CHAPTER XIX.OPEN-AIR ENTERTAINMENTS.
Underthis head come the open-air shows of different dimensions, one or more of which are always running in Chicago during the summer months. Last year Thearle & Cooper gave the public a treat with an entertainment that they styled “A Night in Pekin.” The location was the great vacant lot at the southern limit of Washington Park, across the street from the race-track of that name. Tiers upon tiers of seats accommodated thousands of spectators, who watched the drama, enacted in pantomime, of the destruction of the city of Pekin by the British naval forces. The work of desolation was preceded by games, slack-wire walking and other interesting feats. The bombardment itself was a magnificent spectacle. As the big buildings came toppling down in ruins and the inhabitants rushed screaming about, showers upon showers of fireworks were discharged and theroaring of the great guns kept up until the work of demolition was over. It was conceded at the time that the spectacle, from a pyrotechnical standpoint, was the finest ever seen in Chicago, but from all accounts the shows to be given this year and next will eclipse it. For the World’s Fair year the Kiralfys, those consummate masters of the spectacular, have promised a production on the same order as the “Night in Pekin” that shall totally eclipse anything in the line of an open-air show ever before seen or heard of. Its exact nature has not yet been outlined, but if all the promises are kept it will be something very wonderful.
The attractions of this sort of an entertainment are manifold. Aside from the show itself, which is always interesting, there is the pleasant, happy-go-lucky spirit that always pervades great crowds bent on an evening’s fun. The peanut and lemonade venders ply their calling briskly, and come in for the usual share of “guying” that such merchants always excite. In hot weather the out-door spectacles detract from the attendance at the theatres, people preferring to secure their entertainment in the open air if possible. Spectacles like “Pekin,” it is perhaps unnecessary to say, cost many thousands of dollars to produce.
Speaking of the peanut and lemonade menreminds one that the two great circuses, Barnum & Bailey’s and Forepaugh’s, exhibit in Chicago every summer. They generally appear for two weeks each, and of course parade in due form, according to custom, through the streets of the city on the opening day. Who shall picture the delights of the circus? Are they not as old as the memory of man? Strange but true it is, that the older we get the circus that we remember as the circus of our youth strengthens its charm upon our memory and we would not miss a sight of it if we could. We have the added pleasure of taking our little ones to see the sights that so delighted us in our own childhood, and that should be the keenest pleasure of all.
A summer rarely passes without a succession of smaller shows in the open air, such as balloon ascensions, bicycle races, cricket and base-ball matches and so on. There is a resort known as Cheltenham Beach, a strip of sand twelve miles from the City Hall, reached by the IllinoisCentral railway and known as “The Coney Island of the West,” although it has never touched the real Coney Island in point of prosperity. At Cheltenham Beach there is always a show of some sort going on. It may be athletics. It may be a broad-sword combat between mounted gladiators. It may be an ascent by a parachute artist, a nervy gentleman who soars a thousand feet in the air in a balloon and then descends gracefully to the earth (at the imminent and exhilarating risk of his neck) under a parachute to which he clings by a thin trapeze bar. This is a hair-raising exhibition frequently seen and quite often ending in the maiming for life of the hardy ærial navigator. At Cheltenham Beach, however, everything “goes,” as it were, and nobody ever complains unless it is on account of the small amount of beer doled out for the conventional nickel. Occasionally they have barbecues and clam-bakes at Cheltenham Beach, which, though at times enjoyable, are not exactly the class of entertainment to which one would invite the ladies of his family.
There are always vast crowds of people in Chicago athirst for amusement. That is why amusement caterers grow so rich when they give good shows. It has been the purpose of the present chapter to show that there is plenty of amusement to be found out-of-doors.