Wednesday, September 19, 2018

LIVE STOCK PROGRAM


5 comments:

Chic Silber said...


Thanks Eric

Eric said...

In addition to the International Live Stock Exhibition’s livestock judging events, which took place during the day, each evening there would be a high-class horse show. One of its the most popular attractions were the demonstrations put on in the arena by matched teams of Clydesdales.

Chic Silber said...


In 1940 many circus programs

sold for much less than this

Eric said...

This was one of the nation's top horse shows and attracted all of the top names from the horse show circuit. Horse show audiences are usually more affluent than the average citizen, and could well afford to pay 25 cents for a program. The 1941 International Live Stock Exhibition closed on December 6th. The next day, Pearl Harbor was attacked and we were involved in World War II. During the war, the International Amphitheatre was used by the U.S. Army as a storage facility. The International Live Stock Exhibition and horse show weren't held again until 1946. By then, the cost of the program had jumped to 50 cents.

Eric said...

Before the start of each evening’s horse show, there would be a concert by Colonel Armin F. Hand and His Band. (The program even listed the selections that were played during each of these concerts.) Armin Hand’s father started the band the 1800s. During World War I, Armin was one of Sousa’s assistants with the Great Lakes Naval Training Center Band. Later, he was one of Chicago’s busiest musicians, playing for political events, parades, park concerts, sporting events, society horse shows, etc. His musical programs for the 1935 horse show used many of the same selections by Gershwin, Youmans, Warren, Herbert, etc. that were played for the Ringling Circus over the years. He undoubtedly knew Merle Evans and probably was the one who contracted the local bands when the Ringling show played Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. After Armin Hand passed away in 1966, his son Armin Hand, Jr. took over the band. Chicago area circus music fans will probably know who Armin Hand was.