GOODYEAR BLIMP RIDES

1933 AND 1936

It was 1933 and the CENTURY OF PROGRESS WORLD'S FAIR was in full swing in Chicago. At that time I was in the 5th grade at Adams School. On a Friday afternoon in September, my teacher, Mrs. Easterday, excused me early so that I could head for Central High School in Detroit where my aunt Ella was waiting to accompany me to the Michigan Central Depot so that we could hop aboard the TWILIGHT LIMITED and head off for a weekend of fun at the Fair.

We ate in the diner, an exciting new experience for me. When we arrived in Chicago, we left the train at the 63rd St. Station and took a cab to 2232 East 70th place where I slept on a couch and my aunt slept on a cot, in the living room of a co-op apartment (now they call them condos) owned by a Miss Clendenning, a native of Pontiac, Michigan, who was working at the University of Chicago. It was in the midst of the depression and many Chicago residents were renting out rooms to Fairgoers in order to obtain a bit of extra cash. Just a little bit off Widetrack drive in Pontiac, Michigan you can still see an old 4 family apartment building with the name Clendenning above the entrance. This building was once owned by Miss Clendenning's family.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the apartment and then my aunt and I took the Illinois Central commuter train to the Loop where we lunched in a Fred Harvey Restaurant. At one time Fred Harvey operated top quality restaurants and hotels along the Santa Fe Railway, between Chicago and the west coast. Some of you older folks may remember a movie entitled THE HARVEY GIRLS starring Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury.

Following lunch, we went to the Fair where I saw my first astronomical show at the Adler Planetarium, operated American Flyer Electric Trains at their huge model railroad display on the Enchanted Island, saw popcorn popped by radio waves at the General Electric exhibit, saw the Michigan Exhibit in the Federal Building, watched hard hat divers pretend to harvest sponges from the bottom of the lagoon and had dinner at the Pabst Pavilion to the music of Ben Bernie. Saturday evening we watched the Fair being illuminated by the star Arcturus, the light from which had started toward earth in 1893, the year of Chicago's Columbian Exposition. Supposedly, the Observatory in Elgin, Illinois focused the rays from Arcturus on an electric eye which then switched on the 1933 Fair's lights.

While seated near the Hall of Science, awaiting the light ceremony, I longingly looked overhead at the two story cable cars of the SKY RIDE as they ran back and forth 200 feet above ground between towers on the mainland and the Enchanted Island. These cable cars were named for characters in the very popular radio show, AMOS 'N ANDY which at that time was eminating from network studios in Chicago. There was an AMOS car, an ANDY car, a KINGFISH car, etc. Yes, I would have liked to ride in one of those unique vehicles, but when I left home I was warned NOT to go aboard the Skyride. It was too dangerous.

The next day we visited the PANTHEON, a huge painting of World War I. It was housed in a circular building. The canvas was 402 feet in circumference and 45 feet high. It contained the images of 6,000 people and it required 130 artists working from October 1914 until the Armistice to complete. We also had a chance to see many trains, including the ROYAL SCOT from England, on display at the Transportation Building. In addition to being exhibited in Chicago, during 1933, the entire train made an 11,000 mile tour throughout the U.S. and Canada before being shipped back to the U.K. where it continued to make its speedy runs between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh. One evening, around 11 p.m. the ROYAL SCOT passed through Birmingham, Michigan. A huge crowd gathered at the Birmingham station to see it pass through our town.

The TRANSPORTATION BUILDING is at the far left of this photo. Not far from it was the landing field for the GOODYEAR BLIMP. Although I was forbidden to go on the dangerous SKYRIDE, I didn't hesitate one minute when my aunt and I climbed aboard the blimp and took off for a flight over Chicago. You can imagine how excited I was, at the age of 10 years, to sit beside the pilot as he controlled the monstrous powered balloon. Due to the helium it contained, the blimp wanted to stay up in the air. Consequently, the pilot had to put the nose well down and actually speed up the engines to drive the blimp in for a landing where it was caught by the husky ground crew which held it it place while we climbed down from the gondola in which we had ridden.

Yes, I had another blimp ride over Cleveland, three years later, that time with my cousin. We were seated in the rear of the gondola well back of the pilot.

I have never ridden in a commercial plane, but I've had two blimp rides and one private ride in a friend's NAVION.

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