World Exhibition (1933)

Chicago, founded in 1833, was already the venue for the World Exhibition: in 1893, the city hosted the so-called World's Columbian Exposition . Decorated in the Bozar style, the 1893 exhibition was remembered for visitors by the Ferris wheel , which at that time was a miracle of technical thought, and by the performances of the belly dancer Little Ijipt. Its implementation was mainly financed from the city treasury, state budget and federal funds ^[1] .

After the First World War, the holding of international exhibitions and fairs quickly enough resumed with the same scale. The French government-funded Colonial Exhibition in 1922 in Marseille, organized in 1924-1925 in the suburbs of London by the British Imperial Exhibition and the One and a half- year World Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1926, enjoyed great success with the public. The success of these events impressed the city of Chicago. In the city itself, already in 1921, the Progress Festival was held, attracting more than a million visitors in two weeks, despite the difficult criminal situation in Chicago. In the light of the financial success of these events, it was decided to organize the World Exhibition in Chicago, dedicated to the centenary of the city, the organization of which was chosen as the artificial North Island - a narrow bulk strip of land south-east of Chicago-Loop . In 1927, tycoon Rufus Doz was elected chairman of the organizing committee of the exhibition. Doz involved in organizing the exhibition his brother Charles , a former senator and vice president of the Coolidge administration, who led the financial commission of the exhibition. The chief engineer of the commission was appointed military engineer Lenox Lore - future president of NBC ^[2] .

Most of the time during which preparations for the exhibition were going on coincided with the first years of the Great Depression , as a result of which more than a quarter of US workers were unemployed. In these conditions, the organizers decided to refuse financing from state or municipal funds and made a bet on private capital ^[3] . The Dose brothers managed to secure the support of a significant number of American, primarily Chicago, entrepreneurs, who secured $ 12 million in investments at the first stage, and as a result, over 100 million were spent on organizing the exhibition. Among the capitalists who contributed to the financing of the exhibition was Julius Rosenwald , head of Sears, Roebuck & Co. ^[2] . Capital injections into the preparation of the exhibition had a strong positive impact on the situation with jobs in Chicago and the surrounding region, and subsequently some of the organizers' methods were adopted by the administration of F. D. Roosevelt as part of its “ New Deal ” ^[4] .

According to the American historian Cheryl Hans, the organizers of the exhibition - for the most part large businessmen, often dealing with the military-industrial complex - did not share the belief in improving the human race and a more equitable future, characteristic of the organizers of the first World Exhibitions. If they had any humanistic illusions, they were dispelled by the First World War . The belief in humanity as an engine of social progress has been replaced by the belief that the only type of progress is technological, driven by science and industry. The future exhibition owed these views to its unofficial motto: “ Science Finds, Industry Implements, Man Adapts ” ( Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms ). In turn, technological development, from the point of view of the organizers of the exhibition, was dictated by the growth of consumer demands of humanity and the desire to improve living standards. Accordingly, the emphasis of the exposition was on how modern technologies can facilitate and make everyday life more convenient ^[1] . If nine corporations took part in the exhibition in 1893, then forty years later the number of pavilions of individual companies exceeded two dozen, and the monumental Palace of Science ( English Hall of Science ) became the cornerstone of the entire exposition. The exhibition in Chicago was also seen by industrialists as an opportunity to strengthen the general public’s faith in the positive role of science and industry, which during the previous war was hit by the use of scientific innovations to exterminate people. To achieve this goal, the organization was involved, in particular, the National Research Council ( Eng. National Research Council ^[2] .

If the dominant style in the architecture of the Columbus Exhibition was monochrome bozar, then in 1933 the exhibition buildings became multicolored, and their lines became rational in a modern way ^[2] . The main style of buildings was Art Deco , in the construction of modern widely used cheap materials - sheet metal and prestressed concrete ^[5] . In the past, individual architects or construction companies were entrusted with the construction of separate pavilions, but by the Century of Progress whole sections of the exhibition territory were distributed between architects. So, Edward Bennett’s office was assigned the area north of the central lagoon of the exhibition, Hubert Burnham’s company - an area south of 23rd Street, and so on. Well-known theater artist Joseph Urban and numerous designers were involved in the design. Among the specialists whose organizers did not want to use the services was Frank Lloyd Wright , who later called the exhibition design style “false” ^[2] .

The Centennial of Progress exhibition was held from May 27 to November 12, 1933 ^[2] . The total length of the route for all objects of the exhibition was 82 miles (132 km ) with an admission price of 50 cents. The exhibition featured exhibits that were directly related to high science (for example, an exposition at the Science Palace dedicated to sulfur chemistry), and emphasized common folk, fair entertainments - such as the performances of trained fleas ^[5] or Odditorium ( English Odditorium ) made in the style of "freak show", characteristic of fairs of the past. The sensation produced the strip show Sally Rand in the pavilion "Streets of Paris". The Chicago Encyclopedia writes that Rand, a talented actress with a good sense of humor, made more sense in her room than the average spectator was ready to catch - this performance was conceived as a parody of rich ladies from Chicago high society spending huge sums of costumes on while many Americans in the Great Depression did not have enough money for clothes. Other popular attractions were a skyride , the rocket-shaped wagons of which flew over the fairgrounds at an altitude of 219 feet (67 m ) from the ground (ropes connected the lattice supports on the mainland and the North Island, built by Buck Rogers ^[5] ), Enchanted Island, where they were concentrated entertainment for children ^[2] , and the robotic Science Fountain ^[6] .

However, the most important aspect of the exhibition was the emphasis on the role of progress in meeting the material needs of society. The exposition included several model houses at once (including “The House of the Future” by Chicago-based modernist architect George Keck), demonstrating the approaching time when air conditioners and dishwashers will become available to all household items ^[2] .

The emphasis on scientific and technological progress led to the fact that the exhibition only to a very insignificant degree touched on the themes of social progress. In particular, the themes of racial equality and female emancipation were left without due attention. Hans writes that one of the factors that determined the lack of a female theme at the exhibition was the fact that its organizers belonged to those circles (military, industrial and engineering), where at that time the male outlook on life dominated ^[7] . Even 40 years ago, at the Columbus Exhibition, the state that financed its holding obliged the organizers to disclose the role of women in the development of society, which resulted in a separate Woman’s House. In 1933, women, by the definition of the "Encyclopedia of Chicago", were represented mainly as property ^[2] . Although in one of the pavilions the attention was paid to the first settler of Chicago - the mulatto Jean-Baptiste Poins du Cebl - the rest of the exhibition presented a distorted image of the history of black residents of the United States, presenting visitors with images of “happy slaves” and refracting the culture of African peoples through the lens of Western prejudices ^{[ 8]} . Among the pavilions of individual countries, the expositions of Italy and Germany stood out, openly demonstrating their military power ^[7] .

Despite what was noted both during and later, the Chicago World Exhibition was undoubtedly successful both economically (providing a significant number of people with work and bringing real income to the organizers), and psychologically as a way for visitors to forget about difficult times and with optimism look to the future ^[9] . President Roosevelt was so impressed by her success that at his insistence the following year she continued and walked from May 26 to October 31, 1934. Having refused to participate in 1933, Ford Corporation, having discovered that the pavilion at the exhibition provided widespread competition for General Motors , erected its own pavilion in 1934. This exhibition, in the center of which was a giant globe showing the company's operations around the world, became a nail second season of the exhibition ^[2] . In total, over two million people visited the exhibition over two years - a record attendance for the World Exhibitions ^[7] . The experience of the Chicago exhibition and her vision of the “world of the future” were later used to organize local exhibitions in Dallas , San Diego , Cleveland , San Francisco and, finally, in New York , where in 1939 the “world of tomorrow” became the theme The next World Exhibition ^[2] .

• Cheryl R. Ganz. The 1933 Chicago World's Fair: A Century of Progress . - Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008 .-- ISBN 978-0-252-03357-5 .

• Robert W. Rydell. Century of Progress Exposition . The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (2005). Date of treatment June 29, 2019.