University of Texas at Austin

Maurice Goldberg (b. Russia, 1881-1949)
Model of Water Pageant Theatre
Ca. 1930-1931
Gelatin silver print

Close Window

Norman Bel Geddes Database

Job 165, Water Pageant Theatre, 1930-1931

Summary: Geddes’s never-built design provided an open-air theater for water pageants, built on a group of barges anchored in Lake Michigan, with the stage separated from the auditorium by water. The scheme provided seating for 2,000 and space for 500 spectators’ canoes between stage and auditorium. The radiating piers allowed 768 boats to dock. The stage consisted of a series of platforms connected by stairs and underground passages. Starting at eight inches above the water, these platforms built up to a height of 36 feet.

The Lakeside open air theater design was presented to the Architectural Commission of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

A charcoal rendering ("Island View") of the Water Pageant Theatre that was previously cataloged as folder b 1 is now filed with job 145, Island Dance Restaurant.

Hunter Code: TH 41
Hunter Guide: page 200


(click image for description)

Box/Location Folder Description
theater box 163 e 1 Preliminary Sketches --- 36 Plans and elevations.
flat file f 1 Drawings --- 3 Plans and elevations.
theater box 163 h 1a Photographs --- Model (Goldberg #25 and #31).
theater box 163 h 1b Photographs --- Model (Goldberg #5M and #26).
negative box 40 h 2 Photographs --- 6 Negatives.
flat file h 3 Photographs --- Charcoal rendering.
flat file h 4 Photographs --- Model (Goldberg #26).
theater box 163 h 5 Photographs --- Model (Goldberg #31).
flat file h 6 Photographs --- Model (Goldberg #31).
theater box 163 h 7 Photographs --- Bogart photo of "Void" rendering.
theater box 163 i 1a Publicity --- Images from Theatre Arts Monthly, Sept. 1930.
theater box 163 i 1b Publicity --- "Island Theater Planned for Fair," article in the New York Sun, 20 Nov. 1930.
theater box 163 i 1c Publicity --- Clippings from New York American, New York Times, New York Herald, and New York Sun, Nov. 1930.
theater box 163 i 2 Publicity --- "Proposed Water Pageant Theatre for the Chicago World's Fair, 1933," article by NBG in Architecture, Dec. 1930.
theater box 163 i 3a Publicity --- "Something New in Theaters and Restaurants: Norman Bel Geddes Held Daring in 'Queer' Architectural Designs," article by Janet Mabie in The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Aug. 1931 (copies 1-4 of 5).
flat file i 3b Publicity --- "Something New in Theaters and Restaurants ..." (copy 5 of 5).
flat file n 1 Photostats --- Plans and elevations.
theater box 163 p 1 Specifications --- Building description.
theater box 163 x 1-5 Exhibit labels.
flat file x 6 Exhibit photostat of plan drawing.
flat file x 7 Exhibit description, photostats of drawings [not NBG?].

BACK     SEARCH AGAIN