Guide

1933 Fair
Map of 1933 Fair
1934 Fair
Map of 1934 Fair
Greyhound Tour

Topics

Costs for Visitors
Colors and Lights
Downtown Shopping

Exhibits and Attractions

Skyride
Hall of Science
Science Exhibits
Firestone Tires
Prehistoric Animals
Wilson & Co. Meat
Kraft Mayonnaise
International Harvester
Automobiles
Railroads
Air Travel
Mail
Foreign Exhibits
Pantheon de la Guerre
Colonial Village
Foreign Villages
Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not

News Articles

Memories

Links

Links Page
Contacts Page

FAMILY SOUVENIRS & MEMORIES

The first part of this page consists of pictures of Jack Appel and Maryfrancis Brennan (my parents) who worked at the fair, some of their souvenirs, and some additional information I have found about the souvenir enamel ashtrays. The second part of this page consists of memories of my uncle, Frank Brennan, who was a young teenager living in Chicago at the time of the fair.

Please email me if you have memories of the fair that you would like to share.

The Lagoon Patrol--Jack Appel is third from left in back row. Who are the other men?

Jack Appel On the Lagoon—Government Building in Background

Maryfrancis Brennan—Brookhill Dairy

Ashtrays Made for Maryfrancis Brennan and Jack Appel
Genuine Porcelain Enamel Fired on Metal

Get Your Own Ashtray

from the Official World's Fair Weekly June 17, 1933

The Enamel Parade, extending down one wall [on the second floor of the General Exhibits Group called the Hall of Progress] and far down the corridor to the east, represents a combined exhibit of thirty-eight firms that make enamelware. Everything from ashtrays to refrigerators and back to medical accessories is shown. In addition to actual examples of enameled materials, the most modern method of applying enamel is shown, and you can have an ashtray designed for you personally and watch the enamel sprayed, painted, and baked on while you wait.

Official Closing Cover Signed by Inventor and Pilot of Adams Airmail Pickup System

Uncle Frank Remembers the Fair

I enjoyed the photos of your parents at the World’s Fair. I remember the milking picture very well. It appeared in either the Chicago Daily News or the Chicago Daily Tribune. Your mother also had another job at the fair. It was packing meat in a room with other girls. I think it was in the Armour building.

As a family we all went to the fair many times. Also in both 33 and 34 we hosted both the Brennan and Delaney relatives. I had a friend whose uncle was an electrician for the Skyride. When I went with him, we got to go on the Skyride for free. When I was at the fair, I usually had cheese crackers and Coke to eat because they were cheap.

There were many special days like Freckle-Face days. I went to this one with a boy in my class. Dermatologists counted the freckles. I think that we needed 12 to get in. I also remember Boy Scout and ROTC days. I think that in each case, after the parade, we were turned loose to enjoy the fair.

One time I watched Johnny Weismuller swim rapidly over the lagoon theater where your father worked. The lagoon theater also put on shows of diving, including clown diving.

I remember seeing Ed Wynn, who was the Texaco Fire Chief on radio. Another time, when entering an exhibit, I was behind Frank Buck who also had a fair exhibit (probably called “Bring Em Back Alive” as he had at least one film shot in Africa with that name). He looked like a great white hunter with his pith helmet.

Another time, Jack Johnson, a notable black boxer with a coterie walked only about 20 feet behind me. If my memory is reasonably good, he was world heavyweight champion, and was beaten by a famous white boxer whose name I can’t remember.

As fair visitors and kids, we picked up all the product brochures we could carry. My brochures were in the old basement "sideboard," which we used as a toolbox. They were probably still there when I moved to California in 1951. I had a nice collection of little trinkets that I left in the chifferobe of my room. The trinkets consisted of a stamped copper ashtray from the Ford pavilion and other things like arrowheads, a 6 inch little geisha girl carved from bamboo, and pennies run over by trains like the Royal Scot which were on display. I also had a small piece of shatterproof glass produced by a small glass factory in one of the displays.

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