Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Chicago World's Fair 1893 #1 (From Eric Beheim)


Hagenbeck 1893, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Attached are two Hagenbeck photos from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. The first one shows their building on the Midway and the second one shows one of the mixed acts that they presented in Chicago. According to Frank Buck, prior to World War I, the Hagenbecks were the chief distributors of wild animals to Europe and America. All of the German diplomatic missions in the jungle outposts of the world served as Hagenbeck agents, and would acquire and send animals back to him in Germany. The British naval blockades of World War I ended this monopoly and provided an opportunity for people like Buck to establish themselves as dealers in wild animals.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone interested in The Columbia Exposition of 1893...Should read "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson (Non fiction) I read it 2 years ago and it was Excellent...You can find it in paperback at Borders or Barnes & Noble...


Their fates were linked by the magical Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, nicknamed the “White City” for its majestic beauty. Architect Daniel Burnham built it; serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes used it to lure victims to his World’s Fair Hotel, designed for murder. Both men left behind them a powerful legacy, one of brilliance and energy, the other of sorrow and darkness.

Here, then, is your ticket to the greatest fair in history—a place where incredible dreams came to life alongside darkest nightmares.

Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramatic effect of a novel. . . . A dynamic, enveloping book. . . . It doesnÕt hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction." --The New York Times

Raffaele De Ritis said...

It is a wonderful book!

Anonymous said...

I'm always a day behind reading the blog in the UK!

While the entertainment presented by, and in the name of, the famous Carl Hagenbeck at the World Fair in Chicago is well documented, it would appear that the lion tamer Col.E Daniel Boone was there too, at least during September 1893!

A Minnesota Newspaper, The Freeborn County Standard on 27th September 1893 reported that ‘The Minneapolis Exposition is now in splendid running order’… and goes on to say:-
‘There are a number of special features of a varied nature and adapted to the tastes of all classes of visitor.” One of the most popular of these is the performing lion display of Col. E. Daniel Boone. The lions perform many wonderful tricks in a large steel cage in full view of the audience. The small auditorium, in which the display takes place, is crowded five times a day.’
The reports goes on to describe the other exhibits that were a feature of the Minneapolis contribution to the Fair.

And of course Col. Boone was at the San Francisco Midwinter Fair the following year. When his act was described as "One of the most prominent concessional features of the exposition has been the Wild Animal Arena where Col. E. Daniel Boone has been giving performances with lions and other animals, which is said by many to surpass the famous show given by Hagenbeck on the Midway in Chicago."

Paul Griffiths

Anonymous said...

The World's Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World's Fair), a World's Fair, was held in Chicago in 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World.

Chicago beat out New York City, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, to host the fair. The Chicago Columbian Exposition was designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted. It was the prototype of what Burnham thought a city should be. It was designed to follow Beaux Arts principles of design, namely, European Classical Architecture principles based on symmetry and balance.

The Exposition covered more than 600 acres (2.4 km2), featuring nearly 200 new buildings of classical architecture, canals and lagoons, and people and cultures from around the world. Over 27 million people (equivalent to about half the U.S. population) attended the Exposition during its six-month run.
Dedication ceremonies for the fair were held on October 21, 1892, but the fairgrounds were not actually opened to the public on May 1, 1893and continued until October 30, 1893. In addition to recognizing the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World, the fair also served to show the world that Chicago had risen from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, which had destroyed much of the city in 1871.

Wade G. Burck said...

Paul,
Good information, but as it is a Minnesota newspaper claiming the show is better then Hagenbecks I would question it's validity and impartiality. By the same token if it was written in a Hamburg newspaper that the Hagenbeck show was far superior to Col. Boone's, it would be wise to verify. There is a lot of self serving paper hung in show business.
Wade Burck

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite stories of the Fair was..How Buffalo Bill applied to present his Wild West Show at the Fair Burnham and the other Higher-ups thought his show was second rate and not worthy...So Mr. Cody rented a lot right outside the Fairgrounds and Cleaned up (Money wise)..In fact, The Wild West Show became known to fair goers as a "Must See" when attending the Columbia Exposition.. International dignitaries even requested to visit Buffalo Bill and his much talked about show....

Anonymous said...

Wade,
I agree entirely with your comment.
I think the following says something about about his publicity and character of the person responsible!!
In this incident in April 1894...
"Harry Hamilton, Col. Boone’s press agent harangued the crowd until he too was arrested."

paul Griffiths