Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Movie of the Week: Rhapsody in Steel (1933) Continue reading the Original Blog Post
The film dates from 1934, Henry dicked around and Ford had no presence at the Fair when it opened in 1933. Here's the back story on Ford's presence at the 1934 Century of Progress. After the 1933 Fair Ford Motor Company realized that a great public relations opportunity had been missed, and luckily for them, the fair commissioners decided that since the fair had made money in its first year, it would be held over for another season. That was a rare occurrence; World's Fairs ran from May 1st through October 31st for one year only. Henry Ford had lost his self-assurance during 1932-'33 when company fortunes slipped as Ford slid to third in sales. Fred Black, the Ford Motor Company publicist, tells us, "The reason we were not in the 1933 World's Fair was that we couldn't get Mr. Ford to make up his mind. We had gone over the plan, and the fair officials saw me a number of times. We were all set to go in and put on an assembly exhibit." Ford had shown an assembly line in 1915 at the San Francisco fair. Black continues, "We never got him over to look at the Chicago site. Then, finally, one day the fair representatives came in and said we would have to hurry to get into this fair and get anything done. Ford would have to get another idea, as General Motors had decided to build an assembly line." Naturally, Ford was angered and said he wouldn't have a damned thing to do with their fair. In a resounding success, 20 million visitors had seen the Century of Progress in 1933. They saw Hudson, Nash, General Motors, White, International and a host of others, but no Fords. In the waning days of 1933, Edsel Ford summoned Black to his office. As was typical, it was poor Edsel who reasoned with Old Dad, and between himself and Black, they convinced Henry to get into the 1934 fair. GM didn't undercut Ford; it was Henry's own waffling that did him in. The Rotunda on the fairgrounds was completed quickly, as were all the fair buildings, since they were never considered to be permanent. The structures were plywood and stucco, or siding, etc., with quickly finished interiors for the exhibits and/or sideshows for a fair season lasting six months. When the Fair ended in 1934, it was decided that the Rotunda would be erected in Detroit. That building took 18 months to finish as it was intended to be permanent and more substantial materials were used. At that time limestone was used for the facing of the structure. Also, the "1933 Thirty Years of Progress" medallions that are often attributed to the Century of Progress World's Fair only commemorate Ford's 30 years of existence and have no connection to the COP. Surely a nice collectible, but often misidentified. I have collected Century of Progress memorabilia almost as long as I have owned a Deuce and the above comments are from what I've learned about the fair over the years. Hank could often be ornery and he usually left his mess for others to clean up, no doubt that contributed to Edsel's health issues.
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