Sesqui!: Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten World’s Fair of 1926

400 Pages·2017·31.133 MB·English

by  Thomas H. Keels

SESQUI!

SESQU I!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Greed, Graft, and the Forgotten
World’s Fair of 1926
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
THOMAS H. KEELS
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia ★ Rome ★ Tokyo
FRONTISPIECE: An early promotional poster for the Sesqui, featuring Hollywood starlet Laura
LaPlante. The wonders of the fair she held aloft with her shapely arms were completely illusory at
the time she was photographed.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2017 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System
of Higher Education
All rights reserved
Published 2017
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Keels, Thomas H.
Title: Sesqui: greed, graft, and the forgotten world’s fair of 1926 /
Thomas H. Keels.
Description: Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016022168 (print) | LCCN 2016023296 (ebook) | ISBN
9781439903292 (cloth: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781439903315 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition (1926:
Philadelphia, Pa.)
Classification: LCC T826.3.B1 K44 2017 (print) | LCC T826.3.B1 (ebook) | DDC
607/.3474811—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016022168
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
★ ★ ★
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
Prologue: The Great Fair xv
1 Philadelphia, 1916 1
2 As Welcome as Jazz Music at a Funeral 15
3 The Sesqui Sinks 35
4 Call Me Freel 49
5 The Sesqui Moves South 65
6 Philadelphia Progressive 93
7 Kendrick’s Karnival 113
8 A Fine Thing to Show the Nation 141
9 We’re All Good Americans Now 167
10 The Ladies of the Street 187
11 The Philadelphia Negro at the Sesqui 205
12 The Fight of the Century and a Half 231
13 A Royal Visit 259
14 Follies of 1926 283
15 For Sale: One Sesqui 303
Epilogue 327
Bibliography 341
Index 353

Acknowledgments
★ ★ ★
LIKE PLANNING
an international exposition, writing this book was a
long-term project that required the involvement of many individuals
and institutions. I am deeply grateful for their generous assistance in
uncovering the buried history of Philadelphia’s lost world’s fair.
As with past books, the knowledgeable professionals at Philadelphia’s
galaxy of historical and cultural institutions, along with those further afield,
offered me their scholarly expertise and access to their archives. I am espe-
cially grateful to Elisa Ho of the American Jewish Archives; Carrie Hogan
of the American-Swedish Historical Museum; Bruce Laverty, Jill LeMin
Lee, and Sandra Tatman of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia; Ross Mitchell
of the Barnes Foundation/Violette de Mazia Foundation; Alex Bartlett and
Elizabeth Jarvis of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society; Mary Knapp of
Freeman’s Auction; Emily Afflitto and Beth Kowalchick of the Committee
of 1926 at Historic Strawberry Mansion; Aurora Deshauteurs of the Free
Library of Philadelphia; Willhem Echevarria of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania; Dr. Kenvi Phillips of Howard University; Aaron Dilliplane
of the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia; Anthony S. Aiello
and Robert Gutowski of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Penn-
sylvania; Laura Keim of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of
America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; David Rowland of the
Old York Road Historical Society; Jane Kenealy of the San Diego History
Center; William Patterson of the Sketch Club of Philadelphia; Jeff Kern of
the Sports Complex Special Services District; Brenda Galloway Wright of
the Temple University Urban Archives; Theresa Altieri and James P. Mundy
viii AcknowlEdgmEntS
of the Union League of Philadelphia; Maureen S. Rush of the University
of Pennsylvania; William Whitaker of the University of Pennsylvania Ar-
chitectural Archives; John Pollack of the University of Pennsylvania Rare
Book and Manuscript Library; and Jon Grabelle Herrmann and Andrew
Hohns of USA250.
I’m also grateful to the following individuals who opened their personal
collections to me or who advised me on specific aspects of the manuscript:
Fred Bull, Steven Camp-Landis, Cindy Charleston-Rosenberg, Emily T.
Cooperman, W. Stewart Graham, Greg Heller, Pamela and James H. Hill,
Pete Hoskins, Harry Kyriakodis, Charlene Mires, Daniel Rottenberg, Fran-
cis Ryan, Maureen Rush, Robert M. Skaler, Lucy Strackhouse, Ann von
Schwerdtner, Cintra and Wayne Willcox, William Zulker, Charles Zwicker,
and Edward Zwicker.
One of the joys of writing a book with Temple University Press is having
access to the school’s student body for research assistants. I was extremely
lucky to have three wonderful assistants during the course of creating Sesqui:
Matthew M. Anglin, Samantha A. Heaps, and Maureen Smith. All three
did an incredible job of tracking down and summarizing research materials.
I am deeply grateful to all of them for their hard work. I also wish to thank
Paula Robison, associate professor at Temple, who made all three of these
outstanding scholars available to me.
My deepest thanks must go to my editor at Temple University Press,
Micah Kleit, who worked with me during the several permutations of this
book, and who patiently guided the work to its finished form.
As always, my deepest thanks must go to my friend, colleague, partner,
and husband, Lawrence M. Arrigale, who helped me overcome my own
doubts and fears and bring this project to fruition.
Introduction
★ ★ ★
ASK ANY PHILADELPHIAN
about the 1876 Centennial, and he or she
will probably be able to tell you something about it. Most will mention
Memorial Hall in West Fairmount Park, the major survivor of the
fair, repurposed as today’s Please Touch Museum. They may recall a visit to
the Centennial exhibit in the museum basement, with its diorama of the
1876 fairgrounds. More knowledgeable Philadelphians might discourse on
how the successful Centennial attracted ten million visitors and ushered
the United States into the first rank of global powers. They may know that
Centennial visitors were the first to witness the telephone, drink Hires root
beer, and climb into the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty, on display
to raise funds to erect the rest of the colossus.
Then ask them about the 1926 Sesqui-Centennial and watch them stare
at you blankly. Some might remember stories told them by parents or grand-
parents about the big ballyhoo in the summer of 1926. A few might have
heard of a giant illuminated Liberty Bell that spanned Broad Street at Ore-
gon Avenue in South Philadelphia. One or two might have Sesqui souvenirs
at home, like a tattered Liberty Belle doll dressed in stars and stripes. But
most Philadelphians, even those familiar with their city’s history, will confess
ignorance. They might ask where the fair was and what remains of it. They
might ask why nobody knows about it. The Sesqui-Centennial International
Exposition, held in South Philadelphia between May 31 and December 31,
1926, is the Rodney Dangerfield of World’s Fairs. It don’t get no respect.
The Sesqui possessed impeccable credentials. It was the first world’s
fair to be staged in the United States in a decade. It was the first exposition