Page 10 - Demo

A Century of Progress %u2022 Vintage PostcardsA Second World%u2019s Fair for Chicago (Continued)The Official Guide Book of the Fair was indispensable for finding your way end of the Fair to the other, on Greyhound%u2019s fleet of 60 Intra-Mural buses, each with a capacity of 100 persons. In reality, that capacity could only be achieved if half the people stood, and if everyone was skinny. Gray Lines offered bus tours with lecturers explaining the sights. Venetian gondolas and other colorful watercraft were available to eagerly whisk you across the lagoons. College students were there to push wheelchairs, and if needed, Boy Scouts were on hand to help find lost children. Amazingly, there was a Sky Ride with a pair of 628-foot-high steel towers, spaced 1,850 feet apart, and interconnected by steel cables 200 feet above the ground. It was all designed to carry brave fairgoers across the lagoon in hanging rocket cars. The cost for this unforgettable trip was 40 cents for adults and a quarter for children during evening hours. During the day, fares were discounted.The PostcardsIt%u2019s probably safe to say that every Fair visitor bought one or more souvenirs. Often, they opted for a softbound, 196-page Official Guide Book, which cost a quarter. Or for something a little nicer, they could upgrade to a hardcover edition. There were also official bronze medals, ashtrays, playing cards, ceramic mugs, felt pennants, commemorative spoons, spittoons, salt-andpepper shakers, jewelry, saving banks, posters, and decals. You could even buy cast-iron models of the Intra-Mural buses manufactured by the Arcade Toy Co. of Freeport, Illinois%u2014available in four sizes. For keepsakes that were more special, handmade crafts were on sale from many of the international exhibitors.Despite the bountiful selection of souvenir books and other objects of interest, postcards were by far the most common purchase%u2014along with food, drink, and tickets. Because of this, several companies created their own copyrighted series featuring the Fair%u2019s most popular sights. The most prolific were the Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation (the Official Printer for the Fair), the American Colortype Company, and Curt Teich & Company; each produced multiple postcard series. Other publishers that made their own series included Western Photogravure Company, Arena Photo Post Card Co., C.R. Childs Company, Gerson Brothers, Illinois Photogravure Co., and Regensteiner Publishers. Some publishers included some of Chicago%u2019s hotels and other non-fair venues on their Century of Progress postcard series.Furthermore, many exhibitors offered postcards promoting themselves, or their products. Some distributed individual