wave and all ready to roll up under Atlantic City Boardwalk at the Coliseum on dec. 6, when the bazaar for the benefit of the Passavant Memorial Hospital building fund is opened. The ocean and all other decorations have been designed by Mrs. Carpenter, who evolved the idea, bringing the board walk to Chicago, and are being executed by Thomas G. Moses” (24, 1919, page 7).
Of Mrs. Carpenter’s fashion show, the “Chicago Tribune” reported, “Mrs. John Alden Carpenter has decided to capitalize her skill in interior decorating but not for herself. She has elected to contribute her artistic ability as a gift for needy children. In future she will charge for services, but the money will go to the Illinois Children’s Home Aid Society. Mrs. Carpenter’s first’ professional’ job will be the decorations for the Fashion Show, to be held in First Regiment Armory Feb. 9 to 19, by the Chicago Garment Manufacturers’ association, the wholesale milliners’ association, the Chicago Furrier’s association. The check for her services will be sent directly to the children’s society. The transplanting of the Atlantic City board walk to Chicago’s Coliseum last winter was the work of Mrs. Carpenter, who also did the decoration for the Pageant of the East, for the Ten Allies ball in Madison Square Gardens in New York, and for Russian section of a pageant given for the Red Cross of Long Island. Everything in women’s wear for spring and summer, from hats to shoes, will be exhibited in little French shops along a street that will be an exact replica of a street in Paris” (14 Jan. 1921, page 15).
On “Designer of gowns and millinery, carpenters and painters, 150 beautiful models, and manufacturer and whole salers are rushing preparation for the Fashion Show and Merchants’ Fair to be held in the First Regiment armory, Feb. 9 and 19, inclusive. Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, who designed ‘Le Boul Miche,’ the boulevard of French shops to be erected in the armory, daily goes to 417 South Clinton, where the shops are being built and painted, and personally directs the work. The beautiful models selected for the nightly promenade to display Milady’s wear, are being fitted to the coats, suits and gowns and other apparel they will wear. It will require quick work to get the boulevard of shops erected in the armory, as the automobile show will not get out of the armory until Feb. 7, and then fashion show opens two days later. The show is under the auspices of the Chicago Garment Manufacturers’ association” (31 Jan. 1921, page 5).
Mrs. Carpenter has stuck in the back of my mind since 2017 when I came across the image of Mrs. Carpenter and Moses. It was not a new image, or a new name to me. When I compiled two indexes for Moses’ scrapbook and diary as an undergraduate, there was an entry for Mrs. Carpenter. When I expanded this index to 127 pages in 2006 (I was on maternity leave), I came across her name and picture again.
What I found so remarkable about the undocumented newspaper clipping in Moses’ scrapbook is the inclusion of the paint table. There are a few things to notice about Moses’ paint table in the picture. There is an abundance of “pots” – containers for the dry pigment paste when painting a drop. This also ties into the name “pot boys,” mentioned by Sosman & Landis employee John Hanny. Pot boys was another name for paint boys. Hanny explained that pot boys were given this name because they filled the pots of paint with pigment. These are not individually mixed colors for the composition, but pots for pure colors; they function like dollops of paint on an artist’s palette – a really big artist’s palette. This may be the only image of a paint palette used by Moses during his career from 1873-1934.
To be continued…
