by Paul R. Spitzzeri
After about a half-year of planning and preparation, involving hundreds of persons on multiple committees from many Angel City organizations, the Pageant of Liberty, comprising more than 30 tableaux on floats, accompanied by music, including a choir of 1,000 singers, was held in the cavernous Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on 5 July 1926 (not the 4th because that was a Sunday).
The Los Angeles Express, which had an “animated weekly” newsreel showing in some local movie theatres including clips from the Pageant, of that evening remarked that, with the observance of the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,
Los Angeles joined today in the nationwide commemoration of that historic event. The perennial clamor and uproar that usually marked the Fourth of July celebration is tempered somewhat this year by the restrictive edicts issued against the inordinate use of fireworks and noise-producing contrivances. A series of minor commemorative exercises, held in the various parts of the city, culminated in a monster “Pageant of Liberty” at the Coliseum this afternoon.
The paper added that the event “may pioneer the nation in the field of unique Independence Day observance” because it was “stupendous in scope and magnificent in conception.” At the stadium, “the embattled heroes of a bygone day, who fought for liberty from an oppressor nation, and others who shed their blood that the nation conceived in 1776 might continue to live, were reincarnated . . . for the benefit of the patriots of a later generation.”
Organizers were so pleased with the “spectacular review of America’s first 150 years of independence” that they were confident it “will establish a standard for patriotic achievement unrivalled in America.” As for the naturalization ceremony, with newly minted citizens “escorted . . . with proper military ceremony,” the Express told its readers that,
The “graduation” of 1000 new Americans, who today will be received publicly into the nation, is one of the master strokes of genius conceived by [movie director] Frank Lloyd when he first presented his dream of a pageant of patriotism to a group of leading citizens at Hotel Biltmore. Col. John R. Quinn, past national commander of the American Legion, welcomed the new citizens with a talk based on “The Spirit of Americanism in peace and in war; Boyle Workman, president of the City Council, delivered tribute to those who died for independence. The oath of allegiance was delivered by Judge Carlos S. Hardy.
The Los Angeles Record offered an editorial on its sentiments for how the sesquicentennial holiday should be celebrated, telling readers “it is not enough on this occasion for us as patriots to indulge in mere waving of bunting, in mere mouthing of fine praises, in mere gestures of pride in the social and material progress we have made.”
Rather, the paper continued, “it is of prime importance” that “the meaning of the independence we celebrate” be clearly recognized, including not just what the revolutionary generation encountered in terms of “profound problems,” but “that we realize what it meant in a hostile world to proclaim new doctrines of democracy and to dare to give battle in their behalf.” It then propounded,
A real Fourth of July celebration should rededicate the nation to the cause of freedom and light new fires of faith in popular government on every hill “from sea to shining sea.” This Independence Day does not belong to the Tories and the reactionaries! It belongs to the common man who aspires to make the world a better place for himself and those most dear to him to live in.
Marion Simms of the Los Angeles Illustrated Daily News of the 6th began her coverage of the event with the observation that, “the years were brushed aside with a magnificent sweep of artistry” during the “gigantic Pageant of Liberty” as she added that “more than 60,000 spectators witnessed the brilliant display in the Coliseum.” The event began with the “grand march” of the new citizens, followed by the singing of “America” by the Farwell-conducted “Liberty Chorus,” after which it was stated “that the gates of the nation swing outward as well as inward was the message of Mayor Cryer.”
The “tableaux floats” were next, while “one of the more spectacular events of the program was the Ride of Paul Revere, depicted by [Western film star] Tom Mix and his horse, Tony” with Simms noting that “the Coliseum echoed with cheers to the midnight cry, as horse and rider sped up the stairs of the stadium and disappeared through the stone arch.” She continued that “another screen player who brought forth extra cheers was Hoot Gibson,” another popular actor in Western pictures, “as the pony express rider.”
Returning to Farwell’s contribution, it was recorded that “patriotic songs were sung, while a huge replica of the cracked Liberty bell, in which radio loud speakers were housed, solemnly tolled in rhythm.” Credit for the design of the replica was given to Henry Oliver of the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio and it was added that it was “presented to the City Park Board for permanent installation in one of the city parks.” What happened to it would certainly be interesting to know.
Probably the only people of color participating in the pageant were those portraying Indians in the Mission-era California segment, which included representations of the Mission period, John C. Frémont during the Mexican-American War and the Gold Rush era, as it was reported that “the brown-skinned natives were brought to Los Angeles from [actor] Harry Carey’s Trading Post at Saugus [Santa Clarita], while Harry, himself, guided the covered wagon.”
An interesting anecdote concerned the segment highlighting Abraham Lincoln as Simms as she wrote,
The emancipator—Abraham Lincoln! Of the thousands of spectators who cheered the appearance of the silent dark-haired figure in a slow-moving carriage, none was more eager in his applause than Charles Bock, a 98-year-old member of the audience, who knew Lincoln before he became President of the United States. Still active, in spite of his great age, Bock was one of the first arrivals at the stadium yesterday.
The German-born Bock, reported to have delivered butter and eggs to the future chief executive and a veteran of the Union Army serving under Lincoln during the Civil War, migrated to Burbank before 1910. He resided just northwest of the Coliseum when the event was held and died in March 1927, leaving a widow to whom he was married for 72 years and with whom he had a son and six daughters.
Simmons recounted more of the event’s components with respect to further tableaux, musical performances, military personnel escorts, the oath administered to the naturalized citizens by Judge Hardy and the closing of the mass singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” She closed with the remark that,
As the final words of the nation’s anthem were flung to the California sky, the sun broke through the gray curtain of the late afternoon and ended one of the biggest pageant attempts of Los Angeles in a burst of sunshine.
The Los Angeles Times opened its review with “50,000 men, women and children wept and cheered, applauded and sang” as “the beauty, the color and the meaning of the pageantry gripped the great audience as no public celebration locally ever has.” Moreover, it was remarked that “the genius of the motion picture industry of Hollywood . . . was evident” and “the result obtained a remarkable response from those present.”
It was reiterated, from direct observation, that “men and women actually wept, their emotions stirred so deeply” by what they saw in the tableaux as they “burst into the singing of patriotic songs . . . with a fervor so seldom witnessed in a public gathering.” Another notable commentary concerned the naturalization ceremony and the assertion that “it brought home to the thousands [of attendees born into citizenship] looking on the realization that they have been enjoying these many years inalienable rights that others must acquire by formal procedure.” Therefore, it was remarked, “citizenship thus visualized took on a real meaning.”
The end result, the Times commented, was that,
Many of those in the Coliseum crowd had come to the place as “just a way to spend the Fourth.” They went away thinking as they never thought before of the story of America.
When it came to the tableaux and reenactments, it was stated that the depiction of war between the British Redcoats and the ragtag rebels was such that “a most realistic battle was staged with such intensity that the vast assembly was thrilled breathless” and “one woman in the audience collapsed and was carried to the emergency hospital on the grounds.” For the California portion, “Spanish dons in dazzling costumes on fiery chargers encircled the field” and they and those playing Serra and the native people “drew feeling applause,” while, after a quick rundown over the rest of the elements, it was recorded that the performers “enacted parts with a sincerity and feeling that seemed to come from the inspiration of the occasion.”
The success of the show seemed to have been such that, the piece concluded,
Many expressions of a desire to have the pageant reproduced for the benefit of those who missed it yesterday were heard last night in noteworthy quarters with the proposal that it be re-enacted soon.
Ira C. Tichenor of the Illustrated Daily News in his “Around the World in 24 Hours” column remarked that, when it came to the “magnificent . . . gigantic Pageant of Liberty, one number on the extensive and wonderfully worth-while program seemed to stand out in most agreeable significance.” For the journalist, “this was the parade of 1,000 foreign-born men and women who have received their final American citizenship papers thus far during the current year in this city.”
Adding that this number hardly involved all of those who earned their rights of citizenship during the first six months of 1926, Tichenor concluded,
the number was great enough to be most impressive and to confirm, in a way, the declaration made on previous occasions that Los Angeles has become possibly the greatest melting pot in the country.
Most certainly it was a most positive object lesson to approximately 9,000,000 foreign-born residents of America who thus far have failed to make even their initial declaration of intention of seeking citizenship under the Stars and Stripes.
The estimated United States population by the federal census bureau was not too far about 117 million, so the percentage of those born elsewhere and who were not citizens was close to 8% of the total, while today, according to the website of Congress, there are about 24 million such people amid a population of nearly 350 million, or just under 7%.
Speaking of population, it is interesting to observe the Record‘s publishing of an article in its edition of the 5th by David Dietz, a university lecturer and writer on science who, a decade later, won a Pulitzer Prize for his work and who wrote that “science is running a race with population growth today.” He commented that estimates for 2026 was a planetary population of 5.2 billion, which “represents the maximum population which this earth of ours can support with present methods of agriculture and power production.”
It was added that all available arable land would be under cultivation, that reindeer would be commercially raised in the Arctic, that “living will be far harder than it is today” as “competition will be keener, prices higher and luxuries fewer.” Moreover, the predictions continued, “the whole world will resemble the China and India of today, where famine follows crop failures” and “immigration will be prohibited by every nation of the world” because all countries would be at their maximum. The situation would be so dire, it was observed, that “the cruel operation of nature through famine, disease or war will mow down this excess population in a short time.
But, Dietz countered, “science hopes to free mankind from the earth,” so that there would be factory-produced food” with farms only kept by hobbyists and “there will be no need for mines or oil fields” because “the vast amount of energy sent us by the sun will be caught and utilized” (the Temple family, owners of the Homestead in 1926, used solar panels to heat water in the bathrooms of the Workman House and La Casa Nueva, an early use of this technology). There would also be power as “the energy locked up in the atoms of matter will be set free.” It was opined that large cities were not going to be required because food and power could be generated everywhere and air travel would be universal, including by commuters traveling to work from 100 to 200 miles away. Fascinating stuff to think about for us in 2026!
The Times, never shy about vociferously expressing its support of the local “open shop,” that is, (mostly) non-union, labor environment, in its number of the 7th, under a headline of “UNION WON’T BE A PATRIOT FOR NOTHING,” assailed the local musicians’ union, which did not have representation at the pageant, while a half-dozen bands volunteered to perform. The paper reported that, when union officers were invited by event organizers to send a band, the response was that an ensemble of at least 35 musicians would involve charges of $5 each for the first hour and $2 for each subsequent hour. If this was agreed to, union members could play in the other bands appearing on a volunteer basis.
Otherwise, the article went on, if these conditions were not accepted, union members would be fined $100 each and their insurance revoked. It was here that the Times informed readers that it was the 233 Club that “would bear all loss incurred” and donate any profit from 25-cent ticket sales to soldiers’ organizations. The refusal of the union to allow its members to play gratis, however, was implicitly criticized and its secretary was quoted as saying, “they wanted us to volunteer our services and we didn’t see why we should.”
Not content with this, the Times of the 10th issued an excoriating editorial in its edition under the title of “DOLLAR PATRIOTS,” including the remark that the conditions imposed by the union were done so for such other events as the National Orange Show at San Bernardino and Pasadena’s famed Tournament of Roses and it added,
Despite the union’s fist [fiat?], some union musicians played in some of the six bands that gave their services Independence Day; and the best thing that could happen to music in Los Angeles would be for the union now to attempt to enforce the penalty. It may be said the absence of the union bands was not particularly noticed at the pageant.
That being the case, though, why did the Times feel the need to publish an article and an editorial about the matter? The editorial provided the answer, as it was commented that, as at the Pageant, “there has been plenty of other music sent out on the ether from The Times’ radio station [KHJ, since April 1922] since the musicians’ union declared a boycott of it some months ago, threatening dire penalties.” The paper asserted that, in neither case, did the quality of music suffer.
Having made this claim, the Times then ended with,
But it is the spirit of the thing that is objectionable. Such tactics may be acceptable as a matter of course in cities where unions dominate, but in the freer air of Los Angeles they are intolerable. A few more such exhibitions of dollar patriotism by union officials probably will lead to a revolt from within.
A few other post-Pageant items of note are worth relating. One is that the half-dozen teachers of prize-winning students from the George Washington Patriotic Essay contest sponsored by the Express embarked on their vacation to Glacier National Park in Montana. The Black-owned California Eagle, in its issue of the 30th, told its readers that Irene Butler of Central Junior High School and who was the only African-American student in her class (she graduated, as one of two Black students, in 1929 from Monrovia High School), while accumulating many achievements and honors on campus, was also a second-prize winner in the contest, for which she won a $10 pair of shoes.
Lastly, a letter to the Record of the 27th from “Even Stephen,” identified as a resident of the National Soldiers’ Home at Sawtelle (Westwood) and a veteran of the Spanish-American and First World wars, lavished kudos on the Pageant. He wrote:
I believe I am expressing the sentiments of 60,000 spectators when I saw that it was the most inspiring and spectacular exhibition ever given in this great Coliseum of the Southland. I saw countless numbers of men and women weeping silently and unashamed through tears of joy, thrilled at the sight of each spectacle, depicting those outstanding figures in our national history. Enough praise and credit cannot be given those who responded so generously and made this magnificent event a success.
I solemnly believe there was not a single man, woman or child present who was not proud of being an American living in this glorious United States.
Tomorrow is the Homestead’s presentation of a talk on how Los Angeles commemorated the 1876 centennial and 1926 sesquicentennial anniversaries of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States, so the final part eight of this post will summarize the latter. Be sure to check back for that!