Month: September 2008

Cowgirls and Calf Roping at the Sesquicentennial

Post author By Mary
Post date September 29, 2008

Not all of the entertainment that took place at the Municipal Stadium during the Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926 focused on pageantry, theater, and music. The Stadium, located near the intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, was built to serve both as a gathering and performing area during the Sesquicentennial and as a venue for outdoor and athletic events in Philadelphia after the Sesquicentennial was finished. 710 feet wide and 721 feet long, the Stadium had a seating capacity of 100,000 with 73,830 of those seats being permanent and the remainder being movable as necessary.[1] During the Sesquicentennial, the Stadium hosted parades, concerts, speeches, athletic events, and races and continued to serve as a sporting venue for decades after the Exposition closed.

One of the events hosted at the Municipal Stadium during the Sesquicentennial was a rodeo. The photos of the rodeo feature calf roping, bull riding, cowgirls, and rodeo hands and show a crowd enjoying the festivities. Unfortunately, there is little further documentation regarding the event.

Although rodeo competitions had existed since the late 1800s, the 1920s saw a huge rise in the popularity of rodeos. As the economy boomed and radio, automobiles, and motion pictures became more readily available, Americans had extra money and the desire to spend that money on various forms of entertainment. Rodeos became more accessible when annual indoor rodeos began to be staged in cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, and New York.^[2] Although rodeo promoters feared that urban audiences would not pay to see such contests, the Madison Square Garden rodeo became so popular it quickly became an annual event and additional rodeos were scheduled throughout the East Coast.^[3] Fred Beebe, a rodeo promoter and producer, is featured in several photographs taken at the Sesquicentennial rodeo. Beebe staged the 1926 and 1927 rodeos at Madison Square Garden and additional contests in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and St. Louis during the 1920s and 1930s.^[4]

The 1910s and 1920s also presented more opportunities for cowgirls as rodeos began to feature more events and prizes for women. One well-known cowgirl of the 1920s and 1930s was Ruth Roach of Fort Worth, Texas. Roach’s portrait was taken by a photographer at the Sesquicentennial, indicating that she may have participated in the rodeo. In 1926, Roach finished second in the all-round cowgirls competition at Madison Square Garden. Seven years later, Roach would be trampled by her house and suffer a broken leg after an 8 second ride on a bucking bronco as part of the 1933 World Series Rodeo in Madison Square Garden.^[5] She premiered as a rodeo cowgirl at the 1917 Fort Worth Roundup and became known for competing while wearing giant hair bows. Born in 1896, Roach passed away in 1986 and was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1989.^[6]

Although there are few details regarding the rodeo held at the Sesquicentennial in 1926, the event provides an illustration of the change from rodeo competitions held only outdoors in the West to those held in stadiums and arenas around the United States and the world. Some groups resisted the spread of rodeos; the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals protested the rodeo held in Madison Square Garden from November 4-13, 1926.^[7] Despite these protests, rodeo competitions would continue to draw crowds of spectators throughout the 1920s.

[1] Austin, E.L. and Odell Hauser, Editors. The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition: A Record Based on Official Data and Departmental Reports. Philadelphia: Current Publications, Inc., 1929, p. 419-423.

[2] LeCompte, Mary Lou. Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1993, p. 70.

[3] Ibid., p. 83-86.

[4] Ibid., p. 86.

[5] New York Times. “Cowgirl is Hurt in Rodeo Mishap.” October 13, 1933, p. 24.

[6] “Ruth Roach Salmon.” National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. http://www.cowgirl.net/honorees/Ruth_Roach_Salmon.aspx

[7] New York Times. “Champion Cowboys Arrive for Rodeo.” October 24, 1926.

Events and People

DeWolf Hopper: Sesquicentennial Actor and the Voice of “Casey at the Bat”

Post author By Mary
Post date September 22, 2008

In an attempt to draw large crowds to the Sesquicentennial, organizers of the event allocated funds for a pageant entitled “Freedom” to be held at the Stadium near the intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. Although the pageant was to open on July 3, 1926 and be performed on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings until October 2, heavy rains caused the cancellation of many performances and the decision was made to hold the final staging of the pageant on Saturday, September 11.^[1]

While “Freedom” would not be the financial success hoped for by the Sesquicentennial administrators, it did provide viewers with an opportunity to see a major actor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. R.H. Burnside, a producer from New York formerly in charge of the New York Hippodrome, was contracted by Sesquicentennial officials to stage the pageant. Immediately upon accepting the contract in the spring of 1926, he began gathering together a cast of 1500 participants from a variety of theatrical companies.^[2] One of those actors was DeWolf Hopper, a well-known performer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who was given the role of William Penn in the production and also appeared in several scenes depicting ancient Rome.^[3]

Born on March 30, 1858 in New York City, DeWolf Hopper pursued a career in theater and became known for his comic timing and loud bass singing voice, two traits that led to many musical theater roles. He performed in dozens of Broadway musicals including Lorraine in 1887, H.M.S. Pinafore in 1911, The Mikado in 1912, Erminie in 1921, and White Lilacs in 1928.^[4] By the time he appeared at the Sesquicentennial, Hopper had a reputation as a comic musical actor, a baseball fanatic, and a man with five divorces who would marry his sixth wife that year.

Early in his career, Hopper became well-known for his recitation of the famous baseball poem “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. First published in The San Francisco Examiner on June 3, 1888, the poem tells the story of the hero of Mudville and his crucial time at bat. On August 14, 1888, DeWolf Hopper would bring wide-spread attention to the poem when he recited it at the Warrick Theater in New York in front of an audience that included baseball players from the New York Giants and Chicago White Stockings teams.^[5] The crowd reacted enthusiastically to both the poem and the recitation, and DeWolf Hopper became for many people the unofficial voice of “Casey at the Bat.”

Hopper estimated that he recited the poem over 10,000 times at various events. The advent of radio allowed Hopper’s recitation to reach even greater audiences, who had apparently not tired of the poem. The New York Times on May 18, 1926 advertises an hour long radio special with DeWolf Hopper during which he would talk about his musical career, sing songs from various musicals, and “delight with one of his inimitable curtain speeches and ‘Casey at the Bat.’”^[6] In 1922, a film recording using an early sound-on-film process was made showing Hopper standing and reciting the poem.

The documentation on the Sesquicentennial does not give further details regarding Hopper’s involvement in the “Freedom” pageant, perhaps because of the many performances canceled due to the weather. After his appearance in “Freedom” in 1926, Hopper acted on Broadway in White Lilacs in 1928 and The Monster in 1933. He died on September 23, 1935 at age 77.

^[1] Austin, E.L. and Odell Hauser, Editors. The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition: A Record Based on Official Data and Departmental Reports. Philadelphia: Current Publications, Inc., 1929, p. 240-244.

^[2] Ibid., p. 241-243.

^[3] The New York Times, “Theatrical Notes.” June 15, 1926.

^[4] “DeWolf Hopper.” Internet Broadway Database. http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=67842

^[5] Okrent, Daniel and Steve Wulf. Baseball Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, US, 1989, p. 23-24.

^[6] The New York Times. “DeWolf Hopper- Himself Tonight.” May 18, 1926.

Entertainment

Pageantry at the Sesquicentennial

Post author By Mary
Post date September 15, 2008

In an attempt to attract large numbers of visitors, the Sesquicentennial Exposition offered a variety of activities and events. Visitors could tour nearly a million square feet of exhibit space and dozens of different amusements and see everything from a military camp to monkeys to a house displaying nothing but different types of wallpaper.

Along with these other attractions, Sesquicentennial officials staged various pageants, choruses, and performances. Perhaps two of the largest performances were the “Freedom” pageant and the “America” pageant, both held at the Municipal Stadium located near the intersection of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. Performed at different times during the six months of the Sesquicentennial, the pageants were intended to draw additional visitors to the Exposition grounds.

“Freedom” and “America” differed in focus but both included tableaux (small dramatic scenes) and thousands of participants. With 10,000 actors in the tableau, a 5,000 member chorus, a 1,500 piece band, and a 200 member symphony orchestra, “America” was a large production that traced the history of America from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the present events of the Sesquicentennial.^[1] Although the pageant was initially scheduled for June 23, heavy rain caused the performance to be rescheduled for Thursday, June 24. On Thursday, it began raining just as the performers took their positions although the program proceeded when the rain stopped later that evening. “America” was finally presented uninterrupted on the following Sunday evening. Reserved seats were given to those who had purchased tickets for the Wednesday or Thursday performances while the rest of the stadium was opened to the public at no charge.^[2]

While “America” was intended to be performed only once, the Sesquicentennial administrators wanted the “Freedom” pageant to be staged a few times a week for several months. The Exposition officials hired R.H. Burnside, a producer from New York, to direct “Freedom.” He calculated that for a cost of $650,000 (the amount allocated by the Sesquicentennial administrators) the pageant could be first performed on Saturday, July 3, and then held three nights each week for the following twelve weeks.^[3] Divided into three parts, the pageant focused on historical events and concepts connected to freedom from the Stone Age to the twentieth century, with specific emphasis placed on the Revolutionary War and founding of the United States.

On opening night, July 3, the performance of “Freedom” was canceled due to heavy rains. Rain also caused the second scheduled performance on July 5 to be canceled. The weather continued to be problematic and roughly half of the remaining performances were canceled. The final performance of “Freedom” was given on Saturday, September 11, although administrators had planned for the pageant to be staged through October 2.^[4] The Sesquicentennial continued to be plagued by inclement weather throughout the summer and fall. When questioned about the poor financial state of the Exposition, Erastus Austin, the general director, would blame some of the difficulties on the extreme amount of wind and rain.^[5]

While “Freedom” and “America” were two of the larger pageants at the Sesquicentennial, there were dozens of smaller choruses, musicals, dramas, and parades. Many of these events were held in conjunction with specific days such as Italian Day, German Day, New Jersey Day, and Labor Day. By providing changing entertainment and specific events, the administrators of the Sesquicentennial hoped to encourage the public to repeatedly visit the Exposition.

[1] The Washington Post. “WIP to Broadcast Pageant at Sesqui.” June 20, 1926.

[2] Austin, E.L. and Odell Hauser, Editors. The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition: A Record Based on Official Data and Departmental Reports. Philadelphia: Current Publications, Inc., 1929, p. 216-218

[3] Ibid., 239-240.

[4] Ibid., 244.

[5] The New York Times. “Philadelphia Loss on Fair is $206,987.” June 20, 1927.