One of the Very Scarce Tickets from the World's Columbian Expo Midway
The International Dress and Costume Company is the rather odd company name for what visits came to know as the Beauty Show or similar name. The Midway attraction featured young women, many college students working during the summer at the fair, representing a single country, Europe, Asian and around the globe.
The women each had a small booth where they would display their costumes as well as the arts, culture and music of their adopted country for the duration of the WCE. Some would sing dance,play music instruments to add to the enjoyment of their presence. This was a show in the Victorian era that advertising noted that it was perfectly fine for women and children, should anyone have gotten the wrong impression from the nanme of the concession.
Some modern writers have spoken harshly about this concession at the WCE, calling it a sham since the women were not native to the country they represented. But no one intimated or claimed otherwise to dupe customers. From the success of the "beauty show," no guests felt they weremisled.
The operator of this concession advertised beautiful women, beautiful clothes, wonderful music and the culture of each country. I believe the only place that he crossed the line was using the word "from" in a sign on the building, giving the impression that they were FROM the country they represented. No one at the fair complained, the 1893 media spoke highly of the "beauty show" and it was indeed a culture event that was quite accurate.
In fact, the concession was so popular, that a tobacco company issued a series of collector cards featuring the young women and their country-specific attires. For those of you familiar with sports and tobacco cards, this particular series was just one of a large number of sets issued in tobacco pouches and cigar boxes. Those who are only familiar with modern or post World War II cards talk about the burgeoning "industry" in recent years and the addition of more and more sets in recent years would likely be shocked at how many tobacco cards and sets were issued--far more than modern baseball cards without a adoubt.
Earalier, in the 1890-1920 era it was the small format cards and there were dozens of different sets, many times more than have ever been produced in the modern baseball card era. The subjects were animals, Indians, warriors, monarchs, ocean going ships, actresses, automobiles, U.S. presidents and U.S. presidents' wives and even athletes--Olympic champions, jockeys, tennis players, golf pros and yes, baseball players!
The set featuring the "beauties" from the Midway is quite rare. I have looked for it for many years once I discovered it existed. In the last five or so years I have sold nearly all that I have discovered. I know of at leasts two collectors who have built collections despite the rarity of the cards.
Like the tobacco cards, this ticket is very scarce; I leave the term "rare" to those where only 1, 2 or 3 might be known.
Here is an excellent opportunity to add this very scarce (trying to be 'rare') ticket to your Columbian collection. If you take away an estate sale on ebay and the 2023 Pritts sale, I would estimate that it has been six or seven years since another has surfaced in the marketplace. As you can see, the ticket is in superior condition and the back is clean and plain; it hasn't been hinged or pasted previously.
If you have interest in my two remaining cards from the tobacco set, I might be coerced into selling them. They ae obviously not in this sale as I find it difficult to move them from a display cabinet to an inventory shelf. I should sell them, as I've been telling myself that since I sold all of the others. Contact me if you would like more information.
Communicating on such matters has proved very difficult in the week leading up to my posting this sale. First power was out in the entire region for nearly a week for some (ONLY four days for us) but when it returned something hijacked my email. I can receive emails fine, but I cannot send any, including replying with just a quick click of the incoming message.
And as of this posting we have passed the one week mark for this problem. Hours and hours and customer service reps--eight different by my count!--have yet to solve the problem. Two of the did offer an upbeat statement that "the problem has been solved." We were told, on two occasions, to wait up to eight hours and return to the sytem; all would be in working order. Nope. Neither time. And other technical people continue to work on the problem. I'm never quite sure just how much work goes into problem such as this. Have the multiple support people worked eight hours a day on our behalf since the problem surfaced EIGHT DAYS ago? I rather doubt it.
The bottom line, I don't know how or when I can answer any questions you may ask via email. If you send a text to my cell phone I'll be sure to receive it and be able to respond. The cell is 206-947-6966.
SHIPPING ON THIS TICKET IS FREE.