by Paul R. Spitzzeri
In America’s sesquicentennial year of 1926, making the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a very ambitious Sesquicentennial National Exposition was mounted from 31 May to 31 December at Philadelphia, which hosted a large-scale one for the centennial a half-century earlier, while groups in Los Angeles organized a Pageant of Liberty for 5 July (choosing to avoid a Sunday, on which the natal day fell).
In fact, a woman pastor speaking at a Philadelphia gathering of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union “demanded the mayor [W. Freeland Kendrick] close the sesquicentennial exposition on Sundays” as well as shuttering any newsstands that sold “suggestive material” and insisting that women stage actors wear “Mother Hubbard” dresses.
The Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News of 7 May informed readers that,
The Los Angeles County exhibit at the Sesqui-Centennial Exposition to be held in Philadelphia . . . will be the first display to be completed [announced Charles P. Bayer, field service and exposition department head for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce] . . . The local display will consist of a Mission building, two stories in heights, 35 by 90 feet in size. Local industrial and agricultural products will be on display. Spanish singers and dancers will perform during the exposition.
The same day’s Los Angeles Times echoed the news but added that this “has been the case since Los Angeles county started entering exhibits in expositions and fairs,” while it remarked that “every phase of the county’s industrial and agricultural life will be depicted.” It noted the detail that “inside the building will be a patio with a fountain and garden” and “paintings of some of the most scenic spots in Los Angeles” were to be shown, as well, amid the displays which were to include literature from all over the county. The newspapers of such cities as Arcadia, Hermosa Beach and Pomona reported of their efforts to promote through pamphlets.
On a broader level, it was announced that the Philadelphia festival would include ceremonies to honor winners of an American Youth Award and American Teacher Award with President Calvin Coolidge said to be presenting gold medals to recipients for each state in events at the White House rather than at the expo. Criteria for determining winners were to include courage, heroism, leadership, patriotism and sacrifice and the recipients were to attend the festivities from 28 June to 5 July.
Advertisements from Bullock’s department store, beginning mid-month, informed shoppers that “a limited number of The New Sesqui-Centennial 2c Postage Stamps” were available, having been sent from the City of Brotherly Love by rushed air mail delivery. Available at the store’s information bureau, the stamps were subject to limited quantity purchases because of the restricted number made available.
On the 24th, announced the Illustrated Daily News of that day, Bayer, of the Chamber of Commerce, was heading back to Philadelphia with the items for the county exhibit. The paper observed that “a special baggage car will be loaded to the roof with materials and equipment” as this was being done about a week before the commencement of the festivities. Three days later, the paper remarked that a lecture hall was to be made available for Dr. Fredrick V. Fisher, who was to talk about “L.A. Wonders” using “one of the most complete sets of colored lantern slides” as illustrations.
The Times of the 25th editorialized about the impending opening of “Philadelphia’s Big Show,” which was deemed “the most modern and probably the most decorative and instructive of all the commemorative industrial expositions” since the 1850s. The paper essayed some of the more important expos since, including the world’s fair at Chicago in 1893, the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901 (this is where President William McKinley was assassinated), the St. Louis World Fair of 1904 and the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco in 1915.
The paper wondered if the sesquicentennial event would measure up to these and other examples, remarking that “the 150th anniversary . . . furnishes an inspiration for the city that played so important a part in that historic struggle to surpass all former efforts.” It was added that a preview sent from Mayor Kendrick was such that it “warrants the belief that the Pennsylvania metropolis will live up to the opportunity presented.”
The event was on “a magnificent scale” in terms of the size of the grounds, the buildings, the massive Liberty Bell replica with 20,000 lights and the Times asserted that “the Hollywood exhibit is announced as the feature of the whole big show.” Moreover, it was remarked that “the attendance is expected to be in proportion to the splendors of the program offered,” with some claiming that 40 million visitors were expected, but the editorial ended with the comment that,
No doubt, were it not for the superior attractions of our own summer resorts, thousands of Californians would be found in Philadelphia every week while the big show is in progress.
It was more than telling, though, when the 28 May number shared a brief telegraphic report that “martial music has been called into play to speed up construction of the buildings” with the Philadelphia police department band “halting at unfinished buildings to encourage the workmen to better effort.”
As opposed to the Times, the San Pedro News-Pilot of the 21st was much more critical of the national event, telling its readers, in an editorial titled “The Big Show” that,
It seems largely Philadelphia’s fault that the nation is not in a ferment of expectation regarding that show . . . The city seemed strangely slow in making up its mind about the exposition, and slow in tackling the job. As a result, the buildings and grounds are far from ready, and it is hardly possible that half the exhibits will be in place for the formal opening. Naturally publicity has lagged, too.
While it was noted that “it is expected to be a fine, big show eventually, representing American development during the most wonderful period of our history,” the piece continued that “there is real danger that, because of delayed completion and disappointment on the part of the first visitors, the fair as a whole will suffer.” The article concluded that “there ought to be a Herculean effort to put over the Sesquicentennial in a characteristic American way.”
The exposition opened a day early, on 31 May, to allow for visits from Shriners in a convention at Philadelphia (Mayor Kendrick was a member of the fraternal order) and the Times hailed the “miracle city” ready to host an estimate of 30 million visitors with a Shriners parade, a ball, street dancing and fireworks, while Secretary of Commerce (and the next president) Herbert Hoover and Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg were featured speakers at the new stadium (later John F. Kennedy Stadium) where 50 planes were also to perform stunts. The paper did record that “thousands of men toiled in the hot sun today within the exposition area hurrying the building and other work to completion.”
With respect to the Pageant of Liberty in Los Angeles, planning continued apace. The Times of 2 May reported that a meeting was held in the City Council chambers at City Hall (then located on Broadway between 2nd and 3rd streets with the current edifice completed in April 1928). The account went on that, “Chairman Edwards Davis of the executive committee . . . called attention that considerable work must be done in getting the great pageant whipped into shape in time for presentation.” The paper noted that, “it is to be one of the most spectacular and impressive Fourth of July celebrations ever presented, featuring the presentation of naturalization papers to a large class of new citizens . . .”
Two days later, an editorial in the paper, under the heading of “Birth of Liberty,” offered a brief tribute as it remarked, though one might ponder why Uncle Sam wasn’t examined as to his physical appearance at the time:
The Goddess of Liberty will be 150 years old this July, but she doesn’t look a bit worn and she doesn’t have to have her face lifted. It is barely possible that she powders and paints a little, but none of her kindred are catching her at it. She is a mighty well-preserved person and is no need of sympathetic treatment. Instead of being confined to a wheel chair she is more likely to be caught doing a fox trot. It is a fine thing that the movie folk hereabout are going to have a birthday party for the Goddess. Trust to them to provide a pageant of Liberty that will be worth remembering—even by the lady herself.
Following the next planning meeting, held on the 15th at the Chamber of Commerce quarters, the Times of the following day recorded that “a general outline of the ‘Pageant of Liberty’ . . . was heartily approved by the executive committee.” Film director Frank Lloyd, a 1929 Academy Award winner who took an Oscar home four years later and was nominated a third time for his well-known Mutiny on the Bounty, was credited with the concept.
Before remarking that another meeting was soon to be held to follow through on Lloyd’s suggestions, the paper added,
As outlined, the pageant gives promise of being probably the most colorful and impressive celebration of the Fourth of July ever witnessed in the West. High lights in the history of the United States will be presented in the Coliseum before 85,000 persons. The spectacle will be presented largely by employing floats. There will be veritable armies of men and horses with figures in the national history present, such as Washington, Grant, Lee, Abraham Lincoln and others. A feature of the celebration will be the administration of the oath of citizenship to about 400 aliens.
The prior day’s Illustrated Daily News observed that Lloyd served as chair while Davis was away and added that “Boyle Workman, president of the city council, has sent a message to President Coolidge urging the nation’s executive to attend the celebration or send as a proxy some high government official to deliver to 500 aliens applying for final papers their certificates of citizenship, a feature of the program.” Workman, a great-nephew of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste, served on the council and as its president for much of the 1920s.
In its number of the 22nd, following the planning meeting of the evening prior, the Times noted that “Gen. John J. Pershing,” hero of the First World War and for whom Pershing Square became the new name for Central Park, “will be invited to deliver the address of the day at the Pageant of Liberty.” The article also mentioned that a crowd of 100,000 was expected, so extra attention was called for by the executive committee “to avoid major mistakes” for what was presumed to be “the greatest event of its kind ever held in the country.”
Among the other items generated from the confab was that “arrangements were made for the publishing of souvenir programs,” of which one is in the Homestead’s collection, “of such attractiveness that they can be sent to all parts of the country.” It was mentioned that “these programs will be edited and illustrated by competent experts and sold for a nominal sum.” Moreover, it was remarked,
In preparing the pageant, the committee members revealed, all the motion-picture and theatrical talent of the Southland is co-operating, assuring the best technical art in the presentation of the pageant. In this connection, plans have been completed to present many of the great scenes of American History. Washington, Lincoln, Betsy Ross and many others will be impersonated by competent actors in events that took place.
Also of significance was the report that, in addition to assuring the presence of the naturalized citizens, “it was decided at the meeting last night to invite to the next meeting of the executive committee . . . leaders of many racial groups throughout the city and county that their cooperation may be obtained.” Nothing, however, was located that elaborated on what these groups were and what discussions were had with them.
The Los Angeles Record of the 26th remarked that “it is planned to open the exercises with a musical program provided by several bands and the singing of ‘America’ by a chorus of from 500 to 1000 trained voices.” A few days later, it was announced that Arthur Farwell, a composer not much remembered these days, but considered a major figure in his time, and who, from 1921 to 1925, was holder of a fellowship from the Pasadena Music and Art Association, would serve as the Pageant’s musical director.
His work was especially important with the massive chorus and rehearsals were scheduled in the first half of June to develop this element. The paper continued that the performance of the well-known tune was to be “followed by the entrance of 1000 aliens applying for final citizenship papers and who will be the guests of honor escorted by Boy Scouts.”
So, while the Philadelphia sesquicentennial exposition was launched at the end of May, though with concerns about the delays in construction and program elements, not to mention the cost of mounting the event, the plans were solidifying for the Pageant of Liberty in Los Angeles as the month came to a close and some five weeks remained until that celebration was conducted. We’ll return tomorrow with part five taking us to the end of spring, the onset of summer and up to the critical day of the 4th of July, so be sure to come back and join us for that.
As noted in this post, the postage rate was just 2¢ in 1926, exactly a century ago. Today, the rate has risen to 82¢, a forty-one fold (4,100 / 100) increase, equivalent to an average annual increase of about 3.8%. That exceeds the long-term U.S. average inflation rate of approximately 3.15% per year.
Given that our postal system has operated at a financial loss for many years and has often been criticized as a slow-moving colossus, It is no surprise that the postal system has come to rely not only on regular postage rate increases, but also on increases that consistently outpace inflation to keep its operations afloat.