Abe Goes To The Fair

Though not created for The Fair, Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Abraham Lincoln: The Man (aka Standing Lincoln) was displayed at The Fair as part of the Illinois exhibit. Not surprisingly, the Saint-Gaudens Lincoln was one of a number of sculptures (I know of at least 4) depicting the 16th president, both at the Illinois exhibit and throughout The Fair.

The Fair statue was an artist-authorized reduction (one of only sixteen known to exist, and one of the first two produced) of the original, created for Chicago’s Lincoln Park in 1887. I am quite certain that the cast exhibited at The Fair is now on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

According to the Met's press release, the bronze, acquired from a private collector, was originally owned by Clara Stone Hay, the widow of Lincoln’s onetime private assistant secretary, John M. Hay. The note on the back of the photo of the statue in the New York Public Library's Fair collection (below) indicates that it was lent by the children of John and Clara Hay. So, unless the Hays had several casts of the statue (which is unlikely), the Met statue is the one exhibited at The Fair.

It's Cocktail Time!

Okay, this isn't, strictly speaking, a Fair relic. But it is an interesting and fun little piece of Fair history that you can re-create at home. It's the Zombie, a rum punch popularized at The Fair during its second year. In 1940 Monte Proser opened an establishment at The Fair, named after the potent potion. Which he apparently stole from the drink's creator Donn Beach. Proser also stole the "no more than two to a customer" gimmick from Beach, as well. Which would have pretty much guaranteed that folks would come back for a third.

The original recipe was long believed to be lost, until 2007 or so when mixologist Jeff "Beachbum" Berry cracked the code of what he believes to be Beach's original 1934 recipe.

So...I followed Berry's recipe almost to the letter; I couldn't get some of the brands of rum he suggested, just the Appleton Estate. I learned what FALERNUM is, and bought a bottle. I EVEN made my own grenadine and cinnamon syrup! The result of this costly and time-consuming little lesson in 1930s mixology?

I didn't like it. At all. Heavily redolent of cinnamon, it tasted more of Christmas than voodoo. And, in a personal first, I had no trouble stopping after just one!

Recipes for the libation abound on the internet, including several from the 1930s. I may just steal one of those myself and pass it off as the genuine article.

(Non-copyrighted souvenir photograph found at Tikiroom.com.)

The Open Road Leads to...Bear Mountain

Jo Davidson was one of just a handful of prominent sculptors given he honor and distinction of having more than one work exhibited at The Fair. Davidson's larger-than-lifesize Walt Whitman was moved to Bear Mountain State Park in upstate New York shortly after The Fair. It is unique in that it is one of but a few Fair pieces cast permanently in bronze rather than in temporary, disposable plaster. Visiting the statue today offers a rare opportunity to experience an actual piece of Fair history. (There's another cast of Davidson's Whitman in Philadelphia, but the Bear Mountain statue is the Real Deal.)

Well, this was inevitable: the author and Walt, May, 2010

The Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn

Another Fair relic known to every Fair enthusiast is the parachute jump, which has been a fixture of Coney Island's boardwalk since shortly after The Fair closed. The ride, originally sponsored by Life Savers, was moved to Steeplechase Park in 1941, and continued to thrill (according to wikipedia at least) until 1968. The black and white photo below (from New York Public Library) shows the parachute jump in operation at The Fair.

Above: a really cool view of the parachute jump from the Aquacade. The boat house can be seen to the left at the foot of the jump. (Non-copyrighted photograph from a recent eBay auction.)

Two of Coney's major thrill rides that actually pre-date the parachute jump by more than a decade are still in operation today: The Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone.