The Portland daily press., 1893-11-01
That Is What It Has Cost Us to Zee
the Midway Sights.
A SIDE SHOW WHICH BECAME ONE
OF THE LEADING FEATURES.
The Ferris Wheel Has RevoIved With
Over Two Million People-The Crowds
Who Saw the Camels Ridden in Cairo
Street Didn't Worry About the Price
Hagenbach's Animals Popular-How
Other Shows Fared.

Other Shows Fared.
Chicago, October 31.-The American
people have spent more than SIS, 900, 600
| in the Midway Plaisance. When the
Plaisance was proposed as an adjunct to
the Worlds Fair it was thought that it
would prove minor attraction. 1t was
intended that it should be kind of side
show to the big circus.
But the Plaisance has been original.
picturesque and extremely interesting.
1t grew far beyond the early conception
| of the fair officials. This street, for such
it really was, is seven-eighths of mile
long and is lined on either side with
villages thatres and other enterprises.
Nearly all the races of the world are to
be seen there. Paris had something like
it in 1889, but it was far inferior both in
extent and variety, to the Midway
Plaisance.
During some of the recent big days the
crowds in the Plaisance have been as
dense as those in front of a newspaper
bulletin-b board on the night of a Presi-
dential election. On Chicago Day it was
impossible. Nor has this popularity
been at the expense of the fair proper.
The same people who visited the Fine
Arts building visited the street in Cairo.
The Ferris wheel easily heads the list
in earnings. 1t has been greater sue
cess financially than was the Eiffel
tower at:Paris. 1t cost $3.50, 900, and it did
not begin to revolve until the latter part
of June. For while it carried only 5000
or 5000 people day, but, in August the
| number began to increase rapidly until
$4,000 was only an ordinary days busi-
ness. On Chicago day it carried 10000
1t is said that the total number of its
passengers at the end of the fair was
2, 200, ,000 1t got SO cents apiece from
these, the gross receipts thus being
81, 100, 600. By It's contract with the fair
the wheel was 20 retain all it's receipts
| until $3.50, 600 was reached. The fair
was to have half of all over that sum.
| Hagenbach's Animal Show probably
| ranks next to the Ferris wheel. 1t had
some misfortunes early in the season.
The famous dwarf elephant, valued at
$4,000, said to be the smallest ever
captured, died of a Chicago cold, and
some of the valuable birds were lost in
the same manner But the show has
| always drawn large crowds, steadily in
creasing with the attendance at the fair.
Carl Hagenbach,. the owner, who is a
celebrated animal, trainer of Hamburg,
Germany, has visited his show here
several times. but its manager has been
| Mr.. Hoffheimer of New York. Mr..
Hoffheimer, while admitting that the
profits are very large, declines to name
the sum. It's reported currently in
the Plaisance that Hagenbach's net
&c
The street of Cairo, which is an en-
| larged reproduction of that at Paris in
| 1889, has been very successful. A sure
| test of.its popularity was the raising of the
price of admission. In the beginning the
| visitor was charged ten cents for general
admission; that is, to the street, exclu-
sive of the theatre and other attractions.
| This was raised to fifteen cents, then to
twenty cents, and finally to twenty-five
cents, without causing any diminution
in the crowds. The gross receipts of the
street in Cairo have been about $500, 900,
and its profits ave estimated at 5000, 600.
| The receipts of the fair from the Ger
man village and Old Vienna have been
S175, 200 each, its share being 20 per cent
in each case. 1t is said that these VII
lagos will have profit of about $500, 900
| apiece.
The Beauty show, as the people call it,
or the, International Dress and Costume
EAulUlblOu, DIS ltS fududgefS prclek 10
term it, has for many weeks been
crowded uncomfortably. Its profits are
anywhere from 500, 600 to s150,OOO
The South Sea Island Village and
theatre has had highly prosperous sea-
son. In fact, the manager has done SO
wellc that he can afford to take his
people back to Samoa for the winter
and return with them next spring for a
tour of the American cities.
The two Irish villages, Blarney Castle
and Doneal Castle, had a rather hard
tiome of it early in the season, but since
| the attendance increased their receipts
have been larger.
| The I4ibbey Glass ,Woks and the Ostrich
Farm have done exceedingly WE'LL The
Turkish, Algerian and Persian villages
have made some money, but not a large
amount. The Dahomey and Lapland VIII
lagos have done fairly WELL The Ameri-
can Indian village and the Wild East
nave not had large patronage.
| One large and deserving attraction on
| the Plaisance-the Javanese village-has
made very little money. This is difficult
| to explain, as many people thought it
| the best of all the Plaisance shows, and
| there was certainly nothing more curious
or instructive to be seen there