Scenic studios manufactured themed décor for a variety of charity balls and other fundraising events. These projects catered to a specific clientele, one that was often a repeat customer.
In 1921 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “The big pageant for the Municipal Pier gave us a good show for the Salvation Army, and one for the dance hall.” The next year, Moses mentioned Salvation Army work again, writing, “Had some Municipal Pier work, especially the Salvation Army work.”
Salvation Army button, 1921
As I combed through dozens of articles, searching for information about the Salvation Army and Municipal Pier events that year, one caught my eye. As we have entered a season of giving, it is time to remember those who sacrifice for good of others.
On May 29, 1921, the “Chicago tribune” published an article entitled, “Assaults on Our Finances” (page 72).
“Looking back, I can hardly remember a moment in the last few years when we have not been in the surge of some such drive. Sometimes the organizers of these assaults on the glorious inviolability of our private and personal finances try to disguise them under such terms as “presentation.” But the fact and act remain the same.
It is the selfish, untiring, devoted energy of the few in the interests of the many, in the interests of community itself, which accompanies the financing of such enterprises as the Red Cross, the Y.W.C.A., the Y.M.C.A., the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army, and the various other great undertakings which are the hope of our civilization. These few take the exhausting, ungrateful, nerve racking task of soliciting money from the great and heedless majority of a self-absorbed world.
Instead of being grateful to them for taking the hardest part of the job off our hands, the tendency of the average citizen is to complain when so approached. Yet eliminate from our social system these various enterprises and what would be the residue? A rampant materialism which would suck the soul out of us all and breed anarchy and destruction.
So, the next time you are approached by one of these champions of reform and philanthropy, say, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity.”
In 1921, Thomas G. Moses wrote that early in January they
closed a contract with Mrs. John Alden Carpenter for a fashion show.
From the “Chicago Tribune,” 31 Jan 1921 page 5.From the “Chicago Tribune,” 14 Jan 1921 page 15.
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.
Mrs. John Alden Carpenter pictured next to Thomas G. Moses. A clipping from Moses’ scrapbook, source unknown.
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.
Paint table used by Jesse Cox, currently on display at the Theatre Museum in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.Paint table used by Jesse Cox, currently on display at the Theatre Museum in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
At the end of March 1920, Moses
delivered Atlantic City Boardwalk scenery to the St. Louis Coliseum for a local
charity event. At the time, he was working for Chicago Scenic Studios, having
left both Sosman & Landis and New York Studios in Sept. 1918 and Sept, 1919
respectively.
By the spring of 1920, Moses
wrote, “On the 20th of April, I signed an agreement to return to
Sosman and Landis Company to draw $6,500.00 for the first year and my stock
returned to me, which means I will have a chance to get more if I can make the
business pay.”
He was returning to a dying
company, one that would close within three years. He wrote. “I have painted a
large autumn canvas for the Sosman and Landis Company office, as the offices
are going to be very nice.”
There were also a few events
leading up to his return. Just before he recorded his decision of a return to
Sosman & Landis, Moses wrote, “My head aches all the time – not severe, but
a dull ache that is very annoying.” The headaches were likely from his 1918
head injury. That year, he wrote, “October 10th, I was knocked down
by a boy on a bicycle in Oak Park. It
was dark and I did not see the wheel. It
was thought by the doctor that I had fractured my skull. It was a couple of months before I recovered.” Moses didn’t take the time to let the injury
properly heal and was on the road again too soon. The headaches continued to plague him for the
next few years.
Moses was also having problems
with his teeth, something that doctors also thought may be contributing to his
headaches. Later in 1920 he wrote, “Had an X-ray taken of my teeth and found
them awfully bad, so I had to get busy and have them all extracted, excepting
six lower ones. It was some job. Not as much of a shock as I expected.” A few
months later, Moses wrote, “My headache still continues and there seems to be
no help for it. No one seems to know the
cause, now that my teeth are all out, which everyone thought would be the
remedy.”
But there was another dynamic at
play before his return to Sosman & Landis.
That spring Moses wrote, “Mr.
Hunt arrived from New York and remained for a few days, then left for
California where he will remain several weeks.
I interceded for Parker, formerly of Sosman and Landis with Mr. Hunt,
and I think he will engage him to go to New York City.” Now this statement
caught me by surprise. Moses had signed a one year contract with Chicago
Studios during the fall of 1919, after having left the employ of David H. Hunt
at New York Studios. Did he go back, and was New York Studios still considered
the eastern affiliate of Sosman & Landis?
By early spring 1920, Moses wrote, “We are having a hard
time to keep a man in the office. Nobody
seems to please Mr. Hunt.” So, Moses was working with Hunt during the early
spring of 1920, yet not associated with Sosman & Landis, but there was also
no mention of Chicago Studios who he accepted a one-year agreement with from
fall 1919 to fall 1920. After Moses’ returned to Sosman & Landis, Hunt is
still in the picture. That summer, Moses wrote, ““Mr. Hunt sent Mr. Leo Staler
on from New York to take my place and while he tried to be very nice about it,
there was something about his attitude that didn’t ring true.” Mr. Hunt was
also involved with Sosman & Landis finances, as Moses mentioned him in
August 1920: “Mr. Hunt promised to send me a check for $700.00 on the 15th
of August. I had to go without it, and
received it in Colorado Springs after I had made all the arrangements for money
to go with. We left for the West August
19th.”
The honeymoon phase of Moses’
return to Sosman & Landis had already worn off by summer. By the end of May
Moses wrote, “The haggling and wrangling in the studio and office is certainly
getting the best of me, and I will be glad when time comes for me to migrate to
Clinton Street.”
Moses must have migrated to the
main studio on Clinton Street after returning from his summer vacation, August
19-Sept. 28. Upon his return, he wrote, “ It took me a few days before I was in
the harness again, and working just the same as I did before I left two years
ago. Landis and I got out after business
within a few days after my arrival and succeeded in landing a few good
ones. I started to do some painting but
it did not last long, as I had too much other business to do. I found the conditions altogether different
from what I supposed them to be – too much overhead. It will be awfully hard to keep up the output
to balance it all.”
Sosman & Landis had flailed about for two years during Moses’ absence. Although he had returned, it was too late to resuscitate the dying company. He was trying to make the best out of a bad situation. But he was also returning home. His scenic career really started in the Clinton Street studio in 1880. He was there were Sosman and Landis built the space. He would be there when the firm left the space in 1923 too. Good or bad, it was everything familiar to him. At the end of 1920, Moses wrote, “I am pretty well satisfied with the result of this year’s work and I feel that changing back to Clinton Street was the best thing for me to do, as I really belong there, as my money will always be there unless the business is sold.” I have to wonder if he had any idea that the business would be sold in under three short years. He was 64 years old at the time.
Sosman & Landis also manufactured stage hardware until the 1920s.
In February 1920, Thomas G.
Moses wrote, “Went to St. Louis and closed the deal for $3,000.00 for the
boardwalk show.” Upon his return to Chicago, he wrote, “I started a model for
the board-walk show for a St. Louis party.
They want to put it up at the St. Louis Coliseum.” At the time Moses was
working at the Chicago Studios and had painted scenery for a similarly themed
event in Chicago. The St. Louis project was planned for the week of April 5 to
14.
On January 21, 1920, the “St.
Louis Star and Times” announced, “For the first time since the world has been
free of war and rumors of war St. Louis society women and girls are planning a
great bazaar to be given at the Coliseum Easter Week…The entertainment will be
in the form of an ‘Atlantic City Board Walk,’ something on the order of a
recent bazaar given in Chicago. It will resemble the fashion show given at the
Coliseum a year or so before America entered the war in 1917 and will be the
first large affair disassociated from war charities of our own on other nations
since 1915” (page 11).
Of the Coliseum decorations, the
article continued, “The interior of the great edifice will be draped to
represent Atlantic City – with seas on one side, the boardwalk in the center
and the booths and shops on the other side. There will be every sort of
amusement afforded in the booths. Visitors may stroll in the fashionable parade
up and down the bard walk or may ride in the chairs, which will be imported for
the occasion from Atlantic City.”
The show was for the benefit of
the teachers’ endowment funds at Washington University and Smith and Bryn Mawr
Colleges. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch”
noted, “An effort is being made through various means in all parts if the
country to raise $4,000,000 for Smith College and $2,000,000 each for Bryn Mawr
and Washington University. In the interest of this movement the ‘Board Walk’
entertainment has been given in a number of large cities. It is said to have
netted more than $90,000 for the fund in Chicago recently” (20 April 1920, page
3).
Moses was intimately involved
with the Chicago board walk, having also painted a large panorama for the
event. Of his board walk design for St. Louis, the article continued,
“Everything which can be accomplished with artificial scenery has been done to
transform the interior of the Coliseum into a duplication of Atlantic City’s
famous Board Walk. A canvas curtain of blue, representing the sky has been
suspended all around the hall so as to cut off the view of tiers of seats and
in front of the boxes there will be a setting representing the ocean. The board
walk extending from one end of the arena to the other will be 42 feet wide,
with sand on either side to simulate a beach.”
One week before the event, the
“St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reported the arrival of scenic decorations for the
Coliseum: “Three carloads of scenery will be required for the boardwalk
spectacle to be given at the Coliseum next week for the benefit of the salary
endowment fund for Washington University, Smith and Bryn Mawr College. The
scenery, which represents the board walk at Atlantic City, arrived yesterday
from Chicago. Fifteen carloads of sand will be used for the ‘beach.’ A number
of pretty girls in bathing costumes will decorate the beach” (28 March 1920,
page 56).
the St. Louis Board Walk Show parade, from the “St. Louis Star and Times,” 5 April 1920, page 3
The event began on April 5 with
a large Atlantic City board walk parade, consisting of thirty-five autos and
floats that traveled through business streets. The “St. Louis Star” reported,
“The walk itself is 42 feet long, and is flanked on each side with sand, to
represent a beach. There will be a restaurant, amusement featured and a dance
pavilion in addition to the shops” (page 3). The “St Louis Post-Dispatch”
announced, “Carnival Crowd Fills Shops at Board Walk. Even most out-of-way
booths at Coliseum do rushing business and record for one night’s receipts is
apparently broken” (11 April, page 3). The newspaper article described, “Those
who attended for the first time were surprised at the beauty of the show as a
spectacle. The scores of girls in quaint and fetching costumes, the gay
coloring of the shops and the artistic displays in some of them, the very
largeness of the show, were impressive to many who saw it for the first time.
The largest source of revenue
was from the advanced ticket sales of 28,000 tickets totaling $12,000. Program
advertisement space bringing in an additional $9,200. On April 18, 1920, the
“St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reported “Board Walk Receipts Count Passes $74,000.”
It was the candy shop that ended up taking in the most money, $3,602.0” (page
3).
In the end it was successful,
but quite a noisy affair. One reporter wrote, “But one thing that was
everywhere – pervasive, baffling, unescapable- was noise. A band at each end of
the place and an orchestra in the basement; the megaphone bellowing of amateur
ballyhoo men; the constant querulous chorus of girls selling ice cream,
flowers, face powder, toy balloons and chances on every kind of character of
commodity form pearl necklace to a prize heifer, combined to make a veritable
babel” (St. Louis Star, April 18, 1920).
In 1919 Thomas G. Moses wrote, “Met
Mrs. Coleman and Mrs. Carpenter regarding a big show in November at the
Coliseum. They want to do the Atlantic
City board-walk. I have it in mind and
will start early on models. … The latter part of October I went to Atlantic
City to meet Mrs. Carpenter, where I made sketches for the big show.”
Mrs. Joseph G. Coleman was in
charge of the charity event at the Chicago Coliseum for the benefit of the
Passavant Memorial hospital building fund. On Dec. 6, 1919, Chicago’s coliseum
was converted into Atlantic City’s sea front, with piers and dashing waves on
one side and a row of shops on the other. The board walk included push chairs,
fortune tellers, cafés, cabarets, and shops. The idea was evolved by Mrs. John
Alden Carpenter and was put into execution by Mrs. Joseph G. Coleman (Chicago Tribune,
9 Nov. 1919, page 91).
From the “Chicago Tribune,” 6 Dec 1919, page 5.
Of the design, the “Chicago
Tribune” reported, “The greatest scenic effect, of course, is to be the shore
and the sea, as designed by Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, distinguished colorist.
Though a blizzard may whistle without, youngsters at the boardwalk can dig on
the bright beach and the 210×50 foot canvas will tempt those fond of a dip.”
(30 Nov. 1919, page 11).
In anticipation of the event, the “Chicago
Tribune” reported, “Even if it is a week of dismal weather Chicago need not
complain. For Saturday at 1 p.m. the Coliseum will be ready to shelter the
frozen or soaked amusement seekers to the Atlantic City Board Walk. There,
under a summer moon, by a brilliant sea with every melody and summer gayety,
winter will be defied by the Passavant hospital, which has been arranged by
society women under direction of Mrs. Joseph G. Coleman. The project, which is
to be the most pretentious ever attempted is a reproduction of Atlantic City on
midsummer night. The famous board walk will welcome strollers, the gay beach
parasols will afford tete-a-tete retreats, the ‘prams,’ pushed by society men
disguised as darkies, will give a new thrill to those who have tired of taxis.
And even the most fagged fancy will find a new delight in the thirty-two shops,
where society’s leaders will preside over the most fashionable and wealthy
array of shop girl talent ever gathered under one moonlit sky” (30 Nov. 1919,
page 11).
On Nov. 28, 1919, the “Chicago
Tribune” included an article on the event entitled “Hospital to be Aided” (page
5): “Incense burners, Chinese slipper, beads, mandarin coats, rare ivories,
embroidered panels, prints – everything Chinese, is being unpacked and
inventories by Mrs. Marshall Field III. And her assistants in preparation for
the opening of the Chinese shop on the Atlantic City Boardwalk at the Coliseum,
where about thirty little shops will flash into life Saturday, Dec. 6, for the
benefit of the Passavant Memorial hospital building fund. Most of Mrs. Field’s
Chinese wares were assembled in San Francisco by Mrs. Willard, who is now the
guest of Mrs. Joseph G. Coleman, in charge of the bazaar. Mrs. Down spent six
weeks shopping every day in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and found some wonderful
bargains, it is declared.”
But in the middle of the Coliseum
project, Moses encountered an obstacle. He wrote, “We have lost John Hanny and
Otto Schroader, our two best men. They
do not want to stay with Hunt. He is
such an awful fault finder.” The two would be part of a group that later formed
Service Studios, another Chicago scenic studio.
In 1919, Moses also wrote, “Larson
quit us on October 24th, and Hunt insisted on my doing everything,
so I took hold and closed the Atlantic City job for $14,000.00 for a starter….a
whole month was taken up with the Atlantic City board-walk work, had to put on
quite a force. Everything worked out
fine. I used some good common sense in
finishing the Coliseum job and putting it up was no trouble of any kind. Instead of it costing is $1,500.00 to install,
we did it for $400.00. We made a good profit,
as we had $1,500.00 in extras. The show
made a profit of $85,000.00 in ten days.” The Coliseum show remained a
highlight for Moses during 1919. At the end of the year, he reminisced, “While
we have been very busy the whole year, we have not done any very notable
productions, excepting the Coliseum shows and Denver.”
For a man whose entire career
was tied to the newest, biggest and best productions, Moses was witnessing the
decline of his career. He would still complete large projects until his passing
in 1934, but they would never carry the same momentum as when he was first at
Sosman & Landis.
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.
The Satellites of Mars at the Ice Carnival from the “Chicago Tribune,” March 17, 1918, page 3.
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.”
From the “Chicago Tribune,” March 17, 1918, page 7.
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.
In 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote,
“I went to New York, November 22nd.
Hustled up the ‘Hero Land Work.’ “Hero
Land” was advertised as a “16-day Military Pageant, Theatrical Entertainment,
Oriental Wonderland and Charity Mart; Devised, Created, Managed and Financed by
One Hundred Approved National War Relief Organizations for the Benefit of
American and Allied Relief” (New York Tribune, 24 Nov. 1917, page 9). Newspaper
advertisements announced, “Hero Land is the Greatest Spectacle the World has
ever seen, for the Greatest Need the World has Ever Known.” Its objective was
to bring images of the war home to encourage American support.
From the “New York Tribune,” 27 Nov 1917, page 9.Hero Land poster, 1917
“Hero Land” opened at the Grand
Central Palace on November 24, 1917. The event ran until Dec. 12 and was open
every day of the week from 11 AM to Midnight, except Sundays.
Hero Land program for French Day, from “The Standard Union,” 26 Nov. 1917, page 4.
Legions of workers began to transform Grand Central Palace for the exhibition on November 10 that year. Advertisements listed the “Marvels at Hero Land” describing the attractions in detail. There were reproductions of forts, battlefields, bomb shelters, and trench lines. Special features were the Hindenburg Line and Britannia, a Mark IV British tank.
The Britania pictured in the official souvenir program. Image from an online auction.The Britania pictured in the official souvenir program. Image from an online auction.
In addition to military-themed exhibits, there was an ice skating rink, submarine divers and the Street of Bagdad. Dining establishments included Café de Paris, Army canteen, Red Cross Tea Garden, the Allies Club, the Soda Water Fountain, and the Golden West Cabaret. The Old Cheshire Cheese, the “most famous chop shop in the world, which Samuel Johnson made his eating headquarters in London.” British chairs, tables, signs, recipes and cooks completed the picture. An area called Old Bowling Green, represented a past look when New York was known as New Amsterdam with Dutch Houses, fur traders and early settlers. There was also the Great Hall and Ballroom, a Louis XVI dancing pavilion and drill ground where balls, military parades and pageants were held throughout the event. There were also three moving picture theatres that featured Government war films taken at the front and shown for the first time to the general public. Films of battle scenes were accompanied by lectures. Additional live theatre entertainments starred “a galaxy of stage, opera and vaudeville stars, dancers and moving picture artists.” Holy Land was intended to be “the most memorable entertainment festival ever held in the country.”
From the ” New York Tribune,” 27 Nov 1917, page 9.From “The Sun” (New York), 5 Dec 1917, page 14.The Red Cross Tea Room at Hero Land, 1917.
Some of the special days at Hero
Land included American Day, British Day, French and Alsace-Lorraine Day,
Belgian Day, Jewish War Relief Day, Italian Day, Polish Day, Russian Day, Lithuanian
Day, Canadian Day, Armenian and Syrian day, Scotch-Irish day, Serbian Day, American
Red Cross day, United States Navy Day, United States Army Day, President Wilson
day and American Red Cross Day.” Ethel Barrymore even presided over the auction
at the Belgian Booth on Dec. 14, 1917
From the “New York Tribune,” 27 Nov 1917, page 9.
“The News Journal” reported
“Most entertainments are to be held in the great hall and all have been
arranged under the supervision of Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson, acting in
conjunction with Arthur Voegtlin, former producer of the Hippodrome, who has
been engaged to stage the spectacular features on the entertainment program”
(Wilmington Delaware, 17 Nov 1917, page 7). Sosman & Landis likely provided
scenery to accompany the live entertainment in the Great Hall. However, I have not located any specific mention
of the firm.
From the “New York Tribune,” 24 Nov 1917, page 9.Hero Land advertisement, 1917.
Sosman & Landis delivered painted
settings for the Ten Allies Costume Bazaar in New York on November 28, 1918. They
were also hired to provide decorations for Chicago’s Allied Bazaar at the Coliseum. However, this time an architect was in charge
of the designs, not a scenic artist.
In 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote,
“We opened the season on the New Year with the great Allied Bazaar for the
Coliseum and it is being rushed through in a hurry. I don’t like to deal with an architect on
these decorative jobs. They get an idea
they are building a house and don’t seem to see our way of knocking it
together, depending on the general results.
Of all the jobs that we have done of this character, where we made our
own plans, we never had one that didn’t have the big scenic spirit of
decorations and was always accepted.”
From the “Chicago Tribune,” 8 Jan 1917, page 9.
The Allied Bazaar was held at
the Chicago Coliseum for a week, beginning on January 11, 1917. 8,000 people
were involved in marketing of the bazaar, abandoning many other routine society
events to promote the “million dollar show” (Chicago Tribune, 12 Jan. 1917,
page 6). Promoters publicized the event in Minneapolis, St. Paul. St. Louis,
Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Detroit. 4,000 men and
women worked the bazaar, with approximately 500,000 attending. Exhibits
connected with the European war were on display, and included big guns,
ammunition, aeroplanes, French biplanes, German Taubes, American Curtiss and
Wright machines, hospital devices and field ambulances. The show even included a reproduction of a
trench with dugouts, barbed wire, loopholes, and other military appliances.
This particular exhibit was built under the direction of English army personnel
Capt. Ian Hay and Capt. Norman Thwaites.
From the “Chicago Tribune,” 20 Jan 1917, page 3.
Of the event the “Chicago
Tribune” reported, “This is the third big event of this characters for the aid
of the suffering in the allied nations, in Boston the bazaar proceeds were
$400,000, in New York $700,000” (Jan. 11, 1917, page 3). The article continued,
“Yesterday with the hum and bustle of the industry artisans were putting the
finishing touches to the Coliseum. A fairy city of shops, brilliant in color,
impressive architecture, has been raised within the big building down on Wabash
Avenue. Hammers tapped away as busy as woodpeckers. The air was filled with
sawdust. An electric lathe whirred away turning, planning and cutting lumber
for more booths and other galleries.
“Electricians with trailing
threads of wiring weaved away up in the vault like spiders. Workmen and society
women workers jostled each other in their hurry, overalls and sealskins fitted
about in the streets of the fantastic city that charity has built. There is a
buffet, a tea garden, a cabaret, a shooting gallery, sideshow, grocery store, fortuneteller
stand and many art shops in bazaar town.
“Among the scores of well known
persons who were at the Coliseum supervising the arrangement of the booths
formerly as observers, were: Henry J. Pattern, Mr. and Mrs. Chauncy McCormick,
Lady Aberdeen, Baroness Charles Huard, Baron Huard, Mrs. James T. Harahan, Mrs.
Halsted Freeman, Mrs. Charles Hamill, Mrs. Walter S. Brewster, Countess
Langston, Miss Cornelia Conger, James Ward Thorne, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Insull,
Mrs. John Winterbotham, Mrs. George Higginson, and Mr. and Mrs. D. H Burnham
Jr.; the former largely responsible for the architectural planning.
“The Coliseum is full of stuff
of all description. Pianos, antique jewels, original etchings by Whistler,
automobiles, a motor boat, groceries, dolls, seal coats, artistic brasses,
painting and fancy work…Work is being rushed on the war exhibit which will be a
feature of the bazaar. This includes all sorts of shells from the French 75s to
huge sixteen-inch projectiles weighing tons. There are many types of field
pieces, trench mortars, rifles, pistols, wrecked gun carriages, a German
torpedo, uniforms, and war motors.
“In the exhibit is the first
American hospital ambulance set to France. It was given by Mrs. William K.
Vanderbilt. It was wrecked by a shell and the driver killed. The rusted plate
with the name of the donor in big letters was almost ripped from the ambulance
by the same shell.”
In 1916, Thomas G. Moses wrote,
“Hurried to New York City, made a hasty model; closed a contract for $5,700.00
for Allied Ball Decoration.” Later that year he wrote, “…on to the big Allied
Ball work…November 25th, Mama and I started for New York. We expressed the scenery and November 28th
it was all up. I did the society stunt
while Nadier and Pausback put all the work up, and for a wonder everything
fitted.”
Ten Allies Costume Ball. Poster collection, Hoover Institution Archives, https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/38561
The event mentioned by Moses was
the Ten Allies Costume Ball. On Novemebr 28, 1916, the “Evening Sun” reported, “America’s greatest
single effort on behalf of relief organizations of the Entente Allies will be
staged tonight when the Ten Allies Costume Ball will be given in Madison Square
Garden. Ten boxes will be decorated to represent each of the ten nations of the
Allies. In each will be prominent persons f these nations. At a given hour the
hall will be darkened and a spotlight turned on the French box from which
Madame Chenal will sing the chorus of the “Marsaillaise.” Next will come “God
Save the King” then the Russian, the Italian and the rest. Finally the light
will be directed as the box draped in the Star and Stripes and the “Star
Spangled Banner” will be sung. All of the national soloists and a chorus of
2,000 will join in the singing of the American anthem “ (Hanover, Pennsylvania,
28 Nov. 1916, page 3).
Among the organizations that
benefitted were, the American Ambulance Fund, the British-American War Relief
Fund, French Heroes LaFayette Fund, the Millicent Sutherland Ambulance Three
Acts Fund for the Crippled and Maimed French Soldiers, the Blinded in Battle
Fund, Refugees in Russia Fund, National Allied Relief Committee, Vacation War
Relief Committee and the American Fund for French Wounded.
Ten Allies Costume Ball. Poster collection, Hoover Institution Archives, https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/38561
As I searched for more
information, I came across a really interestingly article in the Chicago
Tribune on Nov. 26, 1916 (page 36). “Chicagoan Goes East with Scenery for
Allied Ball” was written by Mme. X, and the first few sentences say much of the
theatrical relationship between New York and Chicago in 1916:
“When New York wants anything out
of the ordinary accomplished it is not from the ranks of home talent that it
seeks its organizers and leaders. Chicago supplies much of its bone and sinew.
George W. Perkins, T. P. Shonts, Frank A. Vanderlip, Elbert H. Gary, and a host
of others are all drawn from the ranks of Chicago capables. And now one more proof that the great
metropolis is dependent on us, not alone in the realms of finance and big
business, but in the domain of art and adornment is the departure of Mrs. John
A Carpenter last Tuesday for New York and the much heralded Allied ball, which
takes place next Tuesday in the Madison Square Gardens. Mrs. Carpenter was
escorted by huge rolls of scenery for the East Indian background and setting
for the ball, which had been painted here from her designs and under her
direction. She is developing a genius for this sort of artist expression, which
is making her name famous on both sides of the Atlantic…It is rather a
stupendous affair, a costume ball, with remarkable stunts, and its proceeds are
to go to the same cause as the big New York allied bazaar last spring and ours
is coming this January.”
The day after the event, the
“New York Herald” published an account of the eventnon November 29, 1916 (page
2):
“15,000 See Pageant at Ten
Allies Ball. Brilliant Costumes Worn by Society and Stars at Fete. Notable in
the Parade.
New York may be neutral, but not
when there’s an Allied Ball going on. At least there were 15,000 or so
Gothamites at Madison Square Garden last night who didn’t talk neutral, didn’t
act neutral and didn’t dress neutral. And the old Garden, that has held
everything from aristocracy’s horse show to Col. Cody’s Wild West in its day,
never sheltered such a gathering before as far as brilliant costuming and
bizarre disguises go.
The Ten Allies Costume Ball
started at midnight according to the programme, but it was really nearer half
past by the clock. It is true the doors opened at 9 and the music started for
dancing some time after 10, but the real thing was the pageant.
A group of buglers sounded a
fanfare and out from between hanging curtains at the east side of the Garden
came the pageant. India led, with Rajah Ali Ben Haggin at the head on a big
black Arab steed. Ben Ali had planned to ride in on an elephant, but the floor
wouldn’t stand it. Behind him came Mrs. Haggin and Mrs. William Astor Chanier
in palanquins borne on the shoulders of Hindus and surrounded by an entourage
of military looking Ghurkas and Sepoys in khaki.
Next came Great Britain, with
Lady Colebrook as Britannia, and Miss Louise Drew with a company of girl
scouts. John Drew and sixty members of the Lambs and Players club stood for
England of to-day, every man of them in khaki. In fact khaki was the color
scheme for the men and there were many who wore the little cloth stripes that
mean real service.
Ireland, color scheme green and
leader Miss Elsie Janis, came next with some of the best known actresses on the
Broadway stage in the train. Scotland of course was Burr McIntosh and William
Faversham, with Bruce McRae and Cyril Scott and the like.
Canada was represented by a
train of Red Cross nurses, and Mrs. Charles Greenough who led them, had culled
the pick of society’s debutantes.
For Belgium marched Miss Ethel Barrymore, with a score or so of the “Four
Hundred” and Miss Marie Louise de Sadeleer, daughter of the Belgian Minister.
Alla Nazimova led Russia’s
contingent, with a company dressed in costumes from “War Brides” and “Women of
the People.”
The theatre had charge of Italy,
with Mrs. William Faversham leading a group of screen actresses and actors with
Blanche Bates and the Washington Square Players in their “Bushido” costumes
marched for Japan, and Miss Cathleen Nesbit and come others were for Portugal.
James K. Hackett as Louis XVI
and Mrs. Hackett as Clothilde had charge of France’s pageant, and in the ranks
were every one from Jeanne d’Arc to Robespierre. And at the end a big bunting
covered tower was shoved out and Miss Anna Fitziu of the American Opera Company
gowned as Columbia and wearing the Liberty cap closed the show with “The Star
Spangled Banner.”
Up to the time of the pageant it
was all music and dancing. The loge and arena boxes were filled with people
whose autobiographies are in “Who’s Who,” while behind them, in the seats of
the gallery, where the hoi polloi, who could only pay $5 for a seat. And
everybody was there.”
Design in the ACME Studios sales book of a Red Cross Benefit backdrop installation.
In 1916, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “On
February 15th, closed with the German Red Cross Kirmiss contract for
$7,500.00.” Moses was referring to the big Red Cross Society drive that took
the form of a German Street Fair in the Chicago Coliseum on April 2. In 1916,
charitable events were held throughout the United States for the German Red
Cross, with many using street fetes as a vehicle. I have uncovered very little
about the Chicago event, but it was similar to the one held in Cincinnati the
year before. “The Cincinnati Enquirer” described the event at the Music Hall on
November 18, 19 and 20 in 1915, reporting, “It will be a faithful reproduction
of the famous old German city of Nuremburg on the occasion of a typical
Kirmiss, the proceeds of the undertaking to be for the benefit of the
German-Austro-Hungarian Red Cross fund. The unusual attractiveness of the
affair will consist in placing in the north wing of Music Hall a replica of the
old city of Nuremberg, with its quaint tiled-roof houses and its famous
‘Bratwurst Gloeklein.”
Baltimore’s “Der Deutsche
Correspondent” included a history of the German Red Cross on 23 Nov. 1916 (page
4):
“The German Red Cross is an old established institution,
which has given capable services in times of peace whenever natural or
industrial calamities have compelled earnest and systematic relief action…At the
outbreak of the war, the German Red Cross, complete as it already was for
conditions then existing, was amplified and expanded into the magnificent
organization to which all classes of social life in the German Empire have been
proud to contribute, The advice and services of the greatest authorities in the
sciences of medicine and surgery at its command.
The
responsibilities of the German Red Cross are stupendous and the daily
continuation of the war in all its varied phases and territories has causes a
corresponding increase of suffering and of pitiful conditions for the relief of
which additional funds are urgently required and earnestly solicited.
Contrary to
general belief, the German Red Cross concerns itself not only with the succor
and care of the wounded and convalescent soldiers, but also with the relief of
innocent victims, reaching out a helping hand to the uttermost limits to those
who have borne the brunt of the war’s hardships. This includes not only the
soldier who has been disabled during outpost duty on the farthest front, but
also his dependent wife and children at home, who must be clothed, fed,
educated and provided with medical attention.
Thousands of volunteer workers who
had received instruction in first aid, together with a legion of highly trained
nurses have taken up the work of mercy in relieving the wounded, whether friend
of former foe, and in many homes today fervent gratitude is being voiced to the
German Red Cross for its skilled assistance in restoring loved ones to the
families’ bosoms; husbands and fathers and brothers who might have succumbed to
their wounds on the battlefield but for its timely aid.
The most advanced practices in
restoring to health the wounded and convalescent are employed. The facilities
of sanitariums and institutions for teaching the blind, the crippled and
partially helpless and the hopelessly invalided, have become available for
these unfortunates, Special training schools are maintained for those who have
had to use artificial limbs, so that they may not become totally incapacitated,
thus giving them an opportunity of again becoming useful and independent
members of society.
By Nov. 16, Chicago’s “Day Book” reported, “Berlin. – German
Red Cross and the Ass’n of Patriotic Ladies have received $50,000 from the U.S.
branch for relief to families of soldiers” (page 31). At the end of 1916, the
German Red Cross Society received $200,000. This figure was included in a December
30 article in the “Chicago Tribune.” The article included a list of gifts and
bequests during 1916 by Chicagoans:
“It is not an exaggeration that the donations and bequests
to charity, educational and religious institutions, art music and the public
welfare in general in the United States during the year 1916 will reach nearly
a billion dollars. Among the items which will help to make up this huge total
are large sums raised by Americans for relief to war sufferers and help for war
makers. It is estimated that nearly $5,000,000 have been sent through the
principle agencies in New York and Boston, but to this sum should be added
those sent through other agencies in various parts of the country and the
numerous contributions, which have been made direct, and not through any
special fund. Supplies worth millions of dollars have also been collected and
sent in addition to cash donations. Of these war gifts Belgium has received
about $11,000,000, France nearly $4,000,000, Germany about $9,000,00, Poland
$2,300,000, England 1,125,000, Jewish sufferers $6,500,000, Serbia $320,000,
Russia $160,000, Armenians and Syrians $2,565,000, Lithuanians $138,000, Balkan
fund $500,000, Japan $11,000, Christmas gifts $400,000, Roumania $3,200,
Australia $30,000, Italy $62,000, and several smaller amounts have been sent
for ambulances, artists, surgical dressings, education, hospitals, etc. These
sums represent those sent by the Red Cross and larger relief organizations. The
increase of wages and bonuses paid by corporations to their employees amount at
least $400,000,000. Christmas charitable organizations and God Fellows have
added about $80,000,000 more to the grand total. The American board of
commissioners for foreign missions has broken all records with receipts of
$1,207,000 and $550,000 have been expended upon work among troops on the
Mexican border. As to personal contributions it is impossible to form any
estimate, except in a few prominent cases. John D. Rockefeller has donated to
different objects about $9,500,000; Andrew Carnegie, $3,000,000; Julius
Rosenwald $1,600,000, and Mrs. Russell Sage $525,000. The donations and
bequests for various purposes in this country have amounted to $764,077.99,
these including only large sums, which have been publicly announced. Of this
total donations have been $623,262,002; bequests, $140,815,797. The objects of
this beneficence are as follows: Charities, $657,042,700; educational
institutions $72,612,619; religious institutions, $20,243,735; museums, art
galleries and municipal benefits, $11,479,295; libraries, $2,717,450.”
