Century of Progress

A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois, from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The fair's theme was technological innovation. Its motto was "Science Finds, Industry Applies, Man Conforms," and its architectural symbol was the Sky Ride, a transporter bridge perpendicular to the shore on which one could ride from one side of the fair to another.

77 years have passed since John walked among the exhibits of the Fair... have we, as a World Society, built on what we were given?

One musician who played at the World's Fair in Chicago was Harry Horlick.  Harry conducted one of early American radio's most popular salon orchestras, largely because he regularly appeared on the long-running "A & P Gypsies" show from 1924 to 1936. Born in 1896 in Tiflis, Russia, Horlick remained in Russia when his family left for America at the beginning of World War I, and he became a prisoner of war. His family and the American consul helped him reach the United States, where he performed in cafés in the early 1920s. Horlick's six-piece ensemble was playing unsponsored on New York's WEAF in the winter of 1923 when they were seen by a Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company executive who was taking a tour of the radio studio. The band -= now holding the name A & P Gypsies, began regular broadcasts, sponsored by A&P, on Monday nights, beginning March 17, 1924, with the opening theme of "Two Guitars. The host and bandleader, Harry Horlick, had learned gypsy folk music while traveling with gypsy bands in Constantinople. The musicians performed while wearing gypsy costumes.

From 1924 into the 1930s, they were the most popular instrumental music program on the air. In 1933, A&P took part in the World's Fair in Chicago with a canopied boardwalk where tea dances were held, and free tea and coffee samples were distributed.

Squandered Fortune is a book about Huntington Hartford, a troubled man. His share of the "A&P Fortune" was only $400 mil. When he filed for bankruptcy several years ago, he still had $ 12 million and a trust fund that netted him $500K per year. Throughout his life, he made bad investments. A&P had almost 16K stores in 1930, but that number declined quickly as corner stores closed and larger-format supermarkets replaced them.

Ironically, Harry Horlick died, as his grandnephew said, "practically broke." Horlick's ultimate employer, George Huntington Hartford II, was heir to the A&P fortune estimated in 1975 at $2.6 billion -- 16,000 A&P Supermarkets -- then the largest retail empire in the world. Hartford died in 2008 at his Bahamas estate at 97, fortune mostly intact. As we enjoy the great musical legacy Horlick left us, let us consider how relatively little he and other great musicians received for their efforts.

Horlick died in July 1970.

Update:  A & P, the 150-year-old grocery store chain, filed for bankruptcy reorganization on Sunday, December 12th, 2010.



Harry Horlick's A & P Gypsies ~ Only The Girl
Brunswick 1929




Chicago World's Fair 1934 Film