For Your Amusement, The Other White City

If you have enjoyed yourself at one of the thousands of amusement parks around the country, you have Chicago's Columbian Exposition to thank. While rooted in the European fairs, Chicago's 1893 extravaganza is often considered the precursor of the modern American amusement park; the first to have a Ferris wheel, concessions, the beginning of the roller coaster (Thomas Rankin's Snow and Ice Railway) and numerous midway attractions (Midway Plaisance).

Following closely on the heals of the Chicago World's Fair was the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. And while amusement parks had been popular diversions, now their popularity really began to pick up and dozens of parks bearing the name "White City" as a homage to the Columbian Exposition, were constructed around the country. And, as you would expect, the doors opened on Chicago's own White City Amusement Park in 1905 located at 63rd & South Park on Chicago's south side. (For a transcription of the Chicago Herald's take on Opening Day, see "White City Is Opened.")




Known for its dazzling Electric Tower and thousands of blazing lights the Chicago White City was a huge success for many years. It was, however, haunted by the Wingfoot Air Disaster of July 21, 1919 when a blimp carry passengers from Grant Park to the amusement park crashed into the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank.

White City was successful for many years, enjoying its heyday until about 1934 when the Great Depression severely limited the public's entertainment spending. Parts of the park would remain open until the 1950s.

For a detailed look at Chicago's White City Amusement Park, please see Jazz Age Chicago.

Recommended reading:
Amusement Parks (Encyclopedia of Chicago)
The "White City" and the American Dream – 100 Years of Amusement Parks
Amusement Park Books List

Photo Credits:
Entrance and aerial view of the park (Chuckman Chicago Nostalgia)
Electric Tower( Penny Postcards from Illinois) Some great postcards of the park!

Singin' About Chicago

Frank Sinatra made it practically a city anthem, but "Chicago" (That Toddlin' Town) was actually written in 1922 by Fred Fisher. The German-born songwriter came to the United States in 1900 and he had his first big hit song in 1906 - "If the Man In the Moon Were a Coon." Ya, I'm not going to go there...

As you no doubt are aware, there have been dozens of songs about Chicago but a few of the early ones had some pretty interesting titles:

"The Burning of the Iroquois" (theater) 1904 - Composer: Thos. R. Confare, Lyricist: Morris S. Silver (bet this was a cheery tune)
"The Hat He Never Ate" (1899)- Composer: Ben Harney, Lyricist: Howard S. Taylor (said to be written as a campaign song for Carter Harrison)
"On the Midway, or the Jolly Bum, Bum" 1893 - Composer & Lyricist: Louis Ortenstein (one of many Columbian Exposition compositions, but what a "jolly bum" is I couldn't say)

O what music there will be in Chicago
From Yankee Doodle thro' to Handel's Largo.
The orchestras will play
And the brass bands too, they say,
For that great Columbian Fair at Chicago.
We'll hear such melodies with grandest chords and harmonies
When the singers gathered there shall raise their voices,
For the greatest jubilee that we ever yet did see,
And that is why America rejoices.
- "Are You Going to the Fair at Chicago" by C. Ormsbee Gregory, verse 3

For an informative discussion on the Music of the Columbian Exposition, see: "From Yankee Doodle Thro' To Handel's Largo Music at the World's Columbian Exposition" by David M. Guion, College Music Symposium, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring, 1984), pp. 81-96, Published by: College Music Society

And, for you sports fans, "The Glory of the Cubs" (1908) - Composer: Arthur Marshall, Lyricist: F.R. Sweirngen and a march, "Cubs on Parade" by H.R. Hempel. Neither seems to have been played much recently.

Chances are pretty slim that you'll hear the following little ditty singing the praises of Chicago at Lallapalooza, but it was a pretty popular song in the 1890s. The words and music were written by Harry Dacre, best known for "Daisy Bell" (a.k.a. "A Bicycle Built for Two")

Guess you can see by the cut of my jib,
I am a Yank and I mean to speak loud of it,
Just landed here from a smart little crib,
Chicago, my boys, and I reckon on I'm proud of it.
New York to Frisco
There isn't a spot
Containing such go ahead men
As we've got!
You Englishmen think you're a very cute lot
But you're not in the hunt with Chicago!


I guess the music added alot.

For more of "my kind of town", see:
List of songs about Chicago (Wikipedia)
Songs with a Reference to Chicago (Music List 4 You)
List of songs about Chicago (StateMaster Encyclopedia)
"Out of the Flames and Other Songs of the Great Fire"
"After the Ball"

Photo credit:
"Chicago" New York Public Library Digital Gallery
"Glory of the Cubs" (Soho the Dog, "Holy mackerel")

Those Lazy Hazy Daze: Vacation!

It is time for The Journal to take its summer vacation. Well, it is not so much a vacation as a time for study, reading and regrouping. Posting on the blog will resume September 1st, (or maybe August 1st; don't know) but I will continue to add interesting Chicago history links to The Journal's Facebook page and ChiHistJournal Twitter. And maybe the Online Library or perhaps I'll just post a really short blurb on a new book release or an interesting picture I come across...Um, I don't think I've quite got the hang of this vacation thing. I guess the point is I won't be doing a lot of posting, but I'll be around. See ya soon!

Photo credit: Manhattan Bathing Beach (Rainbow Beach), 75th and Lake Michigan, Chicago, c. 1910 (Chuckman's Collection, Chicago Postcards)

On Chicago: It's a Job

There was an oppressive atmosphere of dull, stupid endurance, and the faces of most of the women were pitifully blank. There was abundant evidence of lack of opportunity for promotion, of ceaseless mechanical work, of colorless, uneventful lives, and all this with good physical conditions and fairly good wages. "Girls are unreasonable," said the employer; "what more can they want?" They want an absence of fines for imperfect work for one thing, and the employer to furnish thread and needles for another. But he does not see the force of these old contentions. The buying of thread or needles or both is a constant source of irritation to the more intelligent workers of the needle trades in the West as in the East. In several Chicago establishments, this was found to amount to about $2 a week for those using one-needle machines, and it falls heavier on the two- and three-needle operators, who pay sometimes from $2.50 to $3 a week for their thread. It is the old, old story heard in various parts of the country, and filling the worker with a revolutionary spirit whenever it is told. The girls insist that the garment is sold with the thread, and the profit goes to the employer. An added grievance is that employees are required to buy thread from the firm. When questioned about this one girl smiled satirically and answered : " Sure, that's the way they make their money. We could get it much cheaper at a store."

From: Wage-Earning Women by Annie Marion MacLean Ph.D. (1910)

Annie Marion MacLean was a feminist and sociologist who spent 30 years teaching at the University of Chicago. She was only the second woman to receive a doctorate from that school (1900). Annie authored several books on women in the workplace and worked tirelessly for social reform.

Recommended reading:
Women's Labor History Links

The Great Mascara War

A Chicago chemist got a great idea in 1915, one that eventually became the foundation of the mega-makeup company, Maybelline. According to descendant and Maybelline historian, Sharrie Williams, "when a kitchen stove fire singed his sister Mabel's lashes and brows, Tom Lyle Williams watched in fascination as she performed what she called 'a secret of the harem'—mixing petroleum jelly with coal dust and ash from a burnt cork and applying it to her lashes and brows. Mabel's simple beauty trick ignited Tom Lyle's imagination and he started what would become a billion-dollar business,[and]...He named it Maybelline in her honor." (The Maybelline Story: And the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It by Sharrie Williams; scheduled for publication September, 2010)The product Williams created worked well, and he began a mail order business under the company name Maybell Laboratories. Back then the lash darkener wasn't called "mascara;" it was called "Lash-Brow-Ine" and he registered the trademark in 1917. The ad from the Chicago Tribune is from April of 1916 and lists the company as being located on Indiana Avenue. (A 1922 ad lists the company address as being on Sheridan Rd.)

There was one tiny little problem with the Williams copyright. A St. Louis man by the name of Benjamin Ansehl had started a company called Lashbrow Laboratories in 1912 and was already marketing a similar product. Williams sued for copyright infringement by Ansehl and a counter suit immediately ensued.

The case of ANSEHL v. WILLIAMS was heard in the Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, St. Louis, Missouri, July 15, 1920. You can read the entire decision, but here is a little background of the case as recorded in The Federal Reporter:

In September, 1915, appellee [Williams], under the name of Maybell Laboratories, commenced selling at Chicago, Ill., a preparation for promoting and stimulating the growth of eyebrows and lashes, under the tradename of Lash-Brow-Ine. The name was suggested by preparations of a similar character then on the market under the names of Eye-BrowIne and Lashneen. The suffix "ine" was used, because the principal ingredient contained in appellee's preparation was chiefly petrolatum, a form of vaseline. Appellee commenced to advertise his preparation in October, 1915, and since then has advertised in over 50 different magazines, and had paid for advertising at the time of trial $67,084.19; the monthly expense for advertising having increased to about $3,000 per month. The preparation, sold directly to consumers at 50 cents per box, had amounted to 149,000 mail orders since the business was started. Sales were also made in gross to about 3,000 dealers, located in every state of the Union. Appellee testified that he never heard of Lashbrow, or Lashbrow Laboratories, until about September 1, 1918. About November 1, 1918, appellee caused appellant [Ansehl] to be notified to cease infringing appellee's trade-mark. Appellant refusing so to do, this suit was commenced December 17, 1918.

Since commencing the sale of his preparation appellee has done a business amounting to $111,759.73. The trade-mark Lash-Brow-Ine was registered in the United States Patent Office April 24, 1917. The main ingredients of the preparation sold by appellee were a superfine petrolatum and paraffine, a high-grade perfume, and other small ingredients. No reply was received by appellee to the notification above stated until November 11, 1918, when the receipt of the letter of appellee of November 1, 1918, was acknowledged with a statement that appellant had used the trade-mark "Lashbrow" much earlier than 1915, and a request that appellee desist from infringing the same, or suit would be brought by the appellant for an injunction and an accounting. No such suit was brought.

There was introduced in evidence a large number of advertisements appearing in various publications. The evidence on the part of appellant showed that he conceived the idea of manufacturing and putting on the market a preparation for stimulating and promoting the growth of eyebrows and eyelashes in 1911; that the formula for this preparation was one used by his mother for her eyebrows and eyelashes when she was a girl. Appellant commenced selling his preparation in the spring of 1912, under the trade-mark of "Lashbrow," to a small drug store on Jefferson and Lafayette avenues in the city of St. Louis, Mo. This was followed by soliciting trade from all the large dealers and retail stores in St. Louis, where the preparation was offered for sale. Appellant then started a campaign of advertising which began on October 12, 1912, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This advertising brought him business from nearby states, such as Illinois and Indiana, and the entire Southwest. Appellant's business has been conducted since its commencement at 1755 Preston street, St. Louis, Mo., where he was doing business when enjoined in May, 1919. The stores referred to by appellant in his testimony were Wolf-Wilson, Judge & Dolph, Grand Leader, Famous & Barr, Nugent's, Hirsch's Hair Bazaar, and Schaper, being the leading stores in St. Louis. The preparation was sold through these stores in 1912. Appellant had printed 1,000 cardboard fliers and 1,000 transparent fliers, which were mailed to about 1,500 stores throughout the United States. A counter display card was also distributed throughout the country in 1913. A sample of appellant's preparation was mailed to the buyers of about 800 or 900 department stores throughout the country.

It's an interesting look at doing business in the early twentieth century and the birth of a mega corp.

In October, 1920 the decision was set down in favor of Benjamin Ansehl. Williams had to stop using the Lash-Brow-Ine name. From then on the ads, like the one at left featuring film star Phyllis Haver, featured only the Maybelline name. Williams had lost the battle. But a walk down any cosmetics aisle will tell you he clearly won the war.

Recommended reading:
Phyllis Haver: When Stars Burn Out (Tattered and Lost Ephemera)
Lash-Brow-Ine (Cosmetics and Skin)

Fantastic Flicker Alley Flick Fix: Restored Chicago (1927) Film Released

Chicago history buffs and classic film fans take note! Chicago:The Original 1927 Film has been transferred to disc by Flicker Alley and released in a special two-disc set!

Directed by Chicagoan Frank Urson and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, the silent film was thought to have been lost, but a print was found in DeMille's private collection and was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2006.

You know the story. Like the 2002 Best Picture musical version, Chicago is based on the 1926 Broadway play by Maurine Watkins. Gold-digging Roxie Hart, played by Phyllis Haver, knocks off her husband Amos (Victor Varconi)and is put on trial for murder. Roxie hires flashy lawyer Billie Flynn (Robert Edeson)and the courtroom hijinks begin in a mix of "humor and melodrama as well as a pungent critique of trash journalism."

In addition to Chicago, the set also includes:

two excellent bonus films: The Golden Twenties (1950), a compilation documentary feature produced by The March of Time from authentic footage of the era; and Oscar-winning Lauren Lazin's The Flapper Story (1985), in which several self-declared children of the roaring twenties look back across the decades on their youthful lives... All three films are produced for DVD by David Shepard. Included are a brochure by Thomas Pauly on author Maurine Watkins and the factual background of Chicago, notes by Robert S. Birchard, author of Cecil B. DeMille s Hollywood, and a special documentary supplement, Chicago; The Real Roxy Hart by Jeffery Masino and Silas Lesnick.

Recommended reading:
"He Had it Comin'"

Balancing Sacred and Secular: New Book on the Careys of Chicago

Received the following press release today from University Press of Mississippi regarding their latest release:

During most of the twentieth century, Archibald J. Carey, Sr. and Archibald J. Carey, Jr., father and son, exemplified the blend of ministry and politics that many African American religious leaders pursued. In African American Preachers and Politics: The Careys of Chicago, Dennic C. Dickerson describes the Careys as practitioners of public theology, in which sacred and secular concerns merged into efforts to improve the spiritual and temporal well-being of their congregations.

As ministers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the senior Carey as a bishop and the junior Carey as a pastor who was also an attorney, they entered the public arena, fought for black civil rights, and offered concrete initiatives through politics to address the employment and housing needs of their church and community constituents.

Bishop Carey [Sr.] associated himself mainly with Chicago mayor William Hale Thompson, a Republican, whom he presented to black voters as an ally. In return for the bishop’s endorsement, Thompson appointed him to the city’s civil service commission, where he helped in the hiring and promotion of local blacks. Alleged impropriety for selling jobs, however, marred the bishop’s tenure with the agency.

The junior Carey, also a Republican and an alderman, sponsored an ill-fated non-discrimination public housing ordinance. As head of the panel on anti-discrimination in employment in the Eisenhower administration, he aided innumerable black federal employees.

Both Careys believed politics offered clergy the best opportunities to empower the black population. Their imperfect alliances, however, produced mixed results. African American Preachers and Politics: The Careys of Chicago features several photographs of the Careys, their families, and their colleagues.

Dennis C. Dickerson, Nashville, Tennessee, is James M. Lawson, Jr. Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. His previous books are Out of the Crucible: Black Steelworkers in Western Pennsylvania, 1875-1980 and Militant Mediator: Whitney M. Young Jr.

Please, Mr. Comiskey, May I Have Some More?

On July 1, 1910 thousands of enthusiastic baseball fans entered the "Baseball Palace of the World," White Sox Park, for the very first time. Located at 35th Street and Shields Avenue, the team's new home would soon be known as Comiskey Park, after White Sox owner, Charles "The Old Roman" Comiskey (1859-1931)and was a far cry better than the South Side Grounds where the team had played the previous nine years.

The new ball field, designed by architect Zachary Taylor Davis, was the "greatest ball park in the land" said 1919 Comiskey biographer, Gustaf W. Axelson: (See The Chicago History Online Library for a link to the book)

Grand stand and bleacher were of concrete and steel and were arranged to seat 28,500. Later these were enlarged to take care of 32,000, which was the capacity at the world's series games in 1917. Surrounding the entire field is an ornamental brick wall. Only one field in the country exceeds it in size, the Boston National League park, which is deeper. The Polo Grounds in New York has the depth but lacks the distance in right and left fields.

The cost of the park measured Comiskey's wealth at the time, which was well over the half million mark. To-day the plant could not be duplicated for less than $1,000,000. Time and again when it was suggested that improvements at the old grounds would be appreciated Comiskey would always reply that as soon as he could pay cash for land and stands he would build a park which would be a monument to the game. He made good his word when the new park was thrown open on July 1.

The Chicago Tribune, in their own distinctive style, recounted the festivities on July 2:

“Charles A. Comiskey’s big housewarming party went off without a hitch yesterday, unless the subsidiary fact that the St. Louis Browns were ungracious enough to beat our boys, 2 to 0, in the first game at their splendid new home was construed into disappointment by some of the throng which gathered from all parts of the baseball world to do honor to the occasion.

"Success crowned the tremendous efforts which have been put forth in the last few weeks to get the mammoth plant ready for its christening and it passed through its baptisms as if to the manor born, while tens of thousands of the Old Roman’s friends cheered at every possible opportunity to show their appreciation of the gift he had prepared to them.

"Twenty-four thousand and nine hundred fans paid their way to the party, according to the official announcement...the great stands smilingly held out their bunting clad arms and gathered them all into their capacious laps without crowding anywhere.

"Unfinished as the plant was in spots, its decorations of bright tri-colored bunting and potted plants and ferns distracted attention from everything except the giant proportions of the structures themselves. In fact the size of the new palace was what most forcibly struck all visitors who were making their first call. As each emerged from the sloping inclines which led to the rear of the main stand he or she stopped for a moment in silent awe, gazing at the broad, sweeping lines of the stands and at the seemingly endless rows of seats.”

It was indeed a momentous moment in baseball history and the festivities would continue long after the ballplayers hit the locker room. That evening, Comiskey held a banquet at the Chicago Automobile Club; a "fitting climax to the day." Over 150 notable guests gathered to raise a glass to the "Old Roman's continued good health and prosperity." Most of Chicago's dignitaries and notables were there and the toastmaster was none other than B. Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, co-founder (with Comiskey) and President of the American League, which included the Sox. (Note: The American League Champs that year were the Philadelphia Athletics who went on to beat the National League Chicago Cubs 4 games to 1 in the World Series. Some things never change.)

At the conclusion of the great feast, "an incident occurred showing that President Comiskey never forgets the least of his friends even in the moment of greatest success." Nine years later, in 1919 there would be many who would disagree with such praise, but on this night Comiskey was the toast of Chicago and baseball. To prove his generosity, bighearted Charlie ordered that all the leftovers be sent to the Newsboys' Home.



What a guy, that Charlie Comiskey!


My thanks to Arne Christensen of Misc. Baseball for graciously allowing me to reprint a portion of his post, "Opening Up Comiskey Park in 1910."

Recommended Reading:
Memories of Old Comiskey Park (great photos of construction and opening day)
Charles Comiskey and the White Sox (Chicago History Files)


Photo credit:
Opening Day, July 1, 1910 Sports Encyclopedia; White Sox
Charlie Comiskey: School is Cool