Page 5 - Demo

A Century of Progress %u2022 Vintage PostcardsSouth end of the Fair.North end of the Fair.A Second World%u2019s Fair for Chicago (Continued)Then there was the presentation of the festival queen who was, oddly, an out-oftowner%u2014Lillian Anderson of Racine, Wisconsin. During the evening portion of the Opening Ceremony, opera star Lawrence Tibbett sang the national anthem, accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a 2,500-voice chorus. After additional speeches, the Fair%u2019s lights automatically turned on at 9:15 PM using a oneof-a-kind method devised by Edwin B. Frost.Frost, the clever, retired director of Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, was able to create a reverent nod to the earlier and muchloved 1893 Chicago Fair, by making use of light rays emitted by the distant star Arcturus. Why this particular celestial body? Because its light rays had started their journey toward Earth in 1893. Now, 40 years later, when that light was detected by a series of photoelectric cells in several astronomical observatories, it was transformed into electrical energy which was transmitted to Chicago, activating the lights of the Fair. The Architecture All of the buildings of the 1893 Columbian Exposition had been classical in design%u2014and all-white. As a result, early on, it became known as the White City. But 1933%u2019s planners did not want their buildings to reflect outdated architectural styles, nor be in a single, monotonous, pasty pallor, in an attempt to mimic marble. Instead, they were drawn to modern ideas suggestive not of the past, but rather of the present, looking toward the future. Particularly striking was the carefully se-